Quick update & Movies

 * Haven't forgotten my blog, been busy as usual. We're leaving Italy soon. There's a lot to do w preparing to move back to the states including having last hoorah's with friends.
* On the knitting tip again finally. Stockinetting my heart out with Lion Brands Curtain Call Shrug. Using Paton's Decor in Grey.

 MOVIES
Recently watched Greenberg, which was as quirky as the previews look. Sometimes I feel like it was trying or that the movie was just running parallel to views and jokes I’ve seen Ben Stiller make in real life. It also drug on painfully in spots
Watched Social Network and liked it.
Watched Inception and thought it was better than the Matrix ever was. Loved it.
Saw Takers. Not as bad as I would have judged. Had some quality to it though it was very typical heist style movie. Even though I like rap and hip hop, I expect very little from rapper produced movies. This one quality wise esp. was a step in the right direction.
Saw Easy A, was one of those feel good teen romcommer’s that was actually cute. It was on par w my like for Mean Girls. Emma Stone had me feeling like she was the new Lindsay basically. Albeit, the anti-crack/stupidity version.
Thought the American drug on unnecessarily, though Clooney was looking Fine (note w capital F).
Holy vulgar guilty pleasure, Machete. Did you really pull a cell phone out of there stripper outfits and naughty nurses? What am I watching?
Cried my face off watching Hachi, deep sobing ugly cry and I’m just not that kind of girl.
Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Loved.

Seen a ton of things but I pulled these off the top of my head. Gotta dress the boy and myself. ttyl

Recently Read Review-Sookie Stackhouse Novels

Been reading the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire novels and really enjoy it. I’m on the 8^th book. Before I get into all that let me say this on a sidenote; I read the first book of the Twilight series and thought I might choke Bella out through the pages. It kinda made me worry about teenage girls reading those books. She (Bella) just seemed like a codependant, insecure, stupid girl. I really wanted to jump on the bandwagon and like it but I just couldn't. Some of my friends and family say I need to keep reading and I will.... eventually...maybe. I’ve got the other 3 books to read but I don’t know if I can bring myself to waste the time/effort.

Anyway, the Sookie series is not for teenage girls or people who love the no sex aspect of Twilight. The books are no where near as explicit as the Showtime series but…it’s no purity show. Hide your kids, hide your wives….and hide your husbands too

I will also say that Stephanie Meyers is probably a better writer than Charlaine Harris BUT Charlaines characters and books are more interesting and fun and clever.

The books regarding Sookie are significantly different from what’s being done in the series (after the first season, that is- the 1^st season kinda goes right along with the first book which makes sense). Anyway, I don’t know if Sookie will realize it or not but book after book I’m more and more Team Eric and she needs to be too. Course in regard to the TV show I’m team Eric too. Bill is a boring unattractive mess compared to Eric on the show. Season 2 they give Eric a haircut and I was like, DUUUUUDDE. As in, “Holla at me, you look so good I could slap your mama” kind of DUUUUUDE.

So, some things I like about the books have mainly to do with the characters, especially Sookie. She’s funny and clever and smart in the books. She is also gangsta/gangster (tomaetoe/tomahtoh). In the books she’s like,"Bill, Sam, Tara, Eric, boyfriend,girlfriend, king, queen, brother –WHOEVER if you're in trouble…I’m going in." She’s an undeniably strong character in the book though she does need rescuing. She’s finally the chick who kicks off the high heels to sprint from the bad guys while slathering vaseline on her face for the inevitable brawl to come and I like that. I think at one point in the latest book she pretty much says, "this chick does not know, I'm the business when it comes to a fight." I don't know I could be paraphrasing just a bit. Anyway, she might be considered by others just a slight bit Whiskey Tango but she doesn’t view herself as such so in turn no matter what anybody says in the book we all know she isn’t (lol). There’s plenty more I like but I’ll leave it at this.

Some things I don’t like about the books is the constant rehashing Charlaine does with each new installment. I’ve read Series books before and I can never recall this constant rehashing of characters and back information. Sometimes it’s so annoying that I’ll skim/skip the page or paragraph she’s going on and on in. Charlaine, honey, there’s gotta be a better way. I understand the desire to make each book a product the reader can pick up at any installment and not feel totally lost but seriously…seriously? There’s gotta be a better way. Another oddity--well, I guess the character of Bubba is kinda growing on me with each passing book not but the first few books that character made me laugh out loud due to how cheesy it felt to stick him in there. It felt undeniably cheesy BUT I also had to like that the author wasn’t afraid to have fun and insert him. There are other things I could complain about but nevertheless I recommend the series if you like TrueBlood, the show, and if you like vampire novels.

Let's pretend

Let's pretend like I never left and haven't be completely absent from my little blog space for over a year. Pretending.....time......NOW!
So we move back to Georgia in February some time. I guess I will have to make it my business to post up any trips and travel we do between now and then. It has been a blast living here and I don't want to leave. Straight up. Period. Don't wanna go.
Guess I gotta move onto the next chapter of my life. Nevertheless these last few months will certainly be a blow out of events. Funny everyone is visiting us now that the sand is about to run out on the hour glass here. By the time it's all said and done we will have had about two months of guests staying here! It's been a blast. I'm so glad everyone has/is coming. It's been nice being able to share a little smidgen of my life with everyone. My sister and her boys are here now and there is a series of wonderfulness going on between my son and her boys being together, her LOVING Italy, and getting to hear the boys perspective on everything they see and learn.
Anyway, I see that I said so last year but for real...talk to ya soon, I'm back on the blogging tip and I'm about to come with a vengeance.

It's been a while

I'm just going to jump right back in here like it's what I've been doing for a spell instead of continuing on like I have been which would leave us all with more days of nothing said. The truth is that once I finally got over being sick with the baby I've done a lot of interesting stuff. I'll even have the thoughts of, "Man I should blog about this." Then I just don't. I'm going to try to be better. I've only got one more month until baby James is here BTW. Should be cool. Anyhoo, I'll start with something easy today. Movie "reviews".
There's no way in Sam Hill I can go back and give you a recap of the zillions of movies I've crushed over these months so I'm just going to do the last four I've watched. There's no favorites and no outright V8 award recipients in this batch so here's what I've got.
1. Bolt- Yep, I resorted to watching Bolt even though I don't actually have a child here begging to watch cartoons and I am not ashamed. The truth is that I've seen cuter and funnier animations in the past but it wasn't a bad flick by any means. If you want to watch some cartoon sweetness then this is a harmless choice. It has a little humor and a sweet message and ending. There's no Bambi, "Your mother won't be with us anymore" moments which is good but I did think to myself a couple times: "Can they just straight up rip off Inspector Gadget like that?" (Those old inspector gadget cartoons were dope!) Cartoons back then were so much better than the weaksauce they have now; and you can't beat those old theme songs. Anyhoo...
2. The Spirit-This movie was whack but I couldn't stop watching. I get it to a certain extent; the dialog and such are suppose to be hokie but good grief. Still I can't give it a tomato splat because it was the type of movie that is so bad it's funny. I would say to rent this movie only if you're in the mood to laugh and not take it too seriously.
3. The Reader- I thought this was a good movie but you should be warned to be prepared for a lot (I do mean a lot) of sexual inappropriateness. I'll tell you what else too, the movie has a lot of substance but the part that made my heart grow to Grinch size on Christmas morning was the short spell when old dude makes all the tapes and old girl starts to read and get her write on. I just thought that was amazing but don't rent it if you have a problem with sexuality on screen because they are not playing around.
4. Hotel for Dogs- Just another sweet and fluffy movie with little parts by Lisa Kudrow and Don Cheadle. It's about some kids who, you guessed it, start a clever little hotel for stray dogs after becoming "strays" themselves. It's just all kinds of lighthearted, feel good, family friendliness up in there so if that's what you're looking for rent this sweet little movie.

Back on the Block

1. First things first. I'm pregnant, preggo, preggers, knocked up, inseminated, with child. My lovely lady lumps gotta me a beauty baby bump. I gotta bun in the oven. I'm procreating. I'm multiplying the Earth. I'm a mommy to be, so on and so forth....you get the picture.

2. I'm back on the blogging tip but I'm not so sure it will be so much about knitting so the little readership I do have might be forced to keep it moving past my site. On the other hand I don't have plans to turn into Mommy and me central up in here either.

3. I haven't explored much of Italy yet but now that I'm feeling better--Venice, Rome, Verona--YOU COMPLETE ME.

4. I might change the site name to "Movie Watching Chick Knits sometimes" because I've got a whole bunch of movie reviews and a whole lot of unfinished knitting/crocheting projects.

5. The whole Bailey family is coming in a little over a week for Christmas.

someday...

I'll be hooked up to my own internet again and will be able to blog and upload pics of my new home as well as some of the projects I've gotten done. In the mean time "Viva Italia!"

Big ol summer bag.

The other thing I got done this past week were all the squares for my big ol summer bag that I want to take to the beach at the end of august. I needed 16 crocheted squares. Here they are.
I just need to sew them together and find someone to sew me a liner for it. I also have not decided what kind of strap I'm going to use. More info. to come later.

Lessons from Mama

I've been on Ravelry a lot lately and I must say that somehow it is motivating me to get my projects done. It may be a couple of things egging me on.

First off I've queued almost 150 projects that I want to knit.

Second, I have the yarn in my stash for several of the projects that I've queued.

Third, I have the book or pattern or pdf for a lot of the patterns I have in my queue with awaiting yarn.

Fourth, with all the other ridiculous stats I see since I've been on Rav. I've only got 16 projects done….and not all of them are DONE. I have a couple hibernating. I have a couple still in progress. That reminds me. The hat isn't done. I ran out of yarn-i have some more in my stash but it's currently in storage waiting for shipment. I'll finish the brim when I can get to my stash but that will only take a minute.

Also, Joy is enjoying her Special K's.

Ok, so anyway, ultimately, the stats don't lie and when I log on and see how out of proportion things are it kinda checks me. I may be itching to cast on a new project but I won't let myself until I see at least one of those WIP's are done first. I might want to buy some more yarn but not until I bust some stash first because honestly, this is ridiculous. (At this point there will be no new yarn buying unless I'm vacation). I don't want to be a SABLE chick. I want to have a small stash. Right now I feel so wasteful. When I was young my mother would say, "There are children in Africa that would kill for…." insert whatever you like in that space- food, toys, clothes. I know ya'll have been there before, sitting at the dinner table for hours pushing around food that you don't like wishing you could reach the Kool-Aid drink that has been sat in the middle of the table out of reach so you don't fill up on drink and not eat.

Wow, sorry forgive me, flashbacks. I digress-- what I’m trying to say is my mom was right. I need to appreciate what I have and not be wasteful. I’m sure there are knitters in Africa who would kill to have my stash—right? (Puh-leez, lets face it, there’s knitters in a America that would stomp a foot in my… ) Anyway, I’m going to use up a large part of this stash---I will! I can!

You guys and Ravelry will help me right.

Special K's done

I can tell you right now, the second legwarmer looks tons better than the first legwarmer. I think it has to do with confidence. I spent much of the 1st legwarmer figuring out the pattern, wondering about the gauge, trying it on constantly…the 2nd one? The second one I just cast on and knit and got it done. All the stitches are a lot neater, it took me less time and I barely tried it on at.
So anyway, I’m not ripping legwarmer number one out so, here they go. Of course I haven’t blocked them yet. These were extra quick to knit so that was cool.
I had planned on making myself some in brown using the same pattern but the other day when I was looking at records at the salvation army I ran across this:
Those legwarmers are hot! Jane even had the hole cut out on the heel. Looks like 1x1 rib for like two inches on either side and then all stockinette. I wonder if I could figure out how to do magic loop for these. Hmmmmm.
You know, I was wondering how effective stash busting really is if you have to buy additional yarn in order to bust the yarn in your stash? This seems to happen to me often actually. I have the brown wool I wanted to knit the original legwarmers out of but I don’t have any mohair/fuzzy yarn and I want my warmers to be a little hazy. And if I decide to knit the Jane Fonda legwarmers I’m going to need a lot more yarn. Dilemma.
Even still, legwarmers aside, sometimes I have to buy an extra skein or some more complimentary yarn when it comes to using yarn in my stash and I can’t help but to chuckle at the irony of buying more yarn to have less yarn.
Anyway, I will cast on for my pair soon but first I want to finish this…

It’s Mellow Moods from the 1st Get Your Crochet On! Crochet is so freaking quick.

Special K legwarmers

A couple of weeks ago I watched breakin’ with some family. It was a nice throw back. Me and my brother were pretty excited to share because we loved the breakin’ movies when we were growing up.
I mean I was all but gonna marry Turbo and Ozone. Anyway, the week after that we watched Beatstreet. My brothers girlfriend is taking breakdancing classes and the movies have been a sort of home work for her. Anyway, what really matters is that special K was layering the legwarmers on like nobody’s business. I was convinced immediately that I needed to make us both at least a pair. So I started hers' the other day from some yarn I had in my stash (STASHBUSTING!!!). Thus far I’ve got like one and a quarter done. They are quick knits…

It’s 1x1 ribbing of Lion Brand Wool-ease yarn held together with some wanna be mohair yarn that my sister gave me. I’m using size 9 double pointed needles. I just kinda ripped the pattern off from looking at legwarmers on ravelry (sorry). Nevertheless, they’re coming out pretty dope…if I don’t say so myself.
On a side note Ozone was wearing a couple of leather vests with zippers and chinese letters on the back. They were pretty dope. I definitely wish chinese letters would come back in style...I'd rock that in a minute without hesitation--heck if I could find them I'd start my own trend regardless...
I'm getting ridiculous w/ the youtube but you gotta check out Jean Claude Van Damme gettin' down in the crowd in breakin'. Yep, that's him in the black spandex unitard. Toooooo funny.

Step 1. Admitting there's a problem

I don't know if you've noticed. I don't know if I've told you all. I don't know if it's been obvious or not.

I have been so out of my element this last….geez forever. I've been out of it for forever at this point…let's not put a time frame on it ok? But really the worse has been these last eight months while my husband has been away in Afghanistan. It's been touch and go ya'll and you could never imagine how much yarn I have acquired in the last eight-ish months alone. It's kind of embarrassing actually. I need to get myself under control. I need accountability. I need to admit I have a problem. I'll start ponying up the goods slowly but you guys have to promise not to judge. I swear it's like I black out and suddenly when I come to, elann or kpixie or knit picks is knocking at my door thanking me for my purchase. Boy does it feel good to get those packages in the mail…

Fiery Phiaro Done

It's been a week or so and I still haven't blocked it and I must admit I wore it out to the new Wegman's because I had on these cute shorts and sandals and the weather was just right and I was feeling it and it didn't look incredibly wrinkled, just cute and sophisticated and I had a little Grace Jones"strange' girl" (pronounced straun*jay) in my strut and....although I can't say that Grace was very cute or sophisticated in that movie but she was working it from the old school "fierce" factory...
Anyway, I love this scarf. It was a pain in the neck to knit toward the end because it was so freaking boring and then you gotta braid all the fringe but it was so worth it when I got to "work it" in my handmade scarf at the grocery store (oh, don't hate). You can check the specifics on Ravelry but I did use 2 and a little bit of the third skein to finish this. I also bound off 10 stitches between every drop 5 group instead of doing and even ratio like the pattern calls for. I like it this way. Surely I'll block it this week

Ebay bay, ebay bay, e bay bay

found some Calmer style yarn – ebay bay

Had a little sale going on- ebay bay

Put it in my stash so I can Hike- ebay bay

Ohhh, you know that price was really right- ebay bay

Eh, e-bay that's my yarn… snap it up!

OHHHHhhhhhhh Snap! That's hot! Let me find out I'm bout to grab a record deal up in here. LOL, sorry, some of that southern rap (here's a singalong-lol) for ya. Feel freet to link to that foolywag material which is the music video if you want. Somebody tell me why Hurricane Chris has those Venus/Serena beads in his hair still? He needs to be pulled over and ticketed.

Anyway, I found some Calmer on ebay (get it-hehe) for cheap the other day-it was a total freak event. I snapped it up and it goes directly in my stash so I can finally knit Hike. Don't know when I'll ever start this top but at least I've got the yarn for it. I actually got it a while back but never posted.

I finished Ay baybays (AKA PeteyPab) summer bag too. As you can figure old gal is about the souff....

I used stash dishcloth cottons and the everlasting bagstopper pattern on Knitty. You can check out specifics on Ravelry. I'm Ninabeena on there. We should be friends.

Movies 18 thru 21

Today's Feature

18. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford- I feel like I missed some stuff in this movie and need to watch it again and I would too if the movie wasn't Soooooo. Freaking. Long. I mean seriously it's a great movie but it goes on for so long you do get tired of watching. Me and the BIL debated whether it was worth it to go on I mean we know that Jesse is assassinated already! Lol. In hind sight it is worth watching.

19. Cronicas- (foreign w/ subtitles) OMG this was a good movie. Let me just say that John Leguizimos was amazing in this movie and Damian Alcazar, the guy that plays the imprisoned Bible salesman, is so freaking creepy it's chilling. Actually that whole story is chilling. It really got me thinking about the influence well known people and reporters have on popular culture and also how twisted the media is. I couldn't believe the motivation to get compelling and dangerous footage throughout the movie without having a strong moral urge to intercede or do the right thing. Also, in the beginning of the movie there is a scene where the press is attending a funeral for a child and they're just having a normal business as usual conversation with cell phones ringing and everything. The disconnect of respect and decency depicted was very poignant in my opinion.

20. Rocky Balboa- What is Sly even talking about in half of the movie!? It's just this big slurred jumbled mess of verbage- lol. Actually, I have to say, once it was all said and done I have to admit this was pretty good. It stuck to the original Rocky formulas so I couldn't be that mad at it for the bad acting, dialogue, and triumph with a fighter's heart outcome. You should rent if you need some eye of the tiger in your life and maybe are feeling a little down. J

21. There will be Blood- Talk about an interesting movie. I mean WOW. I kept waiting for the movie to get to the point honestly and in the end I was a little disheartened to find that I had sat through hours of (actually we ended up watching it over two days because it went on for so long) graphic craziness for pretty much more graphic craziness to ensue! The verdict is still out as to whether this movie should be called a good idea or not and I'll tell you why….though long and puzzling, it's intriguing- you want to keep watching because the story is so….so? The story is so compelling and insane and interesting and you're constantly wondering what is this leading up to? There's this sense of anticipation the whole time you're watching….and then…and you'll have to find out for yourselves!

Orange u glad I didn't say....

I finally started my fiery Phiaro scarf. I love the yarn that I ended up going with. The colorway is called Tequila.
It's by SWTC, it's 100% bamboo. Some of ya'll helped me choose it for this project and it was such good advice!
This is the 2nd time I've used bamboo yarn. I love the way it feels. It's interesting, the first time I used this yarn it felt a little "crunchy" until I blocked it but now it's just silky silky.
This is such a quick knit. Just straight up mindless nonstop stockinette, it's great for sitting and watching movies or tv. I'm almost at 10 inches- just 12 more to go until I can start dropping stitches. What I'm really not looking forward to is the finishing. You have to braid about a zillion pcs. of fringe.

Quick Crochet

I forgot how fast crochet is. A friend of the family has been going through a hard time recently so I decided to make her something. Of course I had some yarn that would suit her well already in my stash. It's that laceweight yarn my sister gave me when I first FIRST started knitting. I tried to knit it into lace so many times it was ridiculous. It has mohair in it and when you rip it back it gets really tangled. For some reason it never dawned on me over the years to crochet with that yarn...I've really wanted to use it b/c it's just so pretty. Anyway, the opportunity knocked and whomp---there it is...I knit this up in a day and a half- prob could have been quicker if I stayed devoted....I freaking love crochet! I need to take some post blocked pics so you can see that this is actually cute. It's this pattern. I think the yarn I used is from Cherry Tree Hill...it has little sparkles in it too.

Going green...

This is about to be so random but what else is new? For the longest time I've appreciated the look of natural hair. I tried several years ago to grow my hair natural but I didn't have the courage to do the BIG CHOP. I had several inches of new growth with my processed hair back then but couldn't chop it off. Recently I had a weave and hardly any new growth at all but for some reason I decided enough was enough and found my courage.
Here's what it looks like.
Mind you I look a lot more "fierce" with make up and proper accessories. This pic is just a drive by. I'll give you some sexy later...don't you worry.
In other "green" news I ripped back the bag that I was making for "Ay BayBay" and now I'm reknitting it using the Everlasting bagstopper pattern on Knitty. Now that I'm motivated again, it will be done in no time.

