I'm going to try to get through an entire posting before my son wakes up for his bottle.

Caden is doing beautifully. He's starting to sleep through the night [or at least 3/4 of it], taking cat naps during the day, and overall being a very easy baby. He's perfectly content sitting beside me or having me hold him. He's a bit of a Mama's boy [even though he CRIED yesterday when his dad had to leave.. It almost broke my heart!]. I'm trying to remember to take pictures of him in his "cute" moments - but most of them will only be preserved in my memory. Oh well.

Nathan, Caden's dad, came over yesterday to spend some time with us. It's still kinda weird for us, since we're trying to figure out how to be great parents - even with the complications of being teenage parents, living a good distance from the other, & not being in a relationship. It's a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, but mostly due to outside interference..

Anyway, here are some pictures of the boy!

The new "norm".

Weird things are happening in the valley this week. It's freaking SNOWING - that's the second time! It snowed by Mom's work on Monday then it started snowing today by the house, but it didn't keep unfortunately. Still, I got to show Caden and it was all pretty to watch it fall.
Then Caden decided it'd be a good idea to scare the living daylights out of his mom and stop making dirty diapers. For more than 24 hours now. And I had no idea what the heck to do. I don't want to be one of those moms who rushes off to the emergency room because baby has the sniffles, but jeez, it scared me. I finally got ahold of the on-call pediatric doctor, who told me that it's normal for him not to have a BM for a week. A week! Why didn't anybody think to tell me that when I was in the hospital?! Goodness.
In other news, I'm thinking I may have to get ahold of my doctor sometime soon. My lower stomach is numb; the only part I can feel is where bruises have popped up. I don't think that's supposed to happen and reading c-section horror stories on the internet sure hasn't helped ease my mind. It's probably my body's reaction to the pain I've been in, but still. Weird. If nothing else, maybe they'll decide to give me something stronger than Motrin [yeah, MOTRIN - nevermind, it's not like I had major surgery or anything..].
I'm exhausted, but I don't want to go to sleep. I don't sleep very well anyway, I'm always afraid that the second I go to sleep Caden will need me. It's not like I get stuff done while I'm awake. I'm not off doing chores or knitting or reading or anything. If I'm not checking stuff out on Myspae or Ravelry, I'm channel surfing - something completely useless because there is NOTHING on the television after 1am.
Pictures of the boy should be posted sometime soon, hopefully. I'd really love to get a picture of him with his eyes open, because he's got beautiful dark blue eyes.. but there's a reason his mother has [lovingly] nicknamed him "Popeye" (something that has caught on with the rest of the family.. I don't think he's gonna live this one down. Sorry, Cade!).
It doesn't feel like Christmas is coming next week. I've got zero anticipation for it, unlike years past where I couldn't wait and started getting antsy.. Now I'm more excited for Caden to get his first Christmas, even though he'll be a whole two weeks old. I love the idea of getting his picture taken while he's in a stocking, haha. I'll make sure Grandma hears about that one.
Well, I should get goin' - I've got a kid I'll need to wake up soon so he can be fed and changed, since I know he won't wake up on his own. Ah, the life of being a mom. =]

Caden: Breakin' Hearts [..and Traditions]

Last Wednesday at 2:52pm, my little man joined the world. It was a drawn out process, complicated by a "dysfunctional labor" and ended with a c-section and the 10 pound love of my life.
Sure, I've got constant pains from major surgery, bruises on my arm from needing a blood transfusion, I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 3 hours at a time, I haven't seen wrestling in nearly a week, not to mention I haven't picked up my knitting since I became a mommy.. But I spend 24 hours a day with my son. My son. Just looking at him is enough to make me forget everything else [and make me wanna cry!].
I decided he needed a non-traditional name. John, Michael, David.. those wouldn't cut it for me. This is a special baby, he's the center of my universe. So I named him Caden [it's in the baby books, I promise] because.. Well, I think it's a great name and still rather unknown, though it's getting more popular. And even though the men in my family haven't had middle names for over a hundred years [yes, literally.. my dad knows that kind of stuff], I gave him the middle name of Thomas. I figured if Caden was going to have any sort of middle name, why not name him after the greatest (insert my last name here) ever?
So now it's been about six days and I can't imagine not having this little guy around. I'm with him 24 hours a day. He refuses to sleep in his crib throughout the night - he prefers sleeping in his boppy pillow right next to Mommy. He knows my voice. We watch Johnny Depp movies together at 3am. He doesn't mind if Mommy types on the computer while he's trying to sleep [as he is right now, heh], I can laugh at something on the television while he sleeps on my chest. He gives kisses if I'm close enough, haha. He fusses until I pick him up and hold him then he zonks out in about 2.7 seconds.
I'm totally in love with being a mom. Yeah, it changes everything, but it feels like things are changing for the better. That I am changing for the better. Like this is the motivation for my life - to make my son proud, to show him what his mother is capable of. It's still an unreal feeling that he's here and he's mine. I can't believe it.
I'm one lucky girl and I wouldn't take back one second with Caden for having the "normal" life of a 19 year old. Not a chance.
I guess now is a good time to try to start Charlene's scarf, since before we know it Christmas will be here! I'll post some pictures of Caden tomorrow, too. =]

Pregnancy insomnia kicks my butt.

