Monday, October 31, 2005

Mild weekend fun

Let's see, Saturday Fry was very ill. Ralphingly sick. Since I had a scarf class at 10:00am, Hubs had to do the paper route for little Fry. He was much faster than Fry and I, but, then he's an Army guy with longer legs than us girls. Hub's blessed with a runner's body, while I'm thinking Fry and I have the body builder's type. Happily, Fry has a lot more coordination than I do. If something is dropped or spilled, chances are, I'm the guilty party.

Ok, I've been bummed lately. It's the speed in which I knit. Which is NOT fast. I was grousing about this to the Hubby on Saturday. He asked how long I'd been knitting and how long some of my favorite bloggers had been. I don't have a problem with admitting he's right, just have one with my being goofy, and yeah, I was being silly in my self expectations. Then, this evening, I was catching up with Wendy's weblog. She's been knitting, she says, for four decades. I'm rather skeptical, since I don't think her mom let her knit in the womb, but ok, if she says so... When I informed Hubby of Wendy's time in the trenches, he said something along the lines of "And you've been knitting how long?" If I've been knitting 1/8th of the time Wendy has, then it's no wonder that I'm at 1/8th her speed. LOL!

Thinking I should be better than I am is a knee-jerk attitude of mine. Even if I were 'perfect', say in the working outside the home mom way, I'd still be lacking because I wasn't Donna Reed/Martha Stewart at home full time. If I could run marathons, I'd be upset because I couldn't bench 250 and vice versa. The 250 press goal, actually, is a lot more realistic for me. Odd, huh?

With Sunday's church stuff for Fry, then the girls' day out at the bookstore and lunch, she and I didn't get home until 3:30pm. By then it was dinner, straighten up the house, and just knit a bit on the yellow mitten. I'm finishing it as soon as I post, it lacks the very top end and the thumb.

We had a great time trick-or-treating. I forget how large Fry is for her age until she stands next to some really tiny fry. She's so tall!! She used to be so tiny, too! I love hanging out with her, she's very agreeable, yet opinionated and very much her own person. Fry is not a gal I'll be able to steer into being what I couldn't. Really, I don't want to tell her what to be when she grows up, I'd like to see what she comes up with on her own. Anyway, all the fall decor is up around the house, I spent most of the day on the holiday menu, and am SO in the mood for the holidays. We missed Toppa and her roommate trick-or-treating with us, they're both so funny and have more fun than the kids. They dress up and actually trick or treat! Isn't that the coolest? I wish they'd come over and get the rest of our candy. We had serious leftover of the Hershey's S'mores and those things are deadly. It's going to be jogging pants until the South Beach kicks in.

Tomorrow, I'm doing the NaNoWriMo and there's major anxiety. To prepare, I've been Googling publishers and thumbing through old Writer's Digests. Then, when my nerves wanted to fray, it hit me. I don't HAVE to publish anything. The novel could actually be written JUST FOR FUN. Wow. Imagine that. I can just write a story that I enjoy. No more, no less. In fact, I'd like to write a story that I personally want to read more than once. Not that it wouldn't be banal drivel, but it would be banal drivel that I find entertaining.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Friday Fun!

I found a new blog that's a hoot. It's wonderfully in its ugliness. The yellow mitten belongs there, certainly. The nice thing is, my family members won't wear something if it's nice. They want to save it and not ruin whatever item I've given them. So, if I want them to use their gifts, the said gifts need to be horrendous.

In the interest of this, I've decided to knit up a batch of these for all the girls in my family. Unless there's any protest, I'm making a pair for everyone in these colorways. Enjoy! If Blogger's picture uploading was working this morning, I would have just posted the pictures, but noooooooo.

Toppa would say I love these, but no. I may have some Softwist lying around, but not for this. Never for leg warmers. It bears repeating: Don't wear things from the decade in which you attended high school. Especially if it were 20+ years ago.

Fry will be home early today! Yay! We're doing a girls' afternoon out, getting a few groceries and treats. She's a fun kid. Also, she's a weed. Seriously. When school started in late August, she was 4'7". Now she's 4'8". Fry already tries to run off with my shoes, plus, we both have some white sneaks that switch owners all the time. She might raid my closet soon, once she figures out that she can. The kid has already made off with all my lip balms. On the plus side, I'll get her hand-me-downs. Now when I shop for her, I'll need to make sure there's no Hello Kittys anywhere. Recycling is gooooood.

Ranting: In June, a judge in Edinburgh, Texas, accepted a plea bargain in which Robert W. Thompson, 46, who had pleaded no contest to aggravated sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl, was sentenced to no jail time but 320 hours of community service, to be specifically spent knitting afghans. (The judge was sympathetic to Thompson's frail heart condition.)

Um, ok. That's punishment? Fine, but he has to use US size 0000 needles (about the size of a sewing needle for the non-knit savvy), crochet thread in fluorecent colors, AND make them all for king sized beds. One a week or he'll be flogged.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Mitten, Meme, and NaNoWriMo

First, the mitten #2, which will be mitten #1:
Off the hand, which totally sucks eggs. I hate this, I hate this pattern. I followed it to the stitch. Look at that. It's too pointy for a non-Norwegian mitten. The picture showed 'roundy' and I loathe those stupid thumb holes. Lion Brand's mitten pattern has those holes, but at least Homespun hides them.











On the hand, however, it's not quite so horrible and actually, the cuff is quite cute. The yarn is thick enough on the palm to be warm without making the hand sweaty. The Homespuns are great, but ten seconds in the house and the hands get icky. Hmmm, mittens made of felting wool, sweaty warm hands, agitation...yes, it's a new horror movie, Curse of the Tiny Mittens! Logline is: They went on nice, and NEVER CAME OFF.


A Knitting Meme.
Some lovely knitter created a knitting meme. I haven't read much of her blog, yet. So many out there that are interesting, I'm having a tough time not reading every one.


What is your all time favorite yarn to knit with?
Berroco's Plush. I love to pretend it's a powder-puff, too. It's so soft and gooshy, mmmmm. One of my students showed up with this in the Crayon Mix and I tried to talk her out of it in a joking way. I hope she knew I wasn't too serious. I also love Wild and Cool Stuff and adore Alp.


Your favorite needles?
Yes. All of them. They all have their purpose. I don't like bamboos for lace knitting but love them when knitting the unnatural fibers.