Movies 12 thru

TODAY'S FEATURE

12. No Reservations- Cute little movie. I know everyone raves about that little Abigail girl from Little Ms. Sunshine. I'm not a big fan of the kid but still she did a fine job and the movie was a cute little predictable romantic (it was suppose to be a comedy) drama. If chick flicks are your thing pick this baby up it's really sweet.

13. Run Lola Run- (foreign w/ subtitles) Obviously, I had never seen this before but had heard rave reviews from others in my Fiberflix and Netflix groups. I am so glad I watched it. I actually watched it with my brother in law and he pretty much hates subtitles but the movie was so high energy, entertaining, and interesting that we both ended up loving it. I really love how the story is told and the snapshots into the future, and the animation. It was a really cool film. I would recommend it.

14. Hotel Rowanda- Another incredible movie. It will be a really hard week to choose my feature of the day. Don Cheadle. Wow. That's pretty much all I've got on that note. The movie is incredibly moving. It spoke legions about the different political relations in Africa. It also amazes me how in modern day people can still be slaughtered in mass because of race, religion, economical status etc. (not just in Africa). When I watch a movie like this I wonder, "How can I make a difference?"

15. Millions- This was a neat little foreign film. I ended up really liking it. I thought the concept was great. The little boy who plays the main character is as cute as a button and I loved how his imagination is played out on screen. It's quite the little family film too sort of home alone, meets real life, meets fantasy.

16. Volver- (foreign w/ subtitles) Another great movie. The thing that struck me is how lighthearted the film actually feels considering it deals with some very dark issues. Somehow it all just flows and seems to make sense. Penelope Cruz is wonderful and beautiful in this movie (me and the BIL had a convo of how she can be hit or miss sometimes) and again this movie is rich with latino culture. I loved it.

17. Baby Mama- Gotta love Tina Fey and her really funny writing perspective. Saw this in the the theater with a girlfriend of mine. It was laugh out loud funny but I will say that it is more on the chick flick side of things. While I think my hubby would have found things funny in it he would've requested I find a girlfriend to go with after all was said and done.

Snaps for the Kidz

Me and my brother wilin' out at the Kanye concert. Yessir.

Been Writing.

Yes, it is ridiculous right now. Don't even ask me what I've been away so long doing. I have no idea- the time has been occupied somehow. So sad. I go to Cali in four days too. I wonder how many posts I can get in from here til there to feel better about myself- lol. I have been writing a lot lately; just not on this blog. I have not been knitting or crocheting so much. I stare at my beautiful yarn almost everyday and think of the stuff i could knit but i don't. I think i got a little burnt out so I've been burning myself out writing poetry, "short" stories (50 pages so far) and lots of journal entries/devotions and blog entries on bodybuilding.com.
I have no idea why I have so much to talk about. I am not working, been only just a tiny bit social, doing only a handful of stuff most days but I am full of words apparently. I haven't even been watching movies like I usually do (though I do have some backlogged reviews that I need to post on here).
What's funny is that I'm not one of those chicks that always has something to say...out loud...verbally. I don't always want my voice to be heard and I'm not always the one shouting out my unwarranted opinion to people. I'm pretty good at keeping things to myself but wow, I realized (I guess I knew it before too) that on the inside my thoughts are constant they are overwhelming. I feel everything and anything provokes or inspires my.....words.
And it's not like I have an extensive vocabulary. I like to look them (words) up in the dictionary but I couldn't really tell how much of a variety of words I truly remember to use--somehow the ones I do use come out in different combinations and life is ok. I guess using the same words repeatedly make things sound like me. Those special times when I can remember that new snazzy word I looked up a day ago I feel like "oh, no don't hurt it with the flava girl..." I'll read my special combination of new worlds real proud like.
I've written so many words and I feel fulfilled but hungry to write more at the same time. I write them any kind of way, avoiding most set rules yet with my own special set of regulations and pet peeves to avoid. I listen to other peoples words and wonder how they would sound in my own story. I've written words I'd be embarrassed for others to see while being vulnerable to maybe the only person who truly knows inside of me. Freaking words....
Anyway, movie posts later today or tomorrow other stuff to follow...holleration.