Mariannes Motifs

Fingerless Mitts

fingerless mitts
Originally uploaded by mar1annec

I knitted these fingerless mitts in one night (and a few minutes to finish the last one this morning). This is a very easy pattern done flat and seamed up the side with a hole for the thumb. The yarn is Lion Cotton Ease and it is very nice to work with and makes a nice light springy fabric that shows the stitch definition very well.

I need to figure out dpns a bit better then I could do these in the round and avoid seaming. I would also make a second pair a bit smaller for my small hands.

The pattern is on ravelry and also craftster.

Waffle Fingerless Gloves
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=260496.0

$5.00 off Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner to First 2 Commentors

I am participating in the BzzAgent campaign for the new Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic shower cleaner.  The good folks at Johnson and Johnson, and BzzAgent sent me a box full of goodies. 

They also sent me a coupon book, and I have three $5.00 off coupons for a Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner starter kit.  If you leave me a comment on this blog post and then send your address to me in an email.  marianne DOT case AT comcast DOT net.

BzzAgent is a company that provides free stuff to people in return for us to talk about the products with their family, friends, and associates.   We don't get any money, just freebies, and MyPoints.  They don't tell you what to say, you get to use your own opinion.  And they always want you to tell people that you are taking part in a BzzCampaign.  Disclosure is always a good thing. 

The automatic shower cleaner has been improved and now has two different levels of spray to target the group on your shower.  I love pressing the button and hearing it beep and them spray.  Since my housekeeper comes every two weeks, this basically does all the in between shower cleaning.  (Yes, I will economize EVERYWHERE else to be able to keep Antonia cleaning every two weeks.  She keeps me sane.)  I just use the sprayer to rinse everything down while I am taking a shower.  Atlanta is the mold and mildew capital of the universe so the shower does get grody if you don't take care of it.

I got a free shower cleaner starter kit, as well as a sample of the rather nifty toilet cleaning gel you stamp onto the toilet rim with a little applicator.   I am not sure how big of a fan I am of this stuff - it has a rather strong smell of cleaning stuff.  Not a bad smell, just kind of strong.

Knitted Kitty

Knitted Kitty side
Originally uploaded by mar1annec

This is an Auburn Tiger (Aubie) knitted kitty I have made for Melissa's birthday.

Here is the pattern: http://geobabe.livejournal.com/227621.html

(watch out for some language) I love this pattern and this is the third kitty I have made.

I have added this to the FO Meme on MamaMay's Blog.

Thankful For The Day

Today I am getting out of my funk.  I have the kitchen clean, pork chops are defrosting and I am feeling inspired by Obama's speech last night.  And I am so pleased that they are including wonderful things like high speed trains and even volcano monitoring.  Cool stuff my friends.  People who think volcano monitoring is a waste of money should not expect the government to monitor hurricanes either.  Get it Mr Jindal of Louisiana.

Jin went to the Thrashers / Colorado Avalanche hockey game.  The seats he got were "all you can eat seats."  Isn't that funny?  You could get all of the hotdogs, pretzels, soda, and popcorn you wanted with your wristband.  They snuck home 2 hot pretzels for me... heh heh heh.  I don't really like going to hockey so Jin went with Melissa.  We have a little arrangement where she and I do stuff like shopping and pedicures, and she and Jin do stuff like see horror movies and hockey. 

I am trying just to be thankful for everything I have.  My children are healthy, I have a wonderful husband, I own my own home and two cars, and I have a good mortgage rate that I can handle.

I was reading about how some parents have children with cerebral palsy which was caused by mistakes made in the labor and delivery room.  How terrible.  It's bad enough to have CP, but to think it could have been prevnted would make you feel even worse I think.  Sometimes though things are just beyond our control.

Dan Hesse - Get Off of My Television

I would like to give Sprint's ad campaign featuring CEO Dan Hesse my own personal Advertsing Raspberry Award. 

  ( I haz mad photoshop skillz)

1.  The man has no tv charisma.

2. The spooky weird black and white and yellow color scheme makes me feel anxious.

3.  The moody music makes me feel even more anxious.

When I see these ads all I think about is how I pay too much on my Sprint bill and maybe I need to switch to another carrier.  And how I am unemployed, need a new job, and am a little bit depressed.  Sigh.

Monday Chit Chat

It is 10:30 and dinner is already cooking in the crock pot.  I made "It's Italian" sausage soup from the Better Homes and Gardens Slow Cooker Stews cookbook.  Jin came home from the grocery store with this little pamphlet sized cookbook so I think he was trying to tell me something.

