Last Doldrums topic...

For this week, go through those who've commented on last week's topic - find someone who had an idea on their day that sounded appealing to you, as well, and tell us why, or what appealed to you, and link to their blog! If you can't find someone who has a day you think you'd enjoy, find one that you thought was interesting, odd, or funny in some way, and talk about it!

I guess the closest one was Alaina:

http://idratherbknitting.blogspot.com/

She is from MN(which is where I grew up) and she spoke about being on or near the lake or on the gulf of mexico with family. I have oceans, but like the gulf, cuz it's warm with small waves. I love the lake and wish i had a boat to play on the lake with. The only thing I would do if money was no object is go see my bro in australia... he is studying there for 6 months and he said it's amazing... knowing that now, I would go there... :)

I'm anxioiusly waiting for my package... I sent my partners out on Monday all the way to Washington, so hopefully she'll like it!

I left Michigan last night in the blizzard to fly to Memphis to fix another airplane(we had a mechanic with us). It was my first flight as a captain! and it went great!! We are still in Memphis cuz the weather was too bad to go back last night and we are waiting for a trip. I go off on Thursday and my First Officer is already on days off... not sure what they will do with us!! YEA!!! 2.2 hours of Pilot in Command Jet time!!(very valuable in the pilot world!!) YEA!!!!

Ah the Sunshine to come... and lots of other stuff

Well, I was supposed to go see Wendy on Sunday and spend the day up there for Brooke's birthday, but between the crappy freezing rain, Brooke being sick and me not feeling super well, I decided not to travel the distance up to Attica. But I am leaving in the morning to go to Phoenix. Ah, Phoenix, my heart is always there. Even though it has changed so much down there, I still love it.

I moved down there and made some of the best, life long friends ever. A lot of them don't live there anymore... this business does that to us. It brings us together, we study, we hang out, we relax, we have a party once and a while, we depend on each other for a lot. Friendship, family, love and support... and then we start moving on to chase our careers. It moves us all over the country. PA, WI, NY, IL, MI, AZ, CA, MN, SD, TX, etc. We are scattered all over the country. But our love of flying and chasing the endless carrot that is aviation keeps us connected. I still talk to so many and miss them all dearly. Even though Phx is changed, it is still the place that makes me happy and realxed.

I got down here today and it was warm... I love it. It's middle of February and it's 65 degree's and perfect. No heat on in the car, no warming it up... I actually had the AC on for a few minutes today in the car! Duh?! Roll down the window. ha ha, goofy me. I went out to dinner with Kris and Jen and then to meet a couple more friends for a beer. It started storming, so I missed out on the total lunar eclipse... in AZ!! The land where it hardly ever is cloudy!! HA ha ha. I love Thunderstorms. I don't like flying in them but I love them in general. Rain, Lightening, Thunder, AWESOME!!! Nothing like a good winter Thunderstorm. Better then Thunder Snow!! That sucks, because that means it's cold if there is snow!!

I also found out tonight that I won a contest! I am in a swap and we have weekly assignments to post to our blog! Well, I won! I think it is stitch markers, but I'm not sure... I guess I'll know when I get my surprise bonus package!! WEEHHEEE!! Thanks ladies!!

http://www.dishclothexchange.blogspot.com/

To finish off my night, I am feeling better. My ear was clogged up bad today after the flight, so I took some meds and that has helped. But I'm feeling ok and just as I was getting ready to go to bed, my phone rings with a weird number. My brother, Pat, has been in Australia for a few weeks and I've been missing him like crazy. Well, yep you guessed it! It was him!! He is loving it over there. He starts class on Monday, did his registration today and the campus was throwing a huge on campus party tonight, so he had all kinds of friends at his apartment type dormitory. He was telling me about how not to talk! It's a soft drink, not soda or pop. It's a sausage, not a hot dog, etc! It was oh too funny!! He has some great 'mates'(not friends) already and has spent his last few days chillin on the beach and learning to surf!! I'm so jealous. I really hope I can find a way to get over to him. It would be great.

With that, I am severely sleep deprived and need to crash, cuz the cold meds are kicking in and I'm fading fast. Hope you are all well and warm where you are...

Doldrums Topic #5

If money were no object, and the day was just perfect - not to hot, not too cold, sun shining, slight breeze - how would you spend a perfect day out that had been given to you in the middle of a cold and blustery winter?

I would be fishing and out on the lake. I love the lake on a perfect day. Start off by fishing in the early morning hours and then move to some water sports(ie. skiing, wakeboarding, knee boarding and tubing) and then finish it off with a nice bbq in the evening... argh... can't wait for winter to be over... this sucks. I wanna move back to PHX where its nice 9 months of the year. hmpf...

But onto happier things. I love contests. I might have to have one sometime. I'm not sure to have it be about or what to give away, although I am making stitch markers and stuff now. If anyone has any ideas let me know. But here is a contest ending soon...

http://www.cassknits.com

check this out... it is a blog that lists all the contests going on right now.

http://wiknit.blogspot.com/

Car Trouble

So when is rains, you get wet. The CV Joint on my car was going bad. So Rob went to take it in to get fixed and it broke on the way. Luckily he got into a parking lot and a friend was following him. So AAA was called and the car was towed. The axle actually broke, I guess, and the car will be ready to go tomorrow for $170. Luckily, I have an emergency fund(just like Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey say to) to pull from. It sucks to have to use it, but that is what it is there for, I guess.

I'm still in El Paso. Making some progress on shawls for some family members, and made a crocheted, YES! I said crocheted Kitchen sponge. This is my second attempt and it was better then the first. My mom crochets and is very good at it and so are some of my friends... but I have not quite figured out crocheting, so I'm practicing. Gives me something to do when I'm stuck on the road for 5 or 6 days at a time. Oh well, back to the boredom.

Weekly Topic #4

So here I sit, still in El Paso, TX. At least the sun shines every day and it has been in the upper 60's/low 70's. It has helped me come out of my duldrum's... I hate the cloudy weather and no sun. That is why I loved Arizona. Sun every day of the year. It was awesome. I love that place. This leads me to my weekly topic:

"Defeat the Winter Doldrums!" For some of us, we get the doldrums and others don't. For the ones who get doldrums, what helps you get rid of them? For the ones who don't get the doldrums, what helps you keep them away?

I didn't think I would get them again, but this is my first winter in a place that gets a real winter in a long time. I don't like it. I like sun. Not for tanning, just for my mood. I never realized how much the sun, or lack there of, affects my mood. I have been in Texas for 3 days and my mood is much better all ready. Sunny every day!! NO CLOUDS!!! See previous posts for a picture of El Paso when I first got here.

My sister suggested a tanning bed(I think it was her). Again, not for the tan, but for the feeling of sun and to help boost mood. I might have to try it. but being down here has helped the mood a ton... hopefully I can carry that when I go back to Michigan. I know I am lucky and get the opportunity to travel for work. Sometimes we go to cool places(San Diego) and not so cool places(Harlingen, TX), but El Paso isn't too bad. The hotel is good to us, food and stores within walking distance and it's SUNNY!!!!

So today we decide we are gonna get a ride to Barnes and Nobel. Sweet! I have an awesome gift cert. and I wanna spend some. So 2 hours and 2 books later, we are ready to leave(we=work people in el paso also). They decide we are gonna walk back... 4+ miles later and almost an hour and a half later, we are back! whew!! It was gorgeous out, so it wasn't too bad, but wow, they were walking at a good clip! Then tonight we got a ride to get dinner and they decide we are gonna walk back again!! prolly about a mile this time. Much harder then the tread mill.. maybe I'll have to start huffing it outside!! But I can't slack on the treadmill... keeps my speed up, cuz i don't wanna look like a baby and walk slow!! Ha ha... we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Blizzards, Work and Sun

So yesterday was interesting. I got paged out on a trip and left for Toronto, Canada. Got to Toronto, picked up 700 pounds of freight. Went and took off and just beat the snow(lots of snow in the greater Michigan area). Just as we took off, Approach control called and said we had to return to get more freight. Oh Darn!! I knew there was lots of snow coming, so I wanted to get out of there before it got too bad. so we got on the ground and found out a little while later that it was delayed at the factory. So it had started to snow, so this is what the plane looked like a few hours later.

Here's another one:





Once we got the freight, now the big delay began. We had to line up to get de-iced before we took off to get all the ice off the plane and to get some protection from the snow while we waited to take off. That took awhile. You can't taxi very fast because it is super slippery and It was almost like driving into a car wash... huge board that has your tail number on it and tells you to pull ahead, when to slow down and when to stop. Then the "iceman" tells you to set your brakes, shut off your taxi light, etc. Then they roll up in huge trucks like this:



They are huge and the guy up in the lift is driving the whole truck from up there!!! It's so cool!!! so it takes about 10 minutes to actually get that part done. Then another smaller truck comes up and does the gear and the back edge of the flaps. Then you wait while they move out of the way. The "iceman" tells you what kind of de-ice they used, how long it's good for, etc. Then you have to wait in line to get out of the deice pit. Here's what we looked like after:




We got a bit delayed back into Detroit cuz of more bad weather, but we cleared customs and left for Tulsa, OK. Got fuel and continued to El Paso, TX. And this is what I got to wake up to... Hope you have a great day!!

Forgot to answer my question!!!

Ok so here are my pics of my needles and of my cotton stash... Some of it might be yours if you are my secret buddy... but you never know if its you!! maybe leave a comment on the one(s) you like and you might get it in the mail come Swap time!!!

My needles are all Knit Picks Options now. I am a convert... I have a hard time using other ones now... I'm spoiled.

And here is a bit of the cotton stash... there are a few layers underneath too, but they are stacked up so I can see them all at a glance.











That's what I have on hand and in my hand while knitting. I better get to bed. good night!

Topic #3 and other stuff

Topic of The Week #3

Well, this is a easy topic of the week. I am interested to see what my pal has, so I can see what to get them. Just another way to get to know our swap partner!! So, 2 pics: 1 of dishcloth yarn stash and 1 of your notions you use for making dishcloths.

I will post some pics later... I need to get some pics up of my trip back to MN and from my trip on Sunday to deliver Super Bowl Champion hats to NY... long night, but kinda fun since I'm a huge football fan. I'll go get to work on those pics...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok so here is what 5.774 NY Giant Championship hats look like in a Falcon 20 jet at 4 am, the same night as the Super Bowl:


Here are some photo's from my quick trip home to see Patrick(the tallest) before he leaves for Australia for 6 months. The first ones are them tickling me under my chin(I know weird place to be ticklish) and the other are us being a little crazy!!!


last one is of my little cousin... its a video and at the very beginning you can hear her saying "Oldakowski"... and she isn't even 2!!!! That's a hard last name!!! I remember having to spell that sucker in Kindergarten!!

I hope everyone has a great day!!!