Wednesday, December 24, 2008


Just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hope all of your holiday season is wonderful and full of love.


Best Wishes,

Tama

Thursday, December 18, 2008

What a Knitter Wants

As Christmas approaches each year the questions begin. "What do you (the kids, the husband) want for Christmas?" The kids are getting more and more difficult to buy for. Gone are the days of $8 Barbies and $5 car sets. Now the kids are wanting Laptops ($650 to $2000), the latest video games ($40 to $300), and clothes ($40+). Christmas has gone from spending $200 to having to take out a second mortgage.

As a Knitter (notice I capitalized--it's like saying you're American--it's who you are!) I always want the same thing. Sure it's nice to get dishes, jewelry, etc. But what I really want is YARN! and knitting books. As silly as this may seem to you Non-Knitters out there, it's true. The funny thing is, if you buy me yarn there is a really good chance that when I am done with it it will have become a present for you.

See, you can't buy a Knitter sweaters, mittens, hats, socks, or a lovely cashmere scarf for Christmas. You won't offend us, but look at it this way--you just took all of the fun out of the present. I LLLOOOOOVVVEEEEE knitted items! Beautiful shawls, intricately cabled sweaters, angora mittens and scarves, socks made from 12 different colors of yarn all knit into wonderful Turkish designs, and who doesn't love anything cashmere! But for a Knitter it's not just the end product that we love, we love the process also. Sitting for hours looking for just the right pattern, winding the yarn into balls, then relishing every moment of that lovely yarn sliding through your hands as you work your magic on it. Then when the item is finished you can either wrap it up for someone else--who doesn't knit--or put it on and everytime someone comments on it you can say, "Ya, I made it." and they say, "WOW!"

Not sure what yarn or pattern book to buy for the Knitter on your list? Get on the internet and buy them a gift certificate!! KnitPicks has a fantastic selection of yarns, patterns, books, and accessories. They make it so easy to get a gift certificate that it shouldn't even be considered shopping. If you think that for one minute that your Knitter will be disappointed to just get a gift certificate for Christmas THINK AGAIN! They will be thrilled! Knitter's love money that has no other purpose for it other that to be spent on yarn!

KnitPicks isn't the only place that you can get gift certificates. Your local yarn stores offer them, and if you want to give them a certificate for something really special go to Etsy and find a yarn shop there! Etsy is a huge collection of individuals who have shops selling all sorts of hand made items and supplies to make your own. Fiber for spinning and all sorts of yarns, hand dyed and commercial, can be found there. Many of the stores offer gift certificates and if they don't you can e-mail them and ask them if you can get one from them. It's a fun place to shop! TRUST ME! Your Knitter will be thrilled.

HoneyBunny figured out several years ago that I will be happier with a big bag of yarn and knitting accessories than anything else he could get for me. Diamonds are ok, gold is fine, but yarn is divine!

So this year, "give the gift that keeps on giving" or give a gift that will become a gift for you. Give yarn! It's what a Knitter wants.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

An Inconvenience

I received a forwarded e-mail the other day that has taken on a special meaning to me the last few weeks. It said:

"GOOD AFTERNOON!

Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil,

the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

We apologize for the inconvenience...."

So that's what's wrong!!!! I have been wondering why I can't see my way out of here. If you are feeling the same, now you know why.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

The Worst Day Ever

Ok, I am going to start with an apology. I promised myself I would quit whining about my problems, but if I don't do something I am going to explode!!!!! Here is how my day went:

1. A large group of high school boys and coaches checked in last night in addition to our regular Friday night guests. So we had three times the number of guests that we normally have. I called several days in advance to make sure that PLENTY of maids would be here this morning to clean. I even told myself that if it got to far out of hand that I would fill in.

2. We open the office/lobby at 7:30am and the maids are supposed be here ready to go at 8:00am. Back up for just a moment I forgot that at 4:30am the phone rings and one of the toilets in one of the rooms is plugged--later discover that not only is it plugged, but it has run over and the entire bathroom is a wadding pool. Needless to say, after not getting to bed last night until just before midnight then waking up to a huge mess my husband and I started the day VERY TIRED!

3. Anyway, back to the maid disaster--At 7:52 the MOTHER of two of the girls that were supposed to come in called and said that they forgot they had other plans this morning. I begin to worry.

