InspireME: THIS!...

 
"Don't play small! Stand up! Take charge! You are doing yourself and others a disservice by catering your actions towards how you think others will react. Instead, just be yourself, exactly as you are. When you are simply being yourself you will attract everything that is in alignment with who you truly are. You will be shocked to see who drops away. Their absence will leave a space for new and amazing relationships to enter your life. Just be you, and let everyone else do what they may. You are not what others believe you to be, you are what you know you are and nothing else. Just be. You will be rewarded for your courage with a life that reflects your true essence instead of an invented identity created to "please others". Ahhhh, doesn't it feel good to just be!?" 

 

- Jackson Kiddard, author & polymath.

WatchME: Epi 4: No, Promises...Fake It Til Ya Make It...

CraftyME:
TTDL:

• Alice by Alexandra Virgiel in no-name yarn
• Some Ol Stripey Sox in KnitPicks Felici

TTDL:

• "Blueberry Beret"- Brambles by Amanda Muscha (Knitty) in Bernat Satin Solids
• "Rolling Grays"- Rollercoaster Triangle by Birgit Schneggart in Zitron Unisono grays
• "Trey Grey Trenzas"- Trenza Mitts by SusannaIC (Knitty) in Red Heart Soft
• "3 for 1 Top"- Rotation by Fallmasche in Vanna's Choice
• "Dishcloths"- Linoleum by Mason Dixon Knitting
• not seen: "Mimi's Set" 
• -

• Snake Cable Mitts by Naomi Adams
• Scathach's Hat by Mona NicLeoid
• Quick Cabled Cowl by Gabrielle O'Leary

WannaME:

On The Agenda:

• Yarn
• Alina Shea Creations SilverButterfly colorway Wiegela
• Frog Tree Alpaca
• Caricia Alpandina
• Patterns
• Vivian by Ysolda Teague
• Cassidy by Chic Knits

InterestME:

• Books
• A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (book 2 of Game of Thrones)
• Vidcasts:
• Wolfe Farms
• Knitting in Circles
• HippiePenguin
• Sassypants Knitter
• Knitabulls
• TV
• Dexter- Sun 9pm EST Showtime
• Grey's Anatomy- Thurs 9pm EST ABC
• Private Practice- Thurs 10pm EST ABC
• PanAM- Sun 10om EST ABC

WatchME: Epi 3- Bandwagon Lite

WatchME: Epi2- What a Weird Week

WatchME: Epi1- CraftyME Welcomes You

Hey you guys! Watch this space. Probably not tonight, but most likely tomorrow when I get home, something good's a comin.... I can't even believe it. You won't either.

Wait for it....

ME

SimplyME: Awakenings And Accountability....

