Help me out, you guys!

Ok, so Justin brought home a laptop bag from work one day. It had gone through quite a lot of people before he got it, many of whom had left the company by the time the bag made its way to him. He didn't know who all had it before he did and there's really no way to find out. Anyway, he was cleaning it out and we found these (click to make them bigger):









He was just going to throw them out, but I didn't have the heart to let him. I know it probably sounds silly, but I just keep thinking that these are somebody's memories, ya know? Plus, it looks like she's around my age and I look at these pictures and some of the stuff looks so familiar. Some things were universal in the late 70s/early 80s. Dark wood paneling, ugly linoleum flooring, shoddy ass Halloween costumes, those shorts with the split on the side of the leg and the white stripe up the side... So, while I might sound like a sentimental spaz, I really can't stand the thought of throwing these pictures away.

Alright, so, here's where the "help me out, you guys" comes in. What should I do with them? Here are pictures of the back of them too.













Thanks for any suggestions you might offer!!!

The One With All the Washcloths...

Ok, so a long long long long long time ago, my girl Kathy and I arranged a trade. She was going to make 2 custom necklaces for Sebastian's preschool teacher and teacher's assistant as their end of the year gifts. You might recall that Sebastian is in kindergarten now. Um, yes, it was that long ago. In May. So, anyway, Kathy was going to make the necklaces and I was going to knit some washcloths for her. So, I looked around on Etsy to see what the going price for a knitted washcloth was and it was about $4. Meanwhile, the necklaces were going to be $60 altogether. So, do some remedial math and you get 15 washcloths. Yeah, that's a lot. But, it was fair, so I set out to knit 15 washcloths. And 7 short months later, here we are!!! Yay!!! Haha!!! OMG, I'm such a horrible person. Kathy held up her end of the bargain like a champ and she got those lovely necklaces to me before the school year was over, just like she promised. And here I am, being a slacker and whatnot and taking forever to get the washcloths to her. I suck. BUT, I did finally finish them and I actually mailed them off today!!!! Wooohooo!!!! In case you're curious, here are pictures of the necklaces Kathy made for Mrs. Brandy and Mrs. Tish (Sebastian's preschool teacher and teacher's assistant).






Lovely, right? They both loved them, of course. And now, for a ridiculously long blog post complete with pictures of all 15 washcloths. There's a theme here. Most of the washcloths are aqua, chocolate brown, or taupe. Or a combo thereof. You'll notice that these first two are not. That's because the first two are especially for Julian and Charlotte, Kathy's 2 kids. Julian is 3 and Charlotte is a little over a year old. So, this one's for Charlotte:



It's the notorious Ballband Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting, miniaturized so as to be baby-sized.

Ok, the one for Julian requires a bit of explanation. I used a technique called double knitting to make it. What ends up happening is that you get a totally reversible item. One side is the exact opposite of the other. Neato, right? The pattern I used is actually a scarf pattern, but I just did 3 repeats of the pattern, rather than the 20-something you'd have to do for a scarf. This is the Uncle Argyle pattern from Son of Stitch 'n Bitch. Julian is always dressed in something really preppy, so argyle seemed appropriate. Honestly, when is argyle not appropriate? I already had the book and I'm working on a scarf using that pattern for Justin. This is possibly the cutest washcloth ever. If I had to sell it, it would cost approximately $79. Double knitting is no joke, I'll tell you that much. It's quite painstaking. Anyhoo, here it is:



And the other side:



Cool, huh? Red is really hard to photograph, by the way.

Ok, moving on. Here we have a random stripe pattern in simple stockinette with a crocheted ruffle border:



Next up is a modified version of the Mason-Dixon Washcloth, also from Mason-Dixon Knitting, as you could imagine. The original pattern is a hexagon. Since a hexagon is just 6 triangles put together, I figured that if I took out 2 of the triangles, I'd have four triangles, which would equal a square. And I figured correctly. So, here's that one:



Ok, this is a set done in the Twin Leaf Lace Cloth pattern. It's from one of the blogs I have linked in my sidebar, Smariek Knits. The two together:



Chocolate alone:



Aqua alone:



This one is called Synchronicity. I likes me some cables.