The worst thing you've ever knit?
So many choices... There IS a sweater, unfinished, lurking in my yarn room. After sewing it together SIX times, the sleeves still pointed up. Unless, of course, I let the sleeves be wrong side out. Bleh!

Your most favorite knit pattern?
The last two scarves I knit with the same pattern. I have some recycled Tibetan silk perfect for that pattern.

Most valuable knitting technique?
Unraveling, then fixing stitches. As many mistakes as I've made, I'm good at fixing them.

Best knit book or magazine?
Vogue Knitting. My favorite knitting mag is a tie between Interweave Knits and the yearly Knit it!.

Your favorite knit-a-long?
While I love the Summer of Lace, Warm Hands is speedy, which I love. Also, the Guilt is fantastic because I'm getting UFOs out of the house. Love that, too.

Your favorite knitblogs?
Look to the left, please. There's a few I need to add, too, and they're currently in no particular order.

Your favorite knitwear designer?
Kaffe Fasset. Since I totally stink at color changes, I admire anyone who can do the work, and I love Fasset's way with color. Very intricate.

The knit item you wear the most? (how about a picture of it!)
Because I'm an intrinsically lazy person, I'm not draggin this out of the closet to scan. In the meantime, the collar on this is finished and I love wearing it. It's like a soft hug all the time. Lovely on me and lovely to wear.



NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, starting November 1st. For some odd reason, I've been in the mood to write a contemporary romance. Why? Probably because I found all these Romantic Times magazines in the basement. I enjoy the conflicts and the happy endings. The genre is pretty strict, and I think the writing is better than science fiction (excluding Asimov, Bradbury, and Adams). There are some romance authors that are so God-awful that they're unreadable, but for the most part, I like the writing. I'm a whole lot more lax with the writing in my Blog than I am in my novels or screenplays. Even then, I've been known to read back over a few days later and edit a bit. Words left out, misspellings, or word echoes get changed as well as some use of passive verbs. The last really bugs me, but usually I'm too lazy or busy to correct them here. I think my Mom will be happy about the NaNoWriMo, since she likes my work. She's about THE only one who reads my fiction writing without coercion.

Because this is the two year anniversary for Hubby receiving word he'd been deployed, I've been rather nervous and somewhat depressed. Will he be deployed again and when? Divorce rate is high among returning officers, higher than the enlisted, so I'm glad we're totally flaunting the odds with our marriage. As I've written this, a charity called, asking for donations for the reservists' families. What a hoot! I'm like, um, we ARE a reservist's family, so how about I give him a nice present this Christmas, or maybe just spend the money on us and call it even? Plus, my active duty brother-in-law is due back from Iraq, so how about I spend the money on him and my sister? I actually laughed and told her all this, so I think she has the hint that I'm tired of being a soft touch.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

::snicker::

1- Go to www.google.com

2- Type in "failure", without the quotes.

3- Instead of hitting "Search" hit "I'm feeling Lucky" in the drop down box. (sic since that really ISN'T a drop down box but a dialogue button.)

4- Laugh at what comes up.

5- Tell your friends before the people at Google fix it.


Also, while I'm procrastinating, why doesn't this ever happen near MY house? Can anyone say "ROAD TRIP!!!!"?

Add to Anti-P list: Must review basic English skills.

Call me seafoam or teal.

What do you get when you mix envy green and blue mood? Me! I thought I was doing great on the mitten until this morning. Here I am, minding my own business, drinking my morning mud and perusing the knit blogs when I see this:

Sigh. Wendy is truly a knit goddess. Click on the photo to visit her website. Color changes of any kind are not my forte'. I know how, can teach the technique, but my work really stinks in that area.







Due to luck of the draw, the yarn for the palm of the mitten happens to be some of the thinnest in the bunch. Oh joy. I scanned this in after seeing Wendy's wonderful work. Zooming in on my own stitches was NOT a good idea, thus, the blue in my mood. I have real fears of entering "Yellow mitten #243" sometime next year. Taking my handicapped mitten, doing some fancy embroidery on the holes, and calling that a 'feature', is looking better all the time. See? My old software programming days WERE worth something.

Weight is 156lbs still. I'm walking the paper route with Fry this evening, so that's exercise. I must have had the rest of the Chinese food yesterday. I can't let myself get too glum about the lack of downward trend in the scale. Last year, I was this weight and 157 at times. At least I'm not gaining. Could always be worse. There's a vast, teeming, hoard of women who would love to have my life (and probably an equal amount who wouldn't!), so I'm very happy with the status quo.

Since today is Anti-Procrastination day, I'm updating my list of things I don't want to do. It's actually shorter than last weeks, very good, huh?

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Unintentionally Lazy Day

Ribbing is a slow go for me. I did this last night and nothing at all today. I really must move my hiney and do something more than move fresh washed blankets around and wash dishes. Honestly. Sometimes I think I'm manic-depressive lite due to the all or nothing levels of my energies.

The corn maze was a blast. My map reading talent came in handy. The maze creators put various podiums with a hole puncher. As a person finds them, they can punch the corresponding number on their card. Once I assumed command of the group, we found almost half of them in a couple of hours. After a while I realized the maze was supposed to be more fun than goal driven. I think everyone liked being absolved of finding their way and were more than happy to be sheep.

Snowball, in the comments, is kind to my 'special' mitten. I'm thinking that since Toppa collects happy faces, I could embroider a loopy smiley face on the palm, then shadow box it. It's a true 'handi'capped mitten. Full of it today, aren't I?

My diet software? I replied that "I love Diet Power at www.dietpower.com. Not only does it have fast food already in the database, I'm allowed to enter in recipes. The software does the computations for me. Plus, I can arrange the personal settings to account for low sugar but high carbs in the protein-carb-fat ratios." I also use something called Weight Commander at www.weightcommander.com and bought it before Michael the creator put it as online only. I don't care for online only, a phobia from my dialup days.

All right, this is bad, but true. My daughter's Catholic classes are going well, obviously. How do I know this? Well, for some reason, she and I were discussing birth control, then Roe v Wade, then what Catholics believe about the issue. In our house, due to EA's The Sims, to "Kiss and rub butts" is a euphamism for sex. Hubby and I are under strict orders to not do the above, since Fry doesn't want a brother or sister to get in on her action. In the interest of getting her through college before getting pregnant, I emphasized that most Catholics do use birth control. Below is how the conversation nosedived.

