I don't know what it is lately. Maybe people are pushing these kids (and adults) to come apply with me, and these kids (and adults) really DON'T want a job, but are trying to look as if they're at least making an effort. Because really, there is no way that they actually think they're going to get hired!

For example:
Two high school kids wander into the shop, one flops on the couch (feet up) the other shuffles up to the front counter. I ask if I can help him, he asks for a job application. When I say we're not hiring, he asks if he can use my phone. I ask if it's local, he says no. I point him towards the pay phone.
Don't come in with your friend to get job apps, unless you're both really, really polite and nice.

Example 2: Girl comes into the shop, asks if we're hiring. Seems nice, dresses okay, but she is carrying a huge cup of coffee she bought at the corporate gas station across the street. Alright. Seriously, that tells me that a) she knows nothing about coffee, and has no love for coffee and b) that she has no interest in my shop, except as a way to get paid.
I gave her an application, with a small mark on the back corner so I could remember who she was when she brought it back in.

Example 3: A mom comes into the shop, and wants an application for her kid. Warning bells right there. Never pick up an application for your kid. Your kid needs to do it themselves. She then starts bitching about how her kid really needs to get a job, get his ass off the couch, etc. He's been fired 3 times because he just quits showing up to work, yada yada yada. Riiight. The nice thing about having pink hair and tattoos is no one ever suspects that I'm the owner right off the bat. They assume I'm some college kid just killing time behind the counter, and they tend to talk too much.

Example 4: Dude filled out a job application. When he got to the question: Why do you want to work here? He ansered: It seems like an easy, laid back job where I won't be overworked.
Oh. And that was filled out in pencil. With lots, and lots of eraser marks.

Example 5: There are certain people, that want to hang out in my shop. They don't want to actually BUY anything to support us, and keep our doors open, but they want to use the free wi-fi, conduct job interviews, or in the case of some of the kids that come in here, hang out for hours on end until we kick them out at closing. That group of people tends to want to bring in their own food, their own drinks, and then get really shitty with me when I tell them that's not allowed. (we have a full lunch menu, and other items besides coffee drinks) Basically, they want to spend $3 on taco bell, hang out here, and get to use up all of our resources.
Anyway, the high school kids that do that, they should never, ever, ask for a  job application. And I'm sure they will never understand why I won't hire them.

Example 5: Do NOT come in wearing a chonic the hedgehog shirt and ask for an app.
I mean, I don't care what you do on your personal time, but showing me that blatently that you smoke weed is probably not a good idea....

Ugh. These past two weeks have been the worst for hiring. This is why I work 16 hour days. It's so hard to find good help, and I get so frustrated I don't even want to try after a certain point!

So I'm almost done with the book! I got a bit behind, because frankly, it was waaay harder than I thought it would be! But the projects are knit, now I'm getting edits back from my editor and the tech editor. I've seen the cover, and the sample that they send out to stores, everything looks fabulous. I'm really, really excited for it all to be done.

Since my blog has been so dead this year, I thought I would cheat and update by using mostly pictures. I swear, once I am done with the book I'll post so much more!

We played our farthest away game so far ... Nashville, TN!
It was a fun road trip, even though the bout left something to be desired. We're not used to getting booed by a crowd, and I'm so proud to say that Indianapolis is not a booing town, unless something dirty is happening, or it involves the refs. Whenever our crowd starts to boo, the announcers shut it down and tell them to cheer for the visiting team.
When we played Nashville, there were some extremly dirty things happening, and it was frustrating. At one point, one of our girls got a very illegal hit, and went down. EMT's came out, and one of the girls in the audience, a Hard Knox Roller Girl, started dancing and cheering that one of our girls was hurt. (it turned out to be  a blown ACL)
Not cool.
We won the game, by a lot, got ushered out by security because the fans were getting so crazy, and headed quickly back to our hotel room

BUT, before all that, we got to sightsee!


Nashville was really pretty. We hit up the Hatch Show Print shop, which is where our first ever roller derby bout poster was printed! There was also this amazing coffee shop called Bongo Java. Mmm. So yummy!

A couple weeks after the bout we watched it at the shop....




Dan bought a projector and I love the stupid thing! We get to watch our bouts on a big screen!

And, as you all know, Dan's stupid dog Sassy Burrito has come into our lives. While uploading pictures from my camera, I found some of her baby pics.











Stupid ugly isn't she?