Of course my plan to get more sleep failed miserably. I couldn't get comfortable, my phone kept going off with text messages [when did I get popular?!], my cat was being psycho, the baby wouldn't stop moving for a fricking millisecond, and my hips kept popping out of place. I had planned on going to bed around 11.. then 11:30.. then midnight.. then 12:30.. I think I finally got to sleep around 1:45am.
And since I can't get more than 3, 4 hours of sleep at a time [..training for when the baby gets here, perhaps?], I was awake by 5:15am.
Then I realized how hungry I was so I had to trek it downstairs to grab some cereal and watched "Big Bang Theory" on the dvr. Then I freaked because I had forgotten to do laundry in my wrestling-watching stupor last night so I had to go back upstairs, sort my clothes, take the stupid thing downstairs, start the washer and pray it didn't wake up the dogs so they wouldn't bark and wake everyone else.. which thankfully they didn't.
So I come back upstairs and started cleaning. I can't start one chore and just stop, I have to continue cleaning. Stupid nesting instinct.
Oh well, just call me June Cleaver.

It's almost 10:30pm and I've done a good job of staying up as much as I can possibly can today so that I can get to bed at a decent hour. My appointment tomorrow is around 11am so I need to be up and ready by then. I didn't start Charlene's scarf today like I wanted to, but I did manage to finally organize my yarn and get everything put away properly. Plus I decided to put up our Christmas tree. It was a good idea since it's helpful to the rest of the fam.. but it was probably stupid to do it while nobody else was home since A) I've never put up the dang thing in my life and B) oh y'know, I'm only 41 weeks pregnant and could burst at any minute..
Oh well, now it's done. Putting up the tree helped a lot with making me tired. The dogs stuck around, watching. Starla actually tried to help, but Barney took a seat on the couch and supervised. And I had wrestling on the big tv [it was a THREE hour episode!!!] so I was a happy Megan.
Tomorrow I'm either staying and delivering a kid or I'm scheduling my induction for Friday. Yup, Friday. I am not staying pregnant one more weekend, I am not going 42 weeks, I am not waiting until I absolutely have to have the baby. No, I'm refusing.
By the next episode of Monday Night RAW, I will be sitting on my futon with my newborn baby. Mark my words!

I can't wait until Tuesday. I had contractions for about 45 minutes today, which then stopped after I took a hot shower and relaxed for a bit, but still - its progress! Since my nonstress test is on Tuesday, I want to see if I've made any actual progress.. say, about being 4-5cm. That'd be fantastical, haha. Oh, how I dream.
On the happy side of things, I've almost completed my 2nd fingerless glove then I just have to sew them up and weave in the ends. I really enjoy the pattern and will probably make a pair for my best friend in the not-so-near future. I've already got enough on my plate with trying to start her Christmas presents, hehe. I know, I know, nothing like waiting until the almost last minute.. but I had to start projects that I could finish in labor if I needed to. Unfortunately I've practically finished all my "easy peasy" projects that I was trying to save for the hospital so it looks like I'll have to get creative, which isn't hard with a resource like Ravelry.
Anyhow, it's 1am now. I need orange juice, 30 minutes of relaxing time [aka "knitting time"], and sleeeeeep.

Knitting photos! Yay!

This is a "one row scarf". Since it's done in black, seeing the detailing isn't possible. Kinda weird that I have blue carpet, yet the picture looks like it's tan.. Anyway, it took me about two days to complete it. It's about 48 inches; a bit shorter than normal, but I wanted to see if it would be a good pattern for later scarves.This is the detailing for my fingerless glove. It's done with waffle stitch, which I really thought was easy and I love the pattern it ended up making. I still have to sew up the seams and make the second one.

This is the fingerless glove before it gets completed. Took about a day and half to finish this one as I was getting used to purling more often. I love it and it's actually rather comfortable.

And here is the baby blanket. I made it smaller than what the pattern called for, because I just wanted a little throw to put over me and the baby when we're chillaxing on the futon or the couch. It's folded up and hanging over the side of the crib right now. =]

Here it is as spread out as I am capable of before the tummy starts a-kickin'. It's completely garter stitch, with a cute little border. I'm thinking of making one in the recommended size for Estelle's baby.