 So First off... Who needs to blog more? This guy gal. Who says that all the time? This guy gal. Who's gonna try to DO better? That's right, THIS GUY GAL!!!
 You know how people tend to get real reflective on their life come New Year's Eve? That's how I'm feeling right now. In 9 days I will be another year older. I can honestly say that I have basically wasted an entire year of my life. That's right, 33 was a big fat waste of 365 days. Ok, maybe not all of those days were wasted. Actually, I did do some pretty awesome things (more on that later...) (I know, I know I say that all the time... see the opener) But the majority of this past year has been full of tears, depression, unhappiness, loneliness, lack of follow through, hibernation, fear and self-loathing, etc... Basically full of win: lite; full of crap: heavy. And I am not trying to have a repeat.
 Yesterday, and pretty much every so often , I was sitting there thinking about ways that I could make it better. Here is a snippet of the inner dialogue:" I want to do something but I don't know what. I want to go somewhere, but I don't know where. I don't have anybody to do something or go somewhere with. Oh yeah and, I don't have any $ to go somewhere and do something with either. So I'll just sit here and feel crappy about it. I'll go online. I don't know where to go. I don't have anyone to talk to.." Press continuous replay and you basically have the soundtrack of my life.  "Maybe I need to make one of those vision boards. Yeah I'm gonna go get poster board and magazines and glue and.....well maybe when I go to the store on Xday in the future..." "I should write/blog....yeah later today or Xday in the future, not right now cause I really don't feel like it" "I should...." "Maybe I'll...." "I want to...." NOTHING! I DON'T  DO ANY OF IT!  Cause I just talk about it and plan about it and think about it. I need to BE about it. lol (total cheese I know)
 This morning, I was on Twitter reading tweets by people BEing and DOing things,  like how I wish I was. I stumbled across "The Daily Love" and this post, "If you want to change, get real with yourself" . Dude this was so on time. This line right here
" I am drawing a line in the sand with myself and putting myself on notice that I am the cause of this effect that I do not want in my life and I am choosing to remain stuck in an unwanted effect, not because of some outside circumstance, situation or person, but because of me alone." 
This is so me. I know it. I just have to follow through with making it be true no longer. TDL is suggesting that one gets honestly real with one's self and write down what is holding you back.  So of course I thought.."I'm going to go get a new journal and start writing down...." DUDE wake the heck up. You have 52billion&2 journals that have like 12 entries that all say the same thing over and over (see this entire post). Not to mention that just means you are going to put it off.  DO IT NOW!Not Now... Right Now! Hence SimplyME actually blogging today. 
I remember watching the Oprah finale. There were several points that had me in tears literally, because they hit so close to home.  
"we often block our blessings cause we think we aren't __enough. YOU alone ARE enough!"
"you are responsible for your life. don't wait for someone to fix you save you or complete you."
"there is a difference between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing you are worthy of happiness"
That is my fear. That I am not enough. Enough of anything, interesting enough, smart enough, fun enough. That is why I don't put myself out there. Why would anyone want to hang around me? What do I contribute to the world? What do I have to bring to the table? This is why I blog. This is why I don't blog. This is why I read. This is why I'm a LazyBUM. This is why I craft. I want to feel like I have something that makes me worth paying attention to, hopefully to entice people to want to know me. But I don't say anything. I don't put my words and thoughts out there so that people could potentially notice me.  I watch others BEing and DOing and think about how I would love to be BEing and DOing too. I lurk. I stand on the sidelines. I hope that someone sees ME there wanting to play and invites me into their circle and let's me play too. I've been this way my whole 33yrs and 51 weeks. I've always aligned myself with the always EXTRA girl. You know the one people either love or loathe. And I'm always the Regular Girl, the seemingly unnoticed, drafting off their shine. Then I end up feeling like I am not enough because I am not like said EXTRA girl.
Yo, NO you are not like that. Be happy about it. That doesn't make you not enough. It makes you YOU. It is what puts the ME in SimplyBEing...SimplyME. Embrace it. Love it. Flaunt it. BE about it. Talk about it. Blog about it. Closed mouths don't get fed. And girl you are hungry.....

TouristyME: Fun O'Rama continues.....

So day 3 of MiniME being at sleep-away camp equals day 3 of MommyME vacation. Today's fun agenda is Stitch & Pitch @ Phillies game. Play ball!

TouristyME: Showtime

Sister act

TouristyME: On the road again

> Hey guys. Long time no see. I've been around doing that thing I do...being a LazyME bum. But not today. I am aboard good ol' SEPTA, NYC bound. Yeppers, TouristyME is on the road again.
> Even this crappy weather isn't going to stop me from crossing an adventure off of my TTDL. I have been wanting to take a day trip to the city by myself. Do a little exploration, take the sub, see a show. Basically do something so I can have something interesting to write about on this here blog. So stay tuned. I'll be checking in throughout the day.
> I know I say that all the time. But last time equipment failure (ie crappy super old iPhone crashed) prevented my blogging plans. Hopefully it will hold on this time. Next stop Penn Station by way of Trenton.
>
>
>

TouristyME: first stop

Trenton

CraftyME: Fascinated with Fascinators....

Hello all. Popping in with a quick post. I just HAD to share. So I'm sure you guys all watched the whole Royal wedding extravaganza. I admit I got sucked into it as well.. As you know the talk of the event were the various "fascinators". If you are anything like me you had no clue what the hell they were talking about. After a while I kinda figured out they were talking about the hats. Here's some examples:

So as part of my HPKCHC challenge this month we had to create some type of wizardry fashion trend. Of course being like a day after the wedding, people were still all about the fascinators. Yeah me too! So I present to you my So Fly Fascinator.

It even makes doing the dishes more fascinating!

WannaME...Someone's been busy....

DSC03313
Originally uploaded by simplyme5252

So yeah someone needs to go on a serious timeout. WannaME apparently thought she won some kind of lottery. She's been clicking and swiping cards left and right the past month or so. As you can see from this here shot, WannaME is CUTOFF! No more yarn purchases. Step away from Etsy and OCS and all those blogs/podcasts that have been sucking you in. that is all

TouristyME: gearing up to go

SlackerME back in full force. My bags are all packed people! About to hit the hay. Come 4:30 am AKA o'dark-thirty I'll be on the airport shuttle on my way to some blog worthy TouristyME adventure. Watch this space! More info to come along the way.

