Vacationing???

This morning I went on a fabulous run. I noticed that beyond the truckstop was a residential area so I decided to run down there. It was great. I ran in the morning so the weather was wonderful, the neighborhood did not have a lot of traffic and it smelled like Florida. There was a slight breeze so the scent of orange blossoms was in the air. Oscar also enjoyed the run immensely. He was happy as a clam. Since the temp was only about 70 he was enjoying it. We saw our fill of creatures also. We saw birds, dogs, cats, a rooster and goats! Yes, goats!!!! I think I also found the redneck section of the Tampa area.

This is the view from our room.

I don't know if you can tell or not but that is the TA truckstop beyond the parking lot. Now this hotel is lovely. It's a Hampton Inn and should be lovely but WHY would anyone want to stay here with this lovely view of the truckstop??? If I was vacationing in Tampa I would think there would be more seenic places to stay. Oh well it suits our purposes and now we have the truck parked where we can see it from the room so that makes Chris happy.

This afternoon I finally lounged aroung the pool. It's another beautiful day but breezy. When I got in the pool there was a chair in the pool! I swam some laps, read a magazine, knit on my spring sock and listened to my ipod. It was very relaxing. I may head back out there in a little bit but thought I better come inside and make sure I was not getting burnt. I wouldn't mind being a nice tan color but think that lobster red would not suit me well. I think I'm ok so far!

Here is my spring sock.

I've made a lot of progress with it and still love it!! I haven't thrown it across the room yet or cursed it out too much yet.

There seems to be some really great sounding yarn shops here in the Tampa area but I will be unable to visit any of them. The only 2 stupid truckstops here will not let you drop your trailer and talking the truck and trailer to go out be-bopping around town is not really an option. I told Chris we needed scooters or something for cruising around town during our downtime.

Have you ever been to Bob Evans? There is one in the parking lot of the hotel so we have been eating pretty much all of our meals there. Yum. I love Bob Evans. I wish there were Bob Evans in MN.

Sunshine!

Greetings from Sunny Florida! The load ended up being ready Wednesday afternoon so we are already here in FL. We are in Sarasota as I type. Next I think we are running a little shorty here in FL and then we are supposed to have a load to TX. We are not so patiently waiting for the phone call on the next load.

This is the transformer we brought down here. It's not much to look at.

The boys are still happy as clams. I don't think they enjoyed the rain we had the past few days though. I think they are probably relieved to be in warm sunny FL. It was cold Wednesday!! I ended up putting on my jeans and I even wore my mosssy socks for the first time!

Well ya know my jaywalker sock?? It's gone. I ripped it all back. It is now just a ball of yarn again. I had read that other people had found that the pattern was very small and did not take it to heart. I had this much done when I ripped it back.

I could not get the darn thing around my heel. Oh well I will start it again soon in the larger size.

In the meantime I started this sock...

I love love love this yarn! It is Cherry Tree Hill super sock. It is awesome to knit with and I love it. I can't wait to pick up some more. I think the jaywalkers would have been great in this yarn also. I'm afraid that the variegated yarn obstructs the pattern of this yarn but I am still pleased with the way they are turning out.

Work is for the birds

So yesterday we got called to do a load out of South Boston, VA going to FL. So we hit the road and started traveling North to VA. Well this morning we arrived at the shipped and the piece will not be ready until Thursday. Sooooooooooooooo, they are paying us to wait for it and we are checked into the Holiday Inn. When it's time to hit it hard we're not going to know what to do. We have been spoiled with easy trips and hotel rooms.

The only thing I'm bummed about is the hotel has a nice outdoor pool that is not open yet :( Oh well I am still going to sit outside with the dogs and work on my tan!

This is for you Rob...

Before we got the call on the load we had the truck washed. I've only seen the truck this clean one other time. It cleans up nice. I hate to step on the stairs because they are so shiney and nice. Here Rob, Here's another for you!

Well that's all folks.

PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings!!! I'm back and I have pictures!! I just thought this pic was so cute. This is ALL of my boys! This is Santa Rosa, NM. We turned South from here and entered the boondocks. The Boondocks of NM.This is Jeanette and her son Mack. Hey did you know my middle name is Jeanette? Yup, sure is. We have that in common already:) Last night was the awards ceremony for the Terry Bramer Circle of Excellence. Here is a pic of Chris and I before Dinner. I tried to get some pics from when Chris was receiving his award but the lighting was bad and they did not turn out. I snapped this one when they were getting ready to get there pictures taken as a group. To the left of Chris is Greg Neal and to the right is Vernon Brobst. When Chris was getting his award everyone booed him for stealing a freight coordinator away. Poor baby! It was all in good fun though. I'm sure Chris is ready to get the heck out of NC and get away from all the people harassing him about taking me:) On the knitting side of my life... I finished the mossy socks. They are both done. I even ripped back the first one and shorted in up. They are now done and perfect. It's kind of funny that I am knitting socks like a crazy person but want nothing to do with socks right now. I am all about my sandal's! I finally started a Jaywalker sock. I actually started it twice. Well now we're rocking and rolling on it and it is very nice. I have read on other blogs that the jaywalker is very narrow and it is. I tried it on and it was a very tight fit to get it around my heel. This may be the nicest sock I have ever made though. The yarn is very fine and it is knit on size 1 needles so the stitches are tiny! This is another sock that I started. It is going to be a warm pair of socks. They are very different that the jaywalker!
This is the my other project that is one the needles right now. It's going to be a bag. I'm kind of at a stand still with it right now though. It is currently on size 6, 16" addi turbo needles and I need a 20 or 24" to continue on with it. We did check out a yarn store here in Charlotte yesterday and I was hoping to pick some up but they didn't have any.

The yarn store we checked out was baskets of yarn. It was very small. They didn't have a large variety but was an interesting store none the less. I got out of there cheap. I bought one ball of sock yarn to add to the stash!

I added a bunch of new Pics to "The Boys" if you need a new fix of cute dog pics!

Well I have to wrap it up here. I need to pack up so we can check out of the hotel.

Happy Birthday to me.

Wow, it's been almost a week since I've had a chance to blog. We have been very very busy and any chance to use the computer that I have had has been used for "official" business. Well we managed to deliver in El Paso and get the heck out of there. I loved driving thru NM, it was very pretty. I loved how most of the time you could look around there would be nothing but road and desert. I can't imagine what life would be like living in Eastern NM though. It is very desolate and poor.

After we delivered in El Paso we set up camp at the truckstop thinking we would be there for awhile. We found a nice parking spot and set up the Idel Air. (I am now a huge Idel fan now) Well Oscar and I decided to go for a run while Chris and Nanners chilled in the truck. We had to cut the run short because Oscar just couldn't handle to heat. I was ready to keep going but Oscar would stop and just sit down. Oh well I guess he's getting too old to be out running in the heat. When I got back from the run we hit the showers then took off to go load in Sealy, TX heading to Fort Bragg, NC (that's where I am as I type). I didn't think we were going to make it to NC for the awards banquet but here we are!

This load is just a stepdeck load but it got us where we wanted to go. I really meant to take a picture of this load too to post but just never gort around to it.

We have been kind of mosieing along to get here(surprise, Surprise) and have made a few stops along the way. Wednesday afternoon we rolled into Lithia Springs, GA and spent some time with Chris' parent, his Grandpa and Glinell and Jeanette, his siter in law and her son Mack. I have never met Granddad, Glinell or Jeanette and her family so that was cool. I thinkg it is so nice that now I am here with Chris when he is seeing his family instead of always just being on the other end of the phone

We had a blast in GA! We ate shredded chicken Tacos and yummy oatmeal cake. Micheal also called from Cuba so we all got to speak with him for a little bit. The dogs were suprisingly well behaved. We were very worried that they would be super brats and we would not be invited back. Chris had a heart to heart with them both before we arrived so I think that helped :)

Yesterday we cruised up to Fayetteville, NC (where Fort Bragg is located) and spend some time with Chris' Aunt and Uncle, Mitzi and Bobby. We also had a great time with them. I told Chris I would like to just drive around the country and visit people!!! When we arrived we just sat and chatted some with Mitzi then we went to Walmart. There were so many things that we needed! After Bobby was done with work we headed off to a fabulous Italian place for dinner. I had chicken Marsala and it was excellent! After dinner we headed off to the mall for some more shopping. Well my birthday started last night, let me tell you, since I was spoiled with all the stuff I got. I have a bunch of new clothes, Mitzi bought me a cute pair of pink flip flops, and Chris bought me a limited edition Dale Earnhardt Jr Leather jacket. We got an INCREDIBLE deal on it. It was far too good to pass up!

Last night we slept in the truck in front of Mitzi and Bobbys and this morning we got up and had coffee with them then went out to breakfast with Bobby. We just unloaded and next we will be heading to Charlotte, NC to set up camp and the hotel and drop the boys off at the kennel.

