Traveling Knitter

I'm up in Irvine, California to attend a two day course in an up and coming database system. I'm not a professional traveler, I'm not even a good amateur......

In order for me to attend a two day class, it took 3 days to create a profile and make reservations for the hotel and rental car on the "travel site" my company requires us to use. Now I can see the benefits if you travel ALL THE TIME...but for me, not so much.

In my profile I put "non-smoker" for the hotel room and rental car. So I knew I was screwed when I picked up my rental car and the inside of the car smelled like the Marlboro Man had been last man driving that car. Problem was I was in a hurry....so I didn't return the car. I just rolled down the window and held my breath.

I was more than shocked to discover that the rental car ran my check/visa card for more than three times the estimated total cost (holding amount) for the three day rental fee. This freaked me out because I didn't know if I'd have enough for the hotel room.....so this was one major reason for the sour stomach I had all day. This really triggered me and I got wound up AGAIN over those dumbass AIG executives with their big fancy fat bloated expense accounts and craptastically huge extravagant trips. Do you think they ever got a stomach ache sweating the moment when their credit cards were swiped at a hotel? How about one of those brilliant bailout politicians in D.C.? ........but I digress.

As is typical for me, I had put everything off till today to do before I left. I had laundry and grocery shopping. Jillian participated in the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" Walk-a-thon this morning and needed my taxi service as well. Jillian had a great time, and did a great job raising money with a bake sale that her team did the day before.

Between errands, some chores and packing clothes that all took me about an hour to do, but I still had to pack a knitting project. 3 + hours later, I packed up 4 knit projects and got into the car and headed North on the freeway. I got on the freeway and discovered that the smelly car also has a wicked shimmy when going freeway speeds. This wasn't going well.

It was later than I had intended so I was pushing to get to the hotel before 5pm because my niece Allyson, and her 10 year old daughter Hannah, were going to meet me. They have the knitting bug big time (hmmm, how could that have happened?)_ and so we had a night of knitting planned.

I arrived safely, rattled and frazzled but ready to kick off my shoes and knit awhile. Allyson and Hannah arrived about 5 minutes after I got the room. I discovered that I had left the camera at home so I only have the cell phone camera with me. Here are a couple of shots of the hotel room. I didn't even think of the cell phone camera while Hannah and Allyson were here. The pics are kinda rough but you'll get the idea. The room is very comfortable with a great seating area and was perfect for a mini Stitch N Bitch.

On the bed you can see the new Laptop that Grant surprised me with. It is perfectly pink and fun. The best part of all is that he set it up and when I log on, Ravelry pops up! WAY COOL!!

Allyson and Hannah are now new members of Ravelry, which is going to be great for me because now I can watch their projects grow as they progress. They are recruiting my nephew's wife and his daughter too. This Christmas is going to be a BREEZE!! Can you imagine this..... I only have to give them some yarn and exclaim, "It's a new pair of socks, or a scarf, or a bag, or a hat.......or whatever .....you just have to knit it!"

Currently, I'm blogging on my pink laptop on this wonderfully fluffy bed and I get to sleep in till 6 or 7am. I have a TV remote, and a knit project beside me. I think I'm okay with this business traveling stuff after all.

I'm BACK!!!!

I am knitting again! It has taken several months for the flair up of my hand to die down and get the all clear to knit again by my doctor. I started with a couple of felted projects because the size of the needles are bigger and it is straight knitting. Seemed like a good place to start....

The first project is a Gelato Bag made with Cascade 220. This is the first time I ever felted anything on PURPOSE! I was nervous about throwing the bag into the washer with a warm water setting, but I survived it and now I'm hooked. Jillian has already claimed this bag as hers. I actually think this bag should go through the wash one more time though.

This is a Booga Bag made with Noro Kureyon. I liked the colors and the bag knitted up fast......one Saturday. Jillian is eyeballing this bag too, but I think I might make several of these felted bags and use them as "gift bags" at Christmas time.

It's good to be knitting again. Lots of stress around this time of year and with the economy tanking and an election around the corner I'm grateful to have something to distract myself with. Sooooo, how about that craptastic bailout, eh?? (never mind)

On the home front, Jillian is still driving with a "learner's permit" which means that she has to have a "grown up" with her. I am the only grown up in the house apparently so the two of us are stuck with each other. Jillian is doing great, I on the other hand, not so much. I sit in the passenger seat, put my seat belt on, and then the oddest thing happens..........my butt becomes vacuum sealed to the seat and makes a sound like a Tupperware lid which Jillian has said is how she knows "we are good to go".

Upon arriving home and after she pulls into the driveway, I once again inhale which apparently breaks the seal between my butt and the seat and I'm able to jump out of the car. Then I need to lay down for about an hour which is about the time I can feel my legs again.

If I had known in advance the anxiety of riding with my teenage daughter while she is learning to drive.........I may not have stopped taking the pill.

About the time Jillian is licensed and I'm comfortable with her driving, Janeva will be getting her learner's permit........so she keeps reminding me!

Introducing "The Enforcer"

Nothing much to write about on the knitting front. I haven't finished any projects this whole summer because of the lingering hand issue. The couponing is continuing however. Single Dad Tom is pretty close to pro and Tall Chocolate James is so freaking good, the stores not only PAY him to take stuff out of the store, this last Friday, the store literally paid him to bring stuff back. This leaves Comic Ronn to envy Tom and James and Barely 20something John can only hear the story and wonder how. Let me explain......

A few weeks ago, our little gang "Four Cheap Guys and a Frugal Chick" nearly wiped out the San Diego county Walgreen stores of Pop Tarts and Nutrigrain bars. There was a promo that if you buy 5 boxes of Pop Tarts for $10.00, you'd get a $5.00 Register Reward (RR) back as a credit to use on your next purchase in the store. Well for some reason there was some computer foul up and so what really happened is if you bought $10.00 in Pop Tarts or Nutrigrain bars, you'd get $10.00 in Register Reward making your purchase entirely FREE. Toss in a couple of coupons ....and the best we did was buy 5 boxes of Pop Tarts for $8.00 and we'd get $10.00 RRs back...MAKING $2.00 profit.

It was THAT particular deal that made believers of The Four Cheap Guys.

This week, Tom and James asked me to go with them to Walgreens to do "coupon training" and see if we figure out some good coupon/rebate deals during lunch. Cruising the store Tom did really well, buying nearly $80.00 worth of stuff like hair irons for his daughter who is his coupon clipping helper, his total out of pocket (OOP) was around $10.55 but after RR and rebates he will be making some money....so basically, they paid him to shop at the store.

James and I did the "Ragu and Skippy" deal. James bought 6 jars of Ragu on sale for $10.00 getting a $5.00 RR back and a lip balm that was on sale for 2.99 giving a $2.00 RR back. Using coupons, James basically got out of the store for about 5.00 but getting back $7.00 in RR. We left the store all of us on a coupon high but James kept looking over his shoulder (I call this couponer's paranoia). I asked him what the heck he was doing and he said he was expecting to see Security coming after us. He was a little surprised to find that combining the coupons with sales and promos could net you stuff for nearly pennies.

The next day, James was going to shop for the Skippy peanut butter. On the coupon both the Skippy Regular and Natural peanut butter was pictured so he picked up 6 jars of the Natural peanut butter. While James and I were waiting for Tom, James was studying his receipt intently. By the time Tom came out of the store, James figured out he was short a $5.00 Register Reward that he was expecting. We all looked at the flyer and then realized that the deal the store was offering didn't include the Natural Peanut Butter so James decided to go back in and return it, because without the RR he was not getting nearly as good a deal as he was expecting.

James takes his receipt and the peanut butter back into the store to return it. The clerk is about to give his money back when the manager comes to the register. The manager "takes over" and starts questioning James asking if he did anything with the peanut butter, tampered with it. James explains that he thought it was part of the Ragu/Skippy deal and he'd get a RR for it, but since this wasn't part of the deal, he didn't want it. The manager was satisfied and gave James his $10.00 back.

On the way back to work, James is studying his receipt, counting his money and really puzzled because he felt he got too much money back. Turns out that the manager was so busy asking questions that he ended up giving James the full amount back....instead of the amount less coupons. So, James ends up $3.00 ahead.....just for walking into the store.

The day before, James basically got paid to take stuff out of the store, and this day he was paid to bring stuff back!

Meanwhile, I have no sympathy for Walgreens. They, Walgreens, has great sales, give great rebates, and offer store coupons that can be used with manufacturer's coupons, but the employees at certain stores can be complete jerks....looking at someone using coupons as someone stealing from them....or treating you like you are taking money out of their own pocket. I have always felt that the deals were good enough that I would never consider doing anything out of bound or attempt to stretch the boundaries of honest coupon redeemtion. But when I run into a situation like I did this morning....I seriously come out of the store a wreck feeling humiliated.