Whee, photos.

Ok, so since the end is near, I thought I'd post a few pregnant pictures. I am not a glamorous person, which is probably why I'm wearing kiddie pjs.. Anyway, I'm about 38 weeks in this photo: And this is my "Mom, are you SERIOUSLY going to take a picture of me like this? ..Whatever, fine, but I'm not moving" picture. I'm 39 weeks. [The shirt is a picture of Thumper that says "What's kicking?"] Note how many pillows it takes for me to be semi-comfortable.. and that knitting is never far from me, heh.

And here's the latest. I'm 40 weeks, exhausted, feet swollen, legs sore, and in the most comfortable piece of clothing I own [which, surprising, is NOT maternity but I'd never worn it beforehand, haha].

So there we go. I'll post pictures of my knitting later. I've just finished one of my fingerless gloves [!!!!!] and I'm uber excited to start the next one. I've also gotta start work on my best friend's scarf for Christmas, but I'm still deciding which pattern I want to go with, even though I've recently fallen in love with the waffle stitch. More pics later.. unless I go into labor, which I'm doubting but still hopeful about!

Yeah, still nothing. I went with Mom to take the dogs out for a walk this morning then have been moving around plenty today, hoping that gravity will work in my favor. It seems to have helped, as I have even more pain in my legs from the baby pushing on me, but I still have yet to go into labor. Total bummer.

At least I've started getting responses from employers. Hopefully I'll have an at-home job by the time is baby here or shortly after. I'll have plenty of nonsense to pay for and the last time I checked, knitted scarves are not a form of currency [..darn it!].

It doesn't feel like Christmas is right around the corner. By this time last year, I already had everyone's presents all wrapped and ready to go. Not so much this year. All my focus is on my impending motherhood [understandable, right?]; I'm more excited for baby to have its first Christmas.. though it'll only be two weeks old.

Well, time to work some more on my fingerless gloves. I'm almost half way done with one.. which reminds me that I need to work on taking pictures, haha. Mom should be on her way home from the BX soon so I'll see if she'll let me borrow her camera.

Today is not going great. No good news from the doctor plus the added thought that since I'm still only 1cm, I may end up having a c-section [which I really really really really REALLY don't want]. Not even the baby's fault, it's completely my wiring. Found out that the reason why I can barely walk is because the baby is trying to get out.
That plus the stress of everything crashed down on me today and I just can't handle it too well right now. I'm hoping this will all go away once the kid is here. But it looks like that's just the first hurdle I've got coming up. ..Sweet.
On the up side, I've started putting in for jobs. Which probably sounds funny, but they're all telecommuting jobs. The one I most like is a medical transcriptionist job; basically I listen to dictations, type them up, and email them to the right person. They'll even pay for me to go through a training program, which is always cool. They pay enough that I'd be covered to pay for anything myself. I want a job badly; I need independence any way I can find it. I'm grateful for everything I've gotten, but I need to be the sort of person that I would want my own kid to be.
Hopefully this all makes sense. I've gotten about three hours of sleep and I'm too lazy to do any editting, heh.
In other news, wrestling is on so that'll lift my spirits. =] I'm going to look into more jobs, online schools, and all that crazy stuff. More later.

What better way to distract myself from the impending pain that is labor than to knit myself up some cute fingerless gloves? The pattern calls for wool yarn, but I'm going to give it a go with acrylic, just to see if I can figure out the pattern or not. If so, maybe I'll invest in some nice yarn down the road and give the pink gloves as a present to a younger cousin or something. And I've also gotten on a sock kick. I've probably got about 20-30 patterns saved on Ravelry that are nothing but socks. I want to learn how to knit them sooo much. I'm intrigued by all the different designs; plus they're a small project that I can take with me wherever I go or work on while baby sleeps [that's my wishful thinking, haha]. So it's 3am, I'm starting a new knitting project, and while the contractions aren't as horrible as they were earlier in the day, they're still enough that I won't be able to sleep. Oh well, as is life. Pictures with my posts will start today [..as in I'll go back later and add pictures to this post, hehe]!!

For someone who has a mildly high pain tolerance, these contractions are totally kicking my butt today. I've gone through at least a dozen piercings [plus the process of gauging a few different times] and three tattoos, but I'm still stopping dead in my tracks when these contractions hit. They don't last for long and they're not very close, but if I can't get them to stop, I will definitely be going to the hospital. Matt's here with me all day so it's not a problem & he's antsy about meeting his niece/nephew. Mom's at work, but I know she could get here at a moment's notice if I needed her to. Anyway, I'm going to see if the contractions lessen in the next hour or so. If not, we may just have a birthday on our hands!

