what i did today

Got the kid off to school. Took the dogs to the doggie play-place for the day. Missed knitting :-(. Slept a lot.  Went to the bathroom a lot. Got sick a lot.  Knit a little bit on a garter stitch project that I am working on (thank god for easy knitting). Picked up dogs and kid and chinese food. Ate a little bit of rice and drank some fizzy water.  Went to the bathroom some more. Felt nauseous. Knit a little more and slept a little more and went to the bathroom a little more. Ran out of toilet paper in the bathroom and thanked god there was extra in the garage. Yelled that nobody around here was helping with household chores.  Yelled at the cat (who is pissed off about kept inside due to rain) because he peed on Riley's dog bed and also on the yoga pants I wore yesterday that I had tossed on the floor near the hamper. Was so riled up from yelling that I did all the chores myself. Went to the bathroom some more.

And that is where things stand for now.
A little crabby.
Maybe more garter stitch will help.

oh dear

I had a really lovely post planned for you today.   I started it early in the day with the plan to put the finishing touches on it after dance class tonight (as I always arrive home wound up anyhow).

Well, I had to leave dance class early.  I started feeling nauseous in the later afternoon, by 6pm things were...well....liquified (sorry), and I just now bolted in the door after the long car ride home and totally tossed my cookies 3 times. 

 I do not have a high temperature, and I am hoping this is just food related and not something else, and that I'll be right as rain tomorrow, because dangit!  I have knitting with the ladies tomorrow (so if any of you out there are reading this, if I'm a no show, you'll know why).



I am now retreating to the bedroom (because it's closer to the bathroom), and I promise to finish the original post tomorrow provided I am feeling better.  

this might just have to get added to my holiday wishlist

I'd rather have it on a tote bag or even better still, a tea cup/coffee mug....
but the t-shirt (available at Signals) aint so bad ;-)

the mix

Things today have just been....quite the mix.

I have had to deal with the court a bit about People vs. BigFatNeighborJerkWhoShootsDogs.  There is a preliminary court thing happening this Friday, and apparently I am not on the invite list.  I'm trying to figure out why not when I am the only witness as well as the victim. It's strange.

Poor James, my buddy at the convalescent hospital who is an amputee, just like me (except his is due to diabetes).  He had to go in for surgery today to have a portion of his other foot removed due to infection.  I'm not even sure what to say about that yet.  I'm just working on being supportive for him rather than looking like my mouth is gaping open and dragging on the floor.

We are in for five days of record rainfall here, as well as high wind advisories.  The weather guy says we can expect 5-8 inches in the bay area between Wednesday and Sunday, and the winds tomorrow will be 35-50 mph. I spent most of the day stocking up on everything we need so I can just stay tucked in here all nice and warm with soup and movies and knitting.  And battening down the hatches, as they say. 

I do have a friend coming over tomorrow for a couple of hours, and I am going to teach her to knit :-)

I took MyFavoriteKid out shopping today for a new raincoat, and he started looking at other clothes because he feels like he's finally ready to choose a style.  Almost everything he tried on and liked had fake fur as part of its make up.  I'm totally fine with that.  But also totally surprised by it.

He then announced that he broke up with his girlfriend yesterday and doesn't really want to tell me too much more than that.  Ahhh the joys of parenting.

He then informed me that he totally forgot he has to be at school an hour and a half early tomorrow (and the next day) for a band rehearsal, and could I please go to bed early and get up early and cook him a big breakfast since he will have a long day.  Ahhh the joys of parenting.


So I'm off to tuck myself in. Apparently I have a curfew!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
oh!! PS!!! for "notsupergirl"!!
I cannot figure out how to send you a direct reply for some danged reason, but yes!! Use the photo for anything you'd like ;-)  Thanks for asking!  XO

the moooooon....

I know, I know. More pictures, no words.  But I absolutely had to share with you this photo I took tonight of the moon.  Totally untouched, un-cropped, un-photo-shopped. 
It's just how she looked tonight, and I just had to share it.

foggy.

A foggy view, while perched over the carquinez straights this morning.

Sorry so many photos and not much content lately. More words coming soon.  I've just been really immersed in the joys of a holiday weekend :-)

snaps on saturday

Compliments of TheMostImportantGuy....



His sexy drumkit moves into the house as he gives up his separate practice space.

