Don’t Forget

Today is Elephant Appreciation Day. Take time out of your busy day to give your elephant a hug. Let him know that you appreciate all he has done for you. If you, like me, are not allowed to have an elephant in your area, perhaps just think about how cool elephants are. They can recognize friends and family members even after being apart for years. They are clever. They can tell when a tsunami is coming. They are really cute. So we should appreciate them.


On to other news…
Saturday night, my husband and I went to the opera. It was opening night, so it was quite a to do. We saw Il Trovatore. It was excellent. The music was lovely and the pace quick. The singers were very good as well.
I have decided that by the time the next opera comes up (we bought season tickets this year) I am going to have a stole knit for the event. I bought some Blue Heron Rayon Metallic yarn just for this very reason a few years ago. It is a sparkly blue color. I will start it next, I think.

Over the weekend, I started a market bag for my MIL. I am using Euroflax linen in emerald. So far, so good. It is a little hard on my hands though. I was working on it while watching the game yesterday. The Vikings finally won a game. Hooray!! It was a really good game. Hopefully, it is not too late for them to do well for the season.

Saturday afternoon we test drove some cars. I currently own a VW Passat. We are looking for something a little smaller and that gets better gas mileage. We drove a Corolla, and did not really like it. Mainly, it was uncomfortable to ride in. The sales guy said it was because of the narrow wheel base. So we left the Toyota dealer and went to look at VWs. Now, I had promised myself no more VWs. I love my Passat, but it costs a lot of money to fix when something goes wrong. But, we test drove a Rabbit. And you know what, I loved it! So now I want to buy the Rabbit. It is just not good. Tonight we are going to go try a Honda Civic and see if we like that.
I hate car buying!

Shiver Me Timbers

Avast ye scurvy dogs, today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrr. Ye best be piratey today or I’ll make ye walk the plank! Who doesn’t love Pirates? Okay, I mean the romanticized pirates of yore, not the modern day ones that highjack boats with rocket launchers. There is just something fun about talking like a pirate. So today is your chance. When you go to the store, thank the clerk in a manner befitting a pirate, perhaps “thank ye matey, arrr.” It will be fun!

Happy Mayflower Day

Today is the anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from England in 1620. So it is designated Mayflower Day. Why we would celebrate the sailing and not the landing is some what mysterious to me. I am however very grateful for it leaving England, mainly because the following person was among the 102 passengers on board: William Bradford - Husbandman, fustian-weaver during his time in Holland. Later governor of Plymouth, from Yorkshire, England, about 30-years old.
This is my husband’s ancestors. He actually can trace both sides of his family back to Mr. Bradford. I know you are impressed. I mean how many people can do that? Okay, I grew up in a community where almost everyone traced their ancestors back to Norway (I am half Norwegian and half Irish), so it was new to me when I met him.
If celebrating the fleeing of persecuted people from their homeland is not your thing, it is also Collect Rocks day. Go for a walk and pick up some pretty rocks. It will brighten your day! Who doesn’t love rocks? I always pick up rocks on vacation… it drives my husband crazy, but I can’t resist a pretty or interesting stone.

Knitting News

I have finished my husband’s beer gloves. They don’t look too bad if I say so myself. I was going to take a picture of them, but The Girl has the camera, again.
The pattern is well written and very straight forward, but I really do not like knitting reverse stockinette stitch in the round and that is what the whole thing is done it in except the cable. I will post a picture as soon as I get my camera back.
I am now working on a hat which I am creating from scratch, using a cable pattern from Barbara Walker. I am hoping it will turn out okay.

MOVIE REVIEW
We went to see “Burn After Reading” on Saturday. I enjoyed it a lot, but I love the Coen brothers movies. So if you do not like dark humor, do not see this movie. I laughed all the way through. The characters are all morons, which is what leads to one problem after another. The story in a nutshell is that some gym employees find a CD with the memoir of a CIA analyst on it and think it is a valuable document and decide to get some money for it. It is very farcical. There are not any hand knits per se. I am giving it 3 out 4 knitting needles.

During the previews, we saw a trailer for “Nixon / Frost”. It looks really good. However, The Girl leaned over and whispered, “What did he do wrong?”, referring to Nixon. I had about 30 seconds to explain Watergate. Of course, she also said she might want to see the movie, so maybe we could all go and it would be a learning experience.
There were actually several movies that looked good: “Doubt”, “Milk”, “Nixon / Frost”… it might be a good movie season coming up.

Have Fun Today

Today is both National Video Game Day AND Chocolate Milkshake Day. Woohoo! Two great things in one! So tonight, kick back and play a little Star Wars Battlefront or Destroy All Humans or Guitar Hero (I can not play this one) and have a milkshake. If you are playing against someone, you can yell out “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE” and laugh manically. Sounds like the perfect Friday evening to me. Okay, I would have a vanilla milkshake, because I prefer vanilla ones, but the same principle applies: drink something fattening and play a game.