Ok, so these next two may look familiar. Heh heh. <------That's my sheepish laughter. Remember way back when I was making some washcloths for Sebastian's preschool teacher's assistant? Well, I never mailed them. What can I say? I'm a procrastinator. By the time I finally decided to mail them, I had lost the address. But, I did give Kathy full disclosure so she knows these were originally made for Mrs. Tish. She liked them and didn't care, so they went in the mix. This first one is a modified version of a pattern called Staggered Fern.



And this one is called Traveling Vine, courtesy of Smariek Knits.



This next one is called Lacy Mock Cable:



Next is one called Swish With a Twist. It was available for free when I used it, but apparently you have to pay for the pattern now. Lame.



Next we have another set. These are both done in the Double Lattice pattern, again from Smariek Knits.



Aqua alone:



Taupe alone:



Next is the Embossed Twining Vine Leaf pattern from Smariek Knits (can you tell I like her patterns?):



I don't know what's up with the color in that picture, but it's the same aqua used in some of the other washcloths above.

Last is a full-sized version of the Ballband Dishcloth:




Ok, so there ya go. 15 knitted washcloths! I really hope Kathy likes them!! And that's it till next time! Lots of Christmas knitting to do:)

A quick hit of nostalgia...

When I saw The Neverending Story for the first time, Barret Oliver's portrayal of Bastian struck such a chord with me that at the tender age of 7, I vowed to name my future son after his character, Bastian. Ha!!! And I totally did it! Although anyone who knows me well knows that I have a strong aversion to shortened versions of names being given as full names, so I went with the full version of Sebastian rather than Bastian. Either way, Barret Oliver holds a special place in the heart of this 80s child.



Anyway, I also truly loved another of Barret Oliver's movies--D.A.R.Y.L. Alright, people. Tell me you don't get a tear in your eye when you watch this. I know for a fact that Phoebe, Penny, and Esther will get it. Kathy, I don't know if you loved ol' Barret like I did:)

Some ranting and a movie recommendation.

Ok, let's start off with the ranting so that you'll be good and primed for the awesome movie recommendation at the end. Bethany had a chorus performance at school last night. The parents were supposed to have their kids there for 5:45 so that they could be all set up and ready to go at 6:00. PUHLEEZ. That so didn't happen. We got there at 5:40 and they proceeded to warm up ON STAGE, in front of the audience of parents. WTH? Since when do they do warm ups in front of the audience they're performing for? Plus, toss in the tidbit that we had no idea that they were warming up and we just thought the chorus director was seriously OCD and was stopping the performance repeatedly because he was unhappy with their execution or something. It was like, "hey, remember us-THE AUDIENCE??????". Anyway, we finally figured out that they were warming up when the kids tromped offstage and sat down. Then, cue the high schoolers who were going to be performing. Um, what???? High schoolers will be performing also? Since when? Oh, and what's that you say? The high schoolers will be going FIRST???!!!! Ok, that may not seem like such a big thing unless you consider the fact that Dorian was being the devil incarnate and we were in the 7th circle of HELL. By the time the damn warm ups were over, we had been there for a freaking HOUR. And Dorian was not happy. He was highly annoyed and kept saying OW!! really loud, when no one was touching him or doing anything to him. I'm sure everyone in there was getting my physical description for the CPS hotline. Also, he kept repeatedly tapping my arm while saying "get up!!". I gave him an old, but working, cell phone to play with and he decided it was a good idea to slam it against the back of the seat in front of us. So, I took that away and he cried. Very loudly. So, I gave him a marker and paper to use. He promptly threw the marker down and it rolled under the seat in front of us. After I contorted myself to pick that up, I put it back in my bag and gave him a little stuffed animal. He threw it down. You see where this is going? It was freaking horrible. And all of that was BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE started. The damn high school got up to sing and Justin and I had a furiously whispered conference about who was going to take Dorian out of the auditorium so that we could quit ruining everyone's night. I finally agreed and said "FINE, I'll take him" through my clenched teeth. Know how when your kid is misbehaving in public, especially in a venue that requires silence, and you feel all instantly super stressed out and sweaty and flustered? Yeah, it was like that. So, I ended up taking the little sucker out of there for the duration of the high school performance, which was cut short because some girl fainted. Anyway, I came back in for the middle school performance and Dorian continued to be a bad ass, but I was NOT going to miss Bethany's portion, so we just dealt with it. Ok, so THEN the chorus director stood directly in front of Bethany THE ENTIRE TIME. Every now and then, I got a glimpse of her right eyebrow and eye and, if I was lucky, part of her right cheek. After every song, Justin and I would look at each other like "oh good, only _______ more songs". It was so uncool. I really wanted to enjoy the performance, but in reality I just wanted to slam my head into the seat in front of us (by the way, I'm sure the guy that was sitting there hated us). Plus, every time I looked over, Justin was doing one of these:




And I'm pretty sure that every time Justin looked over at me, I was doing one of these:



By the time we left that joint, it was 8:10. So, then we still had to eat and go to Wal-Mart. We went to Chili's for what was supposed to be my birthday dinner. Woo. Hoo. Can you feel the celebratory vibes from where you're sitting? Yeah, it was no good. Dorian was all in a tizzy from his enforced semi-but not really-silence/stillness from the chorus performance. So, he continued to be the devil. And Justin was pretty much ordering alcohol as we walked in the door. We ate, we went to Wal-Mart. We didn't get home till after 10. Dorian usually goes to bed at 6:30, Sebastian at 8:30, and Bethany at 9:30. Good times.


Ok, now for the movie recommendation. We have a 14 day free trial of Netflix and we used it to watch this movie:




It was EXCELLENT!!! I had no idea that breakdancing was so international. The first 15 minutes or so kind of detailed the history of breakdancing and then the central plot started. It's a documentary film and it basically follows a few of the teams that are performing in the Battle of the Year contest. The Battle of the Year is the biggest contest around for breakdancing and it's held in Germany. So, they got in depth on several of the different team members and it was really interesting to see the different cultural takes on doing breakdancing for a living. There was some pretty fascinating racial undertone stuff about the team from France. And of course, the dancing was freaking AMAZING. Some of the dancing just defies gravity and boggles the mind. I highly recommend this movie. It would even be appropriate for kids, except there's some cursing at the end when they're all performing at the Battle of the Year. Trash-talking and whatnot. So, there you go. As promised, some ranting and a movie recommendation. Till next time.

Willpower meets melted cheese...

and triumphs!! Ok, so Justin is having a Thanksgiving shindig at work today. I did my wifely duty and prepared something yummy for him to take. I made these little jalapeño cheese pies that my cousin Penny used to make a lot. She gave me the recipe, which is less of a recipe and more of a how-to. These things are so yummy, but alas, melted cheese and pie crust are not on the list of things I can eat. So, I baked them up, all the while smelling their cheesy goodness. I withstood the taunting aroma and very responsibly sent them off with Justin. Want the recipe/how-to? Of course you do!