Fry: Dad doesn't use birth control.
[Mom snorts]
Mom: Oh yes he does!
[Dubious look from Fry]
Mom: Why do you think you don't have a herd of brothers and sisters running around here? You think we've only kissed and rubbed butts once to get you?
Fry: [said as if Mom is moronic for laughing] Yeah, of course.
Mom: [sardonic] No, it's happened more than once, I'm afraid.
Fry: Oh gaw!

Sheesh. You'd figure a kid who slipped "Let me in!" notes under her parent's locked bedroom door would have some idea. Thankfully, since she was only eight at the time, she didn't know. I want her to get answers from me without her becoming the fourth grade's Dr. Ruth. In MY experiences with male Catholics, they have an unadmitted policy of "For procreation, not recreation" when it comes to sex. It's a general tendency in a small sample size, is not an absolute, and is applied in varying degrees. So when Fry's logical reasoning is One Kid = One Kiss and Rub Butts, I'm not surprised.

Administrative note: Some of the comments I'm getting are rather odd. I'm thinking spam, but there's no weird names or funky characters. Thus, the comments section will have an added confirmation step. How fun.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Handsome Men, Taxi Afternoon, and Great Minds

I had just saved my Blog, then checked out The Shady Marlin for my soap's daily recap, when I saw a couple of uniformed men outside the dining room window. They both wore BDUs, not the DCUs everyone who watches the Iraq war news are familiar with. My beloved hubby was home! Already! We didn't expect him to be home before 9:00 tonight. What a great treat! His Commander dropped Hubby off here before turning in the rental. We went to the DMV to renew his license, then to K-Mart for sandpaper, then home. He did the taxi service for Fry's Catholic and Karate stuff this evening while I fixed dinner and read blogs. I'm just now starting the mittens. Where did the evening go?! Somehow I've managed to get very little done today. Tomorrow is going to have to be more productive. I keep forgetting to tell how fun the corn maze was and my next guilt project. I've also decided not to resist the lure of Socktober. No need to sign up, since it's already the 24th, but that's no reason to NOT whip up a pair anyway. Hubs was tormenting the cat, who caught a claw in Hub's sock. No damage, however, if he's going to be reckless, he needs a backup pair.

Remember this from last month?















It seems that Fuzzy Logic has the same idea. Same pattern, same color. One huge difference is that she spun her yarn. Not me! I've been tempted, but haven't made the leap. Isn't her bunny the cutest? I adore bunnies, so this is something I'd love to do.










.

Sad news in the land of Mittenville

That'll teach me to think "Pattern?! I don't need no stinkin' pattern!" Obviously, I do need one, if nothing else, to remind me what to do in the thumb area. There's been more than a few mittens made in my past, plus, I teach mitten classes. One would think I could knit from memory. This is one very holy mitten. So, I'm scrapping it and having a do-over this afternoon. While the bed sheets are drying, the needles will be clicking. Fry has Catholic classes and Karate, good sit-and-knit times.









On Friday evening, when I realized the mitten was crap, I started this, instead. My hats always tend to be too big. This one, I did a little on the too small size, and it's ended up juuuuust right. Like the scarf from earlier, the yarn has been pieced together from my bag of yellow yarns. I wished the fluffy bright yellow yarn had been longer in the hat, to have made a complete circle, but, whatcha gonna do about it? It's supposed to be random.


Weight, due to Chinese food over the weekend, is at 156. I'm surprised it wasn't higher. One bit of soy sauce and I'm a sponge. Don't EVEN want to put that in the diet software. Yuck. It'll give me that "Your weight is increasing," message that is such a joy. Cleaning house burns calories, right? Even knitting burns 2 calories a minute. Ha! Wonder which activity I'll do this afternoon...

Friday, October 21, 2005

Friday


To heck with perfect, let's go for SUMO! Woo hoo!!! A round of cheesecakes and triple fat lattes, on the house.

Weight, however, really IS good. A lovely 154 both today and yesterday. Could be better, but could have been worse.

We're all going to a cornfield maze tonight with Toppa and Co. We're all looking forward to it, Toppa makes everything fun.

My next scarf class, on the 29th is already full. Isn't that the neatest?

In the Warm Hands knit-a-long, I'm almost done with the first mitten. If not for the cornfield, the second would have been started this evening.

Tomorrow night, veggie night. As in, I'm going to do my best to resemble a vegetable with only the knitting needles moving. I'm helping Fry do the paper route, then lessons, then home.

Off for groceries. It'll be packed with the after work crowd. Yay.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

I love quizzes

Ever since the early days, when I read Cosmopolitan, I've loved those little quizzes. Of course, back in the early 80's, they were paper only. Now that they're online? Bonus!

Today's quiz is personality! Yay! Every so often I'll test out as something different, probably softer around the edges or a bit more anti-social, but always come back to this: My Bloginality is ENTJ!!!

My husband and I had to take the Myers-Briggs test back before we married. The church made us, not made-made, since I do love the quiz, but if we wanted that church... So anyway, he's been the same INTP for ages. Or is that IFTP? Mine changes so much I can't remember his. Bleh. When he and I are alike, we're very alike. When we're different, we're totally opposite. We have the same core values, but where people love to make him happy, they love to piss me off. I use this trait of his to my own advantage, having him talk to people that I know will jerk me around. He's very excruciatingly detail oriented, while most times I can't make myself care. The things he's happy and optimistic about, I'm certain are doomed from the start. It's nice though, this opposites thing. When one of us is under the bed sobbing "We're all going to die!", the other is saying "Um, I fixed it already. Stop being such a weenie." I'm usually under the bed about finances, while he tends to do that about mechanical things. Figuratively, of course. We store empty suitcases and my preserved wedding dress under there.

I'm going to have to start socks. Grumperina has the prettiest ones, and I've already bookmarked some lacy socks that I think Snowball did. Their blogs are to the left. Such beautiful work, I'm itching to make socks of any kind right this minute. Not a big deal to do, I know, but last night I made up a 'Magic Ball' of yarn for Toppa's hat and mittens, like the scarf earlier. Maybe after laundry's finally done, I'll have a knit-a-rama this afternoon. Spiff up the house, eat some lunch, watch soaps and knock out a few UFOs so that by this weekend, while I'm carting Fry around, I can bring some sock knitting with me.

Don't know how the diet's going, haven't weighed yet. I'm not too concerned about the ups and downs of day to day, as long as the general trend is down.

Ok, but make it quick.

Here's something this blog has never seen: A SHORT post.

