passover

I will be putting together a post this weekend about learning how to prepare passover dishes from my mother, but as for tonight, now that we've eaten...



...I'm recovering from all the egg (I'm allergic!).

stiff as a board

Wow, I haven't bellydanced in ages! We took the last couple of weeks of December off and shut down class for the holidays. In January, I injured myself, so I took myself out of the role of performer for the March dance event, and instead put myself more in the role of witness, director, and quasi-choreographer.

What this means is that I have sat on my butt during dance class for 3-1/2 months until tonight, and holeeee moley, I am stiff as a board!!



(but NOT light as a feather. Nope! Just stiff!!)

I hope I'm able to work out the kinks and get my groove on by the end of the month because we're performing this piece again for a National Dance Week event, and I am going to take the place of another dancer who can't make this performance.

more kids in my life to be proud of

The young ladies and gents of the high school knitting club I teach are completing squares for blankets that will be donated to a charitable organization that gets the blankets to kids in Africa that are orphaned by aids.

(just some of the many)

They worked out everything from choosing what they wanted to knit and for whom, to getting the yarn donated to them, to helping the newer members learn how to knit, to creating a system for getting the yarn distributed amongst them, to tracking who did how many squares (they are earning some of their required charity hours by knitting---woot!), to getting the appropriate paperwork for that signed off by their guiding teacher, to fundraising to get the postage money needed to send the blankets sent to the organization that then delivers them to the kids.

In other words, I show up and do pretty much nothing! Basically, I just show up and help when asked, and they do everything else it takes to run their own campus club.

I think they're awesome :-)

no one wants to

That's right. No one. No one wants to go to the vet.
Not me.
And definitely not Teeny.



But I don't use flea meds during the winter, and I didn't get them onto Teeny fast enough for the arrival of spring, apparently. I mean, winter was odd, and things were blooming in February, and I knew that...but I guess I just didn't put it together in regards to pets and those little pesky critters.

The poor dear chewed herself up but good last night, and it was a little beyond my repair. She had to get a patch of butt shaven, and a shot of cortisone, and now she's donning TheConeOfShame for a few days.

I saw a lot of wacky shit today at the vet's office.

First, there was the lady at the counter ahead of me. She was old enough to be my mother. She was holding a puppy and telling the counter staff that she thinks her dog must have herpes or something, and so she gave it some of her son's left over antibiotics (so much for him taking the full course, I guess), and now her dog just didn't seem right. All the while, I'm trying to ignore the fact that she reeks like marijuana and a baggie of it is hanging out of her open purse.

Then I see a poster on the bulletin board advertising in home pet care. And part of it says:
Qualifications:
* I have 1 dog and 1 cat.
* I am very good with pets (ask my dog!)

WHA???!?!

And then, while Teeny and I are in the exam room waiting for the vet, I hear another customer being brought in to the room next door with what sounds like a really big dog. I hear the vet tech tell him someone will be right with him, and then she shuts the door, and then I hear the guy, say to his dog:

OOooooo!!! Look Buster!!!! The table! It's so shiiiiinyyyy!!! Want to get on it??!?!

(I was betting that Buster did not. Even if he did understand that the table was so shiny.)



Alrighty. Pardon me. I must be going now. Spring has sprung and I need to go deal with getting meds on the menagerie.

because.

Because it's late. And because I'm tired. And because I'm proud of MyFavoriteKid. And because his drumline troupe took 1st Runner-Up in the regionals. And because I want to be able to find this video easily next time I need it....

...here is their winning performance from Saturday's competition (the set-up ends and the performance begins at 3 mins in exactly....the set-up was video taped because they are timed and cannot run over their allotment, so they film the set-up as a diagnostic).



MyFK is a freshman, but his high school is only 2 years old. Last year the school had only freshmen and sophomores, this year it's freshmen, sophomores, juniors (so the drumline squad is younger and less experienced some of the other schools that have seniors). Last year MyFK's school drumline was placed in the novice division and even though they did well throughout the performance season, they weren't set up to perform at the regionals.

This year the drumline placed so high in their first competition of the season that they were moved up to advanced for the balance of this year's season....and now here they are, taking 1st Runner Up at champs (with 9 groups competing in their category), and it's their very first time out at regionals! And this is MyFK's first year with the drumline! In fact, he just started drumming in late October, early November!!

Like I said:
Because I am a proud mommy!! ;-)

there really is a kitchen back there somewhere

The contractor dug holes into a few walls just "to see what was going on in there" sometime in February. Construction officially began (a week late) the 2nd week of March. It was quoted to us that this would be about a 6-week gig....so, a working kitchen by the end of April.

Now, thanks to a delay with the cabinet order, that plastic will probably not be coming down until late May.

Not an April Fool's Joke.

snaps on saturday

dog park = happy dogs!

state of the household address

me: totally fatigued, almost as if I am coming down with another cold (nooooooo!!!!!). I hope not.

MyFavoriteKid: also fatigued, but because he had a drumline rehearsal from 9am until 8:30pm, followed by a group dinner at Denny's that I just picked him up from at 11:15pm. Their big/final contest of the year is tomorrow several hours away, so tomorrow is a 13 hour day for him (and then...it's the end of the season! woot!)

TheMostImportantGuy: passed out around 10-ish listening to the San Francisco Symphony 100th Anniversary show that I was watching on PBS while waiting for MyFK to call for a ride.

TheHouse: a total wreck. Dishes everywhere, dog hair floating around on the wood floors....and no time to clean it tomorrow, because tomorrow, while MyFK is gone, TheMIG and I have to go pick out tile, flooring, and glass panels for the cabinetry.


nighty night.

runnin' runnin' runnin'!!

Some spring break this has been, I tell ya'! Every day has been a little nuts, but today:

Early morning dentist appointment for MyFavoriteKid, followed by a trip to the library to return an overdue book he had borrowed for school. Then we stopped at the bike shop with his bike for a repair to his breaks. On the way back, we checked in at the other house and the construction crew to see what's going on in the kitchen, then we grabbed a quick lunch out. I dropped MyFK off at the other house so I could go teach at the senior center. Afterwards, I stopped in to see my parents for a few minutes, then I picked the kid back up, and took him shopping, because guess what...he has grown several inches in the last few weeks and all his pants are now floods (he's just over 5'10" now). Back to the house again, where I made a potluck dish, so I could go to the dancer's potluck where we watched the video viewing of the performance from a couple of weeks ago, but on the way to the potluck, I had to make a pitstop to pick up my brand new shawl that I just knit and already accidentally left behind somewhere....and I just got home at 11pm.

Oh my gosh, it never stops.

And!!.....I had done all of this after waking up at 5:30am with a splitting headache that I had until around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Never. A. Dull. Moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay. Something different rather than reliving my very long day. How about responding to a comment?! Kerry asked about the KAL I am doing, and if one could still join. Here's the deal:

It's a club offered by Janel Laidman called The Knitterati Sock Club. Some mystery KAL's I do are free, but this particular KAL is one that you have to pay for. Every two months you get two patterns; one is a sock pattern, the other is a mystery. You can choose to order this up as a club where you get kits every shipment (yarn + pattern), or you could choose a pattern only option. I chose pattern, only because I figured this was a good way to use up some single skeins of yarn that have been marinating in my stash.

One of the reasons I chose to do this particular KAL is because I really like this designer's sock patterns (I have a couple of her books), so I figured that even if I didn't dig the mystery knitting portion of the club, I knew I'd be happy with the sock patterns at the very least.

I am happy to report though, that I am having a blast with the mystery knitting. The first project I did with this club was January's, and I blogged about it here. The Ravelry group for this KAL is a friendly bunch too, and part of the mystery knitting involves not only knitting a mystery project, but reading through quirky stories with hidden clues that come along with the pattern installments. It's really been fun.

From the looks of things (through post-migraine eyes), ordering the yarn club portion might still be an option, but for sure, you can still join the pattern only option through the end of the year. Here's the linky ;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alrighty. Off to bed. Another big morning. MyFK has to be at an 11 hour drumline rehearsal (?!) by 9am. And tomorrow all the sinks and faucets get delivered at the other house, plus I have a meeting with the contractor.

Wah! I just wanna knit :-(

it really is a mystery

That ghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifreen thing I am knitting....the mystery knit....the new clue just made it longer.



I still have no friggin' idea what it is. This ought to be interesting.

soaker

What a completely sucktastic day to have to do a 7 hour road trip! As predicted, it was indeed POURING rain! It was the type of driving where you wonder why the automobile engineers never think to create a faster setting for the windshield wipers, because it's coming down so fast and furious that you cannot see the frigging road. On top of the rain, it was also so windy on I-5 that some of the plants on the side of the road were actually being so violently blown over that they were pressed down and laying horizontally along the ground. I had to hold onto my steering wheel so tightly to keep the car from blowing off the road that once I got home the palms of my hands were red for an hour.
It. Was. Crazypants.

The only real fun part of the drive? Well, listening to MyFavoriteKid tell stories about his few days at the farm was pretty great....but also, after I gotoff the freeway and was getting closer to the farm on rural, I spotted my very first yellow-billed magpies.


I'd never seen them before. There were two of them actually, but I didn't have the luxury of taking too many photos because every time I rolled down the car window to shoot, I got rain soaked. They were far more impressive to me than my sad little photo here. They were much bigger than I expected, and they were so pretty hopping around from branch to branch in the rain with their tails fanned out and their wings spread open. And they sang! For me!
(well, probably not for me, but I'll pretend)

enjoy it while you can

As previously mentioned, MyFavoriteKid is off with his buddy at the buddy's grandparents' farm for a few days of his spring break. The balance of MyFK's spring break will be spent rehearsing and performing in the final drumline competition of the year.

I go pick him up tomorrow, so that means that my Tuesday will include 3 or so hours of driving each way (and in the rain again...how is it that it will have rained both driving days, but it was dry in between?!). Thank goodness I have audiobooks and podcasts queued up.

Anyhow, being that it's the last night of my "spring break".... I am enjoying it while I can by sipping a cocktail, watching a chick-flick, knitting my brains out, and staying up way too late.

:-)

it's another edition of....

...what the $#%& am I knitting?!?!?!

I am doing another one of the "mystery knit along" things right now, where they tell you what type of yarn to use and about how much yarn you'll need, and each week you get a "clue", but you have no idea what you are knitting.

Here's what I have so far.


A lizard tongue?

take that, Gene Simmons ;-)

snaps on saturday

Most of the day was spent driving MyFavoriteKid up to his friend's family farm where he will be for the first few days of his spring break. Here's some unedited snapshots from my solo drive home....

oy vey

My kitchen walls are all over the floor!!




More on this soon....

back to the tomato starts

I knick-named the runt Bueller.
Officially.


Not only is he smaller than all his buddies, he's totally confused. He can't even seem to figure out which direction the sunshine is located.
Poor dear.

sky ladder--finis!

Done, done, and done!!

Whew!! What a sea of white that was to complete!!
But ohhh how I love thee...
let me count the ways!

I love thee as a wrap, or donning it ol' skool like a babushka, or worn as a scarf, and I like it just plain layin' around where I can admire it! I think it will get quite a bit of wear, even when I'm hanging out on the couch or reading in bed at night. I swear it's big enough that it covers me up way better than any silly slanket ever could. Way cuter, too ;-) This thing is so huge that I even was wearing it while I was knitting the final rows! LOLOL

It's about 1250 yards, and it's finished size is 78" by 21". I took me exactly a month to get it done, and once I started it, I don't think I knit on anything else, except for a few rows on a cuff of a worsted weight slipper sock to show the high school kids as a sample. Frequently when I'm knitting in public, people will ask me how long it takes me to knit something, and quite frankly, I have no friggin' idea. I should time myself sometime just so I can answer them. I am definitely not a fast knitter stitch by stitch (because I'm a thrower). But what I can tell you is how many television hours it took me to knit this sucker (which is a little sad, but hey...I was sick for 2-1/2 weeks of the month that I knit this and that has to count for something). Aside from a few rows here and there at a knitting group or sitting in the car waiting for the kid to be picked up from practices, this wrap was knit almost entirely in front of the boobtube. So. I can tell you this: that I watched every season of The Tudors (39 episodes), a documentary about the Civilian Conservation Corps, season 1 of The Colony (10 episodes), and the entire Ken Burns series about World War II (7 episodes, each about 2 hours). I am estimating that this means that I have at least 70 hours in this thing.
Sheesh.

What's also interesting to note about my gluttonous television habits during this project, is they were all pretty stressful. Look at what I watched!! Loads of beheadings, people working their way out of the dustbowl and the great depression, then a series about people fighting for survival after a natural disaster, and then many many hours of combat footage. When I got this shawl off the needles, it was 2 inches narrower in width than it was from the start. For the non-knitter, this means my knitting got tighter and tighter and I progressed through the project...hahahaha! I am happy to report that it "all came out in the wash", so to speak. It's all nice and even looking now. The wonders of blocking never cease to amaze me. But still. Holy crap!!

I think there's one other reason that this project took me so long, and that's because there were a lot bits of grass and nepps in this wool. I don't really mind the grassy bits and reminders of the farm (to be honest, I finding them charming), but the nepps. Gah! Nepps are bascially little pilly bits of pain in the arse, and there were a kajillion of them stuck into this yarn that (imho) should have been processed out of the fiber before it was spun, and long before it got into my hands. It was making the fabric look like crap, and so I would stop every time I would come to one and pick it out....which was every few inches. It slowed me down considerably, and sorta made me want to stick my knitting needles in my eyes every once in awhile. This is what I picked out from just the first 400 yard skein.

That would be hundreds of little sticky balls of irritation. Now multiply bag that times 3. That was a lot o' frustrated twitchy pickin' at things. Made me feel like I was grinding my teeth sometimes, a bit like a tweaker ;-) LOL

I'm happy to report though, that sans nepps, the yarn is super great. Warm and sheepy and bouncy and squishy! Soft, blocked well. Farmed and milled here in the USA, which also makes me happy.

The pattern, by the way, is called Sky Ladder. It's really a pattern "set". Anne Hanson, the designer, used the stitch patterns on a scarf, two sizes of wraps, a baby blanket, and a throw...so the pattern includes all the options. At present, it is only available to club members, but you can be a "pattern only" club member and not get the kits with the included yarn. I do believe once the club ends, the patterns go up for individual sale, so you should be able to purchase it eventually ;-)
Here's a link to my ravelry project page.

I'm not quite sure what I'm up to next....there is a matching hat for this, and I really like the looks of it (it's totally my style), and I do have enough yarn left over to complete it...but me thinks it needs to have a little color in my life! And more knitting outside with less television!!

she....

is....

finally....



...blocking!

alllllllmost there....

12 more rows to go on the epic shawl/wrap/stole thing I am working on. This this is so huge that I was able to wear it and knit on it at the same time. And it should grow even bigger upon blocking, which I hope to be doing tomorrow morning.

Rain and temps into the 30's here over the next week (first day of spring, schmirst day of schming! bah!), so I may even get to use the beast of a scarf a few times before packing it up for the winter.

what we needs is some tootering!

From the local paper this weekend:

snaps on saturday

TheMostImportantGuy and I drove around the neighborhood today. We had an appraisal done on the house awhile ago, and we wanted to check out the comparables. On our little outing we spotted neighborhood chickens ;-)




It was dry for a good portion of the morning, but then we had hail this afternoon. Crazy weather here these past few weeks!

The Sabah Ensemble performed tonight, the first night of the Rakkasah (for the yarnies, it's basically Stitches for belly dancers). The battery on my camera died before I could take photos of the convention space from the upper balcony, but I have blogged about it in years past here and here and here, and there are some photos in those posts that can give you the feel of the thing.

This year I did not perform with the troupe, but I was part of the entire rehearsal process and assisted by giving direction and assisting to create the choreography. Our goal this year was to create a new repertoire piece, one that could be easily adapted to different numbers of dancers and to dancers of different abilities. I think we succeeded in that, but the proof will be in the pudding when we adapt it to a new group the next time we run it. The general gist is that the troupe travels together very simply on a path around the stage, taking moments here and there to stop and undulation and rotate. As the group then begins to travel the path again, people drop in and out of the group to perform solos. It's simple really, but what makes it complicated is handling the transitions and making it look fluid and meditative. It's really a beautiful thing we created :-)

Here's a little taste:





At the end of the meditative-ish piece, the music shifts into something more percussive and celebratory, something that opens up more to the audience. Less introspective. More outward. And look how much fun was being had! LOL (I love the looks on the faces!)



When you go to Rakkasah you see mannnnnny different styles of bellydance, but I honestly can say I think we bring something unique to the table. We use bellydance as a form of creative expression in a way that's just a bit different. We spend a lot less time on choreography and a lot more time on dropping into the movement so that it feels rich and deep, and it really shows. It's like some troupes bellydance and make a statement with their dance, and it's more like we have a statement to make, and we use bellydance as the medium. I don't think I'm explaining myself very well, but it's almost midnight, so hey-- you get whatcha get LOL. ANYHOW....

I think we're awesome :-)
And I love what we do.


My shopping there this year netted me the bottom half of the new costume I am trying to assemble. I want to wear something metallic and gold. I'm working on a new solo that is turning out to be part three of a trilogy I had no idea I was creating when I did parts 1 and 2. Anyhow, so I found the pants. And go figure, I found a booth selling really great chocolate. Leave it to me to find the chocolate LOL.

Alrighty! I am pooped! Early day tomorrow. MyFavoriteKid has a dentist appointment and another drumline rehearsal (he's so exhausted! thank goodness there is only 2 more weeks of this and then the season is over!).

plotting their escape

More poor pets are totally sick of the (much needed) rain we've been having here.

here is what i am saving you from

I found myself sitting here tonight saying to TheMostImportantGuy: "I realllllllllllly do not want to do a blogpost tonight...."
To which he replies, "Want me to do it for you?"
Me: "Squeee! Yessss!!!"

He's typing away, and I look over, and it something about dog poo. In the form of a poem. It may have even been a series of haiku.
Me: "Nooooooo! You cannot type about dog poo!

So I do something else on the iPad, he's typing away again, and I look over, and this is what I see:

Gsuet Psot
Im gnnoa try taht tnihg wrhee you slrmabce the lterets of erevy wrod epecxt the fsirt and lsat lttrees. Spdlsoupey it is slitl ralbdaee. Kdnia wrekod, rhigt? Hmmmm. Not rlelay.



Aye aye aye.

when you only get two comments a month, it's easy to reply to some of them :-o

In response to yesterday's post, Pickyknitter writes:

I had a chat with the peeps at work the other day about how no one can use the word "persistence" anymore and it has been replaced with "sticktoitiveness". Yet they claimed they had never heard this abomin- errr, word. I now have proof!
Also, I love your sea of white. You can pretend you are on the KnIditarod.

So, I have to tell you that I almost titled that post "fortitude". And as I was about to type that in the title field, I had the same exact conversation in my head, wondering if "sticktoitiveness" was really even a word, and if it was, when did it "become" a word, and how.

As it turns out, there is conflicting etymology and there are also a kajillion other people wondering the same thing about the word sticktoitiveness, and therefor that's really all I found out about the word sticktoitiveness!

And now should we look up kajillion?! Or peeps?? LOL

sticktoitiveness

I am about two-thirds the way done with this wrap/wide scarf I have been working on for a couple of weeks. What a sea of white it is!! It's blinding! I'm getting a little sick of it, to be honest, and I've been verrrry tempted to cast-on with something more colorful and less sheep-y. But I really want to get this done so I can wear it! The last time I made something like this for myself, it ended up going to TheMostImportantGuy.

Ohhh, the poor MIG. He is so sick, he even stayed home from work today, and that never happens (seriously, I think I've seen him call in sick maybe twice in 8+ years). As for me, I'm doing great (finally!!). I even got out to the zen center today, and then spent a bunch of time in the kitchen cooking up some healthy goodness to pick at for the next day or two. MyFavoriteKid seems like he's feeling much better, too.....so hopefully once TheMIG gets through his rotation, we're done for awhile.

lazy dud of a day

Oh, dear. TheMostImportantGuy spent the whole weekend with the same ick that MyFavoriteKid and I just on the tail end of. I shouldn't have let him anywhere near me.

Today was a whole lotta lazy. Multiple cups of tea for all. The only real energy I exerted all day was getting the poor mopey-faced pups on over to the dog park. That, and operating the hand-crank ballwinder to wind up some yarn.

Ohhh, the strain. LOL

snaps on saturday

Hey, look who finally made it to the party!



Bueller!

i'm thinking it's a good sign

Last night I was sitting on my bed petting Riley, and I was looking at the little scar on his lip that he got last summer from the pit bull attack (of course that LittleScar being nothing compared to the BigFatScar running up the whole right side of his poor little body that he got that very same day).

I have a little scar on my upper lip too, and one big long scar running up the middle of my body (and a whole mess of other scars, actually), all courtesy of my car accident....and as I was petting Riley last night, I was thinking about how it hasn't even been a year for him yet, and how I will always remember the date his injuries were incurred because the pit bull attack was on the 4th of July, and then all of the sudden it was like....hey!

I missed the anniversary of the car accident this year!

Now, I sort of missed it last year, too...and in my mind, this is real progress. The first year or two after the accident, I marked the date. Also, for the first several years after the accident I would feel anxiety creeping up for a week or two before without knowing why it was happening....and then I'd realize that the accident anniversary date was creeping into my subconciousness like a little ticking time bomb. Then I had a few years of being spotting the anxiety early on and learning how to deal with it. Now, in the last couple of years, it's just started to become less and less of a deal to me.

But this year was altogether different. Guess what happened this year!

This year, I couldn't even remember THE DATE.

That's right. As I sat there petting the dog, I realized I didn't even know the date of the accident anymore. I knew it was sometime in early March, but I couldn't even tell you when anymore.

I had to look it up on my blog.
Hahahahahaha!!!

Now, maybe I missed it because I was sicker than shit on March 3rd (in fact, that's the day I spent not only sick in bed with this stupid cold, but that was topped with a migraine so bad I was tossing my cookies the whole friggin' day)....but I didn't remember the anniversary of the accident in the days before or after either.

I am thinking that this sort of forgetting is a good sign. A very good sign.



Happy It's-A-Whole-New-Life Day to me :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

killin' time with the warm and fuzzy

Tomorrow I strive for a life a bit closer to normal. I am keeping a therapy appointment that I have in the early afternoon. And if I really wake up feeling okay, I might even try hitting up the Friday knitting group along the way. Not too sure about that part, though. That might be pushing it.

I am feeling better. Still a little run down, and I get tired easily, but nowhere near the level of sick I was at earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, let's look at something pleasing, shall we?
Here's the yarn portion of my haul from Stitches 2012:

Left to Right:

3 skeins of Kauni 8/2...one white, one black, and one Effektgarn that you can't see well in the photo, but it goes through dark blues and purples into brighter shades. The plan is to use the solids as a base for some two-color projects, probably something like Clockwork or Spectra.

2 skeins of A Verb For Keeping Warm's Floating (alpaca, cashmere, silk) in the colorway Genmaicha. It's way greener than what I seem to be able to capture with the camera. I have no idea what I'm making with this, but I used this base to make Grand Lake, and the yarn was so delicious, it was like knitting with a cloud. I cannot wait to work with it again. I'm thinking maybe one of the shawls from the Seven Songs. I don't own any of the patterns yet, but I admire several of them.

3 skeins of Miss Babs Sojourn IV (cashmere, silk), two skeins in the colorway Blackwatch, one in Beachglass. Intended to become a small, two-color Gyllis.

Lastly, a cone of 100% belisa cashmere in a camel color, which wants to grow up to become Olga's Indiski/Indian Shawl. I'm really intrigued by the construction of this shawl. I hope I can pull it off. I find it a little daunting.



Should keep me busy for awhile, eh?
Everything else I picked up this year was gadgets, tools, knick-knacks, or gifts...oh, and I picked up a couple of books.

something different

Tomato starts on the windowsill in the counter. 5 out of 6 aint bad (I've been calling that last one "Bueller....Bueller....Bueller....")

MyFavoriteKid stayed home sick, which on some level made it harder for me to be sick myself, because I had to play nurse. I don't feel any worse today, and maybe just a bit better...but I don't want to say that too loud for fear of jinxing myself.

i finally know what i have.

I have The Plague.

Okay, maybe I have been watching too many episodes of The Tudors through this illness. But then again, perhaps not. Today MyFavoriteKid called one hour into his after school band practice asking to be picked up early because he'd just tossed his cookies.

Now what say you?!
'Tis indeed The Plague!
We must cast out this evil!
(Okay, yes. Too much Tudors. Definitely.)


Only things accomplished today? I went to the store to pick up fresh fruit and vegetable lest we also develop scurvy. And while I was out, a quick trip into the post office to mail off a package to a friend who has also been ill. Other than that? NOTHIN'!!

I have cancelled every friggin' thing this week and am being held here in The Tower...


Okay. No more Tudors. Well, almost. I only have 1 more episode left anyhow. I think whatever I watch next needs to be a series of happy musicals or something.

what i accomplished today

* Fed kid 3 square meals and a snack, plus got kid to his clarinet lesson (all of which took much more effort than it sounds like).

* Took a shower (which, I am embarrassed to say, was less about hygiene, and more of and effort to steam my nostrils open).

* Knit a few rows on a shawl that I am slogging through.

* Watched a few more episodes of The Tudors, where I am now up to the 5th wife of Henry VII (and man, what a dingbat do they make her out to be!)

* I ripped through a box and a half of tissues in less than 6 hours, using up everything left in the house, and then had to go buy** more.

* I gave up on homeopathic medicine and resorted to nyquil (the cough/runny nose/sneezing version, not the everything but the kitchen sink version).




** The person at the register when I bought the tissues and nyquil said that it looked like I have the same thing she was just getting over, and it took her two months to get all the way through it. And she is the third person now to tell me that!! This had better not be true. I got things to do, peeps!!!

from the death bed

I'm not sure what I have done to deserve this, but things with my health have gone horribly worse. Friday night/Saturday morning at about 4am twelve hours of vomitting and migraine set in, making Saturday a total waste. Today the head cold has had my nose running like mad...I've almost gone through an entire box of tissues. I'm coughing and achy and then, woohoo...this afternoon whatever had me vomitting on Saturday decided to reappear in explosive fashion.

I got in bed and realized I hadnt done my daiy duty here on the blog, so here you have it. From my ipad because I'm too trashed to get the laptop booted up.

I pray for a better day tomorrow.

-----
Sent from my iPad

snaps on saturday

buddha. cat.

relapse

Well, I was feeling so much better, but apparently I pushed it. I went out today even though I woke feeling a little bit ickier. I really needed to get out in the sunshine, plus I wanted to see the ladies of the Friday Knitting Group whom I have grown to love so much. I was in a not-so-great mood, and I knew being there would create a shift (and it did).

But now it's evening, and I have a temp of 100.4. MyFavoriteKid is off at a drumline rehearsal for their first big scored competition tomorrow, and I am supposed to making my way right now to the zen center. This week was the 8-day retreat, and I didn't participate this year, but TheMostImportantGuy did, and tonight there is a precepts ceremony that is open to other members of the zen center and their close peeps. I really feel like I want to be there, because TheMIG is taking precepts to become a dharma teacher in training. I just don't want to miss it.

So I depart now, and as I leave I look to see if I can find a facemask to wear! The new zen fashion!!

Oy.

Alrighty. I want to share a video with y'all, but the only way I can seem to get you there is via this link. It was posted to a forum board on Ravelry group I belong to by the mom of the journalist that put it together.

Here's what it's about:
Mikaela Stevens stands 37 inches tall. She was born with a rare form of dwarfism with which eight people in the world have been diagnosed. Three of the eight are in her family. This type of dwarfism causes the person to be legally blind. Even though she has had to make her way through life by adapting to life-changing circumstances, she is able to do so with an amazing outlook on life and what she believes she can gain from it.

And when I replied on the forum board to the mom that posted, this is what I had to say about it (verbatim, because copy and paste is just so much easier when you're a slacker like me):
Thanks for sharing the link. From a technical standpoint (not to get all movie critic on ya’ but… LOL), it was really well filmed and edited, and the flow of the content was really well put together. It was it was just an enjoyable thing to watch :-)
From the content point, that interview just captured so much! I have a physical difference in my appearance as well (see ravatar! haha). All of the questions people ask of me where the same types of questions that this interview addressed, and also the things that people often wonder about but are too afraid to ask were also addressed by way of visual content.
The highlights for me? Well, the call from her father was just priceless. I loved it. And the other part was the bit about how kids process physical differences. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to relay to a friend a story about kids checking me out in public (I don’t wear a prosthesis, so the difference is visible). It’s really hard to explain to adults what “goes down” in those moments with kids. Sometimes when I am trying to describe it to people, they believe that the kid is being rude or that perhaps the parent should intervene, but it’s just not at all what is going on (for me, at least). It has a potential to be a teaching moment for them, even if I don’t ever talk to them, but just allow them the chance to freely watch me, if that makes any sense (I also love talking to them and they ask the best questions EVER, like…“What did they do with your leg after they took it off?!”). This interview just totally captured another way of perceiving those moments with kids in public, both by what Mikaela had to say about it, but also by how it was filmed. Just brilliant.
Thanks again for sharing.

