Zombies Are A Lot Like Ponies

These words of wisdom came out of my husband’s mouth this morning at breakfast. I know you are thinking, “How can I get invited to breakfast there!” Of course, it is true. Everyone loves both zombies and ponies. Both are the object of much marketing. And of course, both are flesh eating monsters. So my husband is correct, as usual!
Zombie Pony
There are no pictures today. I know that I promised photos last posting, but I have a really good excuse… I can not find my camera. Last I saw it; it was sitting on the computer desk. It has disappeared. I suspect The Girl “borrowed” it and misplaced it. Of course, there is no evidence, so she simply says she does not have it.
So I can not post pictures. Even though I have one complete mitten and my shawl has made great progress, you will not see them today. I am going to figure something out. I really will!

Guess what! I have a movie review.
We saw “Tropic Thunder” on Monday night. It was hilarious. It was complete wrong on so many levels that you just had to laugh. There is something to offend everyone. Now, normally I am not a huge comedy fan, as you may have figured out since I do not review very many, but I like Robert Downey Jr., so I thought what the heck. RDJ is fantastic, actually everyone plays their roles to perfection, even Matthew McConaughey was good and I despise him! I laughed through the whole movie, which almost never happens when I see comedies, there always seems to me some message that they want to promote. The only message here is that everyone involved in the movie industry are morons. There were no hand knits because most of the movie takes place in the jungle. I am giving the movie 3 ¼ knitting needles.

And on the baby front, The Girl told my mom the news this week. I was going to have her tell all her grandparents over Labor Day weekend, but my mom called and left me a message wondering how I was because she had not heard from me in such a long time. I figured it would be best just to have it out. Plus, I knew I could not lie to my mom. I really do not like not telling the truth. I have always sort of felt the truth is better. I will not tell people stuff and I know sometimes people call that a lie of omission, but I think it is okay unless they ask me directly. If my mom asked how The Girl was doing, I knew that saying she was fine would be a lie.
The Girl actually tried to argue that they did not have to know because she did not see them often. I said, “What you are going to tell them a year from now, that you found a baby?” She lost the argument. It was hard for her. She was tearing up as she spoke to my mom. And afterwards, she was mad at me for making her do it. My mom did not yell at her, in fact, she told her what ever she decided, she would support. But The Girl said she sounded disappointed. Which, I am sure she was. I spoke to my mom afterwards and she did sound really shocked. I asked her how things were with her and all she could come up with is that it was hot (she lives in AZ). I do not think she will ever call to see how I am doing again.
The Girl also got her 1st sonogram. There is just one baby (which is good) and it is moving around.

You Want Me To Do What!? Blog?

I know that I have been very remiss in my blogging habits since I came back from vacation. I did not want to blog again until I had actual knitting photos, so I could prove that I do indeed knit, but the best laid plans of mice and men… you know. So I am going to blog without photos today and try to get them up soon.

I have been knitting. I have been working on the Lacy Prairie shawl on the bus. It is going really well. I have memorized the pattern and it is really relaxing. I also think it is looking pretty good.
And I am working on a pair of thrummed mittens while I watch the Olympics. Okay, the last two nights I have been reading the second book of the Twilight series while watching the Olympics, but I do have about ½ of one thrummed mitten knit. I will have them done before the Olympics end because I am doing them for the Ravelympics. It is the 1st time I have ever thrummed anything so I am learning as I go. They are going to be very warm, because I think I might be using too much fleece. Regardless, they look really pretty so far, which, if I had pictures, you could just how lovely. It is a kit from Fleece Artist and is Blue Faced Leicester. I love BFL. It is so soft and lovely. I bought this kit when a LYS was going out of business and it was 25% off. I figured it was a really good deal and of course it is some nice purple and blue colors.

I have been watching the Olympics every night. Well, not the opening ceremonies, because I don’t care about that sort of thing. Mainly, I watch swimming. I love Michael Phelps. Actually, I like watching all of the swimmers, mainly because they are so twitchy before the race starts. Every one of them has their own little tics and twitches. I find it fascinating. I also like the synchronized diving. It is kind of creepy when they are really good because it doesn’t seem right that two people should move in the same way when falling. I could do without all of the beach volleyball, though. Why is this being broadcast at the same time as swimming and gymnastics? It is no where near as interesting.
My biggest complaint with this year’s Olympics?
1) The snarky “reporters” who are calling the gymnastics and the synchronized diving. They are the same ones who did the games in Athens, but they are just so obnoxious! Can’t NBC find anyone better? Maybe they could hire Fred Willard or someone? Fred did a great job in “Best of Show”.

2) The fact NBC only shows the Chinese and USA competitors. Are no other countries attending the Olympics? They showed one Russian girl on the uneven bars and one Romanian girl on the balance beam (mainly to say that the Romanian’s sucked now in gymnastics) during the ladies gymnastic competition. WTF? I would much rather see some other countries competitors than to watch yet another fluff piece on the guy who found the beach volleyball player’s ring or a day in the life of anyone or to see the USA practice the vault. Who cares? Let me see some action.
Sorry. I didn’t mean to rant. I really will only watch them this week. Once the track and field starts, I will stop. I do not find the running and jumping bits nearly as interesting.

Last night, we woke up to someone at the door. We heard The Girl talking to someone and DH went down to see what was going on. It was the police. The Girl seemed to be issuing a complaint. Since the officer did not want to talk to us, we figured we would ask about it today. Unfortunately, when DH asked her about it, she said it was a false alarm. I am not sure what it is about. Hopefully, I will be able to get something out of her tonight. DH heard something about a restraining order.