Decluttering and the usual daily tasks around here are the most exciting things to have happened. Yep, a thrill a minute and that's fine by me. Hopefully tomorrow is as action packed as the last two days.

Weight on Tuesday was too good to be true at 154, it's back to 155. I'm just happy it's around there, instead of in the 160s or so. I spaced on Fit Tv's Total Body Sculpt, letting newspaper delivery take its place. Fry is the boss and I follow with the newspaper bag. She tends to mosey, instead of hoofing it. That'll change once winter's wind kicks her in the butt.

Coffee, chocolate ice cream, and some fun knitting. Sounds like a good plan for tomorrow, as long as it's all sugar-free. Buhwa ha ha ha!

Monday, October 17, 2005

No, No, A Thousand Times NO!

I am not going to succumb to the lure. Not even after seeing a sign-up for a cutely named Soctoberfest. Nope. Not even after looking at all my choices, a very small representation of my choices.

I'm going to have to focus on Christmas. UFOs and Christmas. Aren't there some unfinished Christmas socks around here to get all of the above out of my system?

Playing catchup with a very long post.

Tying up loose ends:

Fry's first business meeting. She and I went to the Dispatch for her newscarrier orientation. All went very well until she HAD to go to the bathroom. During a break, she ran off to potty. The thing was almost over, anyway. So I waited, waited, waited, thinking "This is HER meeting, she needs to hurry it up." Fry has a tendency to hang out in the bathroom, not breaking news to anyone who's read this for a month. Fed up, I took off in search of her. She had been locked out of the newspaper office, not realizing that just because a person can exit, it doesn't mean they can enter. She was relieved, and did that little kid thing of clinging to me that children do when they've been scared. Of course, any frustration I may have felt just melted. She may be getting more grown up every day, but she's still my baby Fry.

We delivered her papers on Saturday. Oh. My. God. I'm either out of shape bad, or it really does take some getting used to. We're going to have to work out a series of routes. Like flower petals, she fills the bag, delivers, comes back home for more. That way, after a while, she'll have regular check-in intervals. Between this and her karate class (she loves it), the kid will be in super shape.

Odd dreams while napping. Ok, blame it on the meds, the constricted blood vessels, whatever, but I had some strange dreams during my migraine naps. Funny things like both days dreaming I woke up late for the days' later events. One day, the newspaper meeting, the next, the scarf class. In one of them, I was halfway through the shower before realizing that it WAS a dream.

Lovely migraines. As I've grown older, they've grown less intense. Or maybe I've grown used to them. They started when I started menstrating and grew in intensity. The first doctor I went to gave me strong Tylenol at first. Then, when I mentioned that the headaches occured around my menstral cycle, his reaction was like night and day. All of a sudden, it's no big deal, here's some water pills, tranquilizers, and non-steriodal anti-inflamitory pills (a fancy way to say ibuprophen). What really pissed me off like no other was when my ex-husband went to him with a headache that had lasted for 3 days. The same doctor wanted to do a CAT scan. I'm like, huh? All that for a headache that he's not barfing from or unable to move from the pain? Hell, the Ex drove over there, he's not THAT bad off. There's a whole lot more in that area, involving prostitutes, AIDS tests, and the doctor's advice that I should have put out more to have avoided all of the above. Bleh. I stayed up too late last night working on my sister's scarf while watching BBC America (Footballer's Wives, sheesh) and Discovery Health channel's thing concerning the Elephant Man (tragic because he would have been an above average looking man without the diseases). I'm too tired to remember all the Ex crapola. It was nearly 20 years ago (!!) and I've blocked out a lot of it.

Anyway, back to the migraines. Diuretics, tranquilizers, and NSAIDs might have worked had they been tension headaches. When it's the estrogen and progestrogen in combination with the wonky seratonin levels, only triptans and selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) will work. And not every triptan and SSRI will work for everyone. For me, Relpax and Zoloft work where Frova and Paxil does not. This is an excellent website with all the information on various causes, preventions, and treatments. I'd like to know what exact seratonin 5-HT receptor deals with both Relpax and Zoloft. Know which bugger is to blame and all that.

I taught a scarf class on Thursday. Lots of students and we all had fun. Or at least I did. I've been very good for the budget, no yarn shopping. Some, not lots, of knitting. See? I defy anyone to knit something in yellow and still be sad about anything. Next up are the matching mittens and hat to complete my sister's Christmas gifts. Toppa rarely or never reads this blog, so my secret is safe. Goopa, on the other hand, may lurk, and I know Mom reads rather regularly, so no pics of your presents for you kids.

Fry has the day off from school today. Good thing, because she had an action packed weekend with the newspapers, going to the American Legion's turkey dinner (I went to Toppa's 'Slumber Party'), then Sunday's How to be Catholic school, Mass, and Children of the American Revolution meeting. She deserves a day off, certainly.

Confession time: I've been very sedetary, as much as a mom can be, and pretty much eating what I want. There's been some brownies and tortilla chips sneaking their way into the house. Ice cream lurks in the dark corners of the freezer. Not for long, but it does make it past the threshhold. As of today, I'm up to 156 and the size 10's aren't as loose as they used to be. Since South Beach is the only thing that's ever worked for me personally, I'm back on the Beach. No white foods (sugar, flour, rice) and keep it low-fat. It's really not different from Atkins. I've read both. The only difference is that South Beach emphasizes low-fat, while Atkins does not. People use the lack of "don't do it" on Atkins' part as an excuse to go the high-fat route.

I still have the gym membership that I never use. I don't like going when Fry is home, thus, I'm planning on tomorrow. If nothing else, I want the going habit back. Today's 'workout' is the usual Monday morning cleaning, plus, I want to get the yardwork done. About an hour of mowing, 15 minutes of weed wacking, some weed pulling. Some of my purple irises are blooming, right after I thought none would. Finding the software for my digital camera is also on the agenda, as is moving the basement stuff back to the basement from the living room. Other Monday activities are change bedsheets, get trash to curb (done and gone already!), vacuum house, cull magazines and papers.

Friday, October 14, 2005

All pain, all the time. A good reason to use the cut and paste cop-out.

After a brief break, the headache is back. With each menstral cycle there's a beginning, a middle, and an end migraine. Sometimes one is skipped, other times they all run together in one big blur. I'm thinking my middle and end migraines are doing just that. The pain isn't enough to 'kill' me, just enough to make the dsylexia worse. There's one little Relpax left. I'm taking it, then taking a nap with an ice pack. By the time Fry is home at 1pm, the headache will be gone and we can have a girls' afternoon out.

