Points for Presentation

Dear Ryan,
This is your Christmas present. I think I get total props for presentation, but I am afraid that the actual gift will leaving something to be desired.... I hope you still love me...

Love,
Jessica

P.S. I get to see you soon.... SQUEE!

Live from Panera

Dear Ryan,
You are at work and I am sitting at the Panera in Crystal Lake... I'm supposed to be knitting, but instead I am pissing around on the interwebs... I found this list of sweaters that you should not wear on a first date. I thought the fact that they had to mention sweaters with cartoon characters on them was sad. Isn't that sort of a no-brainer?! Regardless, there are some good sweaters on there that no one should be allowed to wear for anything.

I am working on the blanket a bit and have to admit that it looks less patriotic in the dim light at Panera, so it might not be TOO bad after all... I am hopeful.

I need to get my camera back out and start blogging again. It's always fun to go back and look through the posts later. It's like having a public journal. The public part makes it better, I think. I leave out things that I wouldn't want to read later because I don't want anyone else to read them now.

Anyway, darling, I love you SO much and I'm going to get to see you in about 4 1/2 hours... which is nice...

Love,
Jessica

P.S.

I like this one... its available smaller which I think I would like more



This one is from the same seller and I like it, too.... again there are downgrades available that would make it more in the price range I find acceptable. This seller has lots of gorgeous stuff

I like some of the concepts in this sellers collection (notably the beauty in imperfection rings).



This one is pretty, too... and fairly low.

Gorgeous rings!!! None of them are really "me", but they are SOO pretty!!!

Just thought I'd look around on etsy and give you some ideas! I love you!

It's like national blogging month or something....

Dear Ryan,
November is (or so all the many (108) blogs I follow have been telling me) national blog month.... or some such nonsense.... which means that in order to be a good blogger I need to be blogging EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. THIS. MONTH.

I'll pause while you absorb that....

I'm already three days behind... and today's is a cheat. Today's post is just a public announcement of my failure as a blogger.... I have a sad face.... ----> :-(

So, maybe, just maybe I'll find a way to be a good blogger, but I wouldn't hold your breath....

In other news.... I have two jobs that I am "actually" quailified for* that I need to apply to.... in the next week.... and my being qualified is stressing me out.... so is the idea of living within an hour and a half of you.... its close, but still too far away to be comfortable..... I don't know... I don't have a good plan yet.... Genoa would just be a pain for everyone.... Anyway, I love you!

I hope you're feeling better,

Love,
Jessica

*the job requires 3 years library experience and an associate's degree. I have 1 year library experience, a bachelor's degree and a certificate that says I know a thing or two about how libraries work.... so, that consitutes "actually" qualified in my book.

It's that time of year again!

Dear Ryan,
That's right...

I did my civic duty and hacked up a gourd in honour of a pagan holiday....

and looked rather cute doing it, too.... in my sexy Fender shirt....

Knitting themed Halloween love!

I hope you're having a wonderful day! I miss you so much.... that's why I'm taking my deathtrap of a car on the interstate this weekend to see you....

Love,
Jessica

Scarfz!

Dear Ryan,
It's done!!! See!!!!!
(Cat added for scale or more accurately because she does what she wants...)
It's longer than my flash!
And the colors aren't quite this bright...

The colors are actually close at the edge of the picture farthest from the camera.... I tried it with out flash hoping that that was what caused the color accuracy, but then the picture was just plain dark... sigh*

And, no, I haven't sewn in the ends yet... for two reasons
1) I don't have a needle with a big enough eye for this yarn
2) I am just plain lazy....

So, there it is... and in record time considering we dyed the yarn on my birthday!

I love you!

Love,
Jessica

There is not another group of people that I would rather be making an ass of myself in a bar with....

Dear Ryan,
Homecoming this year was awesome!!!
It started when Coke got in on Friday night. We did some great things... like shopping for Katy's birthday present (which involved sniffing lots of scratch 'n' sniff boxes at Bed Bath and Beyond)
(Coke took a picture of me... or at least, I thought she did, but it's not on my camera.... :-( )
The parade was fun and succeeded in convincing me that it's time to go on a serious diet.... Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera so no pictures of that one.

Then we tailgated in an out of the way parking lot which was also a good time. We ate a lot of pizza... and conqueso dip (my diet will start another day), and chased the baby (who's really more like a little person than a baby) around the parking lot. He thought the parking lot was a fantastic playground and even found that clean cars (none of ours) make AWESOME fun house mirrors. Again, my dumbass didn't bring my camera (smacks forehead).

Then it was time for the game. The game was pretty cold, but it was still fun. We ended up not leaving at halftime because we really wanted to do the Alma Mater at the end (we're big saps)...