CraftyME: Kool I'm Dyeing....

Hello SBSM readers.
 Seeing as I'm always talking about this person they call CraftyME, I guess I'd better show some reasons why she got that name. So, I joined this group on OCS called Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup challenge otherwise known as HPKCHC or just HPKC or..well whatever I feel like typing at the time. Every participant/student gets sorted into one of 4 houses a la Harry Potter, Gryfinndor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and the most awestacular house of all HUFFLEPUFF. Can you tell which one I'm in?)

Every month for the 3 month term, you are assigned 8 different class homework assignments. You are only required to complete one. But you know me, overachiever that I am, I went for all 8 in both Jan & Feb. I don't know if I'm gonna make all 8 for March, I'm sure I'll try to find some way. So needless to say, CraftyME has been SUPER extra busy. I'll do a semester summary at a later unspecified date and time, because I really want to talk about one assignment in particular for March.

Our assignment in Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) class for March is to turn theory into practice and try a new technique. Um hello paging WannaME?!?! Where to even start right? But I narrowed it down and decided to try my hand at yarn dyeing. Did you know that you can dye yarn using Kool-Aid? And apparently back in the day people used to use it even dye their hair. Yet again OCS has roped me into some new method of obsession/coveting. So I joined yet another group on OCS, What a Kool way to Dye ordered up some Knit Picks Bare superwash fingering yarn, grabbed some Kool-Aid from the market and got started.

I began by re-skeining my yarn. I wanted really long color repeats, so I stretched it around a couple of chairs. (Knot untangling experience #1 of like 5).  Make sure you tie the hank in several places to help prevent tangling once yarn is wet.

 Speaking of wet, next you have to soak the yarn in lukewarm water for like 30 minutes.

This gave me time to decide which flavors/colorways I was gonna go with, grape, pink lemonade, and black cherry. I mixed up 2 1/2 packets of each using enough water to fill the jars like 3/4 full.

Set the jars in a large pot with some water. Add your yarn and then bring the large pot of water to a boil.

Once it starts to boil turn off the heat and just let the yarn cool down while resting in the water. . You will be so tempted to just stand there and ohh and ahh. Trust me on this, go away.

Then come back and see the magic.

Those once murky jars of colored water will now be completely clear once again.

Rinse the newly dyed yarn in luke warm water and set to dry.

Enjoy your fruity pretty new yarn. And begin searching for even more colors, I mean flavors.

 Side bar: Now I'm irked remember back in the day there used to be like fiftyeleven flavors of Kool-aid on the shelf. Now it's just like cherry, grape, orange, and tropical punch. I never even like the red and the purple. If you find some lime or blue-raspberry or anything exotic hook ya girl up. Please and Thank You. Happy Crafting
ME

SleepyME: Except not so much...

Well since I'm up and have been for the past hr and a half. Might as well write a little. So CrazyME is still crazy. Anxiety/panic disorder sux in case you haven't experienced it first hand. It takes something so minor and morphs it into all kinds of absurd possible scenarios. The worse part of it is that Pseudo-RationalME is around for the whole ride. Completely aware of how beyond crazy CrazyME is, and saying it, making CrazyME feel even crazier. Like they say ignorance is bliss, so why can't I just go all the way batshit and then I wouldn't be none the wiser and completely blissful. Or better yet, why cant I just go back to sleep?

CraftyME: Spring is in the air...

Happy St. Paddy's day all. CraftyME popping in with a quick hello. Since today was such a nice afternoon, I was able to do one of my fav things ... Sit on the steps and knit while I waited for MiniME's bus to arrive. Spring is almost here and boy oh boy I can't wait. I need to emerge from my self-imposed hibernation. Here's to more ME tales. But given that I am ME, I make no promises or guarantees as to when that's gonna happen.

SimplyME: An Update...or Should I Say Recap...