Lunch today down at the Vallejo waterfront...TheMIG and KarenTheDancingLurker, where she and I (with some advice from TheMIG) plotted the direction of our dance class and ensemble going forward.

Teeny hides in TheMIG's jacket, all tucked in and cozy...

another pic from thanksgiving...

me in the kitchen ;-)

happy thanksgiving....

...from our house to yours!

guest blogger returns...

Full Metal Pans   These are my veggies. There are many like them, but these ones are mine. ~TheMIG

today was the day....

....I did the the big shopping for the big dinner on the big day.
It was kinda nuts out there!!

it must be a cycle i am in...more listmaking

A post like a list.
Maybe it's because I am in "list mode" for the holiday...to-do lists, shopping lists...I dunno.

~ Dropped MyFavoriteKid off at 9:30am this morning for a drum clinic being held at the school prior to winter percussion auditions.

~ Went to zen center for midday practice.

~ Out shopping for tablecloths for the holiday table & grabbed a to-go lunch.

~ Headed over the convalescent hospital to see James who after awhile told me he was "up sh%$t's creek without a paddle," and that he'd been sent out to the doctor because his toe was infected, and they have determined they need to remove it (or part of it).  Yeah, I'd say that would be without a paddle for sure.
If you don't already know this about him, I was matched up with him as a "buddy" because he is already an amputee, courtesy of diabetes.

~ Poor kid was still at auditions until 4:30pm; he said they were grueling. This is the first year there will be an "A-line" and a "B-line", and as a sophomore, he's a lower classman (not to mention hes' only been playing snare for a year, he's on clarinet for the rest of the season).

~ He wanted to meet friends at the theater for a 5:15 movie, so I got him there, and nobody showed up on time (except him).  They were going to wait for a later showtime, but he was so irked, he just wanted to come home (he was also worried because they hadn't announced yet who ranked where in auditions, and he was on total pins and needles about it).

~ Back home, kid frets, and I knit and watch Dust Bowl, Part 2....and then am (happily interrupted) by a very tall teenager who is bouncing off the walls because he landed a spot on the A-line drum corp.  This is very great news....although it also means, for me, no rest for the weary as a band parent  (lordy please let MyFK remember my support when his remembering is most needed!)

~ And here I am, posting away, about to knit a bit more and maybe watch Dancing With The Stars.  Tomorrow is the Great Thanksgiving Shopping Run of  2012 ;-)

Nice day:

~ Early breakfast out.

~A team effort (TheMostImportantGuy and I) to deep clean of TheNewDiggs in preparation of holiday visitors.

~ Out to do a little housewares shopping to fill in the gaps (I haven't been responsible for the turkey for so long, I didn't even have a turkey baster! And TheNewDiggs didn't have a meat thermometer, as I think aside from bacon, I've only cooked vegetarian there!).

~ Another movie!!  Us?  Two movies, two weekends in a row?! Crazy!

(totally fun, although Javier Bardem creeped me out more than he ever has before....I think it was the hair...?  Whatever. Daniel Craig made up for it.)

~ Leftover roasted veggies for dinner.

~ And then knitting while the Ken Burns documentary on PBS.

Fascinating, fabulous....and I could have gone a lifetime before ever needing to see a jackrabbit or cattle holocaust.  The whole thing kinda makes me want to live in a teepee somewhere...walk softer on the land and all that.
Part two tomorrow, so you know where my butt will be parked  ;-)

snaps on saturday...

...the 9th anniversary edition ;-)

We went to the zen center for the bulk of the day, no photos of the floor we stared at for you, though.  My mind was a little busy. The most clarity I had all day was when I was washing the lunch dishes and pots and pans of service for 20+....that's sayin' somethin', although I'm not quite sure what.

Then out for dinner at this vegetarian restaurant everyone has been raving about.

It was decent, but not special.
So we left there and went trolling for dessert and an after dinner drink.

Beignets with chocolate, caramel, and strawberry dipping sauces, and some crazy yummy chocolate thing. TheMostImportantGuy had this really delicious bourbon cocktail and I had an off-beat margarita that included cilantro with jalapeno and salt on the rim.  Yum.

