Still Rolling My Eyes but It's Time To Move On

Things have been interesting around here to say the least. Congress still hasn't come to an agreement so it looks like my lack of faith in Congress isn't misguided. Oh well, guess what will be, will be. Can't expect me to pay bills when you don't give me a paycheck. Add to it that the drama llama has decided to run a stampede through my family.....sheesh! To include some not so lovely Facebook messages from a complete stranger well lets just say it's been interesting. We're generally pretty good about keeping drama in check but when it does cut loose man does that poor herd of llamas make a mess. It's a headache inducing mess that I hope clears up quickly and without anyone being maimed.

I've spend a large amount of time trying to fix a mess up between flickr and iPhoto. Something glitched and I lost a lot of photos on Flickr. If you're my friend on Ravelry you probably got to see the parade of pictures from old FO's and stashed yarn that I lost the photos on. If you're on Ravelry and we aren't friends and you want to add me feel free. I'm luvs2knit on Ravelry.  I think I have it all fixed now but I'm sure I'll find a few pictures missing here and there. Needless to say I've gone back to using the Flickr uploader.

Stormy our cockatiel died a week ago. I think we all suspected that he was sick but the little tell tale signs didn't pop out until after he was gone. We took him to an avian vet but unfortunately there wasn't much she could do for him. It's the last time we will ever buy a pet from the major chain pet stores. The pet store and the breeder they use are suspects in my book. I think the breeder is doing something seriously wrong. If you ever want a small pet go through a reputable breeder or contact your local shelters. People don't just dump off dogs and cats at shelters. Lets just say that when we decided to get a bigger (more expensive) bird you can bet your butt we'll be looking at shelters and breeders. We're contemplating getting an amazon parrot, african grey or senegal parrot. We won't be able to do this until we have our own home after Shawn retires from the military. I have a friend who adopted her amazon parrot from a local bird rescue place so adoption would definitely be an option for us. 

I finished my Feb YOSS socks in March. 

They are knit using my basic toe up pattern with a short row heel and picot cuff. The yarn is Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! and the colorway is Saucy. I love love love Twisted Fiber Art yarn. I don't think I can say that enough. It's probably why I joined in on their spring self striping socks club. I've already gotten March's colorway in. If you want to see it GO HERE. 

I finished the dishrags for my Granny. 

I was slowly working on them because she was staying down at my moms house for the winter. She's home now so I need to get these dropped off in the mail to her. I was suppose to make some scrubbies but the nylon netting that I have sucks so I need to go find some slightly more abrasive nylon. The stuff I have would be excellent for shower poofs though.

I finally got my hands on some numma numma doppio.

All I can say is yuuuuuummmmmy! I love me some merino/cashmere sock yarn. Stuff wears a lot better then I thought it would too. I have a few pair made from yarn from various dyers and they all still look great.

I also got my Hot Cocoa Kisses kit from Woolgirl. CLICK HERE if you want to see it. I also signed up for the Margaritaville kit and picked both colors because I couldn't decide between the two different Margaritas. 

I picked this up from The Loopy Ewe last week.

I've been trying to get my hands on some Zombie BBQ from Lorna's Laces since it came out. TLE finally got some more in so I snagged it. I love Lorna's Laces colorways but this is one of my favorites.

My on the go socks are close to being finished.

I'm just about ready to start the ribbing cuff. The last few pair have had picot cuffs so it's time to switch it up and put ribbing on this time. Normally I love Opal sock yarn but this one has been one big disappointment. So far in these socks I've had to cut the yarn twice because of knots and once because the yarn was really thin.

I've put a few more stripes on Bree's socks.

I'm using some leftover self-striping yarn from my Rainbows and Clouds socks. A few more stripes to go before starting the heel.

I've made some good progress on Shawn's sweater.

I need to run waste yarn through it and have Shawn try it on to make sure it's big enough. It looks small but it's on a 32 inch circular needle so the stitches are a bit cramped. Plus I need to see if the neck is going to be fine or if I need to rip and tweak the neck myself. The neck is the same number of cast on stitches for all sizes. 

I'll leave you with some shots of the mutts and bird.

Zeus chillin in his favorite spot in the winter by the heater vent.

Doesn't he look comfy. It's nice and warm right in the spot plus it's close to me because this is where my computer desk is which is generally where I am. 

Penny the ferocious.

Penny in her "I wanna play" stance. This was right after I told her I was going to kiss her freckles on her nose. When I snapped this pic she had a deep growl going and when I set the camera down she hopped into my lap and tried to lick me to death. She's 30 pounds and takes up my whole lap. She is definitely not a lap dog regardless of what she thinks. This dog is a serious crack up and loads of entertainment. Amazingly enough Penny made it through the healing period after getting her fixed and having a dew claw removed off her back leg that was causing problems without a single ripped stitch. Man that was a pain in the butt I'm glad I won't have to repeat.

Meet George the cockatiel. 

 

He's the newest member of our family and most definitely a boy. George is a yearling and still getting use to us. He's already trying to say pretty bird and he whistles at you every now and then. George has real potential to be a talker. He appears to he a heavy pied cockatiel. He seems to like me more then Shawn which is funny since most of the animals flock to Shawn. Petey our parakeet loves Shawn but Petey wasn't handfed so Shawn was the one to hold him the most when we first brought him home since he was a bit bitey. I think Petey bonded with Shawn and they are now buddies. 

Well that's it for now. Until next time.

Happy Crafting!

Face in Hands and Eyes Rolling

Heads up, this is not a knitting related post and it does have a bit of cussing so if you don't want to listen to my political rant with cussing then please ignore this post. I'll be back in a day or two with a knitting related post.

Opinions are definitely welcome even those that are different then mine but if you're going to attack me for my opinion or are trolling for a fight I will delete your comment. A good healthy discussion or debate is always welcome. I don't believe that I'm always right and have no problem admitting when someone has an idea that is better then mine.

I generally shy away from political or religion filled posts on my blog. Politics and religion are big fight starters. Sammy Kershaw has a song called Politics, Religion and Her which sums it up with him saying "politics can start a fight, religions hard to know whos right." Well that's how I feel too but this topic is one of those that is driving me bat shit crazy lately. It's came about full tilt when Shawn came home yesterday stating that we could possibly not see our next paycheck because of it. You see military will be exempt from a government shutdown but the section that pays military members their paychecks is ran by government civilians who will not be at work to make sure we get paid if there is a government shutdown. Sadly the military still have to go to work. All those troops who are in Iraq and Afghanistan will still have to work only now their risking their necks and not getting paid for it. Same goes for my VA disability check. The VA and their pay system are all ran by government civilians. Listen up bill people, if the government doesn't get me my paycheck you will not be getting paid either. Car payment and insurance for said car will be paid but that's it. Cell phones, cable and credit card companies, sorry but you aren't not going to see a dime till I see my check. If a government shutdown happens the commissary will be closed because the commissary on base is ran by federal employees. Is this a tragedy for me, no it's not but it is the cheapest place for me to shop and if I'm not getting a paycheck I have to make my savings count. Thankfully I have money tucked away in a savings account and we're not stationed at a base that is not close to a town. Yup that's right there are some bases that are pretty far from town. Unfortunately I can name a lot of military families who are going to be in a world of hurt if they don't get their checks because they don't have savings and are living paycheck to paycheck. Some of these families are lucky if they have $20 to their name when their next check comes in.

Sorry folks, hate to burst your bubble but the military aren't paid all that well. Yes we have some decent benefits like free housing (some bases you have to wait 12-18 months for said free house), rent money if you live downtown (this is only about 75-80% of the actual rent costs not including utility costs you don't get money for that), free medical and vision and food money (only a few hundred dollars a month) which is paid only for the military member not their families. No extra money if you have a family since the military didn't issue you a family you don't get paid for said family. Although housing money for living downtown is a little higher for military members with family. My husband makes less then $40,000 a year doing a job that in the civilian world would give him around $65,000 a year starting pay and roughly $85,000 per year after he gets his masters degree. He's serving his country not for the pay and benefits but because he wants to. I think the last thing he got down from the military stated that with all his benefits he's got a $54,000 a year job. Most of the benefits that they count are bunk and it's a way of trying to make it sound like we're getting paid better then we really are. But back to the topic at hand. I can get sidetracked way to easily.

There's big fuss about a government shutdown because Congress are being a bunch of big damn babies about the budget. I sincerely hope that this doesn't happen but frankly I have no faith left in my government. Do I think the budget is important, hell yes I do! Do I think the government needs to shutdown because these babies can't make up their minds and compromise, hell no. All American tax payers are affected by the budget. We all pay taxes to keep government functions running although in the last ten years I have to say I've become less and less impress with the way our government is being ran. It's never been perfect and no one expects it to be perfect. You can't make everyone happy all the time. For those tea party people who think the government shutting down for a few months is a good thing I have one thing to say to you "up yours". Yes it's a rather juvenile response but I think it works. There are a lot of us "government employees" that need our damn paychecks to survive in this world. What about all those veterans who will not receive proper health care or their paycheck because they  are ran by government employees in a VA hospital? Or the elderly who are receiving Social Security checks or use Medicare? Don't you think they'll be hurt by a long shutdown? I know for a fact that it would cripple my grandmother who uses both of those things. Thankfully my gran has family and we stick together and take care of each other when things get bad. Not all elderly have families that are there to give them a helping hand. Not to mention the fact that shutting down the government will not solve the problem. It's just away of ignoring the problem. Problems aren't solved by ignoring them. I believe a government shutdown will cause even more problems. 

Congress are a bunch of overpaid cry babies who are acting like a bunch of two year olds fighting over a frickin' toy. Come on people you are grown individuals who need to learn how to compromise. Republicans think they're right and Democrats think they're right. Well you can't always be right folks and sometimes you need to compromise. I'd have to say they're both wrong because they're not working together to solve the problem. It shouldn't matter what you're damn political leanings are. You do what's best for the people as a whole. Stop your bickering and think about the people who voted your butt into office and take care of them.

You want to know what my political leaning are? They're for keeping this damn country from falling apart. For making sure that our own homeless people are being taken care of. I understand helping third world countries who need help is important but damn it stop ignoring our own people who need to be feed and taken care of. Not all of our homeless people are worthless druggies and drunks. Some of them are families that lost their homes because they were laid off from work because some large company decided that they could make a bigger profit by moving their company to China. Lets face it it's not easy to find a job right now. Some states still have a fairly high unemployment rate.

I'm for our children getting a good educated and lets face it our education system sucks because we keep taking money away from it. We have states that keep pulling more and more money from education. Education needs to be funded better and teachers need to be paid more. They have a damn difficult job to do and it's getting harder to do that job when we don't give them the things that they desperately need. When I was a kid my parents hardly had to supply anything for us kids. On average we spend $20-30 at the beginning of the school year for Kaity. This will double since Bree starts school this Aug. This doesn't count the money we spend on supplies to help out the teacher throughout the year. We never complain about paying for these supplies because our kids need them but when the schools start cutting music and art programs from their curriculum you can bet we'll be at the head of the line screaming about it. 

We need to find a way to move away from oil dependancy and tell the big oil companies that they won't run our country anymore because lets face it they do control a lot of things. And frankly overuse of oil is causing a lot of environmental issues both from using and from drilling for it. 

I'm for not taxing the crap out of the little people who actually do run this country. Do we need taxes? Yes, yes we do. Tax money makes the world go round and money in general runs the world. It helps fund all those government agencies that we use, social security, medicare, road repair, our national parks, etc. Lets stop and think about what would happen if the janitors, retail works, mechanics, teachers, etc weren't around to do their jobs. The little people run this country not the Bill Gates and Donald Trumps of the world. Did they or do they play an important part in our country, yes they did/do but they're not more important then any other American in this country. I'm for not allowing the extremely rich to not pay the taxes that they should be paying because they found some stupid loop hole in the system.

I'm for no American having to go without medical care because they don't have medical insurance or doing without medicine because it's so horribly expensive they can't afford it. I would be doing without my meds if I didn't have medical insurance. My meds each month would be well over $500 every 30 days. I read somewhere where it stated that over 1 million Americans are purchasing their medicine from Canadian companies because it's a lot cheaper. Why is it that these same medications can be obtained from Canada  cheaper then here in the US? Some of my meds have no generic brand to help me save money. The price for medicine in this country is absolutely ridiculous. Our medical system is ran by the pharmaceutical companies and it shouldn't be. If that means that we have a health care program like Canada's then so be it. I think Canada has the right idea of it. Is their program perfect? No it's not but at least they are trying to take care of their people. No one should have to go without proper medical, dental, or eye care. If you've ever had to do without it then you understand. There are a lot of people who have never suffered without these things and do not understand. It's hard to understand something if you've never experienced it. Just because you can't afford to pay for medical insurance it does not make you lazy or worthless. It doesn't mean you spend your money on stupid things. Some people are scraping by paycheck to paycheck because the cost of living is to damn high. Is Obamas health care reform perfect? No it isn't. It needs a lot of work but at least he isn't sitting back doing nothing. He's trying and I can't fault him for that. It's easy to stand around and point fingers at people who make mistakes it's a lot harder to try to fix the issues instead of point fingers and laying blame. 

I'm for welfare, WIC and food stamp reform. There are people who are receiving these things when they shouldn't. I think the programs can really help a lot of people out unfortunately they're being neglected and are in serious need of a revamping. 

There are a lot of changes this country needs to make but how can we make them when our leaders squabble like 2 year olds? What people need to understand is that while our President is the high leader of our country, Congress is the one that controls the show the majority of the time and lets face it they've given the world a great show of what childish jackass they really can be. 

Alright, political rant over with. Now it's time to sit back and see how many people stop reading this blog because of this post. ;~)