So... It has definitely been a minute since my last post of any real substance. Oh the plans I had for posts. I have all of my pics for a TouristyME trip to CT and Stitches East 2010. And I did some research for a Touristy/HungryME expedition. CraftyME was working up a storm. WannaME was busy too. WorkME had some big exciting changes. Oh the other plans life had for me instead.
 But alas, WoeIsME got her arse kicked by the tail end of 2010. While I am generally a perpetual passenger of the Emotional Rollercoaster of life, this was a whole new level of rollercoasterdom. Honestly, with all the issues and drama surrounding me, there was no way I could have written anything that anyone else would want to read. And toss the holidays into the mix, yeah I wouldn't want to be responsible for destroying anyone else's yuletide merriment, or worse.
The biggest drama of all was experienced by MommyME. MiniME's health took a drastic decline around mid-November. We spent an unexpected 2 weeks in the hospital, getting out Thanksgiving Eve. MiniME just became more and more lethargic and unresponsive. She stopped talking, eating drinking, swallowing, and was unable to move her right arm. Doctors had no clue as to why, and could only attribute it to the years of treatment and subsequent brain damage she has developed thanks to Charlie the brain tumor and his friends. She also developed a pretty persistent blood infection that reeked all kinds of havoc. They finally got it under control and sent us home for a week and a half.
We came back in at the beginning of Dec to get a feeding tube placed. That surgery went super easy because she had had one placed when she first came out of the coma. They were able to just use the old incisions. It was after the surgery that things got "interesting." MiniME began having really bad, atypical seizures. Now we have dealt with small seizures since she was in the coma. These however were way bigger and more intense than the little staring spells she had. Oh yeah and she would stop breathing when she had them. Needless to say, we were calling CHOP home until they were able to get them under control. That took another 3 weeks, with us coming home Christmas Eve.
 Oh yeah, did I mention that WorkME had some exciting changes? Yeah I still had to find a way to work during all of this, #darnmenotbeingindependentlywealthy! So the Tuesday before Thanksgiving my boss drops a bombshell in my lap. They had fired the trainer the previous Friday and had a new class of 8 people starting Monday. She reallllllly wanted me to be to step in as the interim trainer. So much so that she would work around whatever schedule changes I needed due to MiniME's condition. Call me crazy, but I said yes. I knew that WorkME needed a change, because it had gotten pretty bad there. And seriously with all of the WoeIsME life suckage and MiniME's health suckage, if the WorkME suckage didn't get better, let's just say I would have feared for my own sanity/life. 
  I would sleep at the hospital most nights. In the morning I would go to work, try to paste on the 8.5hr smile. Some days were harder than others. I would barely make it to my car before the weight of the world came crashing down and I burst into tears for the ride back to the hospital. Then I would suck it up and well, lather rinse repeat as they say. But you know what, having the distraction of WorkME and CraftyME (we'll talk about that in another post) was what I needed to prevent me from falling completely down into that rut.
 We came home from the hospital and eventually MiniME was able to return to her wonderful special needs school that has been a GOD send. She has made some improvements. She's trying to move that right arm a little bit. And she has been trying to get a couple of words out here and there. We have just had to learn to adjust to version 4.0 of MiniME. Right now, things are stable and status quo. And sometimes that's all you can ask for.
 Like I said with all of this stuff going on, I just wasn't in a blogging place. Although I had nothing but time on my hands some days sitting at the hospital. Heck I had to fight to keep my CraftyME mojo on some of those days. But as things are getting better. And as it is a new year and a new day, I hope to be back on a more regular basis. CraftyME has sooooo much to share. There were some spots of sunshine and you guys know that CraftyME is always there to save the day. I hope I haven't lost the 2 readers I had lol. And I hope to add more to the mix. Stay tuned for the CraftyME tales. After I do some laundry and write these darn reviews. Can I say again,  #darnmenotbeingindependentlywealthy!

CraftyME: The challenge begins....

So today, 1/1/11, I was a complete and total lazy bum. Ok maybe not completely. I did spend THE ENTIRE day knitting and crocheting. All for the good of the HPKCHC Challenge. First homework assignment all done already. My first attempts at stranding has turned out pretty well. CraftyME2011 is all about the new, the challenging, the experience. So far so good.

RandomME: happy new year....

Happy New Year.

2010 was a mostly crappy year with a few good moments sprinkled in. While I would like to be positive and say hopefully 2011 will be better, yeah it most likely won't be. I will try to focus in the good, which is for the most part, the CraftyME side of life. And for once WorkME was also been leading the charge to save the end of 2010.
It's been a while. I've misplaced my camera cord and my blogging drive. Hope to find both really soon. I have a feeling I will need the outlet.
My prayers that 2011 is a blessed, happy, and healthy year for all you guys and your families.