Ok. I started typing this us yesterday but now it is Saturday and we're in Charlotte. We dropped the boys off yesterday afternoon at the kennel. I miss my little guys. Our hotel room is awesome and the boys would have loved running around in this big ole room.

Last night was the social hour thing and this morning we had the meeting. We have some free time until 7 tonight now so who knows what we'll do this afternoon.

Well I'm going to post this since I have been hanging onto it since yesterday. I will post pictures later! I promise!!!

Time to go to work!

Ha! Here is the purple tree! The computer still did not want to upload this pic so I had to do some tricky work to get it to work. I hope it's worth it!!!

We're still here in Joplin MO. We decided to stay another night since the room was reasonable and the weather was nice. Yesterday we spent a good part of the day working on this computer. It has been moving at snail pace lately. Chris spent two hours on the phone with Geek Squad yesterday trying to determine if we had a virus or what was making the computer so sluggish. Well after all that there is NOTHING wrong with the computer. Which I guess is a good thing. Well we finally checked the Sprint Aircard and there was an upgrade on that. It seems like maybe the computer is moving a little quicker.

Last night we went to dinner at Olive Garden. It was yummy. I'm sure I blew my points out of the water but it was so nice to not eat at the truckstop.


Yesterday the mossy sock and I made peace. I actually have a bit more of the second sock done than this pic shows. I think I have determined that the sock and I don't get along when we are rolling down the road. Tiny stitches and bumpy roads don't mix. I have also spotted some boo-boos in the first sock but they are mistakes that I can live with. They give the sock personality! Yeah, personality!

I also got quite a bit of the second mitten done also yesterday. I often wonder what I did before I knit. If I have a minute of down time I have time to knit.



This is the load we have now. It is an Oshkosh truck. It has been a topic of conversation. Lots of people have come up to the truck to take a lookie at the 42,000 pound military truck. They want to know what it weighs, what kind of engine it has, and is it an automatic? People have also told us stories of there military days.

BTW, it had a Detroit engine and it is and automatic.

Well I think we're going to get ourselves ready so we can go back to work. We're going to have to hit it hard the next couple of days. We've messed around long enough and it is time to get back to work.

Hi Skip!!

The Show Me State

Hello Hello!!! We are currenty in a hotel room in Joplin, MO. Chris got called for a random drug test today so we had to make a pit stop here for that. We decided that we were not going to make it to El Paso Friday so we might as well hang out here for the night. That means using the computer without worrying about it dying! Yeah!!!! That also means that I will share some pics with you!

I took this pic last night as we were cruising thru Saint Louis. We were going thru the city during my favorite part of the day. Twighlight. I took some other pics of the the arch but this one was the coolest by far!

Since we spent all day today in MO I decided that the colors that make me think MO are green and purple. It is spring here big time. It's was 94 here in Joplin today. Anywho, everything is green and blooming. Along the roads there is all this green foliage and then these purple trees. They are so pretty and really bring out a spring feeling in me. (imagine picture here) I have a lovely picture of the purple tree but the computer does NOT want to upload it.

Well yesterday I had to give up on the mossy sock for awhile. It was ripping and ripping and finally decided that it was time to set it down and work on something else. I started a mitten last night and finished the first one a little bit ago. This is a felted mitten so it will be much smaller than it is now.

You would think that the dogs would be sick of me. Oh no! We're here in the hotel room and they still want to sit on my lap and follow me to the restroom. Geez.

Normal

I know what Normal is now. Normal, IL anyways. That's where we're at for the moment. Chris is fixing lights on the trailer( his new favorite pastime!) and I made us a little lunch and decided to check my email. The weather is fab here right now. If it wasn't so breezy it would be perfect.

Eating on the road is challenging. I am doing my best to stay on plan. Yesterday I messed up at breakfast but kept the rest of the day in check. I ended up eating one flex point yesterday which I think is pretty darn good. I also get a gold star for getting in exercise. I jump roped for 30 minutes next to the truck.... In a truck stop parking lot. Well now I've done it maybe I won't feel so stupid next time!

My Mossy sock is turning into the hell sock. Yesterday I spent more time UNknitting than knitting. This morning was the same way. I think I have everything under control again. We'll see. I think I've decided that since I've spent so much time unknitting sock 2 that I will rip out sock 1 a little and make it a little shorter. It is really long right now. I got a little over zealous.

What should I start next? Mittens??? This is the cascade I have for the mittens. Or maybe a bagI have planned and the stash for???

