Winter Lottlympiad Update

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Bob: Welcome to the latest update. We have some news coming to us in the Figure Stitching event. Isn't that right, Jim?

Jim: OMG report! #awesome

Bob: Um...yes...over to the Pacific Coliseum with Tom, Scott and Sandra.

Tom: Thanks, Bob. Well, we sure didn't expect to see such a come-from-behind story, did we?

Sandra: We sure didn't!

Scott: We haven't seen a full rotation in quite some time, so these results were surprising, but with quality like this; well, what can you say?

Sandra: What can you say? This is just so inspiring. You work so hard and dream for this day, and then there you are.

Tom: Let's take a look.


Scott: That's one, twooo, threeEEEE EGGS!! Wow, aaaaAAAND another one!

Sandra: Look at that quality. You can see exactly what the judges look for there. With that quality.

Tom: And that performance is good for a Bronze medal in Figure Stitching, Bob! Back to you.

Bob: Thanks, Tom! Now, with us in the studio is Johnny, who came in sixth. Johnny, thanks for being with us. What's your take on this?

Johnny: Well, you know, I think that you just have to put it all out there on the ice, and you can't leave anything behind, you know, whatever you have has to come from your heart, and you just have to express yourself and let everyone see your heart, you know, out there on the ice...all of it...that's what you have to do.

Bob: So you agree with this result?

Johnny: Well, I'm surprised. I mean, how can you expect a medal, like, I don't have a medal, and how can you expect to rank above me without any sequins.

Bob: Sequins?

Johnny: Yes, there's not one on there!

Bob: Well, there you have it, folks. Jim?

Jim: zomg, I just got the Cow Bell in FarmVille!!

Bob: Uh...maybe you can give that to Lindsey Vonn, Jim.

JiffNotes
Two Bronzes in Figure Stitching and Hatpipe so far...will we see Gold in this Lottlympiad? Will Bob diagnose Jim's bizarre affliction? Stay tuned for the Closing Ceremony!

Lottlympiad, Week 1

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Bob: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our first Winter Lottlympiad update! Jim is back with me this year, and, Jim, can you believe a week has gone by already?

Jim: No, Bob, I can't. But then, there hasn't been a lot of action around the Lottloft. SMH!

Bob: Uh...right. Not a lot of activity. Why is that, Jim?

Jim: Well, Bob, it was a stunning combination of post-work obligations, illness, fatigue, and decreased event numbers.

Bob: Yes, there are definitely fewer events in the Winter, Jim.

Jim: And, therefore, less time for competing at the Lottloft.

Bob: But we do have some good news, coming to us from the Hatpipe. Let's go out to Pat and Todd at Cyprus Mountain.

Pat: Thank you, Bob. I'm happy to announce that we have a Bronze medal performance in the Hatpipe!

Todd: Pat, it was a smokin' performance. Our knitter really threw down on the herringbone stitch there on the band.



Pat: There you have it, Bob, a Bronze in Hatpipe!

Bob: Thank you, Pat. Jim, what do you think, will we see a Silver coming up soon?

Jim: ...

Bob: Uh, Jim?

Jim: Oh, sorry, Bob, I was just checking the latest blog entries. It seems that there's been some progress in Figure Stitching. Dick is joining us to give his input on the situation.

Bob: Good evening, Dick. What can you tell us about Figure Stitching?

Dick: Well, Bob, I just have to say that this is a very deep field we're looking at. But I think that style and finesse are going to win out.

Bob: Let's take a look.


Bob: That's impressive; but still not a medal performance.

Dick: That's true, Bob. Things are very close right now, but we've had some triples turn into doubles, so the program had to be reworked.

Bob: Ah. A few pre-performance adjustments on the program to take better advantage of unique abilities and edge out other competitors.

Dick: No, Bob, what I'm saying is that triples were called for and doubles were done instead, so that threw off other elements...

Bob: Wait. Shouldn't we be talking about quads rather than doubles and triples?

Dick: Well, quads do help, but what I mean is that where there were supposed to be triples, there were doubles, so there was some...uh...rework.

Bob: Oh, I get it. You mean the program had to be rearranged so that jumps were moved into the bonus portion of the program in order to get more points, and--

Dick: Bob. Our Lottlymplete misread the chart and had to frog.

Bob: Oh. Well...Jim, can you wrap things up for us?

Jim: Have some pancakes with maple syrup, Bob! We are in Canada!

JiffNotes
One out of four ain't bad...OK, maybe it is.

Winter Lottlympiad

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As snow descends on the LottLoft, it is once again time for me to set some goals for the Lottlympiad, Winter Edition. I've been away from the blog for a while, and I owe you all kinds of pictures of travels in Europe, fabulous teas and actual needlework and knitting FOs(!). However, the Opening Ceremony is tonight, so that's all going to have to wait.

In case you weren't hanging around 18 months ago, you might want to check out some of the coverage of the previous Lottlympiad (see next paragraph). Basically, I do my own thing because 1) I don't think there should just be gold medals for events and 2) I have diverse crafting interests.

What will this Winter's Games bring? Will there be all the joy, the fatigue, the controversy? The guest interviews? The general wackiness? Well, at least you know there will be wackiness.

Here is the list of events for the 2010 Winter Lottlympiad:

Figure Stitching
Bronze: Finish stitching on Easter Fairy
Silver: Finish beading on Easter Fairy
Gold: Finish Squirrel Fob

Hatpipe
Bronze: Finish Miller's Hat band
Silver: Finish hat cables
Gold: Complete hat

Finishing Slalom
Bronze: Block Entrelac Scarf
Silver: Fix Molly sweater
Gold: Fix Tubey sweater

Speed Socking
For the Errant Lace Sock...
Bronze: Finish leg
Silver: Finish heel
Gold: Finish foot

Stay tuned for updates...

JiffNotes
Yep, that's really the view ou the window....

Contest for Yummy Beads

Head to Karin's blog for an awesome contest. Hope she doesn't mind me linking pictures of the yummy prize beads!

Thunder Beach

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Three weekends ago, Michael's parents took us to Panama City in celebration of Michael's birthday. We stayed in a wonderful place right on the beach!
Little did we know when we picked the weekend, that it was Thunder Beach Weekend!

And here is where the blog is going to totally fail you. I took pictures of the beautiful beach, with its sugar-white sand that was so soft to walk in, and "squeaky" when you scuff your feet. I took pictures of the cute wee sandpipers frolicking in the waves... ...Michael even got great closeups of them... ...we got a blurry picture of the pool, with its Hawaiian shave ice stand (mmm, peaches 'n' cream!) ...I even let pictures of my alabaster legs continue to exist... ...but I did not get any pictures of the bikes. Or the bikers. Not one shot of the custom, skull-incrusted, flame-infused paint jobs nor of the winged helmets, nor still yet any of very overtanned overage women in short shorts.

I had a feeling I'd get beat up if I tried it.

But I think I had the wrong idea about bikers, or at least the kind that show up to ignore helmet laws and cruise around at the beach. I thought they'd be going about 78 miles per hour on the road that runs along the beach, and I thought they'd be lookin' for trouble.

Seeing as how I saw a pink scooter (pink! SCOOTER!) parked, unashamed, in the midst of the mass of hogs outside our hotel, I'm guessing these guys are more in the camp of "if you're an enthusiast, you're OK with us".


But back to the beach...I cannot explain to you how wonderful stepping out on that sand was, even after arriving late at night and finding out that we were not going to be on an upper floor as promised (and paid for), but on the second floor, really close to all the engine noise (read: my anticipated level of engine noise...which was practically non-existent). It was a glorious temperature, the sand felt glorious, and THERE WAS THE OCEAN. A few minutes later and we were all digging in the sand, practically in the dark, to repair someone else's sandcastle that an unfeeling jerk had stomped upon. All was right with the world. And to make up for the room problem, the hotel gave us free breakfast and moved us the next day to a room with a fantastic view.

Saturday morning we hit the beach, swam out to the sandbar and had a great time until we saw the first Moon jelly (dinner plate sized) floating in the water. Uh-oh. Then we saw a second, and a third...and then we decided the hotel pool looked pretty good. After lunch, we headed out to find some miniature golf, but we got distracted by this wonderful maze. This is me at the observation tower at the start. You timepunch a ticket when you enter, and then you have to make your way to the four raised platforms to punch your card. When you exit, you timepunch your ticket again for bragging rights. =) You can see that things look pretty uniform throughout! We beat Michael's parents, but if I had been left to myself I might still be in there. =) After the maze, we were too hot to golf, so we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum (sic). I'd never been to one before. When I was a kid, if I had suggested such a thing, my dad would have said, "We're not wasting money seeing that junk." I have to say, I think he had the right idea! =D

Sunday morning we got up and hit the beach again and Michael had a lot of fun searching for shells. The ones with the holes are, obviously, for attaching to stitched pieces. =) I love the piece of coral he found, and the teensy spiral shells.

On the way out of town, we finally had our game of minigolf. I had one bad hole that put me out of the running, but I still did not end up in last place. =) It was a great weekend and so nice to just see the sun and be warm!!

JiffNotes
Bikers like pink, too.