Bad Woman Yarn

Have you ever been to a store that feels like home? I have. It is Bad Woman Yarn. It is located in an old school that has been converted into a shopping center. I have tried to stop in for a year, but I could never get there during business hours or my travel companions did not want to join me. But yesterday, I finally made it. I walked up the stairs to the center and walked down the hallway. I saw a large group of women sitting in the hallway, knitting. I assumed it was a class, but it was a fun class. It reminded me of lunch during my elementry school years, a bunch of girls sitting around the table, smiling and laughing but with yarn in front of them instead of food. I walked into the store and found a smallish space filled with yarn. Beautiful.  There was even a small loft area filled with yarn. I had to wait for my sister so I looked around a couple of times, and found a table at the back of the store. I asked one of the workers if I could sit and knit, she said yes and I pulled out my knitting. All I needed was a pot of tea and a downpour of rain.

My sister called and I found out she was nowhere near the store, (expected that) so I told her we would meet closer to where my daughter was taking her class.  I packed my project up and left the little cozy store, but I know I will return.

Gerard Butler

Cause he's hot. Dammit.

Squares- 5 x 5 and L7

I am a square. I live my life as close to God's word as I can. I am not messy, up in folk's bidness, trying to beat, lie, cheat or trying to impress people. Some people have an issue with that, namely my ex. I recieved my college degree, but he did not seem very impressed. I think if I ganked a fool for thier iPhone or took another dude for his paper, he would have been more impressed. I used to tell him I was gangster and we would both laugh, because I will always be the soft as a marshmallow with a Hello Kitty doll.

He has been a lesson that you have to be equally yoked with the one you are with. If you do not share the same ideals as your boo, there will be issues.

Examples of an off balance yolk:

• My ex liked to smoke weed... a lot. I did not.
• My ex did not work much. I did
• My ex was involved with people that were thugs. I say fuqathug.
• My exes glass was always half empty. Mine was half empty too, but I knew that it could overflow any second from now.
• I believe and education can solve a lot of issues. He did not.
• I don't believe everything is a conspiracy theory. He does.

Anyhoo. I never thought that being L7 was a bad thing. Not until I met that muthaugga. I digress again. Time will heal my bitterness. I hope.

I value a square.

A square will:

• get up in the morning
• go to work
• come home
• stay for dinner
• use his paycheck to help the household instead of blowing it at the club or weed or whatever.
• will be on his shiznit
• will be honest
• have the right things high on his list of priorities- work, education, family

A square is not:

• a thug
• irresponsible
• a dummy

A square is:

• Someone I would like to marry

Harmony Knitting Needles

I love my Harmonys! They are a part of the Options interchangable knitting needles that KnitPicks offers. I have a lot of knitting needles, but I basically ignore them in favor of these sweet babies. They are so pretty. And sexy. I use them for straight knitting and circular knitting and now that I have discovered the easy method of knitting small circumferences on two circulars, I need another set. 

 

The lovely-ness of these is that they are not only beautiful, but the points are great, the join is perfect and smooth and if there happens to be a defect, KnitPicks will stand by thier product. The join on a pair of my needles became very wonky and I just mentioned it in passing to a customer service rep and she sent me another pair for FREE.  I have used other interchangable sets and this is the best by far. I have used Denise sets, and that was ok, but the join sometimes came loose at the wrong time, the cords remained kinked, and they looked plain. Sometimes part of the knitting experience is enjoying the tools you are using. Like your needles. Wrapping beautiful yarn around some plain ass beige needles is not fun. And they don't look good when you are taking picks of your WIP to post on Ravelry.

 

The coloring is so fabulous and the more you work with the needles, the smoother they become. The colors also kinda smooth out- they are still rainbow like, but uh.... smooth. I dunno how to describe it, but it takes on a lovely quality.

 

Like I said before, I need another set. There is a new addition to the Options family called Zephyr. They are clear acrylic and also have the lover-ly join and smoothness. They are also much cheaper and that makes me so happy.  These will be my Christmas present to myself.

Shea Butter

I have been using shea butter since my daughter was a little baby and had a nasty case of cradle cap. I had read that using petroleum based and mineral oil based products was not good for you. Unfortunately, a lot of products for skincare and haircare list those very ingredients. So I searched for an alternative. I had a big book of natural remedies and came across shea butter as a good way to moisturize from head to toe and also soothe skin for people with eczema and other skin conditions. So I went online and found shea butter for cheap. I got in the mail, applied it to my daughter's scalp after brushing it with sea breeze on a toothbrush and within two weeks, her scalp was cleared.


Ever since then, I have been a fan of shea butter. I use it head to toes. When I had a afro, it kept my hair moist. It makes my dreads softer when used every now and then. It makes my skin so soft and smooth. This summer, I neglected my skin and used baby oil because it was easier than making up a batch of butter. But I learned the hard way that easier is not always better. My skin was wrinkly and dry.
 
Hellnaw. Not good at all.
 
So I started mixing it up again. Now I use a carrier oil like sunflower oil, which has a lot of vitamin E in it, to make a luscious cream. I add a scent to it and we are good to go.
 
A word to anyone who wants to try shea butter:  You will see a lot of products in the store that claim to have shea butter, look on the back of the package, most likely, shea butter is not the first ingredient. Drop it like it's hot! Your best bet is to buy it in it's purest form. Make sure you buy the unrefined butter which has all the goodies your skin loves.  You can then take chunks and melt them down, add fragrance if you would like, pour it into a pretty container, put it in the freezer and after an hour or so, you will have the best skin moisterizer EVER... other than drinking plenty of water.
 
 
Here is a short list of places I purchase from:
 
fromnaturewithlove.com
oilsbynature.com
thechemistystore.com

Audio Books

I have discovered the joy of audio books. It was by accident. I just wanted to knit but I also wanted to enjoy a good book, I never figured out how to do both at the same time without something falling to the ground.  So I checked out a mystery novel and downloaded the book onto my computer. I sat down in my comfy space and started the book and picked up my knitting. 

I was hooked.

I went back to the library and picked up a few more, including a horror novel. I didn't think it would scare me, but there were a few scenes that made me question every single creak I heard in the house. Needless to say, that became my daytime book.

I even have my favorite audio book artist, Kevin R Free.  His readings make me forget that it is a single person reading and I can hear each character's distinct personality in his readings. My favorite so far is "Bling" by Erica Kennedy.  The combination of his reading and the author's story made me laugh out loud a couple of times on the bus. That is a good way to ensure you have a seat to yourself.

My favorite author isTananarive Due.  I listened to The Good House and that book scared the mess out of me. I have Joplin's Ghost and I will start that when I finish Duma Key by Stephen King. I also have listened to Brandon Massey's books. He is often compared to Stephen King, and that is fair. I just finished listening to Thunderland which was a very good book that i finished knitting my winter slippers listening to.

I feel a little guilty about listening to rather than reading books, and when I told my daughter that we were reading for the night instead of watching TV, she told me that was cheating.  I cringed a little, but told her to can it. But when I think of all that I can do while listening to a good story, knit, clean, cook, fold clothes, I don't feel so bad.

Alone Time

I am the oldest child of four. I am also a single mother of one. I ride the bus and I work with the public. I NEED alone time.



I like to describe myself as a social loner.... I like to socialize, but really don't mind being by myself. Sometimes I feel like hanging out and will easily talk to people around me, but I also avoid people, wear headphones or look at books while not absorbing a word or sound.



I love my child dearly, but she is a talker, hardly taking a breath between words. When I drop her off at her bus stop, I will walk down three blocks to the bus stop even though there is a bus stop across the street. I will also let a bus (sometimes two) pass me by in order to have a little decompression time between the hustle of getting my girl on the bus and opening the office for clients that are often demanding and a little crazy.



I figured out that the best reason for a set bedtime for your kids other than it is good for them is that you can be by yourself, settle in for the night, read a book, listen to some music, watch a movie that won't scare your children to death so they end up in your bed for a month. I put my girl to bed at nine pm sharp, get a nice cup of tea, read a book or knit a little before falling into a blissful sleep.



Sometimes, when I feel extra pressed by toomuchpeopletime, I take a day off from work. I send my girl to school without telling her that I am playing hooky, go back home, slip my pajamas back on, watch the View, and do whatever the hell I want to do. By the time she gets back to school, I am happy and refreshed.



At work, I found the best hiding place where I can sit down, eat, knit and listen to my music. I come back to work with a natural high and almost giddy.



The few times that my girl is away from home, I go out to my favorite joints, Ross, Diaso and Barnes and Noble. I can sit inside B & N's cafe with my triple chocolate chunk cookie, a grande cup of tea and a few books and chill for hours. And nobody bothers me. Today, that is my plan. I am going to stop by a fabric store, walk to the bookstore while listening to my audiobook and chill for a few hours while my daughter enjoys herself at my sister's home. I'll miss her, but look forward to my rejuvination.

LiveScribe Pulse

I like to write things. I gather bits of information and write them down. I usually don't do anything with them, but it is nice to have my ideas written down. I have found things that I have written and was impressed with my own dang self. But paper gets lost and some things such as sketches of ideas would be nice to save in some other way. I also spent some time as a secretary for an organization. I would write as fast as my little hands would allow me, but always felt I was missing something or that I couldn't participate fully in the meeting because I was taking notes.



I had the Fly Fusion pen, and it was great, but it was really marketed heavily to the teen and tween world. I drew and wrote stuff in it, but felt really goofy with a huge ass pen in my hand. My daughter also has one and it works wonderfully for her. Hers is also black and sleek looking, mine was grey and reminded me of a pen you might see on the Flintstones. I uploaded files and sketches on it and liked it enough. I just needed something a little sleeker.



