Assorted Updates

I've got a sore jaw/face/mouth this weekend, and a swollen lump on the side of my face. I've been keeping busy and aware that it's only normal swelling and discomfort considering last Wednesday's dental implant work.

I haven't done a Weight Watchers update in quite a while. I am still at it and have lost 30 pounds so far. I don't lose fast, but do lose, and a friend pointed out that over the long haul I'm losing about a pound a week, which is a good rate. I discarded a huge pile of two sizes of too-big clothes and have to shop for smaller clothes! I expect to have a loss this week, since I've been careful, and the way my mouth feels is making me think twice about anything I eat.

Steven was home a little while from College Station last night with three student friends we didn't know before, two boys and a girl, all just adorable. We gave them milk and fresh chocolate chip cookies (I keep frozen homemade dough on hand) and visited with them. The kids were surprised as Steve raided our pantry and filled a bag with groceries, but we are just thrilled that he's close enough to home to do that and has a kitchen so he can cook his favorites. We'll replace those Steven-preferred groceries so he can raid again next weekend.

It's much cheaper to have Steven in Texas. We were paying about $1000 a month for the dorm in NY, and he shared one little bedroom with two other boys. At A&M, he's renting a room he doesn't have to share in a house, for $300/mo!

For the garter bar course DVD sets, John and I laid out the package inserts and the DVD disk labels for the garter bar course yesterday, and we'll stop on the way home from church and get a few printed today. This means that I make the sets, take photos and run an ad for the garter bar course! I'm pricing it at $25 for the two-disk set, which turned out well, has some new material. Best of all, the HD means you can see everything, including every stupid false move I made. Look at it this way - if I can knit, anybody can.

I purchased the domain "www.dianaknits.com" a while back and haven't designed the page yet, but that's going to be my shopping site. I didn't need it until I had two actual products, but now we're getting there.

I've priced sending all this tedious work out, but I don't sell enough items to make that worthwhile, at least not yet. I'm currently working out what my next thank-you gift will be to send along with orders, hopefully a very cool surprise for customers.

I finally began the Valentine Bear project, which was held up by the garter bar project. It's a red sweater with a heart-patterned circular yoke. He'll make a great little gift item. I hope to finish it, and finish filming, this afternoon. I was going to dress a teddy bear I already had, but I found a very fluffy, cute one at the grocery store yesterday. He has pellets in his bottom so he sits up well, too. The store had lots of stuffed animals for Valentine's Day.

Got a call from the lady who is selling me the NZAK. She's shipping it Tuesday. I'll take some pictures when it comes, but have to discipline myself to get other things done in preparation for knit club on the 13th. We're meeting at Sylvia's house, and I believe I will demonstrate the sew-as-you-go single bed sock on her Toyota. I should have Valentine Bear done to bring along.