El Paso Bound

OK. I have found from past experience that we're never really doing anything until we are actually doing it. Well we are going to El Paso. The load is on the trailer and Chris is chaining it down as we speak. YEAH!

The dogs have been in heaven today. Mommys lap is the best place to be! I really think that out last trip to TX and back helped prepare Oscar. O-boy is not being a freak like he usually is in the truck. He's pretty much just rolling with it like a good boy. He probably watches Nanners and sees that he is not a freak and follows his lead.

I'm gonna wrap it up here since this computer doesn't last very long.

TX Bound (soon)

Tonight we're leaving to go load in Oshkosh, WI. We're loading up and heading to El Paso,TX. We have a few more things to do around the house before we leave. It just wouldn't be right unless we had a major crisis to deal with first... The drier does not work. It sounds like it's working and it makes the stupid buzzing noise that Oscar hates but does not dry the clothes. NICE! So we'll be leaving shortly for the laundrymat and post office. It's always something. I think both of us will feel better once we actually get the load on the trailer and get going. Our next crisis will be getting out of El Paso.

I sucessfully packed up all my stuff and even got Chris' aproval on the amount of stuff I'm bringing with! SWEET! We'll see how many more things I find to bring at the last minute. Wish me luck.

Lazy

I feel lazy today. We really should be doing stuff around the house but I think we'd both rather waste time instead. Chris is talking on the phone (surprise, surprise) and here I sit. Look what I finished last night! One mossy sock... DONE! I will cast on the second mossy sock sometime today, (I hope) I'm already thinking about my next pair of socks. Maybe some Jaywalkers, or maybe another pair from Sensational Knitted Socks. I guess only time will tell. I have plenty of choices for sock yarn. I've been hoarding it lately. I think I'm afraid that once I get on the truck I will never get to go to another yarn store. Check out my sock stash. I am rather proud of it!
I've got choices and that is important! I think Chris was a little freaked out when he seen how much yarn I wanted to bring with me. Hmmm, maybe we should get going on organizing the trucks so I have room for all my stuff!



This is my sleeve. It is Marie Louis's Lace Sweater from Knitter Stash. I started this sweater a long, long, long time ago. So long ago that what I had already knit I could probably fit two of the current me's in it. I bit the bullet and started ripping it apart and started over. The week that we went down to TX and back I worked on this pretty religiously. Check out that sleeve. That is a weeks worth of solid knitting. WOW! I haven't worked on this since that trip. I think I'm waiting to get in the truck until I pick it up again. Maybe next week I will start the second sleeve.

Well I think I will get something done now. Or maybe I'll go for a run. It's supposed to be close to 70 today so I really should take advantage of the nice weather.

Brits!

Judy, Shirl, Bonnie
Brits was a blast night! We started off the evening inside but stepped outside for the smokers and ended up staying out there for a good part of the night! It was chilly but I figure that will make it that much more of a memorable experience.

Chris and My Mom

We did eventually move inside after we ate. We had the waitress take this picture of those of that were left or the ones I like to call the "Party People"

Starting in in the Back left: Rob, Bonnie, Judy, Chris, Shirl and Chris and Laura. Earlier in the evening My mom, Disa, Kari, Brad, Liz and Shawn were also there.

This morning we got up and were off to great start cleaning this house! We have to get it ready for our Landlord to start showing so she can re-rent it. We got a lot done this morning but it all went out the window after lunch. We took a break to go have lunch at Panera then stopped at the home depot. We were at the Home Depot for hours (ok that was a little sarcastic) and didn't get a thing then came home to watch the race. Well since then we have got nothing done. Hmmm, maybe I should get off the computer and get back to work.

I hate computers

I had written a really nice post about my night last night at Brits. I went to publish it and an error occurred. Of course I didn't save anything. I am far too pissed to post any thing now.Geez.

My Last Day

The day is here. Today is my last day in the office! I am so excited to start this adventure but sad to be leaving my co-workers who have been my extended family for almost 5 years now. Of all the things I will miss here it is definitely my co-workers.

My co-workers gave me a very nice card today. The front says:
"Success is loving life and daring to live it" Maya Angelou
And the inside says " You always dare to do more, to achieve more, to be more. Congratulations on living life so well."

(Sorry this pic is so bad. I look it with my phone because I just couldn't wait to share!)

They also gave me a "L" bookmark, a bracelet (silver and pink!!!!) and this book.


This makes me want to cry! They know me too well. Come on now, a knitting book and a pink and silver bracelet. You don't get much more Laura than that!