Scientists plan to clone extinct Tasmanian tiger. Did not ANYONE watch Jurassic Park? Anyone? I read the book but didn't see the movie. The ending totally turned me off to actually pay to watch the thing. I loathe, since hate is too mild a word, a 'Spielburg-ian" ending when only the kids can save the day. Gag. Anyway, today the Tasmanian tiger, tomorrow the T-rex.

Tonight on BBC America is THE funniest show, called "My Family". I was flipping channels the other night and they'd had two or three of these episodes in a row. It'll be on at 8:30 CST this evening. It's very much worth the effort.

This sounds like something said around here. Susan is the mom, Michael is the baby boy of the family.
Susan: You know, one day mummy and daddy will be old.
Michael: Hmm, you're already old.
Susan: I mean older.
Michael: How much older can you get?
Susan: The point is there may come a time when I need to be taken care of by my children and I just want you to be prepared to accept your responsibilities.
Michael: You mean "switch off the machine".

My favorite is Nick, the layabout son. He has the best lines of all and they play well off his father, Ben.

Nick: Has anyone noticed anything funny about that rabbit?
Ben: Yep. It's been here two days and hasn't asked me for money yet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben: Has that rabbit been in its cage all morning?
Michael: They're just raisins. I think.
Susan: Oh, God.
Ben: It's all right, Susan, they're just raisins.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick: Driving school tells you to keep 2 hands on the wheel at all times, I mean what are they thinking of? I mean what are you supposed to do if you've got a phone in one hand and a kebab in the other?
------------------------------------------------------------
Nick: Good evening. I believe you require my services.
[gives Abi his card]
Abi: [reading his card] "Nick Harper, Swimwear Model"?
Nick: No, turn it over.
Abi: [turns card over] "Nick Harper, Exorcist"?
Nick: That's right.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick: [to Ben] No, Dad, be careful! Holy water is expensive! It has the urine of seven virgins.
Michael: It's tap water.
Nick: I asked you to do one thing!
---------------------------------------------------
Nick: [Pointing Ben to beer bottle] Erm, Dad. Coaster goes under bottle.
Ben: It's a cardboard box.
Nick: Well, it's an antique. My interior designer says cardboard is the new walnut.
Ben: Yeah, if you live in a storage unit.
Nick: My gaff, my rules.
Ben: You constantly broke the rules in my house.
Nick: Never.
Ben: Nick, you built a moat.
Nick: OK, one rule.
Ben: You put a sunroof in the kitchen.
Nick: Did it rain?
Ben: You took a baby elephant into your bedroom.
Nick: Was that against the rules?
Ben: Yes.
Nick: I knew my circus days would come back to haunt me.
---------------------------------------------------------------
[Nick has a bag with 12 bottles of water in it]
Nick: Here's a tip. Never go shopping when you're thirsty.
---------------------------------------------------------------
[Nick is trying to chat up the much-pierced hotel maid]
Nick: I'm here for the tattooist's convention, actually.
Rita: Then why haven't you got any tattoos?
Nick: I don't use ink. I'm in it for the pain.
Rita: Oh? You into S&M? B&D?
Nick: Sure, S&M, B&D, Q, LMNOP, all the letters.

What Laura Needs

I'm not sure what a meme is, but, ok. You're supposed to put "Your-name-here needs" into Google and see what comes up. For me, it's this:

Laura needs to stop.
Laura needs to talk to someone.
Laura needs plastic surgery.
Laura needs our help.
Laura needs help to obtain air transportation, ground transportation, ...

Since Laura (me, this time) has had a baaaad migraine today, Laura needs to go to sleep.

On the agenda for tomorrow: The Fry's first business meeting, my odd dreams while napping, migraine fun, Knit a Scarf class fun, and how sleep can cure all ills.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Lazy Day


Fry's blanket is done! It's not that big of a deal, but it did get me a hug this morning. The blanket is big and fluffy, and very warm.

On my way upstairs, I'll do a small search for the digital camera. Hubby made it work with his computers upstairs. I'll have to make it work with the DSL computer down here. Camera, software, install, test, and I'll have real pictures to show. The scanned pictures are ok, in a lo-tech weenie way.

I quickly flipped rocks, looking for the pond's leak yesterday. Found that and didn't find spiders. Fry had a mini watermelon from her 'garden'. While only as big as a runted lime, we opened it and the thing was good! Ripe, tasty, and she has one seed from it.

Shop-vaccing the dryer vent from the garage wasn't enough, I had to go outside and knock the lint out from that angle, too. (it's a convoluted system) Lint blockage can cause house fires, so I keep an eye on that. The blockage also keeps our clothes from ever drying.

I kept thinking I'd stop doing the mundane and actually knit. Nope, not until 10:00pm. Seascapes is quickly becoming my new Guilt Project, taunting me with "You afraid? You afraid to finish me, chicken?" Then there are 3 baby blankets needing a decorative edge. I have Nicky Epstein's 'Edge' books, so the hard part will be picking just three to do. Some of yesterday was spent sorting patterns I have done versus what I want done. Then, I sorted my project bags by priority and ease of finishing. I'm quickly running out of UFOs! I don't know what I'll do without those hanging over my head.

What with being female and fighting a cold (I'm winning!), I'm so pooped. After putting the washer and dryer to work, I'm taking a nap. The Nyquil I took last night is still lurking in my system.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Insert Clever Title Here

The NEW Dones are:
Put up fallen siding-Yay! I didn't even curse when the plastic jar of itty bitty nails spilled! Just thought, "Well, that's about right."
Mow the lawn-front and sides
Edge the lawn-front and sides until the charge ran out
Garage-move the rocks to the backyard-I had this listed twice, so I carried the bags of medium river rocks back there, then brought them back to the front, then carried them back again. You know, since it was listed twice and all... Just kidding! Once was quite enough.
Bring the cut up branches and sacks to the front for Saturday-Did I do what my father had said and wear gloves while working with dead rosebushes? Heck no! That would have been the SMART thing to do and heaven forbid that happen!
Colored my hair-No one noticed except the gray was mysteriously gone.
Cleaned out laundry room-it was chock full of recyclables, which the garbage guys took away yesterday. Ahhhhhh, garbage day. Almost as good as grocery day where the Diet Pepsi and South Beach treats are stockpiled. There's a pile of blankets and sheets from yesterday's clean sheet day, and that's it. For some reason, the dryer isn't drying, so...

Quickies to do this morning:
Shop-vac the dryer vent to outside. Don't put hand down tube to remove lint, too scary.
Put away yet more clothes, swapping out the seasonals.
Dishes
Laundry-You'll see, these items being listed are a not-good sign...
Call my mom about Hubby's recommending Super 8.

Everything else on the list is blablabla. I'm in the beginnings of my younger sister's cold, I think. Plus, I got so much done outside yesterday, Hubs suspected I had PMS, which, was true. He can tell by my use of a rake, carrying heavy items, or me shop-vaccing the driveway. Not that I did use the shop-vac on that, but when I want to instead of just sweeping, he knows. I'll just list the rest below. This afternoon, I'm working on the Fry's blanket for the Guilt Knit, then doing some serious napping.

Things that will take a bit more time:
Cobwebs
Deal with living room books

Things for outside:
Mow the lawn-back yard this time
Edge the lawn-back yard this time, too
Figure out where to, then plant bulbs
Disconnect, clean out, and store the pond pump.
Feed the irises
Ignore the pond's leak until spring-There's a couple of places the stream likes to leak. While cooler, it's still too warm to move rocks without a spider or snake surprising me. Snakes always startle me, and the spiders out there are huge and hairy. If they're not hairy, I can smack them with my hand to kill, black widows the exception.

Things I'm way too lazy to do but must anyway:
Bissel all floors-The Bissel IS out here in the kitchen, thanks to Claude's latest request for a transfer, i.e. hacking up a hairball.


Dear Mr. Claude D. Van Damme Cat,

We hereby approve your request for transfer via the carpet spotting method. Please be advised that the taxidermist has been contacted and your appointment is soon. Very very soon.

Thank you
Magistrate Of Mammal Movement (MOMM)

Monday, October 10, 2005

World Events

Scientists: Mt. Everest Only 29,017 Feet

Welllll, shi-oot. Good thing I kept the receipt on those llamas I'd bought for the trip. The Nepalese tour guide deposit? Lost, of course. I mean, I'm not wasting my time climbing something that's only 29,017 feet when I'd thought I'd be climbing something more in the 29,029-29,035 feet range. Complete waste of time and I've already started unpacking my bags.

That was some earthquake, huh? Every time I check the news, I exclaim "Good Lord!" at the death count. I really don't think you could pay me enough to live in California. Being near the New Madrid fault line is bad in of itself. While I'm thrilled we're getting Chinooks over there to help, the day after, even, it's shameful in the light of how long those people in the Superdome went without. Not only is Mother Nature socking the world with earthquakes and hurricanes, Guatemala's mudslides wiping out whole villages adds to the tragedy. All of it is just really sad. Not just sad in the I-dropped-my-icecream-cone way, but the hell-in-a-handbasket way. Makes a gal wish she had the powers of a deity, just to fix up some of the mess.

I would suggest that if a person isn't in the habit of frequent hand washing, it's something they want to develop. The bird flu might not make it to the USA. Then again, I'd hate to be caught unaware. When I programmed computers at a hospitals, even us techs had to go to Universal Precautions class. Personally, I think the precautions ought to go beyond blood-borne pathogens.

Little Fry has a meeting on Wednesday with the newspaper office. She's going to be a news carrier! This is a nice neighborhood, and we'll keep a close eye on her. I think she'll be fine. It's always scary when your baby does something so grown up as get a job. Even if the baby is more than 3/4ths your own size.

The NEW Dones are:
Basement-Yarn room-examine ceiling damage (from the bathroom above?? Yes, it is, from when I replaced the faucet and didn't use plumber's tape. Not a lot of water leaked, but enough.)
Master bedroom-clothes
Basement-unfinished-Three BIG boxes of papers and books! Plus, I sorted the VHS tapes and baby toys with help from Fry and Hubs. They do great work!

Quickies to do this afternoon:
Put up fallen siding
Mow the lawn
Garage-move the rocks to the backyard

Things that will take a bit more time:
Cobwebs
Deal with living room books
Garage-move the rocks to the backyard

Things for outside:
Edge the lawn
Figure out where to, then plant bulbs
Bring the cut up branches and sacks to the front for Saturday

Things I'm way too lazy to do but must anyway:
Bissell all floors
Fry’s room-clean out closet
Basement-unfinished-get rid of hazardous waste-sort Hub’s clothes
Basement-finished-sort and store the scrap booking supplies
Haul off the 'to donate' items

Things that require a commitment:
Change bathroom faucets
Paint laundry room
Fix bathroom switch
Peel wallpaper in kitchen
Paint kitchen

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Sheesh!

Ok, how about this. Instead of playing "Let's see who can have a natural disaster with the most casualties", how about "Let's see who can have a natural disaster with the LEAST casualties?" Bonus points if your natural disaster CURES people.

No class today, the library cancelled on me yesterday evening. Tonight is fend for yourself night on the dinner thing. Pythonathon on BBC America tonight, Law & Order:SVU back to back episodes. So it's either laugh or sex. By the time I get home from picking up Fry from her Aunt Toppa's house, the sex will be over. She'll be home just in time for laugh.

These are the featured episodes in the Pythonathon: 29, 26, 25, 18, 15, 14.
Click here for sketches 14 thru 26.
Click here for sketch 29 or thereabouts.

They're worth the effort. I'm thinking, popcorn, massive amounts of soda, chocolate, possibly... Chinese food? Knitting? Sigh. What a nice Saturday night.

Speaking of night, I'm not liking this sunset thing. I'm not ready for the sun to be completely set by 7:00pm. Eventually, at our latitude, it'll be dark at 5:30pm CST. Too dark, too cold. Anyone in Canada, Holland, Siberia, or Iceland would be saying "Quit whining already. You're lucky you HAVE light this time of year."

Friday, October 07, 2005

Fryday

Fridays are when I look at my to do list, and with a sneer, think "I'm not doing that shi-tuff."

The NEW Dones are:
Foyer-clean up hat rack
Dining room-dust inside hutch
Master bathroom-shop vac the bathroom
Repot houseplants (I need to migrate the plants back into the house before a hard freeze)
Sorted the Owner's Manuals (Yay!!)

Quickies to do this morning:
Master bedroom-clothes

Things that will take a bit more time:
Cobwebs
Deal with living room books

Things for outside:
Garage-move the rocks to the backyard
Edge the lawn (I already need to mow the lawn again, bleh)
Figure out where to, then plant bulbs
Put up fallen siding
Bring the cut up branches and sacks to the front for Saturday

Since I have what could be considered a 7 day workweek, Fridays are my quasi goof off day. The work is certainly a labor of love, keeping everyone happy and healthy. The only bad thing about it is it's like I'm on call 24/7. It's Grocery day! Shopping, errands, and cleaning out the fridge are the only things I must do.

Although, to be fair, after lunch with Fry (such fun!), I made an epic journey to Knit Wit to show off the scarf. This is it:

Of course, turning me loose in there is like putting Dean Martin in a bar and expecting him not to drink. Or for you younger types, putting Linsey Lohan in a car and expecting her not to crash. An example? Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Tuscany. I bought every skein they had of the color, 1000 yards total. I'm thinking that could make a decent shawl. Most patterns for this are socks, but do I really want to put this gorgeous stuff on the floor? It's 100% wool. With some nylon or acrylic, sure, but the pure stuff? Hmmmm. Once Bird's eye and Seascapes are done, I'll start this, I think. But then, Poinsettia, Rosy Fingers of Dawn, and Summer in Kansas are waiting, too.

Fry was ill last night, thankfully in the bathroom, and so is home from school today. As soon as the bus is gone and the phone call to the school is made, her recovery is amazing. I know the ladies at the school think I'm hard hearted, trying to send her on, but honestly, if they heard her nag to play outside, eat everything in the house (not much since this IS Friday), and swing from the ceiling fans, they'd be a lot more understanding. So this is Friday AND Fryday. I'm the official pillow-fluffer and clear soda fetcher today. As long as I'm knitting on something for HER and watching movies with her, she's happy.

Since I do happen to have the Guilt button up to the left, and it is rather chilly in here...I'm working on Fry's blanket as my easy project. Here's a sample: Intermediate and above knitters will see that it's a variation on the Old Shale pattern. Bargain-minded knitters will see that it's Red Heart's Light and Lofty. Any time I try to knit this and it's above 75F, the blanket is too warm. She picked the color to match her lions (lots of them, stuffed of course). Fry takes being a Leo very seriously.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Laughing, Yarn, and What to Do

I've discovered that Monty Python's is shown at 1:00pm CST every day on BBC America. Yesterday was the episode with the Dead Parrot Sketch, which is most people's favorite. Mine, however, is the Hell's Grannies. Give me a good 20-30 years and I'm signing up for the gig. Between that and USA Network's constant running of Scarface's line "Say hello to my little friend," which I totally take in the preverted way, I laughed all day.

Sometimes, I'll run across someone's blog entry that really hits home for me. This entry from Snake Surly is something that could totally happen in my life. The only totally different thing would be the cat on the table/countertops in the kitchen. I love Claude, he's a great cat, but I would totally freak if he were on the counters in any way. Thankfully, he's not a climber. The guy even grunts when jumping up onto our bed. Even though he's 17lbs, he IS NOT fat, he's just fluffy.


Sadly, or happily, depending on the point of view, I'm to never be a dull person with a pristine house. Snowball had an excellent suggestion yesterday, see comments. I did happen to whack at a few dustbunnies, the ones with fangs. I'm going to have to take out the glass shelves of hutches and the like to wipe them, since the feather duster's not doing the job. In the meantime, I worked on this:


After an entire evening, after having to unknit some rows for a do over, I have a feeling this particular skein is made from a narcotic. Either that, or made from Lay's potato chips. Once I get a length of novelty yarn knitted, there's another length begging to be done.

Speaking of things wanting to be done. I 'get' to run to the school, dropping off Fry's reading time log. She walks into the house the day before, knowing she's to bring this in the next morning. Five minutes before the bus, it's 'oh, by the way...' Fry KNOWS that I hate scrambling, looking for something I've not been the last one to see, and all before I've drunk to the bottom of my coffee cup. Maybe I'll have lunch with her and her friends. That'll be fun. They herd around me, all vyying for my attention. They're so cute, it's hard not to love on them.

Take them home, though, and they go nuts. Jumping in the pond, scrambling to walk on top of the play shed, rummaging through the pantry for snacks and wondering where's the junk food.

Dones:
Upstairs foyer-dust curio cabinet
Hubs’s office-clean up desk (Hubs did this himself!! Yay!!)
Fry’s bathroom-fling some things (Fry did this herself!! Yay!!)
Curtain for Hubby’s office-Sewn and up on the rod already!

Quickies to do this morning, what's left of it:
Foyer-clean up hat rack
Dining room-dust inside hutch
Master bathroom-shop vac the bathroom

Things that will take a bit more time:
Garage-move the rocks to the backyard
Cobwebs
Deal with living room books
Repot houseplants

Things for outside:
Edge the lawn
Figure out where to, then plant bulbs
Put up fallen siding (I've wasted more time typing this than it would have taken to actually do this. Gah!)
Bring the cut up branches and sacks to the front for Saturday (there's rose bushes involved, not fun)

Things I'm way too lazy to do but must anyway:
Bissell all floors
Master bedroom-clothes
Living room-deal with books
Fry’s room-clean out closet
Basement-unfinished-get rid of hazardous waste-sort Hub’s clothes
Basement-finished-sort and store the scrap booking supplies

Things that require a commitment:
Change bathroom faucets
Paint laundry room
Fix bathroom switch
Peel wallpaper in kitchen
Paint kitchen

Things I'm afraid to do:
Basement-Yarn room-examine ceiling damage (from the bathroom above??)

Update: Hubby, after me saying "It could be there...", found the waterstained folder containing the papers related to Lemon. They were in the acordian file folder, as suspected. Whew and yay!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Goofball stuff just not worth the effort

Most 'official' writing leaves me cold. I love the AP style of 'just the facts' and loathe the local newspaper's way of over emotionalizing stories.

On the other hand, Brian Williams' writing on October 4th, 2005 is juuuuuust right. I get a feel for the people's plight without the excessive gagging metaphors. If I could find an online example of said metaphor, I'd link it. But of course, when I need a reference, there is none. Usually, it's on the front page and the first paragraph is something like, "PFC BlaBla is coming home from a tour in Iraq. He'd like to walk up to his wife and twelve kids, but he can't. His legs, now lying in a ditch somewhere under the desert sun, are horrible casualties of the war. BlaBla, while thinking of his family, cut off his own limbs in a heroic display of heroism.

While I'm not so hard-hearted as to mock injured service men or bad things that happen to good people, when our local news reporters do this sentimentalization on the stupid, well, that's just wrong. As in: Young Jimmy was only 17 when he started climbing telephone poles for fun. Bravely, he climbed the more difficult, the more challenging, every day seeking to surpass himself. Until one day, he made that fateful climb during the worst thunderstorm our area had ever seen. Sadly, Young Jimmy didn't think to get life insurance so his wife and twelve kids were financially protected. Now, the family is relying upon prayers and lottery tickets for their daily meals and clothes.

Enough of that. I should haul my lazy carcass outside and plant those bulbs. Where, though? Where? I'm putting this off until I have an actual game plan for these. They're too pretty to waste on a stupid squirrel.

Did you know that shredders could wear out? Their little blades won't cut as sharp, now. Time for a new one.

What did I get done from yesterday?
Some shredding, then put away the shred box and vacuumed the kitchen.
Sorted the knitting patterns and papers
Sorted Fry's school papers from pre-school to yesterday.
Put all the donation items in one box.

What does that leave?
Hanging and folding clothes from the laundry
Planting bulbs
Cleaning the garage
Sorting the owner's manuals.

I'm so unGodly sick of sorting papers and other garbage. But, I only have the owner's manuals, so maybe I'll do that during a movie today. Just to distract myself.

In honor of anti-procrastination day, I have these items to do as well:
? Edge the lawn
? Put up fallen siding
? Bissell all floors
? Cobwebs (even though this is October, I'm getting RID of cobwebs)
? Repot houseplants
? Curtain for Hubby’s office
? Change bathroom faucets
? Deal with living room books
? Paint laundry room
? Curtain for laundry room
? Fix bathroom switch
? Peel wallpaper in kitchen
? Paint kitchen

But wait! There's more, broken down, room by room:
? 1 Upstairs foyer-dust curio cabinet
? 2 Foyer-clean up hat rack
? 3 Dining room-dust inside hutch
? 4 Guest bathroom-wipe up underneath sink
? 5 Fry’s bathroom-fling some things
? 6 Master bedroom-clothes
? 7 Master bathroom-shop vac the bathroom
? 8 Hubs’s office-clean up desk
? 9 Laundry room-sort Fry’s papers Ha! Done! Ha!
? 10 Living room-deal with books
? 11 Kitchen-Bissell floor
? 12 Basement-Yarn room-examine damage, sort and shelf the books
? 13 Basement-finished-sort and store the scrap booking supplies
? 14 Garage-move the rocks to the backyard
? 15 Fry’s room-clean out closet
? 16 Basement-unfinished-get rid of hazardous waste (only old paint, let me know if you want it, seriously)-sort Hub’s clothes


What do I want to do instead?? This, of course!





Hm, some of the above items are only 5 minute jobs... I can do those, call it good, then on to the knitting. My Elann.com order came in yesterday, and so THAT'S calling me, too.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Watch my Boneless Chicken trick!

I've taken my energy vitamins, can almost see the bottom of my morning cup of mud, and yet, all I want to do is my best boneless chicken impersonation. Instead, here's a list of things I should be/need to be doing:

Put away all the clean clothes
Finish the shredding
Plant bulbs (before tomorrow's rain would be nice!)
Sort and file knitting papers (design ideas, patterns, etc)
Put clothes and books to donate in the garage for delivery
Straighten up the garage so I don't have to walk sideways
Sort and file Onwers manuals (we have every manual for everything we've ever owned)

Fry is going to a pizza party after school. Isn't that the sweetest? It's so cute how she and her friends call each other to chat. They're still young enough that they have little girl voices over the phone. The pizza party means I have from 4 to 6 pm to myself today. What to do, what to do... Ha! Knit, of course. It's usually dinner hour, so, I'm thinking crockpotting some barbeque chicken drumsticks.

My weight is probably a little over 155 but under 160, I'm scared to weigh, what with the weekend sweets pig out all of us did. Dinner tonight will be low fat, low carb, since despite the mini-period, PMS is on the horizon. The gym has been 'calling' me lately, I'm going to have to go next week and get started on that fitness thing.

In the meantime, I have tons of housework to use as a workout. My life could probably use more excitement, but then, I'm glad that this is as 'exciting' as it gets.

Monday, October 03, 2005

No more shredding

Oh Lord have I shredded papers. Boxes and boxes of them. It seems my husband keeps every bit of paper he's ever touched. Ever ever. While I'm pretty good at boxing and forgetting, I have been known to toss stuff.

Which, I think, has gotten me into trouble. I may have tossed the folder with Lemon's registration. Maybe. There's one more place to look, and if it's not there... It's languishing in a dump somewhere. I'd probably threw it in a grocery bag while cleaning out the car, and just tossed the whole thing. The folder was pretty waterstained, anyway.

I'd spent the weekend emptying out the pickup, boxes and boxes of hubby's stuff. Then sorting papers, shredding the sensitive documents, and sorting some of Fry's school papers. The school papers need to be done while said child is at school, since she tends to dig through the rejects saying "Good times, good times," and wants to keep every single scrap of paper. Wonder which gene THAT is. I can't say too much. Whatever gene Dad has that makes him collect every bit of fishing supplies is the same gene Mom has that makes her run by the fabric remnant section of stores going 'lalalalala'. One look at my stash and you'll know DNA works.

Speaking of which, I've not done a bit of knitting since Friday. I've not been focused enough to lace knit, and don't know what to start next. I did sort the projects and pieced some baby layettes together. After reading my favorite weblogs, I'm going to have to do SOMETHING. There's too many cool things going on out there to keep my needles quiet.

The piano tuner is here, the house is a wreck from everything being drug out and sorted. Oh well. Heaven forbid someone comes over when it's company clean. I guess if I want to be a hermit, I need to keep everything around here 'just so'.

This just in my email:
************************
Red Lobster
The Overboard Club
Dine for America
************************

On October 5, 2005, Red Lobster Restaurants will be a leader in
"Dine for America," a national fundraising effort to support the
American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and help those affected
by Hurricane Katrina. All Red Lobster restaurants across North
America will donate 100% of all profits on October 5th.

We’re proud to be part of the relief efforts and encourage you
to enjoy a great seafood meal while helping make a difference in
the lives of those in need.

We look forward to seeing you on October 5th.
*************************

Ow ow ow!!! Yer twisting my arm!!! Ow ow ow!!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race