Ooh, I like my aunt's idea of blogging every day this month [complete with pictures].. Maybe I'll steal that, haha. I'm sure once this kid comes, I'll find any excuse to take a picture so why not put 'em up? Plus I've done some knitting lately and I've been meaning to put pictures up on Art Fire and Ravelry anyway.. Anyway, I'll post again later --> Wrestling's on and my concentration level for anything else is rather low. Oh, and check out this link [http://tinyurl.com/6fs6uz].. I'm probably a little hippie for posting that, but I gotta admit, there's a LOT of great reasons on there and maybe it'll motivate others!

Due date - come and gone. Still no baby. On the plus side, I've gotten [another] online shop at Artfire.com [http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=12199]. It's a FREE service: doesn't charge for postings or have a sales fee. I'd still have to pay something for using PayPal, but I'll deal with that. I can have up to 10 products on sale with Artfire, unless I get a subscription [which is currently $7/month, usually $20/month]. If I sell things quickly on there, maybe I'll look into the subscription, but I'm cool with only having 10 products for sale at once. So now I've got something to do tomorrow, since I still don't feel like I'm about to go into labor. By the way, www.babycenter.com says I'm 14% more likely to go into labor on a Tuesday than any other day and least likely to go into labor on the weekend. Weird factoid. Anyway, I'm hoping to actually get some sleep tonight so I'm going to knit a few more rows then pass out watching "Little People, Big World."

I'm literally going to start banging my head into my desk repeatedly if the cramps in my lower back don't knock it off. On the plus side, I've already gotten my quota of 3 hours of nighttime sleep.. For whatever reason, I can't sleep very well during the night, but after about 9am I can sleep like a baby [hopefully like my soon-to-be baby, haha] for anywhere between five and seven hours. Bizarre. I'm contemplating hopping into the shower, since the hot water seems to be the only thing that helps with the lower back cramps but I don't want to wake anyone else in the house. Eh, I doubt anybody would care.. especially if I told 'em it was to see if this is real or Braxton-Hicks. Anyway, "Major Payne" is on the tv; that movie always makes me happy. It's fricking hilarious, I don't care what anyone says. I'm also enjoying starting a new knitting project; it's just a scarf with a simple pattern, but I'm enjoying the mindlessness of it. And I really like the way it looks [although I'm knitting it in black - go figure] and have decided that if I like it well enough and it doesn't give me too many problems, I'll make one for Charlene for Christmas. I've got 74 projects queued on Ravelry already.. Maybe that'll get my stash of yarn cut wayyy down. Half of 'em are toys I want to experiment making for the little one. I've even got some crochet things on there, because I want to relearn how to crochet eventually. Well, it's either time for that shower or to do a few rows of knitting, I haven't quite decided. Man, I know I'm going to be in another world of hurt once this kid comes out, but I can't wait to start feeling like my normal self again [aka minus the little kickboxer, hehe]!!

Mom came home with a mattress, changing pad cover, waterproof mattress pad, and a travel system. It's like Christmas! So now I'm really, really ridiculously almost completely prepared for this kid. Oh, and then she says: "Work on having that kid tonight. I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow." Ah, mothers. Priceless.

Eww, my feet are like twice their normal size today! They're really gnarly looking and kinda freaking me out. I should probably be lying down, or at least elevating them.. I'll get around to it. And I'm severely disappointed that I haven't knit anything in the last three days. The heck have I been doing?! Oh, and I'm really over this whole "Get minor contractions for 30 minutes (making me feel like I should be getting ready to gogogo!) and then.. nothing for three hours." My kid is still in utero and already playing mindgames with me. ..Yup, definitely my kid. I'm gonna go see if I can get some of this swelling to go down. It's really difficult to walk already, I don't need to worry about waddling on swollen feet. Oh look, another contraction..

Happy Turkey Day.

Argh, this stupid Zigzag Lace scarf is going to be the death of me. I've already ripped it out about three times. I keep ending up with four more stitches than I need on the fifth row and I can't figure out why. Stupidhead. Yup, baby's still not here. Not too much cramping today, just some in my lower back. I think all the turkey made it sleepy, heh. Well, I'm gonna go find a pattern that won't make me feel like I wanna rip out my hair. Oh! And Dad put together my crib and changing table today! It's AWESOME, I'm so glad I chose it and stuck with it. Now if only I had something to put into the crib..