Then came the Pulse Pen. It is the best thing since.... well, ever.



It records not only your writing, but audio. But wait! It also links your writing with the audio so if your professor says "stinky cheese has great nutritional value" and all you wrote was "stinky cheese" you can tap your pen on "stinky cheese" and hear all he/she said about stinky cheese. Fantastic.



My daughter sang "ABC" and I drew while she sang.

Here it is...

Demo with sound
brought to you by Livescribe

How cool was that?

My child can't sing, I know. But she sounds so sweet.

You can hear my sister in the background being an ass as usual. They were about 5 feet or so away from me, but thier voices were very clear. But it also comes with headphones with built in microphones to pick up audio in autitoriums.

You do need special paper to use the pen, but it is very reasonably priced and you have a few varieties of paper to choose from. They have one subject notebooks, three subject notebooks, moleskin journals, little notepads and Paperblank notepads. You can also print the paper off of the site too.

So I wrap up this post fully excited to write down my DeeDeeRikki ideas. See you later!

Update!

I was watching the Big Bang Theory and one of the characters on the show was using the Pulse pen and I recognized the paper too. I nearly pee'd my pants. The show is about a bunch of geeks (being a geek is a good thing) who work at a university and live together. That is genius product placement.

GPS

Ever been in a car with people who are geographically challenged like me? I have been forced to the back seat for any journey over 10 blocks because of my non existant navigational skills. But there is help for my travel mates....

GPS!.....

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It works by using satellites and can give you driving directions, tell you how long the trip will take and in some cases, tell you how much it will cost to get there. Along the way, you can see what restaurants are around, find malls, gas stations in the area and get directions for getting there! It is truly fabulous. While the screen shows you where to go, there is a pleasant voice that tells you also. I think it is really funny that men who have a reputation for not wanting to ask for directions are so willing to follow them from a computerized voice. There are different voices that you can download for your system also. Though I don't know how long I would be able to tolerate taking directions from Stewie or Sean Connery



My friend has one for her car. Another has one built into her phone. I have a reciever that I plug into my computer. On our last trip together, they were both trying to find places for us to eat and shop- at the same time. It was too much for my little head, but fascinating also.



The fact that GPS is a military application managed by the Air Force is a little too Big Brother for me... I mean it can find almost anything, what else could it do if used for evil?

Tea Rose and Tea Rose Amber

I believe in the power of smell to soothe and relax your soul. I love taking a shower with my "evening soap"- nothing deodorant or antibacterial to dry my skin out, maybe a nice peppermint or body wash and a hair rinse with cinnamon and cloves essential oil mixed with water. I really think that those sweet smells send me to bed with good thoughts and feelings in my head. Perfume wise, I have always been kinda wishy washy, until I rediscovered an old childhood favorite- Tea Rose.

I was looking for a mother's day present for my mom. I picked the Obama blend coffee she loves already and was looking for something else. I was cruising the net and found Tea Rose. Memories flooded my head, I remember this on my mom's vanity and trying it on. I remember it gave me a headache, but it smelled so good, I always stole a spritz or two anyway.

I put two bottles in my cart online, one for me and one for my mother. When I gave it to her, she said 'Tea Rose, I love Tea Rose!' I have worn the perfume everyday since it arrived. When my bottle got halfway finished, I searched for more. I went to the place I got my original shipment from and was disappointed to find that they raised the price by three or four bucks. So I searched on and found that there were other types of Tea Rose: Amber, Mesk, and Jasmine. Jasmine sadly was discontinued or I would have ordered five bottles on the spot, even thought I didn't know what it would smell like. After searching a little more, I found the Amber, Mesk and Tea Rose for ridiculously low prices and ordered two of each to keep me going for another year.

When they arrived, I tried the Mesk and Amber on one arm to see how it would wear on me. The Mesk faded, but had a light airy smell, but the Amber reminded me of just plain sexiness that morphed as time went on. One moment it smelled like patchoulli, another it smelled like good ol' fresh in the morning soap, but it blended so well with the Tea Rose. So now. i wear a layer of Tea Rose and top it with Amber.

When I go out, I get a lot of comments on how good it smells. I tell them that it is Tea Rose, but then wonder if I should give that secret away.

*** I am on my last bottle of Tea Rose Amber, so I just bought 4 boxes for myself for my birthday! ***

UPDATE:

My Tea Rose Amber luck ran out.
My lil ol heart is broken.
My source for the perfume is out of stock. I found another source and ordered 6 (!) boxes. A couple of days later, my money was returned to me because they didn't run out, but they sure did raise the price from $6 a bottle to $22 from the time I ordered it to the time I got my refund!

Rotten, shiesty crap man!

So, if anyone sees a bottle of Tea Rose Amber online for under $10, shoot me a comment please!