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.