So now I'm almost 2cm dilated and about 75% effaced. It seems like that time is getting closer and closer, but I'm still not getting a lot of hard contractions. It's making me kinda feel like.. 2 steps forward, 1 step back. I'm very excited that the changing table got here this morning [especially surprised since Mom had just ordered it Monday night!]. Dad's gonna put together the crib and changing table tomorrow before the boys head off to Aunt Linda's for Thanksgiving. I feel kinda bad not going, but I just don't feel right going that far away from the hospital at this point and Mom's very understanding about it, so she's going to stay home with me and we're going to have our own little Thanksgiving. Plus, there's a House marathon on USA - who could miss that?! We've got almost everything set up in my room, minus the crib and changing table. I'm very excited about that. I'm going to pack my bag first thing tomorrow morning, just to get that set too. But for now, I'm going to watch Parking Wars on A&E and knit up something easy. Oh, and if I have a boy on Thanksgiving, I'm totally going to have to give him "Thomas" as a middle name, haha.

Rather annoyed with myself. I guess I bit off more than I could chew today. While I didn't finish my list, I did manage to do enough work with enough force to start having contractions. Argh. I started getting them around 1 and they haven't stopped for more than 1 1/2 hours since then. They aren't very painful, just annoying. And I know these are the "for real" ones because they don't go away no matter what I do. Oh well, now I know better. On the up side of things, I managed to get A LOT done today and I'm very proud of myself. And I got a package in the mail today from Uncle Boo with goodies from my registry. Baby stuff always puts me in a better mood, hehe. Mom bought the baby a few things from a cosignment shop today that are really adorable; we're gonna go together so I can check it out for myself. My crib should be coming anytime this week, so I'm also looking forward to that. And I am officially "due" in a week. I didn't knowingly go through this for nine months so to be due for having a baby in a week is a lot to wrap my head around. However, I do feel anxious and ready. How do I know I'll be a good mom? ..Because I'm related to the Birk women, of course! ;] Whoo, time for bed. Good thing about overworking myself is that baby is also utterly exhausted so maybe I'll get more than four hours of sleep tonight, hehe.

I'm digging this new background. Yes, it's Christmas-y. Yes, it's rather dark. But dang it, I heart it, heh. Oh! And I finished the baby blanket [not sure if I had already said that or not]. I'm making today a productive day, though I'm fighting my extreme fatigue and deep desire to crawl back under the covers for the rest of the day. I made sure I got up at 9am to get started. It's almost noon now and I've done more in three hours than I usually do in three days. Still need to finish laundry, pack hospital bags, and put away a few things.. plus I wanted to see if I could clean out my car, which will have to wait until I've gotten in the shower because I don't think the entire neighborhood needs to see me in my snowman pjs. Even if all I get done today is half my list, I'll be ecstatic. I've also decided not to let myself start another knitting project [even a 2-hour hat!] until I've finished my To-Do List. Well, back to work!

On a day like this - where I feel like I can't move because of the soreness in my legs and the annoying cramping in my lower back - I'm pissed that I can't do anything that I had wanted to do today. I wanted to finish setting up my room, get stuff organized, get all the crap out of my car, and remove anything that I don't want. Nope, didn't get to any of that stuff today. Instead I laid in my bed, barely moving, sleeping when the pain was starting to seriously annoy me. Oh well, I guess there's nothing I can do but bear it and hope tomorrow is better.

Update

That thing under my "About Me" is from Twitter, which will post my updates. Nifty, ain't it? Anyway, had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I am 1cm dilated and 25% effaced [is that the right word?]; doctor said that it doesn't predict my progress, just where I was at that time. But still, it's pretty exciting. Other than that, I'm almost done with my baby blanket. Which I'm very proud of, considering I've only been working on it for the last five days [but I really have nothing else to do right now..]. Hopefully I'll be done with it by tomorrow and have pictures posted, both here and on Ravelry - which I FINALLY got to join today, since my invite arrived. After this blanket, I'm going to try to get all my "to do" projects done. I also want to make myself a pair of garter stitch fingerless gloves by my birthday. And knit the baby about a zillion things, haha. Wish me luck.

Twitter's down.. again. There is nothing good on television. I should be sleeping already. I'm surfing knitting sites, because I want to start projects that I know I won't have time to finish once the baby is here but I'm still determined. A friend of mine did give me a good piece of advice though - "Instead of sleeping while the baby is sleeping, why can't you knit?" A-ha! At least knitting is quiet and I can stay in the same room with baby, if I choose to. Oh, and Rod & co. sent me a gift card, so I get to go baby shopping. Sweet. I've found that I enjoy baby shopping even more than I enjoy shopping for yarn. Well, I guess one of us isn't ready for me to go to bed, so I'll knit until I can't keep my eyes open. 20 minutes, max.

"Starship Command, there seems to be no signs of life anywhere.."

Yes, I'm quoting Toy Story. This seriously bugs me: I have my own cell phone, with unlimited texting. I have a Myspace. I have a Facebook. I have e-mail through Yahoo! and AOL. I have a blog that [until recently] I update fairly often. I even have a Twitter. Not to mention I accept snail mail and phone calls on the house phone. So why don't I ever talk to anyone?! It's sad. =[

Whirlwinddddd!