Our Anniversary toast to each other??
"Nobody's sick of nobody!"

hahahahahahaha

(and we did decide that we are too old and tired to hit the movies.....early bedtime, early morning, maybe a matinee tomorrow?)

it's shaping up to be a pretty good weekend, i do believe

Today was knitting with ladies, and it was a full house....then 11 of us went from there straight to lunch. I cannot begin to tell you how my life has changed having these women around.  Lordy, they make me laugh, they make me cry, they make me think, they make me forget about my petty little problems. It is a very good thing.

Tonight MyFavoriteKid had to go sit with the band in the bleachers for the football game because it was the playoffs.  They weren't slated to do a field performance at half-time, just spirit music from the stands. But he called just a few ago. The band aBANDoned the game (wha-wha-whaaaa) due to pouring rain. The game however, continued!  When I picked him up there were parents in the bleachers huddling underneath canopies they'd stuck up in the stands, and they were whipping about in the wind.

So, TheEX is about to pick up MyFK for the weekend, which is great. MyFK hasn't been there for several weekends due to so much band activity, with festival competitions and all. Love my kid, the break is long overdue. 

TheMostImportantGuy just got here, and it's our special day tomorrow....anniversary time.  We are going to spend the day at the zen center for a "1-day retreat," and the scoot out to a fancy vegetarian restaurant for a romantic dinner.  Movie after that maybe?  (I bet not. We're kinda old and tired these days! LOL)

Sunday we clean TheNewDiggs and decorate for Thanksgiving, which we are hosting for the first time...woot!  In the new kitchen! Woot-woot!  


Soooo...yah!  Shaping up to be a pretty good weekend, I do believe.

video viewing

Horrible photo of what I did tonight (sorry)...

Tonight the performers from the October concert got together to do the ritual:
Watching the video together over a potluck dinner.


It's always a challenge watching myself perform.  This time it was sort of easy because I really could not see my solo at all!  The lighting was so low, it didn't transfer to tape very well.  I've been told the piece was solid and powerful and beautiful...and it felt that way....but I have no other frame of reference with the video being so flat.  Oh, well.  I heard some really great photos were taken, but I have yet to see them.  Hopefully soon!

ugh.

Today.
It didn't start good, and it's not ending good. 
In between I went grocery shopping and washed dishes.
The end.

(man, it really is crab season, aint it?!)
(now maybe I should just eat some crab rather than being a crab...then all would be fine)

yank me around a bit longer, why dontcha...

So, the DA's office called me this afternoon regarding the court date tomorrow...the one where I am the witness (and victim) in the cast of People vs. AssNeighbor.

Turns out the neighbor's public defender cannot represent him, citing a conflict (and the DA's office can't tell me what the conflict is).  She says the neighbor is seeking private counsel, and therefore they are extending the court date until the 30th.

Yay, me.  Another 2 weeks to stew.


My plan to keep sane?  Multiple period dramas viewing sessions, possibly runs of epic film series (LoTR and Harry Potter, anyone?) and lots of knitting.

Just keep knitting...knitting, knitting, knitting...

yes, this is filler.

I'm not quite myself today (nerves, I think...anticipating the court date on Wednesday)...so today I bring you the one liner gimp joke that made me chuckle this week (thank you, Glee!):

Artie, who is visiting Finn at work (mechanic at Hummel's), says:

"Why do I always feel so at home in a tire shop? That was a joke."


I know. Kinda lame. But it made me crack up. And you can bet that the next time I am anywhere near a stack of tires for sale, you will hear that popping out of my mouth.

shiny and new

I know that not everyone in town was excited that a brand new movie complex was opening this weekend, but we sure were!

We have never had a good experience at the theater closest to us.  The theater itself is not bad, but the movie-goers are the type that talk, text, and bring crying babies to the show.  We have been traveling 30 to 45 minutes to go theaters farther away, but this weekend, this new theater opened up about 15 minutes away.  It's shiny and new, and well laid out (there's even a lounge area inside serving local beers and wines).

TheMostImportantGuy and spent some time trying to figure it out, but we can't even remember the last movie we've seen in a theater. I do believe it's been well over 6 months. I know that many many movies have come and gone that I had wanted to see on the big screen, but missed.  Every weekend that looks like there is an opportunity, we try, but then we never make it.

Today, we finally got out and saw Cloud Atlas.   It was suggested to me that I read the book first, and I plan to read it, but I knew that if I waited to see it until I read it, I'd never get to see it in the theater.  And besides, everyone I know who has seen the movie, whether they read the book or not, has said they wanted to see the movie a second time anyhow, to follow the characters and images.  My plan has been to see the movie, read the book, the get my hands on the dvd when it comes out, with all the extras and commentaries.