I probably should have added that I also agree with Mikaela that's is all about the laughter, but...y'all already knew that, right?! LOL

improved.

I am feeling so much better today! Still a little bit wiped out from doing too much, but it's all stuff that could not be postponed.

Much is happening in terms of preparing for the construction on the kitchen of the new house. It is set to begin a couple of weeks, so there have been a few meetings getting all the ducks (and cabinets and drawers) in a row. Additionally, there have been a few doctor's appointments both for myself and for MyFavoriteKid. It's just a hectic time.

So tonight I relaxed a bit (well, as much as one can relax while watching a few more episodes of The Tudors and watching several people being beheaded LOL). And I washed and folded several loads of laundry, and I am finally caught up with things after having taken a few days of bed rest.

I am improved!

in my ears

I do believe that yesterday was the pinnacle of sickness for me. This morning I woke up feeling like I had improved somewhat, but I had a whole lot to do today, and by the end of it, I was wiped out again.

Yesterday bibliogrrl asked where the knitting bag came from, and it is from ThreeBagsFull/MichelleInMaine on Etsy. She updates her shop every Monday (time varies, check her shop notes though, I think she lists it). I believe her shop gets wiped out pretty quickly, so if you don't see what you want today, keep going back...or look through what she has sold and if you see a fabric you like and a size you like, you can send her a note. She sets up custom listings for people a lot, it looks like!

Now! I'm off to bed to try to rest because tomorrow is another very busy day and I'm still not feeling top-notch, but I thought I'd leave you with a taste of what I've been listening to in the car quite a bit lately. It's Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli as part of the Quintet Du Hot Club De France.

I can only imagine what I must look like smiling my face off while driving down the road with this stuff cranked up. I must not look too insane because people in the cars next to me at traffic lights look at me and smile.
Maybe they think I'm insane. LOL
Whatever. This music makes me ohhhh sooo happy :-) I swear I was born in the wrong era.

the chihuahua still knows its in there

I'm not usually keen on knitting bags that have zipper closures because I sometimes get the yarn zipped up into them. But since the chihuahua seems to always find her way into my messenger bag style knitting bag, including dragging the bag down from a coffee table or bad and undoing a magnetic snap, I thought I'd give a zippered bag a try.



She can't get it open, but she still knows what's inside.
And it kinda pisses her off ;-)

bloomin' sick, is what i am

Everything is indeed in bloom, but what I had hoped might just be allergies is actually a head cold. It's been sneaking up like the creeping death since early last week, and after Stitches on Friday, I took a nose dive. Except for the vegetable gardening class series Saturday morning, I've been in my pajamas knitting, slurping soup, drinking tea, and blowing my nose. And watching season 1 of The Tudors, which is completely new to me.

I kept MyFavoriteKid at the other end of the house the whole weekend, when he wasn't out bike riding with friends, and I also dropped them off at the movie theater for a bit yesterday.
TheMostImportantGuy has been at the zen center since Friday for the annual 8-day meditation retreat, so I won't be infecting him, but he tells me that half the people sitting nearby him are coughing and sneezing. I'm sorry to miss the retreat this year, but I'm much happier tucked up and cozy with a cup of tea rather than sitting upright and focused on the floor.

I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I'll post a few pics of Stitches Booty!

snaps on saturday

Seems like it's a little early in the year for this.
Am I wrong?

shop. til. you. drop.

Stitches was a blast (and I ended wearing my little brown cardigan with a brown and black printed tank top underneath, a short black skirt and boots...well "a boot"...in case the suspense was killing you).

I rode down with my new-ish friend Sandy who has been coming to the knitting night at the sports bar, and also pretty regularly at the senior center. While shopping I saw lots of people I hadn't seen in awhile, always special. And at the end of the day we hooked up with the ladies of the Friday morning knitting group in the hotel lobby for cocktails. Too much fun for one day (almost), but let me tell you...I am exhausted!

I can't show you really good pics of the haul because the lighting is too bad, but I can tell you I purchased less yarn and more......other things. Like a blocking mat, and socks with sheep on them, a book and a pattern booklet, and some pretty great stitch markers.

(see? like I said. Bad lighting! If you can't see it well, the markers say "WTF". hahaha)

I'll share one more photo though, take in the food area of the marketplace. It's a photo of my favorite sweater of the day.

I saw LOTS of sweaters and beauuuuutiful shawls and skirts and whatnot, but this little traditional cardigan just charmed me to death. Just the sweetest thing ever, only to be made sweeter by the lady wearing it (and of course I had to go up and say hi, because...well, because I have to LOL).