As far as my next three(ish) weeks, I think my time is going to pretty much be devoted to getting ready for my new addition. I'm almost completely done pulling my room together to make room for everything. Plus I even got a baby registry done today (check your email; if it's not there, let me know and I'll resend it!) after spotting a crib and changing table that I liked. FINALLY! Once everything is finally done and ready in this room, I'll work some more on my knitting and Etsy shop. I'm particularly excited to start up the Etsy shop now, because I know there will be things I'll want to buy for baby Caden/Riley. What mom doesn't want to feel like she can provide for her kid? And I'm sure I'll be starting a baby blanket here soon, heh. Stay tuned!

Hola!

I have every intention of updating this blog..

..Later. 

Lots of changes are happening and I can't seem to find a spare minute to update this thing, but I will after this weekend (if I have internet, that is!). 

Updateeee.

I need a job. I hate being without a job, it's so dang boring. 

The digital camera I want from Target is $100. More than likely, it'll be my Christmas present to myself, hehe.

I've had to rip out and restart Estelle's baby blanket about four times now. At this rate, I'll have to give it to Baby Girl for her high school graduation. Oy vey.

I hate boys. ..Minus the ones I'm related to. They're all a bunch of disappointments and stupid excuses.

I also hate running out of gas. First time ever and it happened tonight. Total bummer. 

I love living with my best friend. 

October is an awesome month for movies on television. I'm watching Jeeper Creepers right now.

I'm exhausted so I'm gonna catch some sleep before the Great Job Search of 2008 starts tomorrow!! Wish me luck.

Just a little f.y.i.

I am soooo glad to finally be back home in Las Vegas!! Who else has a mom that would drive 2600 miles in five days to bring you back home then turn around and have to be at work by 6:30am the next morning?! My mom's incredible. THANKS AGAIN MAMA!! We got into Sin City around 3 yesterday and immediately went to my new house to unload the trailer and see Charlene. Emma spent the night there so she could get used to the room, plus I didn't want her to have to battle two dogs and yet another car ride. I spent the night at Mom and Dad's, saw Matt, Starla, Barn, and Dad. Socks is in hiding somewhere, but I hear that's the norm now. I woke up to Starla laying across my legs and Barney whimpering for my attention next to my head, haha. I got up around 6:45am, which is now normal for me since that would make it 8:45am Kansas time. Hopefully I'll start waking up at a decent hour. Anyway, I plan on driving my car to my house today, cleaning and setting up my room, and hopefully going down to Cox Communications for new cable and modem boxes so I'll have internet and cable in my room by tonight, if not by tomorrow night. As far as knitting, my main focuses are Estelle's baby blanket (which is more of a spare time project) and knitting things to put up on Etsy. I'm getting a lot of ideas for things to sell, so we'll see how it goes. My next post will come once I've got internet in my house so be patient!! =]

There really is no place like home

As we speak, my mother (who is beyond awesome, by the way) is on her way to Manhattan, Kansas to take this city girl back home. It's not a matter of failure, it's a matter of me really needing to be surrounded by things I know right now. I've been homesick for almost three months now and it just got to the point where I was asking myself "..Then why in the world am I still here?!" I never saw much of this town, considering I don't have a car, and it never quite felt like someplace I could ever call home. I guess I'm just too used to Vegas and it's size, heh. I love small towns.. No, wait, correction: I love MY small town - Roann. I've learned that, while I do want to be on my own, I still want my family within distance. I still need my family within distance. Though I'm moving back to Sin City, I'm not moving back in with the parentals. My best friend, Charlene, and her mom have a room that they want to rent out to me, which I happily accepted. I've known Charlene since I was about 15 years old (best friends since I was 18, though) so I know how good of a person she is. Anyway, Mom's starting out on her journey right now and should be here tomorrow night. Then we'll leave first thing Monday morning. Words cannot even begin to describe how excited I am; I couldn't even sleep last night, I just wanted to pack pack pack!! I'll be completely set by the time Mom gets here so she doesn't have to do anything but help me load some boxes and furniture. Oh, and the best part about living with Charlene: Emma gets to live with me!!!!!!!!! That poor thing needs to stop living in a kennel and go back to sleeping on my bed every night. This will probably be my last post until I'm officially in Vegas, since I need to pack my computer and break down my computer desk, hehe. I CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOME!

Open your hearts.. and wallets!

