(I'll stick links in this later. Took long enough to write, I don't feel like looking at it anymore.)

So, deal is I live in a VERY rural area. Our water system covers a total of 8 houses. And it's one of the larger ones in the area. Well, said water system was working on installing a few hundred feet of new line, and whoops-a-diddle. They cut the phone lines. Now, the phone lines were properly marked by the phone company, and where to dig was properly marked by the water operator, however, the contractor that installed the phone lines was paid by the foot, so to line his pocket he created large loops all the way down the road. The backhoe sliced one of these loops in twain. Since the whole neighborhood was now out phone and internet service (aka as contact with the outside world) the phone company informed us that we were their TOP priority. Man, I would hate to not be TOP priority with them We were out so long that I lost count of the days!!!!! The engineer finally got his lazy butt out here on Saturday - gee, could it be the promise of weekend pay coupled with holiday pay that finally lured him? I guess we'll never know.

I want to say a thank you to everyone who commented about my rant in the last post, even those of you who didn't actually post it. (You know who you are!!! I've seen you type, I know you can do it! I see every time you visit, too....) It really felt good to get it out, and I have now added a new subject to my "never discuss with friends" list of topics: politics, religion, and PARENTING. Everyone has their own way of doing things, everyone looks at someone else with envy wondering how they have the child with the perfect behaviour, and everyone looks at someone else thinking "jeez, can't they do better than that?" So to make it easy on myself, I'll keep my thoughts to myself and hubbs. No more parenting boards, no more parenting discussions with relatives/friends, nothing. But seriously, thank you to everyone who let me vent - I really needed it.

So, on with the knitting content - I've been doing quite a bit during my forced silence, but almost all of it is gift knitting, and to top it off I forgot my camera at my parent's house, so no pictures for you, Soup Nazi style! I got the first of the mom socks finished - she requested a simple stockinette stitch sock with a two inch cuff. I did them toe-up using Judy's Magic Cast-on, and the Widdershins pattern for the reverse dutch heel flap. The only thing I didn't take into account was how much they would shorten when stretched while worn - what was a five/six inch cuff became a three inch cuff. Hmm...something to consider. And another thing - how is it that everyone else in the bloggy world can try on their toe-up socks while they're working on them, and all I get is massively bent needles and not a chance of getting them over my heel??? Can someone explain this to me please?!

I'm also working on a scarf for the FIL. Cincinnati Bengals colors, so in other words, black, a little white, and the most hideous orange you've ever seen! And to top it off, I'm having to use acrylic chunky, due to both "budget constraints" and washability factor. (Plus, the hubbs couldn't find anything near the right color of hideousness in any superwash I could find.) I had originally planned on making an illusion scarf, but I can't get this logo right without three colors. Then I thought up a way to do the illusion as intarsia inside a solid block, but as that would stretch the image waaaay too far, that doesn't work either. (Hubbs again - he said the "B" needed to be small, squat, and "Strong." Go figure.) So that's out. Now I'm just doing the logo as straight intarsia. I'm hating it. 11 balls of super chunky acrylic floating around behind my knitting, plus 11 tails to be woven in later. Add a small child to bat at the balls, creating tangles of epic proportions, and you've got my nightmare.

I have three projects sitting to the wayside right now. I'm not allowing myself to cast on for any of them until all the gift knitting is finished. That means - finish the scarf from hell, second mom sock, second MIL slipper, and trigger finger mittens for my father. Wait - can't forget about the Linux illusion scarf for hubbs, nor whatever I'm making for BIL. (That's still undecided.) I guess I'm lucky I'm an only child, and hubbs has only one brother, otherwise I'd be snowed under!

I've seen this floating around, and as I used to love doing these when I was younger, you get this one.

48 things.

1. FIRST NAME? Ansley

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I can't even get where they got the name from out of my parents!! But I do know that there is a mall in Georgia, and a china pattern/company/line with the same name, and it stems from Ainsley (Irish - male - pronounced "Ash-lee")

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? sometime last week

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? no, but I do miss writing. Taking out that brand new notebook on the first day of school and taking notes. I sometimes get a notebook and copy song lyrics into them, just cause I miss writing.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? roast beef, smoked turkey, and grilled chicken. I don't do ham.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably, but I have a tendancy of disappearing for stretches of time, so it would be difficult.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? No, not at all, and don't go looking for it either!!! (Wait, this is a journal of sorts, isn't it....)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? By freak chance, or maybe childhood fears, yes. They should have been out long ago.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Not a chance. I'm definitely not a Fear Factor girl.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Hmm....well, with milk I like Honey Nut Cheerios, without I like frosted flakes, and either way I like cocoa puffs. (Yes, I'm a sugar junkie, what are you gonna do about it?

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I try not to get the ones with laces, and my boots have a zipper up the side.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? willed - yes, muscled, no, hearted - sometimes

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Black walnut, but the walnuts can't be chewy.....that's nasty

14. SHOE SIZE? somewhere in the 9-10 range. My feet spread slightly during pregnancy, but not much at all. Plus, every time I buy shoes I'm all over the size range.

15. RED OR PINK? Pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Laziness. If I weren't so lazy, I'd excercise more, making me not so overweight and able to wear smaller clotges. If I wasn't so lazy I'd finish more projects and be happier with myself. If I wasn't so lazy I wouldn't stay in situations that I'm miserable and feeiling stuck in. I guess there's a lot of things I don't like about myself, but they all stem from main problem.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dear friend just moved to Seattle. I just recently re-found her, and now she's gone again.

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? I don't wake up for anything but MissMonkeyToes.

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Sorry to dissapoint. I'm in my pjs. Navy blue.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? A Pop tart this morning. I'm hungry. See ya!

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? An air purifier and my neighbor's circular saw.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? ceraulean

23. FAVORITE SMELL? that's a toughy. I love my daughter's breath....

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mother during her lunch break.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Hair usually.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? I don't read a blog unless I like it, and who doesn't like Aija?

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? Squirt. Hubbs swears that I'm the one keeping the company afloat.

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? HOCKEY!!!!!

29. EYE COLOUR? Blue-ish. Too light to be true blue, at least to me. More of a watery aqua color. Course, they change with moods and what I wear.

30. HAT SIZE? never checked.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Plurally? No. I wear one in my right eye, but my left is uncorrectable, and I don't really see out of it. Made the Magic-Eye fad a true bitch. It's just never gonna happen for me.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Currently, Thai yellow curry. Yum.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Mostly happy endings, but I occasionally come across something that actually scares me, and I love that adrenaline rush. Not like The Grudge. I couldn't hold in my laughter at the theater, and had to leave!

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? beginnings. I love winter at the beginning of the season, same with summer, but by the end, I'm ready for a change.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses from my daughter.

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? Cheesecake!!

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? Am I supposed to be looking at the bed when I way, or in the bed? Cause that would change whether it's left or right. Let's just say that I like to lay on my right wide, facing into the bed.

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? Slacking off some more?

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Harry Potter #1 to MissMonkeyToes, and Harry Potter #2 for myself, as I've never read any of them and I can't go as slow as MMT makes me.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I have a laptop - ie: touchpad.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Grumpier Old Men

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Music, MMT babbling

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Eek, um, both!

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? I don't really have a home - I'm a navy brat and moved all over when I was young.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? If I set out to try something, I "get it" right away. No learning curve for me.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? East Texas

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Strange to have a "where did you steal this question" along with a "who sent this to you" I'm curious how it's stealing if someone gave it to you, and vice versa.