Dude.

I just got my first full (two weeks) paycheck today. While it’s more money than I’ve ever made in my working life, I was eager to plug in the numbers to my Moving Plan worksheet to see how much rent I can afford, when all the other factors like bills and utilities and other crap like that are taken into account. My findings:

I. am. so. screwed.

I can’t afford to live in any of the apartments around here that take large dogs. What am I going to do?! I figure these are my options…

A) Ask my parents to adopt my dogs? NO. Not gonna happen. They’re my kids! And would defeat the purpose of trying to make my life better, because if they weren’t with me, I would be miserable.

B) Look for a higher-paying job? Considering I’ve only been at my current job for less than one month, I’m thinking it might take a while to pursue this one. But it is something to work toward.

C) Find a roommate? I’m thinking this is the only viable solution, assuming I want to keep my doggies and NOT live in a dump/go broke/have to work two jobs/something else insane and impossible.

and then there’s always the old standby…

D) Live with my parents indefinitely? Nooooooo! *cries*

sigh. yeah, I’m screwed.

Posted: April 30th, 2007 under My So-Called Life.
Comments: 5

I’m re-listening to the latest L&V episode (#34), and I just want to say that I am SO sad I won’t be able to attend their sleepover-pajama party-thingy. wahhhh. I just can’t afford to fly/drive/walk/crawl to Omaha and it’s such a bummer! Maybe next time…

Posted: April 27th, 2007 under Knitting.
Comments: 4

Remember I mentioned recently that I’m owed two payments from Uzed? I sold some used CDs to them before I moved, and never received payment. Well, I emailed them FOUR TIMES to check the status of my payment, and received no response. None. I then resorted to calling the customer service number that’s posted on their site, only to get a “disconnected” message.

I then googled Uzed, and saw that many other people have been “uzed” by them. I then promptly reported them to the Better Business Bureau. Uzed has until May 8 to respond to my complaint. I’d better get my moolah, that’s all I have to say. oh yeah, and AVOID these people at all costs! Even though I’ve successfully sold to them in the past, for some reason, they’ve flaked on me this last time and that sucks.

Something else that sucks:

Today I decided to go ahead and break my contract with Sprint PCS. Their coverage, both in NM and now in VA…well…sucks. I was constantly getting dropped calls with them, sometimes several in ONE DAY. So when the company I work for gave me a phone with service from T-Mobile, I tried it out and the coverage/reception is sooooo much better.

I just canceled my plan with Sprint, which unfortunately means that I’ll have to pay their stinking $200 early termination fee. Yes, that’s two hundred. Dollars! ugh. Never again, Sprint. I should have learned the first time I had a plan with them. For some reason, since they’ve merged with Nextel, my reception was just horrible. When I had Sprint a couple years ago (before the merger), reception wasn’t too bad. oh well. Live, learn, etc. At least the phone I have now is free, since’s it’s provided by my company. haha, take that, Sprint! (I keep typing Spring instead of Sprint…)

I’ve definitely learned my lesson now, though. I won’t do business ever again with either Uzed or Sprint. It just sucks that I had to figure it out this way.

(On the plus side…Barnes & Noble emailed me a 10% off coupon. That’s something good that’s money-related, right? )

Posted: April 26th, 2007 under Mad Rants, My So-Called Life.
Comments: 4

If you happen to be like me and are recently divorced with nowhere else to go, then yeah. Move back in with your parents. Poor soul.

But if you can help it AT ALL…DON’T move back in. Run! Run like the wind! And move in with someone else, but don’t go back to mom and dad, they’ll make you craaaaazy.

I need to move out sometime fairly soon. (As in, 6-9 months from now, roughly?) I’ve even started a “Moving Plan” spreadsheet in Excel because I am that much of a dork.

Posted: April 25th, 2007 under My So-Called Life.
Comments: 5

Darn all allergies to helllllllllll!!!

Go figure. I never had allergies growing up, not in the 22 years that I lived in Virginia. Then I moved to New Mexico, and POOF, allergies all the time. Now I’m back in VA…and…my allergies have followed me to VA. Time for the pseudoephedrine and tissues. sigh. My sinuses already hurt.

Knitting will take place tonight, in efforts to distract me from The Evil That Is (Are?) Allergies.

Posted: April 24th, 2007 under My So-Called Life.
Comments: 7

Yeah, my Candle Flame Shawl kind of got off to a false start. I decided to frog it and I’m going to re-cast it on in a different yarn. And following up on my previous post, the missing skein from my Mystical Creation Yarns order arrived today. I think that’s the fastest shipping I’ve ever experienced from them. The yarn is gorgeous. I’m going to use it for the Candle Flame Shawl instead.

I had a case of yarn amnesia. Today I went to another LYS, The Hook and I. Actually, I found it by mistake! I was driving home from work when I decided not to take the interstate home, so I went the long way. As I passed a small shopping center, I saw a sign that said “Hook and I” and I think I literally said, “hey!!” because I remember visiting their site a couple times. So I made a U-turn and visited them!