Nice title, huh? It relates to the fact that I have no roadblocks in my way of opening up my Etsy account anymore, so it should be up by tomorrow or Friday at the latest. I'll be spreading the word like crazyyyy on Myspace. My having a car pretty much depends on the success of this shop so let's cross our fingers.. and toes, just for extra luck. I'll give out the link once everything's set up! Stay tuned!!

Quick update.

Just a quick update to tell y'all what's been going on, since my next to last update wasn't the happiest, heh. Don't worry Mom, I promise I'm alright. Some days are just plain hard, that's all. My job is going well, but unfortunately, I'm getting paid next to nothing and not getting a whole lot of hours so I've started hunting for another job. Hopefully I'll be able to get one soon so I can start hardcore saving for a car. I think I'd deal with being here a lot better if I had a car, having something that's mine, some way to escape from the house for a while. Plus I haven't even seen all of Manhattan, because I'm afraid of walking around and getting myself lost, heh. It'd be nice to have a car before it gets too freezing to walk around outside. Anyway, still trying to knit up every bit of yarn I have so I can get that Etsy shop really going. I'm just waiting on pictures and my new debit card. I think the hat count is around 17 (ish; I've lost count!) for adults, 2 or 3 for kids. I'll be spreading the word about Etsy on Myspace, encouraging people to go check it out. I'm really getting interested in this whole "Buy Homemade" movement. Alex gave me the idea of making soap and knitting soap satchels to sell also; I think that'd be something neat to try. I guess that's all for now. I'm working on updating my Myspace since I haven't in FOREVER, hehe. Til next time! <3

Etsy!!

Since I want a car in the very-ridiculously-soon future, and I only make enough money from my job to basically cover my gas expenses, I decided I'd start a shop on Etsy. I figured that once I got my shop all set up, I could add links to my blog, my Myspace, and the numerous knitting groups I belong to. Hopefully I'll be able to start selling things quickly which means I could driveeee.. which means I'd be able to go visit my family [hint hint]!! Oh, and my Etsy shop is actually a tribute to the lady who decided I needed needles in my hands: Mama. My username [which is automatically the name for my shop too] is KnitstirKid, haha. I'm hoping to get the shop set up by next week so stay tuned for an update on that.

Homesick

I swear, it's like the longer I stay in Manhattan, the more and more I realize how much I loved Las Vegas. The streets here are almost always deserted, something that never happens back home. There aren't even street lights in the neighborhood! So nobody goes outside past dusk. Everything closes here around 6 or 7, which is lameeee. Doesn't help that being here means being away from my mama - it's already been two months since I've seen her!!! The longest I've ever gone without seeing my mom is nine months - and that's only because I was waiting on being born!! Since we've lived in this house (we were in Kansas City for about 2 weeks before moving to Manhattan), I've been trying to send Emma back to Las Vegas, because we aren't allowed to have pets. She spends her time outside in the backyard in her kennel when I'm not outside with her (our gates don't close properly so I can't trust that she won't try to wander away). She's always got food and water and she does just fine, but she's such a princess that she needs to be inside. Besides, she's my little baby; she never slept outside before coming here, she was always sleeping in my bed. Mom was hoping to get her home this weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen. I had problems with my debit card and called B of A to see if they could fix it.. Unfortunately, the lady told me the only thing she could do was cancel the card and order me another one. It's on it's way but won't be here until at least next Wednesday. I hardly ever keep cash on me, so I have to wait for the debit card to pay the vet (pets on an airplane have to have a health certificate, saying they're healthy enough to fly) and to give Maria gas money since the airport is two hours away and I don't have a car (something I need to fix IMMEDIATELY; it's starting to get too cold to walk everywhere, heh). Hopefully we'll be able to get Emma home next weekend or the weekend after. I'm so jealous that she gets to go back to Las Vegas!! Anyway, I've gotta get ready for work and do some quick cleaning (although it's 100 times more difficult when people are home, argh). I'm gonna try to pick up my needles later today though!!! Yesterday I made two adult-sized hats and one child's. I started a new scarf on some size 11's; basically I'm just killing time until Mom's third box can get here so I can start Estelle's baby blanket. =] Until next time!

Quick update

So, my adult hat count is now up to 10 and I've started working on some kid hats too. I haven't gotten a chance to knit today yet though, since I got up early and started cleaning the house (Man, picking up after four people is a full time job in itself!). I also had to take apart my futon frame so Alex and I could get it upstairs. Due to the narrow stairs and the skinny doorframes, we hadn't been able to figure out how to get it upstairs so I had the brilliant idea of "Hey, let's just take it apart!". Wellll, that didn't go so great at first. It took us about 40 minutes to even figure out HOW.. We are obviously not girls who work with tools on a daily basis. It was actually Alex who figured it out first and then we eventually got the back of the frame off. It's skinny enough now that it should fit through the doorway.. If not, I may just pull my hair out, haha. Now that we've gotten the back off, we've taken a little break to regain our energy to get it upstairs. I made some mac & cheese for lunch so now that we've eaten, it's Round Two: Megan vs. Futon. Cross your fingers!! After that, we've gotta put it back together (MUCH easier than tearing it apart) and then I'll finally have some knitting time! Yay!!

