i cannot believe i didnt think of this myself.

Thank you VERY much to Fuzzarelly for cracking me up when I needed it most (the last couple of days have been hectic and challenging).

Fuzz sent me a link to another amputee's Halloween Costume, inspired by the move A Christmas Story (and you haven't seen it, you can click here for the reference...."Frah-Jee-Lay! That must be Italian!" ..."I think that says FRAGILE, honey." hahaha)

Anyhow. Get this:

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Leg lamp.
I almost died when I saw it.

And I totally cannot believe I didn't think of this myself. (I even own the same exact shoe she is wearing. What a trip.)

Although I think my hips are a bit to "hippy" to make a good harp for the lampshade ;-)

The only decent link I can find to this song (with the time I have available right now) has the creepy graphic attached to it.

So please.
Close your eyes.

~~LISTEN~~




A favorite of mine. I have even performed to it.

It came up today when MyFavoriteKid asked me who Freddie Mercury was, and when I described him, I also mentioned that when I cried for 4 days when he died.
MyFK thought that was goofy, and I told him that he better run when David Bowie goes then, because I might be in mourning for months.

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I am LOVING the comments to yesterday's post, so please...if you haven't tossed your hat into the ring, please feel free to do so.

I am super buried in that previously mentioned paperwork required by the State Department, and it is due on Friday, so I would expect fluff around here until the weekend. I can see that deeper topics need to be covered soon, though...and the weekend is looking much more wide open for that.

X's & O's to all of you :-)
I appreciate you all so much.

Ed to add, to TheMIG, (in response to the comment made on yesterday's post):
That was not advice. That was a "kweshun".

super late

Oooboy, it's late! Dance class started an hour and a half earlier than usual tonight. We had a meeting with our students about an end-of-summer student dance concert we are planning. Then we held our regular dance class. And then us co-teachers had another meeting after class to tie up the loose details from the earlier meeting. Add my commute to that, and I didn't get home until 11:30pm. Sheesh.

So all I have to offer you tonight (but this is a pretty great offering) is a link to SMKR (here's yer offensive language warning, because SMKR stands for "Sh&% My Kids Ruined").


I think I have about 27 photos of my own I could submit.

like having your own personal jeweler or something

I use stitch-markers a lot when I knit (for the non-knitters reading, stitch-markers are little do-dads that you slide onto your needles or pin onto your knitting, and they help you count and keep track of when you need to do things). Because I use them a lot, I have many.
Many.
Many as in, when I see them and they are cute (which so many of them are), I have to work very hard to resist buying them, because I honest to goodness do not need more than I already have. I have amassed quite the collection.

But.
I still window shop. Lots. And when I saw these....


I had to have them.

It's like they were made just for me or something. I mean, stitch markers...with crutches?? Ha!!
MINE.


(purchased at the Velvet Hippo on etsy)

nothing like a funny face

I am behaving like such a crabcake today! Gah. I'm not sure if it's all the gray and rain, or the fact that I am feeling somewhat invisible. Maybe it's the gloom and doom of all the death and illness that seems to be hanging in the air around me (today, in addition to TheMostImortantGuy's dad being ill, and Rodger passing, we now have my mom+dad's cat is quite ill; we just brought in her in to the vet tonight, where she remains for a battery of tests).

*sigh*

Unfortunately, I wasted a portion of the day worrying about things and feeling invisible and pouting and scowling, watching the pouring rain. Not very productive.

I did manage to do a little spinning today, though. At least that felt productive.


It's for a 3-session class I am taking about how color in fiber plays out in handspun sock yarn. Homework.

Anyhow. My face today. I only think it smiled once, and that was while I was checking out Pride & Prejudice as told using Emoticons. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, you MUST click through.
Hilarious.

This isn't the knitting retreat post, I know, I know.
I haven't quite adjusted to daily posting yet, 11 days into the month. I'll get the hang of it right around day 28, knowing me.


I lieu of that, I'd like to direct you to Bodies In Urban Spaces.
Here's a taste, but do click through on the above link, because the rest are really neato ;-)


Inspires me. Big time.

what's in my cd player

I don't often talk about the music I listen to around these parts because it's almost freakishly diverse. I mean, if you look at the stack of cd's nearest at hand (and most recently played) and you'll find Nine Inch Nails next to James Taylor next to Public Enemy next KD Lang next to some classical music, some heavy metal, some pop, some Beatles, some Middle Eastern music, and some ambient stuff for chill-axing.

I have me some mooooods, ya' know??

Anyhow, the last few weeks I've been playing this one particular CD to death. I picked it up a few weeks ago on a whim. It was for sale on a display rack in a coffee shop. I absolutely adore the whole album, which doesn't happen that often for me. I'm not even sure how I'd describe this stuff. It kinda feels like skipping through an old english country side holding hands with a pop band. Or something. I dunno. Give yourself a listen if it pleases you.

The first two clips below are a couple of the tracks that have been getting stuck in my head for the last couple of days. For those who can't tolerate watching a video that has no video, skip them. But the 3rd link there is a cute little ditty that has lots of tiny handknit sweaters for you knitters out there, and that last one has some damn cute barn animals ;-)

These are the Fleet Foxes.

duh

(Filched from JenLa)

There's several different versions of the commercials, if you click around.
Which of course I did.
And that had me run into this clip:



Oooohhhhhh, lordy.

young@heart

I saw this video clip days ago, and I haven't been able to shake it. It features a choral group of seniors that cover some awfully popular artists (The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, David Byrne, etc).