Stuff you'll need:

measuring cup
mini muffin pan
bag of finely shredded Colby Jack cheese
jar of sliced jalapeños
2-3 eggs
package of 2 refrigerated pie crusts

So, here's what I did. I have some really small drinking glasses that happened to be the perfect size to cut out little rounds of the pie crust. I just put a round of pie crust over a mini muffin cup and pushed it down and up against the sides. It was pretty quick work. Then just fill each tiny pie crust with the cheese. Put a sliced jalapeño on top of each little pie. Then, beat the eggs in the measuring cup. You're just using a measuring cup because it has a pour spout and that will make your life easier. I poured some of the jalapeño juice from the jar into my eggs so that the jalapeño flavor would be evenly distributed, rather than having just cheese and the jalapeño on top. Anyway, then you pour the egg mixture into each little pie. I just poured until I saw the egg level reaching the top of the cheese. The egg is just to bind the cheese and jalapeño together. It's kind of like a shortcut quiche, I guess. My mini muffin pan has 24 cups and I managed to get exactly 24 little pies out of the 2 pie crusts. I had to re-roll the dough a few times to use the scraps and whatnot. Anyway, wanna see some pictures?






MMMMMMmmmmmmmm. CHEESE. Ok, seriously, I'm done now. Till next time!!

Lame

So, I had a weigh in this week. I have lost ZERO pounds since my last weigh in. What's up with that nonsense? I really think that it's because I just finished up with my monthlies (heh heh, that's such an old person thing to say) the day prior to my weigh in. We'll see what's what in 2 weeks, I suppose. In other news, I've moved down a size in shirts!!! Ok, fine, I went from an XL to just L. But still. I'm starting to feel like when people see me, maybe, just maybe, they don't react like on that part in The Princess Bride when Wesley is talking about mutilating Humperdinck and says how people will look at him and say "Dear God, what is that thing??!!". We went out for Justin's birthday (it was on the 18th) yesterday and I actually wore nice clothes and brushed AND blow-dried my hair and wore makeup and jewelry and everything. It was a banner day, let me tell you. Sorry I haven't been much in contact lately. It's been a tense couple of weeks in the Hribar household. Justin was having some issues at work and we were really worried he was going to join the ranks of the unemployed very soon, but we appear to have dodged that bullet. On the crafty front, I'm knitting several things currently. I'm working on the second of Justin's pair of socks. I'm also working on a couple of baby hats for my cousin Blake. His wife is due in December so I'm trying to get those finished up real quick-like. What else? Oh, I'm working on some Christmas knitting, which requires me to stay mum about any further details, lest I ruin the surprise for some lucky person. Sorry I have nothing snazzy, like pictures or videos or what have you. I'll take some pictures of some finished knitting soon and get them up here. Till next time!!

A quickie...

Weigh-in today! I'm down another 2 pounds. That puts me at 27 lbs lost so far. And it also puts me at a full 10 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSS!!

It's A Beautiful Day!!!!

A victory slideshow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I'm crying tears of joy, laughing, and wishing I could do a cartwheel. I can't believe it's finally happened!!! I couldn't let myself believe that it would until they called it, but you guys, the time is here.


OUR NEXT PRESIDENT

GO VOTE TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, whoever you're voting for, make your voice heard!! Exercise the right that so many have bled for and GO VOTE!!! For your convenience, here's a color-coded map with poll closing times for every state. Note: If it's difficult for you to read, just click on the image and it'll take you to the (much bigger) original.

Blah

Halloween sucked this year. Sebastian was going as a zombie and Bethany was a scary/freaky clown thing. Well, Justin did Sebastian's makeup. He did a really great job, but it was fairly elaborate. So it took about 2 hours for him to finish. Meanwhile, Sebastian was crying and squirming and whatnot. It involved liquid latex, grease paint, toilet paper (to make scars and stuff), and fake blood. Anyway, he finished Sebastian's makeup and then did Bethany's. We normally go trick or treating downtown. There are about 3 blocks full of little stores and restaurants and stuff and they all dress up and hand out candy. It's generally the perfect situation. It's all close together so you can walk instead of driving, stopping, getting out of the car, driving, stopping, getting out of the car, etc. Also, it's very well-lit, the cops block off the streets, and you can walk on the sidewalks. All in all, a good setup. Well, it would have been a good setup. We got there at 7:30 and there was only one shop still handing out candy!!!! What the hell??? Why did they all leave so early? So, we drove around, looking for some highly populated neighborhood that looked even slightly inhabited. Alas, it wasn't happening. So, what did we do? We ended up going to freaking Wal-Mart to get the kids a giant bag of candy. And popcorn chicken. So, hardly anyone saw their costumes. Or all the hard work Justin did on their makeup. I guess you guys can be the stand-ins? Here they are!