I really enjoyed this movie, and without saying too much (no spoilers or anything here, kids), here are my two cents:

~ If the academy is going to nominate actors from this movie for awards, how the heck are they going to do it?  It's an entire cast of supporting actors! 

~ When you see the movie, do stay long enough into the end credits to see the photo reel of what each actor looked like in their various roles.  Each actor played several.  I picked up on most of them, but not all of them....that's for sure. It was surprising what I missed.

~ This movie confirms it for me (and I am snickering here saying that, ok?). Once you're evil to the core, you are evil to the core. That's all there is to it. You'll just keep coming back over and over again, even more evil than the last time, and in the end you'll be so evil you'll just come back just as a ghost-like figment of others' imaginations.  If yer bad to the bone, yer just bad to the bone (and even beyond the bone).


~ Hey! Look! Cinematic proof!! Being able to knit, crochet, or do macrame,  will be a post-apocalyptic skill set!

Does this mean I'll carry my knitting and spinning skills around, lifetime to lifetime??
Now, wouldn't that be cool ;-)

snaps on saturday

Me. Last marching band festival of the season.
Stadium temperature = 41F

All bundled up in handknits (not to mention that underneath the handknit sweater is an undershirt, plus a long sleeved shirt, and turtle neck).

2nd place in their division this year ;-)

hello, it's me

Well, Teeny seems to be doing quite alright. Not 100%, but definitely improved.  I'm sure you don't come here for tales of doggiedoo, but there's no other way to update you without doing so, so whatchagonna do.

My best psychic dog whisperer guess is that she was already sorta backed up, then she got thwacked by the swinging door and was bruised pretty damn good, hurting her back (which the vet did verify was injured) which then made it painful for her to hunch up and do the duty (dooty?).  Well, pain meds, anti-inflammatories, stool softeners, and kablamm she dropped the bomb (actually a few bombs, and they looked like were from a much bigger dog, not a little 5 lb chihuahua...I have no friggin' idea how she even stored it all up).

Gross. I know. Sorry.

Anyhow, kablamm....and then she's running around like her old self (pretty much, she's still a little ouch-y when you pick her up, probably due to being squished in a swinging door).


In other doggie news.
Riley?  The one shot in the eye with a bb-gun by my neighbor because unbeknownst to me he was barking too much?  
Well, the DA's office called me at 4:45pm today to say, "Whoopsie!  We see we dropped the ball and forgot to send you a subpoena.  We need you to testify in court next Wednesday at 8:30am."

Great.

(and that's said sarcastically...but I suppose really, in the long run it probably is great.  It means we are closer to the finish line on this subject. Ugh.)



I'm off to grow freeze my buns off at the high school football game (playoffs!).  Earlier in the week it was record highs. On Monday it was in the mid-70's and we were on the patio for the convalescent hospital visits.  Today?  So cold that at one point it actually smelled like snow. 
At least I get to don the handknits!

verdict-o

That is one totally stoned/baked doggie, eh??

*sigh*

Ok, so we're not exactly sure what happened, but poor Teeny has something wrong with her back.

More than likely it's the fact that a door got shut on her yesterday by accident because she was dragging her feet getting through said door, and it shut on her.   She was acting a bit weird even before that though.  We were a bit late applying flea meds this month, and she's been reaching around hard towards her rear end to scratch, so possibility number two, the vet believes, is that she has twisted her back trying to itch.  Lastly, she is constipated.  Now, she could either be constipated because her back was hurting so bad she is scared to go because it hurts, but it could be that she's constipated so bad it's pushing on her spine.

So in that pic, she was "mildly sedated" (really? mildly??!) for an x-ray.  The x-ray showed no fractures or issues with discs.  She may have deep bruising due to the door incident.  And it could be the flea thing or the poo thing.

The result?  She has flea meds on, some sort of benadryl type thing to keep from being itchy, pain meds/anti-inflammatory meds, and a stool softener. 

(can you say "ka-chink"??)