Ernie was not pleased in the beginning, but overall I think it's been good for him. He is playing with her a lot, and it's keeping his 13 year old self very active!



But a little worn out sometimes as well...

My friend Kristin got married. Which of course, meant a bachlorette party! We started the night off at her house, where we drank on the cheap. Then we hit a comedy club, where the drinks were more expensive than I care to mention, and the first comedian was really, really awful. His whole routine was just to pick people out and make fun of them. Crickets chirped.
After that, since we were in Broad Ripple, we did what everyone does in Broad Ripple when they've had to much to drink. We went to the Alley Cat. The dive bar of all dive bars. It took us about 20 minutes to get drinks, Diane almost got into a fight, which meant that Callie and I almost got into a fight (do not harass the drunk roller girls, we forget that we're not on skates and hip checking you is no longer socially acceptable) but good sense prevailed, and we managed to end our night on a good note.

Here's a couple pics:








In the best news of all, I got to welcome a new little nephew into our lives! George (as in George the Dragonslayer) unfortunatly lives in Nashville with my bro, so I don't get to see him as much as I got to see Kyla when she was little.






Kyla is handling her big sister role pretty well, though according to my brother she likes to wake George up in the middle of the night. That has to be lots of fun for my bro and his wife!






She is such a little camera ham. I can't wait to get her in some roller derby gear... heehee. Hey bro, they have pee wee derby, tootsie roller derby, and derby brats! She came to our game against Kalamazoo and had a great time. She made a sign in crayon that said, "Go Joan Go". Sooo cute.

Speaking of Kalamazoo, that was a fun ass game. We didn't expect to win by as much as we did though. I don't know if they were tired, or worn out, or what. They were great gals to play overall, and it was fun meeting them at the after party. They have a great jammer in Lady Hawk. If she ever relocates to Indy...

Here's a few pics from that bout:



I love, love, love how little kids come up and ask for autographs too. Not that the adults don't, but I get way more excited over the kids. They're usually so freaking cute!



I think that's about it for my big ol photo update. I've just got to get these edits looked over! The nice thing is, my editors are really, really good, so I don't have a lot to do. It's just very time consuming.
The sample book I got that they're sending off to bookstores did have a release date on the back as well! It looks like July will be the time to see my on shelves!

Also, for those of you who won't be watching the super bowl, click over to Knitty Gritty on the DIY channel and you'll get your first glimpse of the cover!

Upon meeting my husband, if I had been asked what kind of dog person I thought he was, I would have said Husky. Or Wolfhound. On the outside, maybe a Lab guy. So I was surprised at how well he took to Ernie, who is not a tiny dog, but he's not big by any means. I was even more surprised to learn that his absolute dream dogs are, wait for it...


chihuahuas

That's right. My big, ex military, tough guy husband loves the purse dogs. He used to have them when he was in high school even.

For years I have denied him the ownership of a rat dog. I really, really dislike them. They yip, and can be pretty damn mean. Not to mention that my dog Ernie is my one and only. I love that dog, and refuse to do anything that may cause him stress.

Then our friend Steve's chihuahua had puppies.

Oh f*ck me.

They were pretty cute. And they begged, begged I tell you, us to take a little chocolate one, because they were in love with her but just could not have another dog in the house. (they have 5 now)

So now Dan has a chiuahua, under the condition that it doesn't stress Ernie out. If they don't start playing within a few weeks, or if Ernie completely and totally hates the new dog, back to our friends she will go.

I give you:

Sassy Burrito


She's actually not too bad for a purse dog. She doesn't yip yet, but she does cry like crazy when we put her in the kennel, though it's getting a little better. We just try and tire her out before bedtime. About 3am we'll let her out to go to the bathroom and then she can get in bed with us and Ernie.

She is very hyper though. The cats don't know what to make of her. She shows absolutly no fear! She bounds up to them, jumps on them, and if they hiss and swat at her she comes back for more.
She also runs figure 8's around your feet when you're trying to walk, which is damn annoying.

Ernie has put the smackdown on her a few times, but overall he just ignores her. I swear I saw him roll his eyes at me the other day when she was trying to play with him...

We'll see how it goes though. I can't resist dressing her up. She is too small for any sweaters, so we've been cutting legs into socks and making her wear them. As soon as I turn in my last project for the book (next week!!!!) then I will knit her some stupid cute stuff.