This morning I woke up with My Chemical Romance in my head. I know what you are thinking, “Crap, isn’t she a little old for the teen angst thing?” And you are right, I am. But that does not stop me from liking My Chemical Romance. I think their album The Black Parade is one of the best albums ever. I like all of the songs on it. Well, the “hidden track” is a little silly, but only because you really can’t have hidden tracks on a CD since the number of tracks automatically comes on your player. The song itself is kind of catchy.
There is a song on The Black Parade called 'Cancer'. I love this song. It is sad and reminds of people I have lost, mainly my dad who died of cancer. I discovered on vacation that The Girl does not like this song. I found that interesting. Perhaps it is because she does not want to acknowledge that death can be a struggle. I don’t know.
As I was thinking about how much I like this album, it made me think of other albums I would put in the category of very nearly perfect. So here is a short list, not in any particular order:

1. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited – I love all the songs on here; they are very poetic and thought provoking.
2. Oasis, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory – I think this is just a really solid album. Nothing fancy, but always pleasant to listen to and sing along with.
3. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Blood and Chocolate – the perfect mix of anger, sadness and pop music.
4. Johnny Cash, American Recordings I – I love Johnny Cash and this album showcases all of the best aspects of his music. I have actually listened to him since I was a kid. I also love Live at Folsom Prison.
5. The Beatles, Abbey Road – I think The Beatles finally achieved perfection on this, the last album they recorded. The harmonies are great and the songs interesting.
6. Metallica, Kill ‘Em All – It is difficult to decide which Metallica album I like better, this one or Master of Puppets. In the end, I love the raw, young talent of this album.
7. Alice Cooper, Welcome to My Nightmare, Billion Dollar Babies and From the Inside – Okay, I love Alice. The songs have a dark sense of humor that appeals to me; I think he is way underrated. He likes the concept album, which I think makes him have to think about how the songs fit together. This is a very rare thing in this world.

As you can see, I like a wide variety of music. Although I will say, I like interesting lyrics. I have always thought what you are saying is just as important as the tune you are playing.

Anyway, that is all for today. Have a great weekend. Tomorrow is a big holiday day. Check it out:
Chinese Moon Festival 15th day of 8th Lunar month
Defy Superstition Day
Fortune Cookie Day
National Peanut Day
Positive Thinking Day
Uncle Sam Day - his image was first used in 1813

Spend your Saturday celebrating any of these great holidays, or all of them. Dress up like Uncle Sam and eat peanuts and fortune cookies while sitting under a ladder in the moonlight with a black cat, thinking “I can do it!”

Most of all – Have Fun!

Baby let me be your lovin’ teddy bear

Yesterday was Pardon Day and I was going to beg your pardon for not posting on Saturday, but I simply did not get time to blog. So I am doing it today.
Today is Teddy Bear Day. So go out and hug a teddy, it will make you feel good. Or even better, knit a bear or bear clothes for someone who does not have a bear to love.
Here are some charities for you to consider:
http://www.motherbearproject.org/
http://www.cubsforkids.com/
http://www.teddiesfortragedies.org/
http://www.knittingforcharity.org/

Here is a photo of one of my teddies dressed in an outfit I knit for Cubs for Kids. I am sure I have posted it before, but he sure is cute!

EXCUSES, EXCUSES

I was sick over the weekend… food poisoning. I got it on Saturday from some bad cream cheese. It was honey walnut; I think the walnuts had turned. Anyway, it meant no blogging or anything else was done over the weekend. I did not even finish my husband’s beer gloves, which I had promised him, would be done by Monday. I am still sore in my back from all the heaving and my stomach has not totally settled down. I am sticking with fairly bland food still. I hate being sick. I know I have mentioned that before, but it is still just as true today.

WEATHER
The weather has been perfect. Labor Day weekend was hot and summer-like and then on 9/2 the temperature dropped and it has been lovely fall weather. I love fall.

I Think It's Time We Stop, Children, What's That Sound
Everybody Look What's Going Down
-- Buffalo Springfield

As promised last Friday, here are some of the photos The Girl took at the RNC protest on Thursday night.

The building in the background is the MN Historical Society.
I love this shot.

Just a few of shots of the dangerous folks who were protesting.

Tear Gas Over St. Paul

I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.

Today is Be Late for Something Day.
So take your time. Put something off until tomorrow.
Remember tomorrow is another day, namely Fight Procrastination Day. So really it is okay to procrastinate today!
I have procrastinating tendencies, I always have. Not with everything, just things that do not seem very important. I hate to be late to appointments or meetings or work, but I will put off cleaning until the cows come home. It isn’t that I like work, I think it is just I have to work and well, cleaning doesn’t seem so important. It is a good thing my husband does the cleaning. God only knows what the house would like if I had to. LOL! Anyway, I thought I would share some parts of the Procrastinator’s Creed. I found it on the interweb… just Google it and you can read them all.

1. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

2. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.

3. If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year.

Ahhh words to live by!

We had some excitement last night. As you have probably heard, the Republican Convention was here in town this week. There has been protests everyday. On Wednesday night, The Girl said she was going to the protest on Thursday. We figured that it would be okay so we let her go. She is very much against the war in Iraq and she hates the Republicans more than anyone I have ever met, so it seemed a natural thing for her to want to protest. Also, I think it is great that she is aware of anything political at 16, Lord knows most teenagers aren’t. So, a little before 8 she called and asked us to come pick her up because she was tired and the protest was breaking up. Unfortunately, my husband had the car so I had to wait for him to come home before we could leave. As we left, we called to let her know we were on our way… no answer. I just figured she was in a dead area or could not get to her phone because she was texting. You know something innocuous. We got a little lost because some roads were closed, but we were almost there when we finally received a voice mail (we had been trying to call her again) from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s dept stating the she had been arrested! We arrived at the parking lot were she had said to pick her up and there she was cuffed and surrounded by 5 cops. 5! There were no other protesters there, just her! Apparently, the cops were breaking up the protest and she had not moved along because she was waiting for us to pick her up. So we acknowledged her info and that we were her guardians and they cut her loose, literally as they had her in those plastic tie wraps. While cutting them off, the cop actually cut her wrist so she was bleeding profusely when we got in the car. Apparently, she will get some notice via mail regarding her punishment. Is it wrong that I am proud of her? I just think it is rare that people actually stand up for what they believe in and that she is willing to do that makes me proud of her.
She took photos of the protest and I will try to get some of them up on blog once we get the downloaded to the computer. Maybe tomorrow, because today I am procrastinating and tomorrow I won’t be!

LOOK UP!

Hey, it is Skyscraper Day.
Here is a picture of the Chrysler Bldg.

It is lovely. I took this photo a few years ago when I was in NYC. I love the Chrysler Bldg.

Here is a picture from the top of the Empire State Bldg.
We went at night (obviously) and some how I hurt my ankle standing in the excessively long lines. My husband had went there in January and said there were no lines at all. So if you do not want to stand in line, I recommend going in the winter.

I have decided that this month I am going to enlighten everyone on the more unique holidays. Remember, if it is a holiday, you should get the day off.

It has been 3 years since I have had a depressive episode. Is that the right term? I don’t know. All I know is that 3 years ago I entered a depression that scared me enough to get help. It actually started around the time of our trip to NYC. I started medication and therapy and I got better It was amazing. . I had suffered from depression since I was a teenager and I really regretted not getting help sooner because my life became a good thing. I discovered knitting, which helped me with my therapy. I did well in therapy and was able to graduate, or whatever it is called. I learned coping skills. Life was great.
However, when going home from work, I realized that the icy tentacles of depression were attempting to grasp my soul again. I could feel them tugging me into the pit of despair and darkness. I have been worried about this for a couple of weeks because I have been craving carbs and salt. This was always my signal that a depression was approaching. So, I have to put all of my skills to use and see if I can avoid the darkness and stay in the light. I am hoping that by writing this down I can see it for what it is: a mood, a feeling, something that I am in control of not the other way around.

Happy Beheaded Day

I know you are thinking, “Where has the year gone? It just seems like yesterday when we were celebrating those who have been beheaded”. Time just flies. Let’s take a moment today to think of those who have been beheaded before us. Not to say the any of us will be beheaded, but it is always a possibility.

In knitting news: I discovered that some how I reversed my shawl and the front became the back or vice versa. Anyway, I think I am going to have to rip it back and since I did not use life lines, I guess I will rip back to the beginning of the last ball. I discovered this as I was about to switch balls so this is not a small task. I am just so mad at my self for not noticing sooner. That is why pride is a deadly sin. I was so sure that I was doing really well and I did not need no stinking life lines. Sigh.

I have completed one Beer Glove for my husband. It looks really good. It has mistakes, but I was able to fix / hide them so it is okay. However, I started the other one last night and was working on it on the bus this morning. I thought that I should have the ribbing done by the time I get home tonight and then I could work on the fiddly bits at home. However, as I was walking from the bus stop this morning, I thought about how I needed to put the needle sizes on Ravelry and how I would need to do two since I used US 4 on the ribbing and US 6 on the rest of the glove. That is when I paused and realized that I had cast on last night using the US 6 needles and had been ribbing with those. Arrrgh! I could not believe I had performed such an idiotic act. Of course, it did explain why my ribbing seemed so loose. So on the bus ride home; I will be ripping up the 2nd glove. Knitting drives me crazy.

