Eastburn Adventures

I have been challenged to post the following meme on my blog by Amy, and since I'm still searching for blog fodder, I appreciate having my next post supplied in part for me!  Check out Amy's answers on her blog, too.

 Here goes:

1.  What time is it?  9:34 pm

2.  What is your name? Tammy Eastburn

3.  What are you most afraid of?  Someone once said that FEAR is "False Evidence Appearing Real."  I try not to be afraid of anything, but simply trust in the Lord for His provision.

4.  What do you drive? A 2003 Oldsmobile Alero - my first car paid for before the term of the loan expired, thanks to the Financial Peace principles taught by Dave Ramsey.

5.  Have you ever seen a ghost? I don't think so.

6.  Where were you born? Springfield, Missouri

7.  Ever been to Alaska? Six times.  Check out my earlier posts here and here: 

8.  Ever been toilet papering? No.  My house was TP'd once in high school the same night my dad had his first heart attack.  It's something I don't tolerate.

9.  Croutons or Bacon bits? Bacon bits, definitely.

10. Favorite day of the week? Any day I'm at home when it's snowing or raining and I can curl up and knit and have nothing else to do.  Not what you meant?  Then Saturday - the only day there are no real obligations.

11. Favorite restaurant D'Arpino's.  A wonderful little Italian cafe with the best peanut butter cheesecake in the world!

12. Favorite Flower Black tulips

13. Favorite sport to watch I am a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, so I have to say baseball.  However, I also love to watch tennis - mainly the Grand Slams.

14. Favorite color: I would say black, but it isn't a color per se, so most people would agree when I say brick red or burgundy.  Funny, my yarn stash has many shades of those colors!

15. Favorite TV show. M*A*S*H was one of the best shows on television, and my other favorite was just cancelled after seven seasons, "The West Wing."  It was brilliant, especially in the Aaron Sorkin days.

16. According to Amy, there is no number 16.

17. Favorite fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A

18. What color is your bedroom carpet?  I don't have carpet in my bedroom - it's a hardwood floor

19. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Aw man, do I have to answer this?  Okay, the written I passed the first time.  The driving test took me 3 times to pass; however, let me explain. The first time I took it I had a snooty woman examiner who acted as if my car was too dirty for her to sit in - there was no way she was going to pass me.  The second time, the examiner tricked me.  He had me make a right turn, and of course I turned into the closest right lane, and then stayed there.  He didn't tell me to change lanes, and at the next light, it was where the right lane folks had to turn right again, so I did.  He said he didn't tell me to turn, so he failed me.  (Not that I'm bitter about this, but I remember it very clearly!)

20. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Lisa.  I was supposed to pick my favorite chocolate from a list to determine my personality trait.  I chose Reese's peanut butter cups, but I don't think it matched my personality!

21. Bedtime: Around 10:30 p.m.

22. Who will be the first person to comment on this post? Probably Amy.  She understands a blogger's need for comments.

23. Who is least likely to comment on this post? My mom.  She doesn't use the computer.

24. Who would you like to see put this meme on her blog? Corinn is the only other person I know who has a blog, so I pick her!

25. Favorite food Haagen Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream

26. Ford or Chevy? Chevy

27. What are you listening to right now? A rerun of "American Idol" that's on television.

28. What are your favorite animals? Shih Tzu's.

29. How many tattoos do you have? None.  Really.

30. Do you have any pets? Yes, we have twin girls.  See my "About" page.

 31. Which came first the chicken or the egg? I'll have to copy Amy's response on this one.  "The chicken. See Genesis chapter one."

32. What would you like to accomplish before you die?  I'd like to reach my goal weight.

33. How many people do you think will comment on this post? Four.

34. What kept you from deleting this? I needed an idea for my next blog post.

35. Where do you live now? Springfield, Missouri

36. Where was your favorite vacation? Ooh, that's tough.  I've been to a lot of wonderful places.  I loved my Disney Cruise honeymoon, and each trip to Alaska, but I think I'm still going to have to pick Maui.  I've been there three times and can't wait to go back.  Kaanapali Beach is the best!

37. What is your favorite memory? My wedding.  I loved every minute of planning it, and when the big day came, it was absolutely perfect.

39. What is your favorite pastime? I love to read, but lately I have been consumed with all things knitty.  Knitting, reading books about knitting, searching the Web for knitting stuff, and shopping for yummy yarns!  (If anyone needs any Christmas gift ideas for me - gift certificates from Knit Picks or Simply fibers would greatly appreciated!)

40. What was your nickname in high school? Tizzy.

41. What city/state do you call your hometown? Springfield, Missouri

42. Do you have a MY Space account? No, I really don't trust it, but if I want to read Corinn's blog, I guess I'll have to sign up.

43. If you could have one REDO what would it be? I wouldn't have gotten married the first time.

44. What is your favorite scripture and why? I love Proverbs 31:12b-13a.  ". . .All the days of her life, she seeks wool and flax."  See, my yarn obsession is scriptural!  Okay, so I'm taking it out of context.  My real favorite verse is Philippians 4:19:  "And my God shall provide all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

45. What type of music do you like? Chicago and Barry Manilow are my favorite artists.  I'm also a big fan of Jim Brickman and Kelly Clarkson.  I also like some country - Collin Raye, Martina McBride - and Praise and Worship music.

46.  What is one of your “dreams” in life?  I've always wanted to learn to play the piano.  Robert helped to make that dream come closer by buying me a beautiful antique 1921 Gulbransen player piano that had been converted for our second Christmas together.  I've taken some lessons, but still need a lot more practice!

47.  What area of your life do you always seem to struggle with? Losing weight and not guarding my tongue as I ought.

48.  What is one encouraging thing you can pass on to the rest of us?  "The borrower is slave to the lender."  Proverbs 22:7b.  "Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else."  Dave Ramsey 

So I created two posts earlier today, came back to check my blog, and now all of a sudden my sidebar is below my last post.  I didn't change anything with the sidebar.  Any WordPress users out there that know why this may have happened and how to fix it?  Or is it my computer?  Does the page look strange to everyone else?

Hopefully, I can get it back to normal soon!

Being still fairly new to Bloglandia, I'm learning that there's apparently some blog etiquette regarding “tagging” our blog friends to post meme's.  Amy tagged me for the following, so I can't let her down! 

Six Weird Things About Me
THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1.  My fingers are double-jointed and I can pop my toes.

2.  I can usually taste the difference between the colors of M&M's.  I won't eat Christmas M&M's because the red and green dyes are really different from the regular red and green ones.  I also don't like blue M&M's, and wish they would bring back tan.

3.  I have lived in the same zip code for all but 2 months of my life, although, as Robert reminds me, I owned property in another zip code when I married him because I then immediately became a joint owner of his house.

4.  I have never seen a James Bond movie.

5.  My grandmother (on my mother's side), and my great-grandmother (on my father's side) were born 2 days apart.  So, Grandma and Great-Grandma were the same age.

6.  My grandfather was killed by a coffin and died on Halloween.  Seriously. 

I don't know six blog friends well enough to tag them, so I'm picking Zarah and Lana.  (Looking forward to learning the weirdness about each!)

So earlier today I posted the "Six Weird Things" and "Knitting Inspiration" posts.  Suddenly, my sidebar was not, in fact, at the side, but at the bottom.  I couldn't figure out what to do to fix it, but found a similar problem on the WordPress Support site indicating that there was "offensive code" in a post that broke the sidebar.  So I deleted my two posts from today (which also deleted comments) and re-published them.  Yes, if you looked at the site earlier, they were in a different order, and slightly different. 

Anyway, my sidebar is back where it belongs now, but I have no clue how this happened.  I'm going back to knitting now.

Kate tagged me for this meme, and I have to say, some of the questions were quite thought-provoking.

Seven Things to Do Before I Die

1.  World travel - Scotland, Ireland, England, Italy, Greece, and Paris

2.  Know that I am fully in God's will for my life

3.  Visit all 50 states (I'm getting close!)

4.  Become a Proverbs 31 woman for Robert

5.  Learn to play the piano

6.  Write at least one book

7.  Knit, knit, knit

Seven Things I Cannot Do

1.  Watch any movie, even animated, or hear any story where animals get hurt.  I will walk out.

2.  Run (too many knee surgeries)

3.  Watch any movie with Ben Stiller in it.  I am not a fan.

4.  Drink alcohol (I promised Robert)

5.  Renounce Jesus (I'm keeping this one from Kate's list)

6.  Stop adding yarn to the stash

7.  Leave an unpacked box alone (everything must be in its place)

Seven Things That Attract Me to . . . (Knitting)

1.  The colors of yarn

2.  The textures of yarn

3.  Visiting local yarn stores

4.  Connecting with the knitting community

5.  The toys tools

6.  It forces me to slow down

7.  The depth of possibilities that all start with only two stitches

Seven Things I Say

1.  Outstanding!

2.  Yeuneh (so that you can't tell if I'm saying "yeah" or "nah")

3.  I'm done with that (meaning I'm bored)

4.  What were you thinking?

5.  It was an accident.  (shh, don't tell Robert - sometime's it's on purpose)

6.  [When traveling] And they have a yarn store!

7.  Lots of quotes from "The West Wing"

Seven Good Books

1.  The Bible -- God

2.  The Hiding Place -- Corrie Ten Boom

3.  The Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey

4.  The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling

5.  The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

6.  Winnie the Pooh -- A.A. Milne

7.  Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott

Seven Good Movies

1.  The American President

2.  Beauty & The Beast (Disney)

3.  Dave

4.  Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

5.  Sleepless in Seattle

6.  Casablanca

7.  The Wedding Singer

Seven Blogs to Tag

I'm not much of a tagger, but I might be able to get Amy to do this one!  :-)  If anyone else wants to, feel free!

Okay, okay, I know I've been completely and utterly boring.  Is it really Thursday night?  And my last post was Saturday?  I have no excuses, except maybe Spring fever.  And Spring isn't even my favorite season!  I just need a break - and hopefully, we'll get one next weekend.

Robert and I are planning a long weekend in Tulsa (4 yarn stores, people!), and plan to just veg out.  Then today I get a postcard that Carol is having a sale that starts at 6:00 p.m. on the 30th.  I can't miss a sale on yarn!  It only happens once a year!  So we may have to leave Saturday morning and then take the following Monday and Tuesday off.

I have been knitting - I promise!  I just haven't taken any photos.  But I've started the Irish Hiking Scarf - in the paprika Blue Sky Alpaca - and I'm really liking how it's turning out.  I rearranged my stash last weekend, and when I came across this yarn, I knew it wanted to be the IHS.  But I only had two hanks, and was afraid it wouldn't be enough.  Last Friday, I had to run to the LYS to pick up a pattern book Carol had ordered for me, and can you believe it?  Two hanks of the paprika alpaca (I just like saying that - it's a tongue twister) peeking out of the closeout bin at 50% off!  They're different dye lots, but I can't tell the difference between them.  See - I knew that yarn wanted to be that scarf!

I'm also working on a scarf to be donated to a Relay for Life silent auction.  My friend Angie and sister Kathy (see their links on my sidebar) are involved in RFL, and my knitting group at work is making some breast cancer dishcloths, pink scarves, and other assorted items for the auction.  Hopefully, we'll help raise some $$ for a cure. 

The other thing OTN is secret for now.  I'm really not superstitious, but I don't want to tempt the knitting mojo, so let me get a few more rows done and then I'll let you in on it.

In other ramblings, Survivor is really boring this season; On AI, I don't think Sanjaya is as horrible as everyone is saying (yes, he's out of his league, but he's not terrible - he validly made it through the Hollywood round) - and I'm picking Melinda and Blake for the finals (and Jordin for third); and does anyone else miss "The West Wing?"

I've been tagged!  Trish tagged me :-)

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves.  Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game.  You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog.  You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Here are my facts:

1.  Except for a two-month period of time in an apartment, I have lived my entire life in the same zip code.

2.  I have driven to California from Missouri twice just for the weekend.

3.  I have been on a space shuttle (okay, so it was the prototype Enterprise at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama).

4.  I have seen every episode of M*A*S*H at least 25 times or more.

5.  I saw "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" at the theater 23 times (yes, some were matinees).

6.  In high school, I could study for my trig tests in my sleep - I literally solved problems in my dreams.  It worked - I won the gold medal in the state mathematics competition for trigonometry.

7.  I have 3 1/2 college degrees, 4 professional licenses/registrations in securities and insurance, and 2 professional certifications in the legal/financial planning areas.

8.  I'm a rebel - forgive me for not tagging anyone, but feel free to do this yourself and let me know.  I'll look forward to reading everyone's facts!

Okay, so check out this post from March 22nd - Last paragraph.  I had the final 3 - just the wrong order.  But I'm very happy that Jordin won! (Even though I've been a fan of Blake's from the beginning.)

I have not been knitting. Not really. Not since last Thursday, except for a Lizard Ridge square in the car on the way to Lebanon on Saturday. Lizard Ridge is my standard in the car knitting project. Here it is being somewhat frightened of the thunderstorm ahead of us.

We visited Robert's mom and the cemetery on Saturday, and then Robert drove by this covered bridge for me to take some photos.

So since I haven't been knitting, what have I been up to? One, I have been working in the yard. We've cleaned out the pool and worked in the flower beds getting ready for Michelle's visit in a couple of weeks. These are some Japanese lilies in front of our house.

I've also been reading. In case you've been living in a cave, there's a book and movie coming out soon, and I've been catching up on my reading. Since Friday, I have read this, this, this, and this, and am just starting this one. See? No time for knitting. But I think it's an excused absense!

This upcoming weekend will be busy with performances in three concerts at my church called the Festival of Keyboards (Springfield friends, you should really try to come to one of them - it's going to be great!). Our worship pastor and 3 of his friends, who are all very accomplished musicians, will be playing 4 grand pianos at the same time, along with our 150+ member choir and orchestra. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, will be glad when that last concert is over.

I've also been having some internet connectivity issues, so my apologies for my lapse in blogging and in keeping up with my blogger friends. Hopefully, I'll have full access again, soon. And hopefully, I'll be picking up my needles again, too!

Nope, not with a knitting project, but with my first reading of "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows." Robert, Steve, Ginger, and I went to Wal-Mart last night at 12:01 a.m. to get our copies, after having dinner and visiting downtown Springfield's transformation into Diagon Alley (which was kind of a disappointment).

Overall, I'm saddened that the series is finished, but I'm in awe of J.K. Rowling's written creation. No spoilers, but this book was definitely one of my favorites in the series.

I'm going to go take a nap now.

Remember my quest to find the perfect knitting bag, which eventually resulted in the purchase of a burnt orange Namaste Executive Bag that I found in Asheville? Well, I've been catching up on the Stash & Burn podcasts, and in one of the April episodes Nicole described her perfect bag that she found - which just so happened to be a Namaste Executive Bag in burnt orange! Yup. The same bag. Described months before my discovery. Last week, my oh so stylish boss told me that she "really liked my big orange purse." Now, to seal the deal, the Holiday Interweave Knits issue is now available, and guess what's on pages 6-7 listed as a great gift for a knitter? Uh huh. A Namaste Executive Bag. In orange. Yeah, I bought the right bag.

Seriously, I'm not sure I'm gonna make it. I'm the type of person who has her Christmas shopping completely done by October, and wrapped by Thanksgiving. This year - I don't know what happened. I'm not done shopping; I've not wrapped a single gift; I've not decorated the house. We do have a tree up - thank goodness it's prelit - but there's no ornaments on it at all. It's sad - it's just so sad.

I'm also behind on knitting Christmas gifts. I know I said I'd give myself a break and not worry if I didn't get everything done, but I've still got 1/2 a scarf and two pairs of socks that I was planning to make. The scarf will get done, and maybe I'll be able to post a photo of it soon, but the socks are a different story. Fortunately, the recipients know they're getting them and are fine on waiting. I just want to get back into my Ravelry queue and start knitting some stuff for me again!

Speaking of Ravelry, there was a forum post a week or so ago where people were making up new ravelrized verses to sing to Christmas songs. I had to join in on the fun, so here's my new song, to be sung to the tune of "Mary, Did You Know?" (If you don't know the song, click here to hear Clay Aiken sing it.)

Casey, did you know
That the knitters love the site you have created?
Casey, did you know
That the grand opening is much anticipated?
Did you know that we spend so much time on Ravelry?
That we've had to install more high speed – from AT&T.

Casey, did you know
That we love to search through all of the patterns?
Casey, did you know New techniques and tips, this site has helped us all learn?
Did you know that you've given us such a marvelous gift?
There's nothing better for a Type A personality that knits.

Casey, did you know That we've connected with new friends in every nation?
Casey, did you know When someone favorites us, it's a great sense of elation?
Did you know that we adore all the little things you add?
And when Bob is N R Servers, it makes us feel so sad?

Our stashes grow, our queues overflow, our WIPs will never end. Our libraries are full, the groups are cool, our favorites are so grand!

Casey, did you know
That you are the best Code Monkey in the whole world?
Casey, did you know That we're so glad you were inspired by FreckleGirl?
Did you know that with famous knitters, you've helped us to hobnob?
And someday we hope that we get a big wet kiss – from - BOB!

And for another fun Christmas song and video, check out this link!