Many many clips of Young@Heart are available on YouTube, but this one has been working me over since I saw it. Please click. I'll be surprised if it doesn't move something in you.
(ed. to add: this is cover of "Fix You" by Coldplay)



Here's a trailer about their upcoming movie.


And here is their official website.

I had to order their cd. I couldn't stand it. It was haunting me. They cover a Radiohead song called Fake Plastic Trees (video version...acoustic version, if you are so inclined). I've been thinking about choreographing/dancing/performing to that piece of music for years now.

The Young@Heart cd arrived in the mail this afternoon. Hearing their version of it (and the whole cd, actually) really has my creative juices flowing.

things i love about the internet

Being able to watch the San Jose Peregrine Falcon "nest cam".**

Jose and Clara had four eggs this year, and when I woke up this morning two of them had hatched. Another one hatched this afternoon.


Clearly I need to get out more often.
But even if I did, I wouldn't be cruising a rooftop buggin' new parents.


** do check out the webcam; the quality is much better than the photo above that I filched from the local news channel. You can even see the eyelids moving LOL. The parents are mostly keeping the babies warm right now, but every once in awhile they get up an move them around.

on the fly

I'm so busy today it isn't even funny. Early morning appointments, a visit to the convalescent hospital (with the dog--he did so great, and they loved him so), then back home to get him set up for the evening before I dash out to a lecture in San Francisco.

I did have time to catch up on a couple of blogs just now while slapping on a fresh coat of eyeliner and lipstick, though.

Please go check out this very informative and enlightening post over at David's. It's about eyesight trouble being linked to blog reading.
Seriously. Click through. Do it.

yesterday and today

I have been tinkering around inside the van trying to get it travel ready. Like I said, it is sort of like furnishing a studio apartment or something. Last night I even referred to it as the "Mini Maison".

I am doing everything possible to pull from things from the house that I already have rather than going out and buying things for it. Lord knows, even after all of the purging and the moving last summer, I still have a few duplicates, especially in kitchenware. I don't feel bad about that. I'm a trained chef. It would be like parting with sock yarn or something, for you knitters you there. Sometimes you just have to surround yourself with your craft.

Of course there are things I am having to purchase that are specific to rv life, like electrical adapters, specific extension cords, toilet chemicals, yadda yadda. It's been fun, but a bit expensive, and a little overwhelming. Lots of new information I am having to learn, about charging systems and water systems and whatnot. It's a good new interest to have, but I have a bit of BrainDrain going on still. I read the manuals, and I feel like I am studying for a quiz or something. Actually, it is exactly like that. With a pre-test this weekend, a study group next weekend, and the final exam in March.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I have been catching up on reading blogs. It is embarrassing how far behind I had gotten, especially about people I actually "know" (either in real life or in cyber) and care about. I think I might need to weed out my queue or something. Being over 200 posts behind all the time, even after playing catch up, is a pretty good sign that I am overextended.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I got a little lost today clicking through on the internet, and ended up at the Knitted Landscape. I think I am going to need to do some sort of something like this for myself as I travel about in that van. Not so sure I should be knitting traveling 'shrooms to go along with a VAN, though....hahahaha. Hell, I'm not even sure about knitted flowers (peace, man).

But I will come up with something. Hmmm...maybe little creatures.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Tonight I am heading down to see TheMostImportantGuy's band play a gig (I just went to his MySpace page to get the link for you, and it describes the music as,"Electro Industrial Power Noise for your booty." Hahahaha).

Tonight it's an all ages/alcohol free show, so MyFavoriteKid is coming along, too. He really likes TheMIG's music but he's not usually permitted in clubs. Headlining the show is a band called Babyland that find thoroughly entertaining.

Here are some photos of the last time I saw them:

Not any punk rockin' dude can pull off a plain ol' pink t-shirt, let me tell ya'.

There are 2 guys in the band that play over pre-recorded backing tracks. The singer guy (above), if I recall, also played some keyboards....and then there is this drummer guy....

...who isn't playing a traditional drum kit.
It's more like trashcans and pipes and metal junk stuff.

Which he occasionally takes power tools to.

Like I said, highly entertaining.

Shut up. I know. Bad mommy, some of you are mumbling. But it's a great show. And hey, at least I enforce the earplug rule.

too tired to title

I'm dead dog tired. MyFavoriteKid had me up all night long needing comfort for nightmares, hotter hot water bottles, glasses of water....and if it wasn't any of those, he was yelling out, "What time is it?!?!?!!!!" He eventually crawled into my bed around 3am so he could to do this whole routine at close range.

I love him to death, but it took everything in me not to bitch-slap him when he woke up and said, "You know, I didn't fall asleep until late, and I woke up early...and I still feel great!!!"

Yay for you, kid. Why don't you do all of the cooking and cleaning today, eh?


Being that I am wiped, the best I can offer you today is a link.
Hey, at least it's a good one.

The Story Of Stuff, with Annie Leonard

This came to my by way of the wonderful Mouse. I was reading DiaryOfAGoldfish this morning, and it reminded me that I had wanted to post this.

I love this and I think it should be shown in every middle school across the U.S.
It also makes me want to try to find a way to buy groceries off Etsy.