Anyhow. GREAT day. But whenever is it a bad day with that much yarn and inspiration and laughter around?!!

stitches-eve

Well, I am not sure if I am sick, or if perhaps I am just suffering from allergies. I've never considered myself to be allergic to trees or plants, but you never know, do you. I mean, I didn't consider myself allergic to foods either, and here I am allergic to green beans and almonds, right??

It's been in the upper 70's here the last couple of days, with quite a breeze to boot. The garden is soooo confused! It really could be that everything is just blooming at the same time and some combination of plant pollen is driving me nuts.

the daffodils arrived in late January this year

Also in the air today is the heavy smell of smoke. A controlled burn up-valley turned into a wildfire, and though I'm pretty far from it, the wind has blown the smoke this way and it's now quite noticeable.

I have as stuffed nose...but not that bad. And a wee bit of a cough...but not that bad. And I feel tired and run down...but not so much. I basically feel like I have been "on the verge" of something for 3 days, but without really ever getting sick. Do allergies feel like that??

Sick or not, allergies or not, I am going to Stitches, dammit! I have missed the past 2 years, and I am going....you hear that?!?!
(*shakes fist at the sky*)

So now the next question is: what do I wear?

I can't figure out what to wear, and I'm thinking, man! What a dork I am! See, I'm trying to figure out what handknit item of mine I should wear to the knitting convention. Do I wear a sweater? Knee-high sock? A hat? No, a lacy shawl. Which lacy shawl. Ok, how about a non-lacy shawl.

It's sort of ridiculous. And it so ridiculous that I can't figure it out that it sort of makes me want to wear no handknit item. But not wearing something is sort of like going to the RenFair and not dressing up. You look like a tourist. Or a muggle.

Well, I'll figure it out in the morning. LOLOL

when good knitters go bad

The most comical coverage of yarn bombing ever.

I just got home from Tuesday night knittin' at the sports bar, and I think I'm coming down with something.

And Stitches is this weekend.

And I have missed Stitches the last two years.

I am hitting the sack early to see if I can head this off at the pass.
Poo!!

something a cute dog can do that is not so cute.

If horses can go to the glue factory, where do cute chihuahuas go?


Sometimes I wanna leave the little chihuahua dog on the curb with a red ribbon around her neck and wicker suitcase full of her dog food in hopes that she goes to nice new forever home. That yarn up there is my schmancy mink and cashmere, and I know she knows it. She opens up the flap to my messenger-style knitting bag and just helps her damn self. This is the 3rd time.

So I untangle and wind up the yarn, and put the ball back into my knitting bag, and the next morning I wake up with this face peeking out at me from under the sheets (just to remind me how cute she is)...



...and in the bed, between she and I, I find this:


4th time!! With this yarn (meaning, shall I mention all the other yarns she has done this to)!

Bow tie, I say!! Wicker suitcase, I'm telling you!!
*sigh*

Since I could never really bear to kick her to the curb, you and I both know that rather than shopping for a wicker suitcase for the chihuahua, I should probably really be shopping for a more secure knitting bag.

I've got some leads and ideas, but I'm open for suggestions. Anyone out there have some pet-proof knitting bag ideas?

i only have 4 words for you tonight:

Downton.
Abbey.
Season.
Finale.


thank you, goodnight. ;-)

snaps on saturday

This is the only way I see MyFavoriteKid these days....



...as a blur!!

That's him whizzing by in a line with his fellow Winter Drumline team, as they file into the gymnasium for their first performance of the year (photo taken by me, who is parked at the raffle table, volunteering). MyFK tallied it up, and the drumline put in 30 hours this week of rehearsals and meetings. THIRTY HOURS! On top of school and everything else.

He was sort of in tears tonight after the show. His dad had come up to see the performance also, and he was supposed to go off with his dad for the rest of the long weekend...and he just couldn't take it. He's stiff and sore and wants to be home in his own bed with all his comforts about him. I couldn't refuse. But so much for my kid-free weekend. And he has performances almost every Saturday for the month of March, so there will be more rehearsals and performances for him...and more volunteering and less kid-free weekends for me.

Oh, well.

In a few years high school will be over, and it will probably feel like I blinked and the time disappeared...and then I will long for the extra time together. At least that's how I'm framing it ;-)

Honestly, I am SO proud of MyFk. He worked real hard to audition and get the slot in this year's team. It's not his first year in band, but his first year of drumming...and he has just totally rocked it.

if you're a knitter and you need a laugh...

hrmph.

I wish I had one more knitted thing to show, because honestly, I don't feel like typing tonight. It's 11pm and I had a very full day including squeezing in the high school band parent's meeting before heading off to teach dance class tonight. So here I am at 11pm, just home from said dance class, and I'm so tired the screen is blurry.

We've had two fairly strong earthquakes in the last day or so, the epicenters of both being about 5 miles from my house.
And one of my neighbors passed away yesterday. More on that soon. It hasn't sunk in yet.

Moody. Exhausted.
The pillow beckons....