This weeks' Walgreen's flyer has an instore coupon for "Dawn Dish Soap - 10.3 ounce size" limit 2, for .99. This coupon can be used with a manufacturer's coupon that I have for .50 off any size Dawn dish soap. I went to the store and expected that I could get two bottles for .50 each. When the clerk rang me up, he said I couldn't use the coupon....because it was one per purchase. Well I was purchasing two, therefore I should be able to use two coupons. The manager came over, told me I was wrong but he would allow it THIS TIME and that he wasn't going to be taking so many coupons in the future. WTH???

I came home all ruffled and irritated and told Grant about it. So it began

Grant: "How many of those coupons do you have?"
Me: "A bunch, but they won't let me use them."
Grant: after reading the wording on the coupon, "well I guess we will just have to go to Walgreens and clean them out of their Dawn Dish Soap now".

Off we went. This time, there was no challenge or issue across multiple transactions. They took my coupons, let me buy my coupon limit and they were all friendly and smiley.

In the car, I looked at Grant and said...."what the heck just happened? They were great about it this time but this morning they were just awful and mean."

Grant: "This morning, you didn't take your Coupon Enforcer with you!"

I'm going to take couponing to a whole new level now.......... 8-)

Celebrity Sighting and Breaking News Update

Stephanie the creative blogger from A year of Crockpotting stopped by and commented right here on this blog's post from yesterday. Of course I had to run and get Grant to show him that she posted on my blog! Since he is a fairly new blogger, he can only envy me at this point but he is sharing in my excitement.

On the coupon front, I have a quick correction, as I had previously posted, Single Dad Tom went to Walgreens and his total bill before coupons was $109.00 (not 120.00), he did a great job getting using $41.00 in coupons but the BREAKING NEWS is that today he reviewed his purchases and discovered that he also qualifies for $12.00 in rebates. That is coming pretty close to 50% savings on his first trip out with his coupons!!

I told all of the guys at work that I was blogging about their coupon adventures and so now of course they are discussing the possibility of forming a union. CCBCA (Coupon Clipping Blog Characters Association)?

Recipe Review and Couponing Update

The "Coq au Vin" recipe from "A Year of Crockpotting" got a 3 out of 4 thumbs up in our Aussie-American taste test. Janeva wasn't "thrilled" with it, but I'd make it again because Grant and I have taken it to work and had it for lunch and it is just as great as a leftover as for a Sunday sit down dinner.

Tomorrow I'm going to try the Cowboy Stew and see how that fairs in this household.

I owe Grant a good meal tomorrow because he has a day off and it will be spent waiting for a Pest Control guy and then Grant has to walk Murphy and his neurotic brother Max around the block for 30 minutes till the bug juice dries off. Not exactly a great day off when you aren't expected to get off work till 2am the morning of.

On the couponing front, the guys at work have made a couple of trips to a nearby grocery store during lunch to mentally work out this coupon stuff. I figure if they will do this, they are liable to get really into it fast and start saving some money........or will they?

Single Dad Tom went to Walgreens and knocked $41.00 off his bill using his beginners stash of coupons!! His first time out with his cache of coupons and I think he did a great job. Tomorrow we will be going over the rebate offers to see what rebates he may have coming at the end of the month.

Tall Chocolate James (that's how his wife describes him) is cutting and using his coupons but hasn't really gone for the big kill yet. He went to Target with his wife (could be a married guy's version of a date) and they were able to use some of the coupons there. James always has questions about what stores has what sales. I think he is just processing all the information before he just goes out there and starts working deals.

Barely 20something Single John is just taking it all in, and alerts the other guys to big breasted women in low cut tops bending over in the canned good aisle. I figure that at least the kid is getting familiar with a grocery store and telling his mother of some of the coupon deals.......and ya can't discount the potential for his being scooped up by a well set Cougar looking for a young guy who's coupon savvy! (Side note that struck me funny - the link for Cougar directs you to the AARP website!)

Should Have Been a Comic Ronn married with two kids is cutting coupons (or might make his wife cut them) and is looking for the FAR (free after rebate) stuff so he can sell it on Ebay. He is using the coupons but isn't really saying if he is hitting the deals by combining them with store sales and store coupons. After reading Trump's "Art Of The Deal" and looking for any lucrative deal he can find, I can see Ronn producing a new line of videos "Couponers Gone Wild" or something and perhaps recruiting Barely 20something Single John as a spotter.

Be warned the next time you are in the grocery store bending or reaching for that can of Sweet Peas.

Passing The Time - Trying A New Recipe

I found this amazing blog "A Year of Crockpotting" and I'm trying out this recipe today. I'll let you all know how it turns out and if it passes the Aussie-American taste test.