Photos next entry… I promise.

August 6th

Today, my little sister would have turned 37. I always remember her birthday, as it falls on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I find it easier to remember birthdays if they fall on a historical day.
When we were little, we fought, a lot. She was the sibling who was closest in age to me (2 ½ years). My mother always called us “The Little Girls” as opposed to “The Older Kids” (my 4 older sisters and brothers). In spite of the fact we were close in age, we were complete opposites. I was a good kid, quiet, smart, thoughtful; but she was out going, rebellious, living in the moment sort of kid. We would play games and part way through, when I was beating her badly, and she would quit. And eventually, that would lead to a fight, which would often become physical. We would bite and scratch and pull hair. When we became teenagers, the physical fighting, became verbal. She was crabby and moody and I would push her buttons whenever I got the chance. She was the only person who I would allow to call me a bitch. I would just laugh because it meant I had hit the nerve I had wanted.
She will be gone for 10 years this October. There are days when I think about how different my life would have been if she had lived. I would not have to be worrying about whether or not my insurance will cover The Girl’s baby or how we are all going to fit into our post-war pre-fab house. Again, I suppose I would have different worries. And many of them still would have been about The Girl, they just would have been easier to ignore.
When The Girl was just a baby, I had a dream that I was dead. And I was walking through The Underworld (as in Greek mythology) and I came across my sister, her boyfriend and The Girl. I asked what they were doing there and my sister said they had killed The Girl and themselves. That is when I woke up, in a panic. It was terrible. Even though, my sister managed to get herself killed, she did not physically take The Girl with her, but sometimes, I think she took a part. Can we live with just a part of ourselves in this world? I suppose we do, everyone seems to lose bits of them selves here and there, but it seems wrong to lose those parts at the tender age of 6 and 4 (which is how old The Girl’s brother was when their mom died).

In spite of everything, I miss her. I miss being just an aunt. I miss fighting with her. There are still days when I think she will call and say “Hey what’s up?”, but I know that will not happen. She has moved on from this world.

So today, I wish my baby sister happy birthday, where ever she is. You are missed.
My little sister when she was little.

My sister and The Girl as a baby.

I’M BACK

Hello, Dear Readers. I have returned from vacation. I actually got back last Friday, but I have been too lazy or busy to write on the blog.

Overall, it was a good trip. Vermont was wonderful, as was upstate NY. It was good to get away. The place we stayed in Vermont was called Vermont Twin Cabins and I would highly recommend it. It was a great place to stay. Out in the woods, but there was satellite TV and games and puzzles etc so it had all the comforts of home. Plus, it is right in the middle of Vermont so you can get to anywhere you might want to go. Here is a photo of the cabin we stayed in.

What would a vacation be without a trip (or two) to the movie theater? I know that most people do not go to the movies on vacation, but let’s face it, I am not most people. So I have 2 movie reviews.

1. We went to see “ Hellboy II : The Golden Army” while in Buffalo . It was good. I liked the 1st one better, but it was very good for a sequel. There was a lot of action and of course there was the love story between Red and Liz , very cute. If you liked the 1st one, you would probably like this one as well. So I am going to give it 3 needles out of 4.

2. We also saw “Batman: The Dark Knight”. We saw this in Burlington , VT at a very nice theater. They had flavorings you could sprinkle on your popcorn and they put butter sauce in the middle of the bag. Anyway, the movie was awesome. Heath Ledger was fabulous as the Joker. Of course, all of the actors were great. I am a huge Batman fan (the comic books) and I am very impressed with what Chris Nolan has done with the two movies he has created. Christian Bale is a great Batman. The movie is very complex and there is a lot going on. I think it would be good to see it again just to see all of the layers better. It is a very good action / superhero movie. I am going to give it 3 ½ needles out of 4. It is not quite as tight as Ironman, but very good none the less.

Other vacation news.
We went to visit Niagara Falls . It is quite impressive. I have a feeling that it used to be more so, but I will take what I can get.
While in Buffalo , we went to a great book store, Old Editions Book Shop. I highly recommend stopping by it if you are ever in the Buffalo area. Both my husband and I love bookstores. It is getting hard to find independent bookstores. I picked up a knitting booklet of socks from 1944. It was marked $7, but I asked if they could do better and I got it for $4 instead. Yeah! I liked it because all of the ladies’ socks are anklets. That is all I wear so I find all the sock patterns for long socks really kind of depressing. Plus, the store had a ton of Ravenloft (the horror world for D&D for those who are not as geeky as me) modules. I limited myself to just 2 because we really don’t play D&D like we used to.

Here are some photos of the trip.
Upstate NY


Vending machine in NY


Vermont


I had decided to buy yarn for my souvenirs on this trip. Most of my money went to Green Mountain Spinnery. Here is a photo my beloved took of the back room while I was busy looking at yarn.
If you are ever in southern VT, I would recommend you go to Green Mountain . It is awesome. I bought over $200 worth of yarn. I got a sweater’s worth of unwashed yarn. It is lovely.
The Girl started to feel bad on the trip, morning sickness, and she just wanted to come right home after VT. So we drove for 2 solid days. Our last day started at about 9:30 am Thursday and ended 5 am Friday. It was an awful lot of driving.
All of our animals were glad to have us home. Here is the littlest one lounging on a suitcase.

Just one more thing
I recently discovered the Sticks & Strings Podcast. I am completely in love with David Reedy . His voice is so dreamy and I love hearing his cats in the background. If you have not checked him out, you should. Start at the beginning. That is what I am doing.