Awesome right? Well, not so awesome later in the night when we had to get Sebastian's makeup off. That turned into a disaster of epic proportions. First of all, the liquid latex is basically like glue. And it covered his whole face. So, Justin said the best way to do it was to run water underneath it. Enter Sebastian's complete terror when water is anywhere near his face. Yeahhhhhhh. So, I tried just peeling it, which resulted in Sebastian screaming like I stabbed him. And sobbing copiously. So, we put Sebastian in the shower and he started really losing it. Justin didn't deal with that well. He thought Sebastian was overreacting and he got mad. That made Sebastian even more upset, which made Justin even more aggravated. I played referee and tried to settle Sebastian down and get Justin to go away. By that time, Sebastian was completely hysterical, Justin was mad at Sebastian and me, and I wanted to kill myself. It took about 20 minutes, but I finally got it all off. Then it was time for the next surprise!!! Yay!!! Hmm, not so much. Apparently, Sebastian has a latex sensitivity. Cause his face looked like this all over:






Not only that, but on Thursday, Sebastian had an incident at school that involved him getting hit in the face with a walnut during recess (bizarre? yes). So, he had a bit of a bo-bo on his face. After getting the makeup off, his bo-bo looked like this:



Sighhhhhhhhhhh. So, to sum up: the kids missed trick or treating, Sebastian had a hysteria and pain-filled aftermath, Justin and I went to bed really pissed at each other, and it all around sucked. I hope all of you had a better Halloween! And may next Halloween be better:) The one bright point was when I was doing Bethany's hair. I ratted it up with a brush and some hair wax. Her hair was freaking HUGE!!! Something about the hugeness of her head/hair kept tripping my giggle reflex and I had several uncontrollable laughing fits. You know, the kind where you're laughing almost completely silently, crying, coughing, slobbering, etc? Like that. It went on for a good half hour while we were getting them ready. Too bad the giddiness didn't last. As my post title indicates, the rest of the night was BLAH.

This is Patriotism

A lot of people give John McCain credit for being a great patriot. I respect his service to our country and his sacrifices for our freedoms. However, in this election, he's shown himself willing to tear apart our country and divide it in efforts to win. He's called certain parts of America "elitist". Places like NYC and Washington D.C. Places that were hit on 9/11 and, together, lost thousands of lives.



He and his running mate have stated that there are certain parts of the country that are Pro-America and certain parts that are Anti-America. Conveniently, the only "Pro-America" parts of the country are states that are polling well for McCain. He's pitting race against race, state against state, "elitist" against "working class", and Christian against non-Christian. It's nothing less than shameful what he's attempting to do to our country in the pursuit of power. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a real patriot.



Don't forget to vote!!!!!

Alaska's Largest Newspaper Endorses Obama

Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.

The Anchorage Daily News endorses Obama for President.

Some highlights from the article:

It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington. You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove. And while Sen. McCain points to the fragile success of the troop surge in stabilizing conditions in Iraq, it is also plain that he was fundamentally wrong about the more crucial early decisions. Contrary to his assurances, we were not greeted as liberators; it was not a short, easy war; and Americans -- not Iraqi oil -- have had to pay for it. It was Sen. Obama who more clearly saw the danger ahead.

The unqualified endorsement of Sen. Obama by a seasoned, respected soldier and diplomat like Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican icon, should reassure all Americans that the Democratic candidate will pass muster as commander in chief.

That's all! Oh, I did make the trip to Nashville yesterday to make our donation to the homeless shelter I talked about. I'll post soon with pictures and comments about that:)

DANG

One of McCain's supporters has gone all kinds of loco.





So, the story goes like this. First, Ashley Todd, a 20 year old from Texas who is Pennsylvania volunteering for the McCain campaign, reported a crime to the police. Basically, a mugging that somehow turned into a political hate crime.

Woman says attack on her linked to McCain bumper sticker

From the above linked article:

Richard said the 20-year-old told investigators a man approached her Wednesday night at an ATM in the city's East End, put a blade to her neck and demanded money.

She said she gave him $60 and stepped away from him, Richard said.

She further stated the man "punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, and he continued to punch and kick her while threatening to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," according to a police statement.

The woman also told police her attacker "called her a lot of names and stated that 'You are going to be a Barack supporter,' at which time she states he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees, and scratched into her face a backward letter 'B' on the right side of her face using what she believed to be a very dull knife."

The alleged assailant fled on foot, Richard said.

"We, the police, cannot substantiate this yet," she said. "This is what she told police."

The woman, who is from Texas, refused medical attention, Richard said, although she told the investigating officer she would see a doctor Thursday. There was no update on her condition, she said.

Richard said the woman described her alleged attacker as a dark-skinned African-American, 6 feet 4 inches tall with a medium build and short dark hair, wearing dark clothing and shiny shoes.

And then, OOOOOPS. Some inconsistencies started to crop up. Like, for instance, the fact that the "carved" B didn't break the skin? And that it's backwards like maybe someone did it to herself in the mirror? And that it's remarkably neat and symmetrical for someone to have done it in the midst of a frenzied attack at nighttime with a big knife? Moving on.

Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence from the Citizens Bank ATM where she claims the incident occurred, police said.

via Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Regarding the whole bumper sticker thing:

When Ms. Todd reported the incident, "nowhere did she say to the officer that [the assailant] made reference to the bumper sticker. I don't know how she came to the conclusion that he noticed the sticker," Cmdr. Ross said.

via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Also, from that same article:

"Ms. Todd told police during at least five hours of questioning last night that her attacker said to her, "You are going to be a Barack supporter." She told police the man then sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees and used what she believed was a dull knife with a roughly 5-inch blade to carve the B.

Ms. Todd then went to a friend's house in the 5100 block of Cypress Street, about a mile away, where she reported the incident to police about 45 minutes later. She declined medical treatment at that time.

A friend said Ms. Todd went to an unknown hospital on her own around 1 a.m."

From that same article:

Several employees at nearby businesses last night said they were unaware of the attack.

Then, stuff just started snowballing.

"Richard (police spokeswoman) said Todd later added to her tale, saying she was groped by the robber and lost consciousness during the assault. Neither of those details was in the original report.

Richard said after a second interview, Todd also was not as definitive about the assault or the motives behind it, nor could she say for certain whether the robber took $60 from her as she initially reported but maintains is missing."

Yeah, if it's not sounding bad enough, just toss sexual assault, loss of consciousness, and temporary amnesia in there. That always works, right? Hmm, maybe not. Next up for this news day?

"Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker."

via KDKA

That's right. She freaking MADE IT UP. That crazy bitch. And, well, I'll actually let the VP of FOX News do the talking for me (don't worry, that's a one time event):

"If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."

All I have left to say is-whoa. That's one big ol' bucket of crazy right there. Oh, wait. There is one more thing. Considering that this nutcase must have seriously "carved" that B in the mirror, I suppose this is more appropriate:





Thanks to WineDivaDesigns on Ravely for the pictures:)

Ron Howard, Andy Griffithy, and Henry Winkler take one for the Obama team.

Word. These guys are awesome!! Check out this hilarious bit of film:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

and here's another little photo montage I made. It's set to a cover of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. It's very peppy with only happy pictures. Yay!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lastly, I had another weigh in this morning. I've lost 2 more pounds. That makes 25 pounds down!!! Wooohoooooo!!