4. At 8:00 the MOTHER of the head maid calls and says that her daughter just woke up (this woman is in her 30's!) and will be late. I am beginning to panic.

5. At 8:15 I realize that the lady we hired and trained last week is not going to show. Now I am just plain pissed off!!!

6. The Daughter, who thank goodness hadn't made any other plans for her day, graciously agreed to start stripping rooms by herself--she is such a wonderful daughter make no mistake!

7. I throw myself together (for cleaning) and join her in getting the rooms changed.

8. I had to go down to the office about 30 minutes into the previous event to take care of something when a mentally challenged/disturbed woman and her obviously helpless caretaker decide to burst into the lobby. The woman was yelling, "Who's here?" over and over and her caretaker couldn't get her to be quiet or leave. As I frantically tried to think of what to do this woman came around the front desk and marched herself into MY living quarters--still yelling and hitting her caretaker. I am sorry, I lost it!!!! I told the caretaker to get her the hell out of my house. Then I found my husband and told him to get the womans family on the phone and
GET DOWN HERE NOW! In the mean time the woman heads for my bedroom, I freak out and slam my bedroom door and lock myself in there until HoneyBunny says that the woman and caretaker went out our back door. I promptly close and lock it also as to prevent any re-entry!
Don't know what became of the two of them, but when her father showed up he didn't even apologize for the incident and simply brushed it off with, "Oh well, that's just what happens every once in a while." EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it ever happens again I will simply call 911 and freak out on her father!

9. No it's not over yet. In fact it isn't even 9:00am yet! Finally the head maid shows up. She must have sensed the tension in the air because she didn't even say "hi" she just went to work. Unfortunately no one else ever showed up to help.

10. Shortly after the head maid showed up I had to return to my regular job--manager--and start trying to fix the disaster from last night. Two rooms had dogs in them that the guests lied about and didn't pay for. So I have to be the bad guy and charge their credit cards for having pets in the room.

11. Husband and I get into a HUGE fight over what I can't even remember--we were both so tired it was inevitable. He leaves for a while.

12. I sit on my pity pot and feel guilty for not helping clean rooms for a while.

13. At 3:00pm there are only four rooms that are completely finished. Why it's taking so long, I don't know!!!! But the head maid says that she has to leave because her baby is sick.

14. The Daughter, my son, and I clean 9 rooms in two hours and left the rest of the rooms for tomorrow. Maybe we'll be really slow and not rent any rooms tonight? Ya right!

Ok, so there you have it. My day all the way up until 5:30pm. I can't wait to see how the evening turns out.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Oops! An Update

I didn't realize I hadn't written for so long until my dear friend called the other day and said, "What's up? You haven't written on your blog in a long time! Is everything ok?" I explained that I have been so busy knitting that I haven't taken the time to write.

It seems like every year as it gets close to Christmas that I write less and less frequent. All of my free time is spent baking and knitting so writing takes a back seat.

So what have I been knitting?

SOCKS!



This pattern is called "Little Flowers". It was the August (I think) pattern for Sockamania. I had them almost done when "THE MOVE" happened. Of course, in the mean time I started several other knitting projects and three more Sockamania patterns came out.



I finished these two days ago. The yarn is some that I swapped for with Hege. I made a plain pair quite a while ago, but wanted something different for this pair. I started and ripped out four or five different pattern ideas until I said, "That's it! I am just going to start knitting and whatever comes to me is what they will be!" I knew I had to knit them from the toe up because I only had so much yarn left and I wanted to make sure I had enough to make a pair. So here is what turned out. I knit a regular foot with a "Ripples" pattern top. I had plenty of yarn and they turned out nice.


In addition to these two projects, I have knit several Christmas gifts. I will post pictures of them after Christmas though since I don't want to spoil the surprises. Suffice it to say that I have knit five gifts in the last two weeks. See! That's why I haven't been writting on my blog.

Thanksgiving was.......hmmmm.....ok I guess. Managing a motel and living there at the same time means that just because it's the holiday doesn't mean you get the day off. Which makes it difficult to cook dinner and keep up with the phone and front desk at the same time. Christmas will be the same.

Speaking of Christmas, I have been decorating the motel! I have a lot of space to decorate and allthe time to do it so I've been having some fun.







Fun Stuff!!! I love the holidays!