The highlight of the game was probably the mustaches given out to "welcome" the new coach (who apparently has a big bushy mustache). How much fun can a group of band kids (and ex-band kids) have with big bushy mustaches?

Way more than that actually, but I didn't take any pics of strangers and Teater was too far away to get many pics of him... he had lots and lots of good uses for bushy mustaches....

Then we ended the night with a trip to Maggie's which was an absolute riot (so of course I didn't bring my camera). We had 11 out of 14 altos from "That Year" show up. Which is a really good turn out.

We had such a good turn out that we decided to take a picture. Which is when things got weird. We all got up and stood in a really awkward place, but it was the only large open space in the bar. We were right next to this table where this older couple was sitting.

Old lady: Are you going to sing?
Teater: Maybe
Old lady: What are you going to sing?
Teater: We'll have to deliberate.
Me: Hey Baby! It's the only song we know.

After the picture we deliberated. The consensus was that we didn't want to sing anything in a bar at all period thanks for asking....

We TOTALLY Hey babied an old lady in a bar.... yeah... that's right...

Sigh* I love those people....

And I love you!

You should be here soon.

Love you-bye,
Jessica

P.S. Here are the rest of my random pics from that day. I meant to mention all of these things, but I didn't get around to it... mostly me and the girls before the game and Katy telling an epic story about dumb people that don't understand the words "excuse me" even when faced with a women trying to push a stroller through a crowded parking lot....

.


P.P.S. I haven't stopped blogging... be proud of me!... My computer is still dead.... :-( I have a sad face....

P.P.P.S. I finished a scarf and will blog it soon... just not tonight... Love you!

Good Hair Day and Knitting.

Dear Ryan,
I thought if maybe I put on pictures of myself you would start reading my blog... this is probably not the case, but it was worth a shot. However, this is probably going to be my last blog post (not because you don't read it anyway despite the fact it's written TO you) because my computer is dead. Like really dead... like boots up just enough to tell me its dead, dead. So, this will be the last post... from my parents' desktop....

To begin with today was a good hair day! But I don't photograph well, so use your imagination.

I was planning on making a video of me knitting, but I ended up going an watching Hannah and Ashley for awhile....

New recruits... lol....




Ashley knit, too, but she didn't have much patience for it... so it soon erupted into a tickle fight.... I was so tired by the time I left.... She's gotten big and I've gotten old....

Anyway, I love you. And I hope you had a good night. I had a pretty good night except for the computer and you know life... and whatnot...

Love you, Darling,
Jessica

P.S. You should really read my know defunct blog...

Shoddy Photography and Generally Grumpiness

Dear Ryan,
Hammie is giving a demonstration of how I feel today... Note the way he is sleeping, looking cranky and clinging to the edge of the table like he might be feeling a bit dizzy or desperate.... Also, of note, his claws are out like he is ready to strike.
Yeah... I'm having that sort of a day... The headache won't end, but apparently I'm not alone at least two other people had headaches that they would describe as quasi-migraine... It's probably the swine flu... I have at least one kid out with the swine flu right now and seems like the other one might also have it.
Yep, just another ordinary day... I love you, darling. Hope your day is going well!

Love you!
Jessica

Ordinary Day 1

Dear Ryan,
Today was another unexceptional day. I am trying not to accept unexceptionality (which is apparently not a word). So, I am going to try to make today seem exceptional.... ready?
Today Steve and I went for a walk at the lake.

We saw geese....

And pretty fall colors...

We saw the Muscovy ducks...

And I found out that I can't make a proper video when I'm trying to hold on to the dog with my camera hand and keep her from eating ducks.... This duck is happy that it got away....
After the lake I came home and ate some dinner... worked on a puzzle for a bit. I'm almost done... we have two different copies of this puzzle... I'm thinking about mixing them all up and seeing how long it takes me to make two puzzles out of the jumbled lot.
I should finish out the night with some knitting.... but there is a small problem standing between me and knitted bliss....
See that small error right there in the orange? Probably not because the picture is total crap and I realize now that I really need a better camera.... if nothing else I need to buy a newer point and shoot because this one is about 4 years old now and has sand from the ocean and Lord knows what else stuck in all of its moving parts....
But I digress.... that small... ok, huge (I definitely turned mid row.... seeing the pictures of it have confirmed my suspicions.) error is standing between me and satisfaction.... and I think I am really going to try hard to live with it.... because not another soul is going to notice.

And that was my ordinary day... I love you lots and wish you were here....

Smooch*

Love you, darling,
Jessica


P.S. Feel free to write back....