They are soooo nice. At first just one lady was helping me, but she showed me all the sock yarns and some sock patterns. We later had a little discussion about socks on circs vs. dpns when a regular customer came in with her sock on two circs. I said that scared me because I just like dpns better. Another lady who works there came over and I heard her great Scottish accent! Which of course made me think of Outlander, haha.

They carry a lot of different yarns, but not many of the sock yarn manufacturers that I really like. No Lorna’s Laces, Koigu, Claudia, or other luxury sock yarns. Mainly Regia, Reynolds, Brown Sheep, more affordable though. But the ladies there were so helpful and friendly! I bought a Mountain Colors sock pattern (Peaks and Valleys, I think…looks like a cross between a Jaywalker and a Broadripple) and two skeins of Lang Jawoll Cotton Color.

Then I came home and found my MCY yarn (which I was expecting, just not so soon) and an order from The Loopy Ewe that I kind of forgot about temporarily. oopsie. I got some sock blockers (the plastic ones) that I’ve been wanting for a long time but Sheri is usually out of stock in my size (medium)…but now I have some! I also got some Soak wash in the Aquae scent, which I think I like better than Eucalan. I tested it on my MCY yarn and it’s more pleasant. I also got two skeins of Louet Gems fingering because everyone’s talking about how great it is and all that.

I really need to take photos of all this stash enhancement but I’m too tired (ahem, lazy) right now.

And please tell me to stop buying yarn, at least until next payday!

Posted: April 23rd, 2007 under Knitting.
Comments: 5

Just wanted to follow up on a previous post I made about Mystical Creation Yarns. They’ve since closed their Etsy store, after all the hullabaloo about bad yarn experiences and equally bad customer service incidents. (MCY’s official position, stated on their blog though, is that they don’t have the resources to keep up with all the orders. Maybe it’s a combination of both.)

I made an order several weeks ago (actually, two orders) and have kind of been on pins and needles, waiting to see if A) my yarn would even arrive and B) if it did, what would the quality be like and C) if I had any problems, how would MCY handle them?

Well, the yarn arrived yesterday. Four out of five skeins, that is. I immediately checked what I did receive, and they’re all correct. Correct colorways with correct fibers. (Cashmere, tencel, silk.) So I hopped onto my email and asked Danielle, who runs MCY, if she could help me with my missing skein. She replied not long after that and said that they’re sending me my missing skein. yay!

Honestly, I’m really perplexed by other knitters’ horrible experiences. This is my third order with MCY (first was through their Etsy store, second was through their Ebay one), and I’ve never experienced the nightmares that other people have reported. True, shipping is slower than I would like and what I’m used to from other sellers. But other than that, I’m ok with my purchases.

I think maybe MCY has just grown so huge and does so much business that they get behind in dyeing (which is understandable), and which explains slow shipping times. Also, I’m wondering how the other knitters are addressing their concerns with MCY. I’ve read reports on Danielle being rude in emails, but she has never been rude with me. Email etiquette gets kind of fuzzy sometimes, so maybe some people are sending her emails like, “where’s my stuff??” and she’s taking that as offensive, or something. It’s possible.

At any rate, I have most of my yarn and the other one is on the way. I immediately wound a skein of tencel laceweight in the Grapes colorway. I am actually going to attempt lace. Real lace! I cast on the Candle Flame Shawl from Knit Picks. I’m hoping it turns out ok, since this is my first non-sock lace project and just seems so much more challenging. The lace chart, however, is VERY confusing, at least to me. So I dug in my saved patterns folder on my computer, and I found the original PDF file that Knit Picks posted for the pattern. Its chart has every repeat shown, rather than the one that’s currently online (if that makes sense). It’s not as easy to see since the grid is smaller, but it’s easier to read because every stitch is shown.

Anyway, back to MCY…normally, I’m influenced by other people’s experiences and opinions when shopping online, but in this case, I think I might break from the pack. As long as my missing skein does show up in the next couple weeks, I’ll probably order from them again. Maybe I’ve just gotten really lucky, but this is my third time buying from them and I’m pretty satisfied as a shopper. I do think it’s sad that other knitters have had negative experiences with them, but personally, I haven’t had any and I really enjoy their yarn. I should add, though, that I haven’t washed any of their yarn and I have heard about bad bleeding issues with some of their fibers, so I’ll see how that turns out.

So I’m using the Candle Flame Shawl as my guinea pig for knitting with MCY’s yarn, and so far, I’m enjoying it. Working with laceweight is so different since I’m used to fingering weight or thicker. It’s kind of like knitting with thread. But this tencel yarn is so strong, so I’m not worried about snapping it. And it’s sooooo shiny. I lovelovelove tencel!

I will keep posting updates on how both the shawl and yarn come along, so stay tuned for that.

Posted: April 22nd, 2007 under Knitting.
Comments: 6