By the way, I thought I'd just mention that the importance of three girls in my life is obvious: I've got three pictures on my desk. One is the picture of Gracie this Easter. Another is Rhonda and I about three years ago. The last is Mom and I, me looking like I'm around 2, 2 1/2. =] Gotta represent each member of the Secret Society, of course, hehe. The picture of Granma [honorary member, of course] is next to my bed, though.

Until next time!
UPDATE: Even after taking the back part of the frame off, it STILL wasn't skinny enough so we had to take it back downstairs, where we removed the bars on either side so the legs could be moved to a larger angle. Third time was a charm! Then it took us about 30 minutes to put it back together. I felt very accomplished to finally have the stupid thing put together AND I've even got blisters on my hands to show off my hard work, haha!!

Hot hands, lemme tell ya..

I got myself into an ancient knitter's pickle last week. Just as I was finishing up Bayli's hat, I ran out of the orange yarn and, of course, had no more and hadn't seen any like it around here. Luckily, I found a small ball of it at the veryyy bottom of my storage container so I was able to finish the hat. I still needed more to make a matching scarf; Mom really came through for me on that one, heh. Nevermind the fact that she's sent me two boxes full of yarn (Mom - you rock!) to play with. I'm really grateful that she's sending me yarn, considering the fact that I've already made seven (yes, SEVEN) hats in two days. I've got one on the loom right now that I plan on finishing before I go to bed tonight. I also have intentions of making matching scarves to these hats. I figure I might as well knit up a whole bunch of stuff so that I can sell it on Etsy. I worked three hours today at the knitting shop. It was a lot of fun and the yarn there is really awesome (read: really expensive). I won't be getting a lot of hours, but I get a fair wage and I wanted to do it just because it was fun, not for the money. Anyway, I don't work again until Thursday so I'll be able to crank out an obscene amount of hats. Even Alex wants to contribute to my Etsy madness; she's more of a bag/pillow type of person, but her things come out really cute as well. I'll, hopefully, start putting pictures of my projects this week. Until then!

Obsessive much?

I spent a large majority of my day looking up patterns I wanted to try for various things and starting a few projects. I managed to make Rayna's hat today on the loom, in pink and black, so I felt accomplished. I also taught Alex a few things and I'm teaching Rayna how to knit (if she finishes all her homework!) on tomorrow.. technically, later today.
Alex is trying to work on a biased scarf as well, but is having some difficulty remembering which row she's on. I told her I used to have the same problem and maybe starting to write it down would help. It did a bit, but I think she had already made enough mistakes that she just wanted to rip it out and start over. She wants to do some projects as well (chokers, bookmarks, little bags, etc) and I keep having to explain to her that she can't go forward until she's mastered the basics. I know she gets frustrated (I still do over my own mistakes and I've been knitting wayyy longer than she has!!), but I have high hopes. Rayna, I'm a little skeptical about teaching, just because she's still very young and has about a 3.2 second attention span. She's been begging to learn how to knit, "like Megan and Alex do", since she saw me knit the first time, so I figured why not. I'm going to have her start on the loom first, to test her patience. I told her that it's always alright if she just doesn't have the patience for it yet and I'd teach her when she gets a little older, but she's persistant about learning. I'm trying to complete my little projects (i.e. scarf/hat combos) before I start on the big ones; mostly so that I can see that I've already accomplished something so I won't feel like I'm stuck doing the same project forever. By tomorrow I should have Rayna's scarf, hat, and purse done. I also want to make some major progress on a scarf for Charlene and try to figure out more about a "Fibonacci" scarf. I can't wait to head back to the knitting shop on Monday. I'm excited about the prospect of working there, but I reallllly wanna check out some yarns for a few of my "special" projects. Until next time!!

Woo-hoo!! New blog!!

I decided I wanted a new blog that was strictly going to be used for my knitting projects. And I know my mom will be proud that she can keep up with all the stuff I'll be making and experimenting with (she also uses her blog to post about her own projects, so check hers out too!).

Anyway, I'm excited to start all my new projects, many of which require techniques I've never worked with before, but that isn't going to stop me! =] I'm very determined to get the large majority of my list done by my 20th birthday, giving me roughly six months. Hopefully life won't get in the way of my needles too much!

Even though I don't currently have my own digital camera (hinthint), the friends I live with do so I'll be sure to add pictures of the progress. Stay tuned!