I have been forced to take a break from knitting the last few months. I'm hoping and praying that this isn't a forever issue for me. Knitting is a therapy, hobby, passion, conversation starter and all occasion coping mechanism for me.

A few months ago I noticed swelling and pain in my left index finger whenever I was knitting. Now I have been known to have marathon knitting sessions, which explains why I own 6 wonderful crockpots and have had my eyes on that robot vacuum cleaner and floor moper for the last several years. I had cut back on my knitting sessions to try and not get to the point of chronic pain, but over the last couple of months it got to the point where it just doesn't matter, when I knit, my hand hurts. So I sought out an orthopedic doctor to see if there was a magic glove, pill, lotion, vitamin, diet or anything that could be done to allow me to knit pain free.

I felt kinda silly going to a doctor for just one finger, and sillier still getting ONE finger x-rayed. The x-ray was taken (I was amazed at the different shots and angles you can x-ray ONE finger) and the doctor said they came back "normal" although I requested to see the report myself (long story, which resulted in my need to see any reports and understand what any doctor tells me backward and forward, go figure).... the wording on the radiology report stated "normal for age". What the hell does THAT mean? The doctor explains that what it means is that I have the onset of arthritis which is apparently "normal" for women my age (a 40 something woman?). "Isn't that an old person thing?" I ask..... moments before realizing that the doctor appears to be about half my age (he must have excelled at medical school and is one of those prodigy Doogie Howser types, finishing medical school in his teens or something, I'm thinking)

The doctor did suggest a cortisone injection in one of the tendons and inside the knuckle joint which out of desperation I agreed to. That shot hurt like a muther, but after about a week my finger seemed all better......till after about an hour of knitting. (insert harsh language here)

Despite all this, I have been working on something fairly simple, a Green Gable tee for Janeva using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in the Nymph colorway. It has taken me about 2 1/2 weeks but if I take breaks and pop some Motrin, I am able to get my knitting fix in.

For now, I will use some of my "extra" time finding new blogs, new recipes and maybe even shock Grant with a couple of cleaned out closets or something. Grant would say, "Cleaned out closets, you???? Not bloody likely!"

I have to say, he'd be right on that one. 8-)

Cosmic Question

Do household drains only block up on the weekends?

Let me paint the picture here. Small house, 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 Australian husband, one slightly annoyed wife (that would be me), two teenage daughters, one practically resident teenage boyfriend and two Labs.

Do household drains only block up on the weekends? It seems to be the only time they do at our house. Friday night, as if on cue, the tub drain plugs up tight. 4 bottles of Liquid Plumber, 3 hours of Grant playing plumber, 5 gentle WIFELY suggestions to call a plumber.....then as if this is written out by Stephen King, the block worsens to where we have the laundry machine in the garage backing up into one side of the kitchen sink. Then Sunday arrives. Kitchen sink is backing up when we do laundry so we have to bail water out of the sink when the laundry is in the rinse cycle to avoid flooding, so water is getting tossed out the kitchen door from the sink onto the side yard. The dogs see this and start pacing around the tree in the middle of backyard to guard the only workable urinal at our address, as if just waiting for Grant to overtake their domain. The bathtub cannot take one of the daughter's 20 minute showers so we have two very irritated, and irritatingly complaining teenage girls.

The bathroom sink, which is the only sink that is draining, but that is because the water from the bathroom sink makes the water rise in the bathtub when the sink drains. I'm praying now that our one and only toilet holds, or we are going to have to frantically upset dogs in the backyard and three girls in the house wishing we had bigger bushes in our landscaping. Today Grant surprises us all with a offer to to go to the movies. (I think he googled and status of their bathroom facilities first though). We are scrambling around to get ready for the movies.

I decide I should try to shave my legs before the movies, because I see a horrendous traffic jam in this Aussie-American household tonight. As a result, I had a rude awakening to the fact that I'm too old to try and balance on one foot while sticking the other foot up to waist height to clear the counter and put my other foot into the bathroom sink, which unknown to me till today is designed for a size 7 shoe size and I have a (nice for balancing) size 9 1/2 shoe size foot. I curl the toes under and endure. After finishing shaving one leg, I'm dripping in sweat and exhausted. I walk out of the bathroom with a limp, hoping I don't need a hip replacement and filled with anxiety at the thought of trying to shave the other leg. (right now I'm just thinking I'll sleep on the other side of the bed and explain to my husband "this is my good side".

The good news is, my wonderful husband (whom I adore) calls a plumber who will be out sometime tomorrow to launch us back into the 21st century with working indoor plumbing again.