On the plus side, I did finish my mittens before the Olympics ended and I have photos.

And with the thrums showing

Aren’t they lovely? They are so soft; I can not wait until it gets cold so I can wear them.
I think that I mentioned before that this is the 1st time I have done anything with thrums. It is not hard, but it is tedious. I might do it again, but I do not know. I will see how these hold up.

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.

Man Plans and God Laughs

I do not think I have used this title before in my blog… if I have, please forgive me; it applies to my holiday weekend. It is an old Jewish saying. When things go wrong, I try to remember it so I do not go mad.
I do not know if I have ever mentioned my dislike for the 4th of July. It is not politically based or due to a dislike of my country. Quite the opposite, I love the US of A. It is a great country. My dislike has to do with fireworks… which piss off my dog and lead to days of non stop barking. And expectations… everyone should be at a lake or fireworks or picnics etc. And of course the heat and the bugs. I prefer winter holidays. And holidays where I get to give presents. Plus, it seems that bad things tend to happen over the 4th of July weekend and this one was extraordinarily dramatic.
When I arrived home on Thursday night, The Girl came rushing up to me and said we had to go to Target. I was tired and had a headache and was going to make an excuse not to go when she said it had to do with her period. I asked what about it and she said it was 10 days late. She did two pregnancy tests. It seems she is going to have a baby. Today she is going to get an official test to make sure, but apparently those home tests are really reliable. On Friday we bought a book on pregnancy, which from henceforth will be referred to as The Manual in homage to Raising Arizona. It does have some good info and The Girl is determined to read the whole thing. She has decided to keep the baby, hence the title of this entry. Obviously, we are going to be pushing back the date of when we will be able to afford to move to a farm. To her credit, The Girl is taking this very seriously. She has quit smoking; she is determined to eat right. She is forcing herself to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, she is giving up bacon (The Manual said no smoked or cured meats), she is trying to get a job, and she told the father that he will have to help support the baby or give up his rights to it. She has also said she is going to take parenting classes and anger management classes. The anger classes are a huge deal, because a
The Manual says not to tell anyone about the pregnancy until the 2nd trimester because of the chance of miscarriage, so we are keeping it a secret right now. Of course, none of my relatives read my blog, so I should be okay. I just have to get it off my chest. It is killing me inside. This is just hard because, well, we had discussed it. She was using protection and the condom broke. I know that this is not going to be easy for anyone and I am worried about the baby more than anything else.
I told The Girl that she is going to have to tell her grandparents because it is her choice to keep it and she needs to start taking responsibility for her decision.
I have been reading up on teen pregnancy and it seems that we are lucky she told us right away so she can start seeing the doctor etc. A lot of teens have problems because they do not get the medical care they need. And they do not eat properly or take care of themselves. She said she thought about not saying anything until she started to get fat, but then she figured we would kill her if she waited. We are as lucky as we can be in the situation.
But wait, there’s more. I know you are thinking, surely, that would be enough drama for the weekend, but NO, there is more.
On Saturday night, The Girl’s boyfriend came over so they could discuss the whole baby thing and he spent the night. At about 1:15 in the morning, the dogs started to bark like the apocalypse had just occurred. We could hear The Girl yelling at them to shut up and then we heard the door going outside open and close. I sent my husband down to see what was going on. He said she was out in the front yard yelling at someone on the phone. I asked what was going on with that and he said he did not know. Well, about 30 seconds later, The Girl came up to tell us that her boyfriend had just had the snot beaten out of him our front yard. He went outside to have a smoke and some of The Girl’s other friends came over and had mistaken him for a member of a rival gang and proceeded to pound on him. Why they thought this, I still do not understand. And why The Girl is friends with gang members is still confusing. They broke his nose and possibly other body parts as well. She wanted to know what to do. We told her to call the police and my husband went down to help the kid out. The police showed up and got their statements and basically said that nothing would probably go to court since it would just be his word that these guys beat him up. It does not make me feel very secure in our justice system when someone can get beaten up and then nothing will happen because it was not filmed or something. And the police told the boyfriend that he was in curfew violation since he was outside of the house without an adult.
By Sunday morning I was ready to go back to work. That was how bad my weekend was… I wanted to go back to work so I could get a little rest.

Of course, on top of all this, we have been trying to get ready for our trip. I went to Target Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I am sick of Target. However, we do have everything we need for the trip. Now, we just need to get it all packed up…

We also went to the movies on Friday. We went and saw “Hancock”. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is funny, it has a nice little twist and it was good entertainment. It is a good summer movie. I know it has been slammed by the critics and I really can not think of why. It is deep and meaningful? Not really, it is a summer blockbuster, by definition they aren’t. Did it make me forget my problems for an hour and a half? Yes it did. So in my opinion, it did the job a summer movie should. I am giving it 3 knitting needles out of 4, just for helping me escape my woes. