"I have never felt that anything really mattered but the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Check out this great contest!

Okay, Megan is having a contest. It is to celebrate her 100th post. Check it out. It is a really coll idea and I might just have to copy it in the future. Mention that I sent you if you enter and bonus points are available.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Contest Winners!

Okay!

I hope everyone liked the contest. Before I announce the winners, I will give you the answers.

Question 1 - In my family tree, I am related to a gang from Williamson County in Illinois. What is the name of the gang and who are the brothers?

Answer 1 - The Shelton Gang: Earl, Carl, and Bernie. For more information, this link takes you to Page Six of the Marvel Family History. Look at entry 118 for Orpha Marvel. She married Harvey Henderson Shelton in 1881 and one of her daughters, Tabitha Jane (Jennie) Shelton married Charles Ping in 1909. Charles Ping is my great grand father. And yes, Orpha Marvel is part of the Marvel comic book family.

Question 2 - I have two daughters. What do I call them on my Blog. Bonus points if you know what school each one goes to.

Answer 2 - Munchkin is the youngest daughter. She attends Stephen F. Austin State University and is a Senior this year. She is majoring in Photography with a minor in Psychology. She wants to be a Crime Scene Photographer. Trouble is the oldest daughter. She attends Sam Houston State University and is a Junior this year. She is majoring in business and journalism and is minoring in art history. She wants to be a journalist (TV reporter) or work in an art museum. Several of you knew their names, I am impressed (Megan = Munchkin and Stephanie = Trouble)!

Question 3 - I have an anniversary coming up. What is the year that will be celebrated and what have we already exchanged?

Answer 3 - We will be celebrating our tenth anniversary on November 30th and we have already exchanged rings that I designed.

Okay. The winners were picked by Wifey after a long day of golf and meeting a dog that we will adopting this Thursday. YEAH! I'll post about that later this week. The winners were verified by Sassy and Eraser and got the official cat lick of approval.

Winners are Cynical Knitting Gal and The Knitting Doctor. Ladies, I need you both to email me your addresses so that I can get the winner and the runner up the goodies.

Please feel free to join in the fun. Several people that sent answers asked if they could copy my contest. I wish that I could say that the contest was my sole idea, but , alas, I too copied, so go for it! I want to thank everyone that sent answers. I hope you'll had as much fun as I did. And, just be on the look out. I had so much fun with this that I might have another one after the holidays...., so if you didn't get picked this time....there's always another one.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

100th Post Contest

Okay. So, this marks post 101. I promised a contest, and I deliver.

Put your thinking caps on and your research facilities. This contest will have three questions. I will place all winners that get them all correct in a bowl and Wifey will draw the winner. I would let Eraser or Sassy, but they might be partial to cat owners....

Question One: In my family tree, I am related to a gang from Williamson County in Illinois. What is the name of the gang and who are the brothers?

Question Two: I have two daughters. What do I call them on my Blog. Bonus points if you know what school each one goes to.

Question Three: I have an anniversary coming up. What is the year that will be celebrated and what have we already exchanged?

What do you win for getting these right? I'm glad you asked. The winner will receive yarn (wonderful yarn to), some exciting Texas goodies, and a book (to be determined this weekend at the KF book signing at Yarns 2 Ewe).

Good Luck. The contest will run until Sunday (10/28/2007). I will collect all of the names and post a winner on Monday (10/29/2007). Post your answer to the blog or email me at pingecatcomcastdotnet.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Tuesday Temptations

Okay.

First, and foremost. This is my 100th post! I want to have a contest to celebrate, so stay tuned. I will post the contest and the rules on Wednesday.

Second, my SITM package came Monday night. OMG! Look at the stuff:



The pictures do not do it all justice. I received tootsie pops! Not quite diet food, but the will cure the craving in a pinch. The card is wonderful. The quote reads: "Grace, growth, and gratitude: these are my highest aspirations. - Gloria Arliss". The mystery yarn without a label has the most beautiful shades of blue {Megan, what is it?}. I also received a French Vanilla Healing Heel Stick from weeLuxuries.com and it is wonderful! Added to all the booty was two skeins of Panda Cotton in color 2305 (Faded Jeans). They will make great socks for me to wear with all my jeans.

The post would not be complete if I didn't rave about the socks! Megan claims that this is her first pair. I am honored to be the receiver of them. She did a great job! They fit wonderfully. The are soft and comfy. I will be able to wear them early with the cold front that we have.

Thank you again Megan! I have been totally spoiled and this was so much fun that I have signed up again for Sock It To Me Twice. To bad we won't get each other again, but I look forward to the new challenge and hopefully we will both make new friends along the way.

My Super Secret Sock Pal Megan has made my week and will be a special friend for years to come!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Monday Minute

First, many of you have emailed me to get the link for the birthday info. Here it is. Thanks to Luciana for getting me to it from her blog....She knows I can't resist that kind of stuff.

I made two of these this weekend. The yarn is Classic Elite flash in color 6168. This is a bad picture, but it is the perfect Halloween orange.

Trouble came for a pre-birthday dinner last night and she received hers then. There will be a better birthday post when we celebrate with her. Her birthday is today. She graced our presence at 5:40 PM twenty-four years ago. I have a photo montage that I am assembling and I will share it later this week.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Who knew all this about my birthday and year?

4 July 1962

Your date of conception was on or about 11 October 1961 which was a Wednesday.
You were born on a Wednesday under the astrological sign Cancer. Your Life path number is 11.

Your fortune cookie reads: If you would be loved, love and be lovable.

Life Path Compatibility:You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22. You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 6. You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9. You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2437849.5.
The golden number for 1962 is 6.
The epact number for 1962 is 24.
The year 1962 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/5/1962 and ending 1/24/1963. You were born in the Chinese year of the Tiger.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Woodpecker; your plant is Wild Rose.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 2 Tammuz 5722. Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 3 Tammuz 5722.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.8.14.5 which is12 baktun 17 katun 8 tun 14 uinal 5 kin.

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Wednsday, 1 Safar 1382 (1382-2-1).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 22 April 1962.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 April 1962.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday, 7 March 1962.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday, 10 June 1962.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday, 17 June 1962.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Saturday, 29 September 1962.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Thursday, 19 April 1962.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 6 March 1962.

As of 10/19/2007 8:17:29 AM EDT You are 45 years old. You are 543 months old. You are 2,363 weeks old. You are 16,543 days old. You are 397,040 hours old. You are 23,822,417 minutes old. You are 1,429,345,049 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Geraldo Rivera (1943)
George Steinbrenner (1930)
Gina Lollobrigida (1927)
Neil Simon (1927)
Eva Marie Saint (1924)
Ann Landers (1918)
Abigail Van Buren (1918)
Mitch Miller (1911)
Gloria Stuart (1910)
George Murphy (1902)
Rube Goldberg (1883)
Calvin Coolidge (1872)

Top songs of 1962
I Can't Stop Loving You by Ray Charles
Big Girls Don't Cry by Four Seasons
Sherry by Four Seasons
Roses Are Red by Bobby Vinton
Peppermint Twist by Joey Dee & the Starliters
Telstar by Tornadoes
Soldier Boy by Shirelles
Hey! Baby by Bruce Channel
Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler
The Twist by Chubby Checker

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 6.4747553816047 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

Your lucky day is Monday.

Your lucky number is 2 & 7.

Your ruling planet(s) is Moon.

Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.

Your opposition sign is Capricorn.

Your opposition number(s) is 8.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 259 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 46 candles. Those 46 candles produce 46 BTUs, or 11,592 calories of heat (that's only 11.5920 food Calories!) . You can boil 5.26 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1962 there were approximately 4.2 million births in the US.
In 1962 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.
In 1962 in the US there were approximately 1,523,000 marriages (8.5%) and 393,000 divorces (2.2%).
In 1962 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000).
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1962 the population of Australia was approximately 10,846,059.
In 1962 there were approximately 237,081 births in Australia.
In 1962 in Australia there were approximately 79,090 marriages and 7,245 divorces.
In 1962 in Australia there were approximately 93,163 deaths.

Your birthstone is Ruby -->The Mystical properties of Ruby: Ruby is said to open one's heart to love.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources): Carnelian.

Your birth tree is: Apple Tree, the Love of slight build, lots of charm, appeal and attraction, pleasant aura, flirtatious, adventurous, sensitive, always in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, scientific talents, lives for today, a carefree philosopher with imagination.

There are 67 days till Christmas 2007! There are 80 days till Orthodox Christmas! The moon's phase on the day you were born was waxing crescent.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007


You are The Star


Hope, expectation, Bright promises.


The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised


The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.


What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tuesday Temptations



Can we guess the theme? Yep. Halloween.
I found the food at various sites all over the web. The candy corn cookies are made with pre-made sugar cookie dough that you color and shape yourself. How easy is that? The small cakes are mini bundt molds that are decorated.....I got the glaze recipes for that for sure. The batter is pumpkin spice. The last cake is just devil's food cakes decorated with orange butter cream icing in orange and black.
The flowers, just some good fall colors. If you're creative, carve a pumpkin or a squash/gourd and use that as a vase.
The last three are from Lion Brand Yarns. You will have to sign in to get them but they are too cute!

WIP Pictures as Promised

This is the Haruha Scarf so far. Light was not good last night due to stormy weather. Hopefully the FO picture will do it justice.

This is a close up of the scarf without any blocking.


This is a picture of the Buckeye Socks and the wonderful book that I am using to make them. I'm not actually using any of her stitches as much as I am using the sock recipe.

This is a close up. I am about mid-way through the heel flap. Hopefully, I will finish the flap and move on to the rest at lunch today.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Magnificant Monday!

My wonderful friend tangledupinknots posted a wonderful and tempting post today about butternut pancakes. I am not from the north, but I have been subjected to butternut squash for the last ten years and I love it, so I will be making these soon.

Today was crazy at work, but most Monday's can be in a small company. I found time during my day to work on the Haruah scarf. The Cashsoft is so easy to work with and the scarf it a twelve row repeat. I can usually manage to get two full repeats completed for my lunch. I am almost done with one skein, and according to Jeanie, she used two skeins to make her lovely green version, so I must be getting close to half way. I'll post pictures of the WIP tomorrow.

I have also been working on the Buckeye Socks for my father-in-law (Go Ohio State - Number 1 in the BCS Polls!) The Claudia's Handpainted yarn is making a great pattern and the socks are looking good. Men's socks take a little bit longer than I anticipated. I'll also post pictures of this WIP tomorrow.

I have been tempted to add a few things to my queue in Ravelry. I am really tempted by the chevron scarves that everyone seems to be making. I also need to make myself a clapotis. I thought I was the only one left in Houston that hadn't made one but after Saturday I found out that I am not alone.

Also, for those of you that are familiar with Saint Arnold's Beer, I am secretly plotting a knitting takeover of a brewery tour with Lisa and Cindy. If any of you are interested, let me know so that we can plot their demise. Tours are only on Saturday afternoons at 1:00 PM. The cost is $5.00 and you receive a souvenir glass. There is, of course, beer tasting afterwards.

Okay, I'm off to knit and watch Monday Night Football. Do I want the Falcons or the Giants? I don't know either....

Get ready for Tuesday Temptations. In addition to the promised WIP pictures I have a few things that have tried to really pull me away from my primary focus.....

Sunday, October 14, 2007

General Update

Okay, first order of business.

Thank you all for the kind wishes and the sympathy poured out for my last two entries. This has been an especially difficult time for all of us and your well wishes have meant so much.

Okay, on to the fun stuff. This weekend was wonderful!

I met Knitted and Purled and we went for breakfast at the Daily Grind. It was fab! From there, we drove to tin-buck-two (as far as loop people are concerned) to Yarntopia for CAP!

The shop is FAB! I have not been a suburbanite for many years but I could fall in love with this shop! It is well lit and laid out well and the yarn selection is delicious.

CAP was gracious and even told personal stories. Yes, I did get an autographed book. I also won a door prize.

I also was forced, yes forced to buy this wonderful yarn called EarthFaire from Mama Llama.


It is so wonderful all that I can do at the moment is pet it like the Harlot told us to do. I am thinking that it would make a wonderful shawl, but, alas, I do not have a good pattern, so any one that wants to suggest one, please, by all means, step up.

On a side note, Wifey is back from Rochester. It is good to have her home and I hope that our lives can return to our normal levels as soon as possible. We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in about seven weeks. I also just went for my follow up with the OB/GYN and I have officially lost 12 pounds according to his scales. My home scales say 14 pounds, so I'm happy. I am holding my breath to see if the diet, exercise and Lipitor have lowered the cholesterol enough to make everyone happy. I want to be around a very, very, very long time.

More later Monday, as I have alot to catch you all up on. I hope that you all had peaceful and restful weekends!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

In Loving Memory



No Tuesday Temptations today. Instead, I am posting a picture of my Brother-In-Law that is being laid to rest today. My heart still hurts for his wife and kids as well as the rest of his family.

You will be dearly missed by the rest of us that you have left behind. Please look over us and guide us as best you can. You will forever be with us in ours hearts and memories. In time the tears will cease and the pain will lessen. Until that time we will be lost for a bit without you.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

How to Deal With This....

I have struggled with how to deal with this. Wifey's sister lost her husband suddenly early Saturday morning. He was only 48 years old. They had just celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary in July and their youngest daughter had her 16th birthday on Wednesday. Wifey was on a plane to NY by noon yesterday and will not be home until the 14th.

How do you comfort a family member so dear to your partner that has suffered such a tragic loss? How do you help the kids? How do you help your partner?

I will be strong. I will take care of all the responsibilities of the house and our two daughters. But what else can I do?

This is so sad and tragic. It makes me treasure my life and the life that Wifey and I have tried to lay the solid foundation for ever so much. Posts this week could be a bit quirky, so bear with me. I am looking forward to the CAP visit next Saturday and will be knitting like crazy on the Buckeye socks for my father-in-law. I will also try to finish the Haruha Scarf and another secret object this week as well. If all three of these get finished, I think that I will start on some very special socks for my sister-in-law. I think that she might need something to help her and let her know that I am with her too.

Please, hug your kids, call that friend or relative that you have not talked with in forever, tell that special someone that you really do love them even if you don't always show it, and most of all, remember that today might be your last, so live it with that in mind.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

I'm on Raverly!

Check it out! I'm on Raverly. My user name is rubyringz....If you're already in, look for me. Give me some time to get up to speed, but I'll be organizing and getting stuff into my site as time permits.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Kaffe Fassett "Harlot" Socks

These are the socks that I started for the Harlot visit on September 18th. I finished them on Sunday. They still need to be washed and blocked, but they are for me....



Stats:

Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fassett
Color 4253 - Fog
Size 2 Circular Needles and Size 1 Circular Needles
Started: 09/18/2007
Finished: 09/30/2007

Monday, October 1, 2007

I love Cookies......


Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat


62% Affectionate, 34% Excitable, 53% Hungry



You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test