It is basically browned Italian sausage (I used Publix Greenwise chicken Italian sausage) with onion, garlic, carrots and celery, Italian herbs, chicken stock, canned tomatoes, and tomato sauce.  I used fresh basil from the Aerogarden (that thing is GREAT - we have had so much fresh herbs from it) and some tomato paste I had leftover from sloppy joes the other night. 

It looks and smells great.  When its done you are to cook some orzo pasta in it.  Yummy.

Checking out Amazon for slow cooker cookbooks this one caught my eye.  I have Judith Finlayson's "The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipies" book and it is wonderful.  She is where I learned that it is SO much better to always brown your meat before you cook your dish in the slow cooker.  So her healthy slow cooker cookbook looks like a winner.

Ok folks, time to get personal.  Even though I am 40 years old I have wicked acne.  It seems that being out of work is making it worse - stress, etc.  I need some type of Natural Acne Treatment that isn't tough on my very dry sensitive skin. So many acne treatments are way too strong. I tried Proactive one time and it actually made my face break out all over the place.  Bad.

Oh well, I need to go to HSN.com and buy some Serious Skin Care Glycolic Cleanser.  It is the best thing I have found so far to fix this mess.

Seaworld Dolphins Blowing Bubbles

Dude, check out the dolphins at Sea World blowing bubbles under the water and playing with them.  Freakin' cool.

Dolphin Bubbles

This is an affiliate type link, by the way, from Seaworld.

Saturday Chit Chat

Happy Saturday.  Hubby went to Starbucks and to pick up eggs.  I am going to make a nice ham and cheese omelet with cream cheese and fresh dill chopped in it.

I got my first unemployment payment.  Woo hoo.  Don't spend it all on one place.  Oh, too late, mortgage is due.  Basically my unemployment check will cover the mortgage and have a teeny bit left over.  So hubby's check will pay all the other bills.  I am trying to do as much freelance writing as I can as that will be the Starbucks and other luxury item budget.  I got a paypal debit card so I keep that bit of money in the paypal account and use that for discretionary purchases to keep them out of the real budget.

At least I have no car payment.  I am working on building the savings account into a 6 month emergency fund as per my mom's advice.  (Suze Ormand, anyone?)

Remember that post I made about how website owners can detect and block anonymous proxy surfers?  Maybe you were wondering how you would even attempt such a thing...  Well, vpnomania.com is a company that provides anonymous vpn proxy service.  I can't vouch for them or anything.  My motto is to never publicly do anything I wouldn't tell my mother about.  I don't need any sneakyness but its interesting to know HOW it could be done if you needed to get off the grid.

What the heck file extension is this?

As an email administrator I am frequently forwarded emails with file attachments that the recipient can't open for various reasons.  Perhaps is a proprietary format and the users doesn't have the software.  Perhaps it is corrupted, perhaps the sender sent the wrong thing in the first place.

When I don't know what the heck file extension I am working with I usually resort to google-fu skills.  I recently discovered a handy web site that lists information about various file types, who the software manufacturer is who has that type reserved, and what software is needed to access the files.

File-extension-library.com is a handy reference you might need someday.    Here for example is their page about the jpg file type - file extension jpg. 

They very helpfully let you know that jpgs are lossy (compressed and able to lose quality) image files that can be viewed in a web browser and edited with various image editing software.

Friday Chit Chat

I am glad its Friday.  Even though I am an unemployed schmo I never get to sleep late because I have to get the kids ready for school and drive Adam to daycare.  Its good though, it gets me up and going so I can't be totally worthless.

I got a call back from the recruiter I met with on Tuesday.  I helped my friend a bit with her move, and we went for breakfast while the movers were working.  I carried one laundry basket.  There - helping friend move thing done. 

I have a rental car while my van is in the shop and I am supposed to take it to get its oil changed.  Only I would end up with a rental car I have to take to the shop.  I liked the car though, so I didn't want to switch cars.  Item 1 - is has heated seats.  Its a Buick Lucerne, and drives very nice.  

I already went grocery shopping before I dropped off the van so all the cattle supplies (did I just call my family cattle?) and foodstuffs are gathered.  Tonight I am making stuffing mix over which I will nestle leftover shake and bake chicken (from last night) and pour some gravy on top.  Sounds good to me.  Add soem steamed mixed veggies and its a go.