I finished a sweater!

I did it!  I finished the Sprout's Chaos Sweater.

What's going on???

The cake from Richard's parents

Well as you may have noticed, I am not in the US, but still at home waiting for my passport...WHOOPEE!! I just decided to get my plane fare credited for whenever my passport does arrive, I am hoping soon.

On Saturday for my birthday, I took Richard to see the Transformers new movie (very cool animation, but in true Jessika style, I fell asleep...the movie is 2 and 1/2 hrs long!!! I have decided that I need a movie to be 90-100 min to not fall asleep.) We also had lunch at one of the newer Indian restaurants called Tulsi. It is a vegetarian restaurant and is very good...the weird part is that it has a bar. In Bradford it is very strange for an Indian restaurant to serve alcohol. you can usually bring your own, but they don't sell it.

On Sunday, Richard's parents came up and we went for Sunday Dinner in Shipley, but otherwise I had a very uneventful birthday day.

Richard and I have finally started a bit of gardening. We have some lettuce and tomatoes coming up and some squash and carrots on the way. At the moment everything is planted in temporary pots until we can get to the store to buy HUGE pots to put them all in. Last week I had to declare war on our back neighbour's big flowering bush that hangs over our garden. The bush is beautiful, but it was covered in aphids, so the bulbs I planted when we moved in were COVERED in aphids. So I cut the branches on my side off...and it seems to have worked. I was very proud of myself.

Miki in the garden

Miki is getting more brave outside, although she still needs the door to be open and prefers that we are outside with her. She goes to greet most of the cats, but because our fence is high, she can't figure out how to get to them, which I think is OK. Recently she has found herself a hidy-hole under the deck that she curls up in...but then I forget about her and she ends up being outside with the door closed...OH NO!! I am hoping she will find that it isn't scary to be outside without a straight shot to the inside.

I have managed to knit 2 ridiculous hats from scratch that the sprout will have to wear because they are hilarious...

How many songs are in your repertoire?

I recently acquired the 500 best Classic Rock songs. There are 500 songs and I know (or at least know the chorus) of all but 2 songs. This got me thinking...how many songs do I actually know? There is 498 right off the bat. Now think of all the 60's-2009 Pop, R&B, Heavy Metal, Alternative, Hard Rock and Rap I know...All the lyrical Jazz, Big Band, Blues and Classical songs I know, not to mention all the children's songs I remember from school, and the few hymns and seasonal (like Christmas) songs I know. I know full albums and discographies, songs that will never be on the top 40 or even the radio. When you start to think of it, it gets overwhelming...I must know well over 500,000 songs. It really gets you to think of the human brain, and I think is even a testament to music and how it affects the memory. Not only can you recall lyrics, but rhythm, different musical elements and the correlation to personal memories....it truly is amazing.

For those of you who are interested, I included the list of songs below.

I wanted to add the pictures of my sweater and booties I made:

yes the sweater is black, brown and grey...get over it.

Is it possible to like and hate your job at the same time?

For 9 months now I have been making coffee at Costa Coffee in Leeds and Bradford. I say all the time that I hate my job. Most of this is a pride issue I have to admit, having a Master's diploma was supposed to afford me the opportunity to have a full time job in my field. In the UK at the moment, the archaeological community has been hit especially hard, there are no jobs for technicians here...I mean none. We all know that this year I was blessed to get 2 seasonal job offers from the U.S. Forest Service, but the Sprout had other plans for me this summer.

Anyway, Costa has a competition for Batista's and I am entering it. It will give me something to look forward to, make me feel important (even if I do badly) and it will be fun. I tend to need goals and I haven't had any for awhile.

The thing is, there are elements to my job that I really like. I have yet to work with someone I don't like or can't stand and I enjoy talking to customers. I have also moved up the ranks to Team Leader with a raise on the way, so I get to feel like I am in charge. It can be relaxed and the schedules are not set in stone, so if you have something to do, you tell the boss and the schedule is fixed as long as there is some warning. At the moment my main reason for staying at Costa is because of the maternity leave benefits that I get even though I am part time (though I have been reading that this is the law of the land). I get 90% of my pay for 9 months and they have to keep my position for a year. So at the moment that is worth staying since I have student loans to pay off.

In other news...On Wednesday I will be 15 weeks pregnant...I can't believe that. When you are counting time in weeks, it goes by fast. Next week I will be having a large needle stuck into my belly to have a Triple test done. This sounds really menacing.

So far I have made a new born size sweater and a pair of booties for the Sprout.

Richard and I finally found the heart beat last week and it was really cool and exciting. I went into see the midwife on Wednesday and she had me listen to the heart beat, which was funny because since I had already heard it, I wasn't nearly as excited as she may have been expecting me to be.

The weather finally warmed up and we have been able to have the doors and windows open. Miki has been doing much exploring and even meeting more of the neighbour cats who seem to really like out yard. Miki has done an exceptionally good job of not letting one fly who enters the house live. She is instantly on the case and is able to exterminate with extreme prejudice, catching, mauling and then eating every one of them who doesn't find the door first. I gotta get a video of her doing it, it is so funny to watch.

Here it is

My first Etsy item up for sale. I am very excited. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Richard is going to design my page to include my real Woolly worm mascot. I am so excited.

A New and Exciting Venture, and some other things

Everyone knows that I don't sleep very well. I started getting out of bed when this happens. Usually I refuse to let it be a time to go onto the Internet because it is too exciting for the senses, but the other night, as I was sitting on the couch knitting these really great booties, I thought to myself I should start a store on Etsy so I can sell these great booties.

I got on the Internet and went to Etsy looked around for booties like the ones I was making and found none (that is really exciting, perhaps I can fill a niche)! Now, I don't plan to really make any money from this, but it gives me incentive to make and finish items, since Christmas is over I have no people to make stuff for and these booties are so easy and fast. The Woolly Worm was born (a name I have been wanting for a business since I started spinning wool).

I haven't put anything up yet because I need to find a baby to try these on, I don't know which age these fit. I encourage people to look around Etsy there is some great things on it that people have made (although I think some people are too full of themselves and charge too much for their stuff).

One more thing:

I was watching Saturday Night Live the other night and really liked their musical guest. The Fleet Foxes remind me of a folksy Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Their vocals are so pretty.

And another thing:
Richard and I are taking the plunge and have decided to move. We looked at two places last weekend. We are going to keep looking, but we put in our notice to our landlord so we can't back out this time.