Christmas is looming, and since Dan and I have been cleaning our house, clearing out old crap, we came to a conclusion... we don't want anymore shit. But the problem is, it's Christmas, and people at Christmas want to make their family members happy, see them smile, etc. To do this, we buy each other gifts. I honestly think there is nothing wrong with this. When I buy a friend a gift I don't view it as a stressfull, "I must find them something, ANYTHING!" kind of situation. I find something that makes me think of them, and I give it to them. Most of my friends get hand made gifts from me, and I get hand made gifts from them.
This year though, Dan and I decided to do something slightly tacky. For those of you who don't know, we really want a kid (or kids) and the option available to us at this time is adoption. So we've been exploring international adoption, and having heart palpitations at the potential cost. (and a quick interjection here, two of our customers just brought home a baby from Guatemala and OMG he is so freaking cute)!!!
We decided this year, to open a savings account, and tell our immediate family, whenever they get ready to buy us a gift, take that $4 or $5 and put it in our "adoption account" instead. I was worried about the tackiness of just asking people for money but frankly, it's what we need. Our house is full of STUFF, and I'm tired of STUFF. We want to expand our little family instead.
We're looking at a long, long time to get this done. We're still at the, "I didn't know that" phase and the dreaded  finding an agency phase. Oh, and the equally horrid/terrifying,"Can we actually, I mean really and actually do this?" phase.

In other news, last night we watched 28 Weeks Later! Ahh, love me a good zombie-esque movie! Granted, I HATED how stupid the freaking kids were in this, but if they hadn't been stupid, there wouldn't have been a movie! The teenage girl really bugged me though. She looked like a blonde version of this redhead woman that I really, really don't like. Super spacey, totally out of it and self absorbed. I was kind of rooting for her to get bitten...
Overall it was a great movie. I'm glad I didn't spend money in the theater on it, and I wouldn't encourage a 3rd to be done, (and I missed seeing mister Cillian Murphey, but glad he didn't come back and get eaten or anything) but overall it was good. Fun to watch with friends!

I'm knitting a project for the book right now that I have been avoiding, because I thought it would be impossibly hard. So far though, only a couple of rip outs! It's going pretty well overall actually! Love when that happens!
Also the episode of Knitty Gritty featuring my roller girls will be airing in Feb!

I admit it, I'm very guilty of grabbing "whatever" and stuffing it between the pages of my book to save my place. Envelopes, paper, napkin, anything except an actual bookmark of course!
Is there a point to this post? Youbetcha. Hang on a sec.


So, when Dan and I first met, on our very first date, I went into his bedroom (don't get excited here, this is a strictly G post) and took a look at his bookshelf. First dates have never turned into second dates for me based on a guys bookshelf. On Dans however, I found an almost complete Sandman Collection, similar to my own, (complete nyah nah) collection.

Fast forward several years, we're married, our Sandman collections have merged onto two bookshelves in our living room. The other night, I was looking for something to read, and decided onThe Sandman Book of Dreams, which is a book of short stories based on the Sandman.  Two identical copies sat next to each other on the shelf. Usually, my books tend to be a little more worn out than Dans, so I grabbed the copy that had a couple dings on in assuming it was mine.

As I'm reading, I realize there's a bookmark on page 57. Flick it open, and there's a bunch of film negatives. A quick glance at them in the light showed that they weren't mine, so I must have Dans copy of the book. Behind the film negatives, still on page 57, was a ticket to Germany, where Dan used to live. Yep, definitly Dan's book. Under the ticket, was a green envelope. Hmm, what could that be?
Why, it was an unpaid parking ticket for another state! From 1996! Haha! Whoops!

We're going to mail the amount due. Maybe they'll get a good laugh out of it. By money order, without our names, in case they don't think it's funny and he owes a bunch of fees or something.

Sometimes, you just have to wade in the shit for a good laugh....

This weekend, we watched Flight of the Living Dead. I really wish they had gone with the title, Zombies on a Plane.

Then we also had to watch, The Marine. Holy cow. It was so bad that my jaw dropped. I mean, really, really horrible movie! But so bad it was funny.


However, my brain felt a little mushy from all the crap, so I had to rent one from across the pond called Driving Lessons. Ah. Throw in an English accent and things feel just a bit smarter...

In knitting news, I just wrapped up one of the book projects that I was really excited about. I did a little dance when I stepped back and looked at the finished product. It's not that it was hard, it's more like it came out in form the way I saw it in my head!

Also, trying to rally some of the girls and see if we can all spare some yarn to make some scarves and hats for the downtown mission. I know I have some scrap that I could use for a good cause!

I swear to freaking God, some people just need to chill out, and just stop.

Stop boycotting something because "I" am being taken advantage of.
Don't be offended if I'm not offended. Especially since I am very easily offended.
Don't be a man, telling me that you're offended, because I SHOULD be offended.


Ugh. I am frustrated by this post: CLICK HERE

This same guy apparently, is a runner. You know. Surrounded by women running marathons in skimpy outfits. Not offensive because it's condusive to the sport right?
This same guy, is also a fan of a certain band that features two scantily clad chicks making out on the front cover of the cd. Good thing he's not offended by those girls being sexualized!
EDIT: One of my fellow roller girls put it this way, "I guess it's okay for men to sexualize us, we're just not allowed to sexualize ourselves and be proud of the fact that we are smoking hot women".


You know what? The difference between Roller Derby, and someone being sexualized in a "bad" way is simply this:
It's your choice.
Want to bout in sweatpants instead of a skirt? Go for it. Granted, you won't move as well, (same reason tennis chicks bout in skirts) and you'll be hot. But you can if you want to.
Are you anorexic? Super skinny? No? Well, in any other world, you wouldn't be considered sexy. In roller derby, you still are. Know why? Because you're strong, you're badass, and you're tough enough for this sport. So you'll still be in our calender, promo materials, etc.
And you know what else? We're GIRLS! Once in a while, I want to put on pretty clothing and pretty make-up and have my photo taken where I look really cute! I can be athletic, be a sportswomen, and still be cute right? Why does this guy and guys like him want that right taken away from me?

yes, our calender is sexy. It's also badass. It was well done, and it was taken at each girls comfort level. We were given the basic set up, and the clothing we brought was our own. We had final say in our pics. If it was too much, it wouldn't get printed.

Sorry for the rant, but that guy pisses me off.

here's me being "sexualized" in an outtake from our calender.



Too bad that big, strong, man wasn't there to save me from exploiting myself.

Notice this guy says nothing about not liking male dominated sport where the GUYS are sexualized. Oh, that's right. Guys can't be sexualized. Only girls. Ignorant double standards by self proclaimed forward thinkers.



In happy book news, I got a sneak peek at the cover! It looks awesome, and I'm so happy with the way everything is coming together! I can't wait till I can show it here! I'm moving closer and closer to being done. I honestly have a blister on my hand from knitting so much! I'm getting to try all of these awesome new yarns out too. Vickie Howells collection is really, really nice, and Brown Sheep came out with some new stuff this year that I was really excited to work with.

Hopefully in a few months I'll be allowed to release some stuff! Everything on my side will be turned in by December, not much longer to go! Then photo shoots, then they do the layout, then it ships off to be printed!

One of our local city rags, Nuvo Newsweekly, is doing a sort of "where are they now" for local bands from the 90's. Having been in a local band from the 90's, they interviewed my husband and I. Then they asked for pictures. Pictures that I have honest to god, not looked at or thougth about in YEARS!



And, holy crap... I used to be freaking SKINNY!






That was simply a result of being very, very poor, and riding a bike for 20 miles a day. Also my main source of food was day old VP donuts and microwave burritos!


Here's the hubby, when he had HAIR!




Feel free to rip on him about the shiny shirt....




Totally checking him out in that picture...




I love that my tounge is the same color as my shirt in that pic!

Of the rainbow variety....





We found this in the parking lot outside work one night and stopped to take a few pictures..

Today has been stress filled. I spent my time knitting, and knitting some more, as another book deadline looms over my head! I'm hashing out some of my trickier designs at the moment, trying to decipher my original notes, make sure everything is test knitting correctly, etc.
At the same time, I'm writing all the text, and hasing out some bio stuff. It's fun, but a little draining today.
Getting ready to schedule a photo shoot for one of my fave pieces, so that is sooo exciting. I love this item, and was a little teary when I had to send it away to the publisher!

I'm also in the midst of booking a bunch of new music for Friday and Saturday nights at the shop, gearing up for our derby season schedule, (which at the moment, has me so sore I cry a little when I have to stand up) and booking in some new art for the walls here as well.

So there's my text. I can't wait until the book goes live or whatever you call it in publishing so I can show everyone what I've been doing!