I went out to lunch today with Betsy at Hells Kitchen. And tonight there will be adult beverage festivities at Brits in Minneapolis.

Almost there

This is my desk. It looks like something exploded huh? It does look a little better now than it does in this pic. I have started giving things away and putting things in my bag to bring home.

Tonight is meeting night. This will be my last regular Weight Watchers meeting. Teri, my leader is giving me my card so I can attend meetings elsewhere. Send me skinny vibes for tonight's WI. I've been pretty good this week but naughtiness with start tomorrow I'm sure.

Did you check out "My Boys" on the side bar? I was pretty proud of that!

Happy Hump Day

Sunrise in South Saint Paul

I snapped this pic this morning from the back steps. Although daylight savings is really messing with my sleep I am enjoying the daylight later in the evening. I miss the sun already being up when I get up. I don't like getting up in the pitch black. I have been taking advantage of the light in the evening by going running. Last night Oscar and I ran 4+ miles. Oscar got chubby over the winter but I'm sure that will be melting off now that we've started running again.

These are Disa's felted mittens. I finished them last week and have already given them to her. I was going to wait until her Birthday (April 24th, people!!!) but just couldn't wait. They were knit up with Cascade 220. I really enjoyed making these mittens. They were quick and easy! I have since purchased enough Cascade 220 for at least 7 more pairs of mitten. (Guess what your getting for Christmas!) You will have a choice of some fabulous colors!

These are my stupid socks. I finished these last week also. I don't think you can tell from the pic, but the left sock is HUGE. I don't know what I did wrong with that left sock but I learned a lesson, If it doesn't fit rip it back! You would think that I would know that by now. I finished the left sock, which took FOREVER since it's so huge, then cast on the same number of stitches on the same size needles and knit a perfectly normal right sock. What's up with that? I have another skein of this yarn (which I really like) that I will make a functional pair of socks with. Someday...

I made this yesterday. I am still playing around with this HTML thing but have a plan for that. I just need to figure out how to do it. Be watching you may this again!

TTFN!

Laura

T minus 4 days and counting!!!

Well I am down to 4 days left of work. It's kind of weird to think that next week at this time this will not be my desk anymore! I must say that I have had my fill of people that I have talked to this week that I will NOT miss. I really need to get my rear in gear and start bringing things home or giving them away.

These are my peeps! This is the Operations Department. Staring from the bottom left: Me, Ralph, Mark, Shawn. Next row: Debbie, Matt, Rob and Dennis. I guess Shawn isn't one of my peeps like everyone else in the pic since he's the permit dude now but I guess I can still call him one of my peeps ;) Well I'm still getting a hang of this blogging thing but I think I am starting to get it. Did you check out my side bar?---------->
Look! I have links and cool stuff on it now! That was a MAJOR accomplishment for me! I will be working diligently to update this blog and make it really spiffy. Word on the street is that Chris is going to have his own blog too. I'm sure his won't be as fluffy as mine, will have no reference to knitting and will have a whole lotta trucking talk on it. I will keep you updated on the progress of that!


Here is my little knitting update for you! This --> is the start of the soho sling from Bags: A Knitters Dozen. The yarn is Lorna's shepherds Worsted in Black Purl! It is 100% super wash wool and is knitting up quick. This bag is really mindless knitting. Just knit around and around and around. Sorry this picture is crappy. I took with my phone while sitting at my desk. The picture really doesn't do it justice. The yarn is a beautiful!

Before and Now

OK. I finally have a place to put these pics for people to see. Here are my then and now pics. As I'm sure you know I have lost all of my weight with Weight Watchers and exercise.


Ok here it is. This is the BIG picture of me. I think this is Summer of 2003. Who the hell is that person?






















This is Chris and I in CA. This picture was taken Labor Day weekend, 2004. I am down about 50 pounds here. I think.














This is June of 2005. We're at the Batman Begins 400 in MI. I am down about 120 pounds here.






















Here I am November of 2005. This is a a mini golf place in Grand Prairie, TX! I am down about 140 here.


So there you have it!!! That's me and my weightloss so far.

I'm blogging!!!!!!!!

OMG! Look Mom I'm blogging!

Now I have somewhere to type all this total random shit that is going thru my head. I can also spout off dorky knitting stuff and if you don't like it don't read it! HA!

I am going to be using this as a way to keep in touch when Chris and I hit the road. I can't wait to take a ton of pictures to share with everyone also.

In the meantime since I don't have really cool pictures to share here is what I am calling the mossy sock.