I skipped dance class and stayed home with her tonight.  I'm hoping to see some results!

doggus interuptus

Something is wrong with Teeny the chihuahua.  She's hiding in her crate (and she hates the crate) and when I picked her up and out of it awhile ago, she gave little yips in certain positions.  The rest of my night is being spent figuring it out and doing something about it.

rockin the vote

I'm at my local knit night.  I was supposed to be sitting here finishing up some swatching for a sweater, but I accidentally left what I had started at home. Instead I'm winding (by hand) some of the yarn I bought at KnitLab the other day. 

Pretty great way to watch the election returns. At a sports bar, with a beer, hanging out with the gang, and a pile of yarn.

seriously sidetracked

Ok, I have gotten a little bit lost wandering the internet and have now used up all of my available time tonight.

Let me just tell you what I've been up to, though.

Tonight I was on the phone with my mom and she told me that she still could not reach her long time friend who lives on an island somewhere in New Jersey. Her friend lives in Mantoloking, which was hit by SuperStormSandy hard.

I took down my mom's friend's name, address, etc...and then started googling around.  Old satellite photos, post-Sandy aerial photos...and then I got into the YouTube videos.  

Gosh, the loss these people are suffering.  It's incredible.  I'd been lighting a candle already anyhow, but oh my gosh.  I'm going to need to do more.

Anyhow. YouTube videos.  After watching several and also clinking through on related facebook links, it turns out that one of the videos was shot a guy whose family lives in the house across the street from my mom's friends.  How crazy coincidental is that?!

It's looking like the house is still standing, though who knows how much damage was sustained (their house is just a couple houses north of what you see pictured above, and they are on the bay side).  The real thing though is just waiting to hear where they are and how they are.  I left a comment for the guy thanking him for the video. Maybe he'll think (as if he doesn't have other things to think about) to let them know someone was asking.

Ahhh, the internet.   Such I love/hate relationship I have with it.
Mostly love.
Amazing things happen often enough that make it magical.

well then, decorate the page with something lovely.

I am very tired after a day-long knitting class, and am so wiped out (time change not helping), that I just need to head off to sleep so I can make that 5:20am alarm.

I have knitting to share and pics from the class, but for now, let me entertain you with a shot of my most recently completed knitting project.

snaps on saturday

Completed lace and midnight blocking.

triple vision

A few weeks ago, some of the ladies of the Friday morning knitting group went clothes shopping after the morning knitting & lunch. I have to say, this was sort of a big deal for me. Believe it or not, I had never gone clothes shopping with lady friends before! Sure, I had been shopping (in and out of little shops while visiting little downtown areas and whatnot)....but I had never been clothes shopping with a group.  I have just always gone solo.

Well, while we were out, I tried on this dress that I just knew was going look good.  When I brought it to the dressing room, one of the ladies was a little surprised I had picked out as she thought it looked like a shredded garbage bag. Yikes!  Well, I tried it on, it looked great, just as I had predicted, and then the next thing you know....

.... three of us were buying the same danged dress!  We took a mini-vow to not all show up wearing them for Friday knitting.  Until today.

Today a few of us headed over to the Interweave Knitting Lab  to do a little yarn shopping.  We just went for it and made a plan to all wear the same dresses.  Well.  Did we ever make a statement all shopping together, let me tell ya'.  If we all happened to be in the same booth, people had to stop and ask what the story was.  If we got separated, there was a whole lotta, "Wait. Didn't I just see you in here?  No, that wasn't you. Am I on crack?"  I heard there was even a, "Hey, some other bitch in here gotz yer dress on" comment. hahahaha

As far as I see it, we Yarn Ho's just travel in packs, is all ;-)


What a great time I had today.  It was a smaller marketplace, but there were lots of folks I hadn't seen awhile, and it was really great to have a slower pace to catch up with friends and really take the time to look at everything.  I did do a little shopping today (maybe a wee bit more than a little), and I will have to take some pics....but it's already dark here and every shot have taken so far just looks washed out.  We have sunshine predicted for the next five days, so stay tuned.

if i were a kitten, i'd be looking like this

MyFavoriteKid has asked me if we can please get up earlier in the morning so that he can get to band practice before school even earlier. He is feeling rushed. 

Hard to complain with that request, feels too responsible of a thing to say no to.

But my alarm is now going off at 5:20am, and so far I am not getting to bed any earlier!  I'm wiped out all day long and relying a bit to much on the afternoon diet soda.  Ugh. 

I am going to have to figure out how to make some adjustments!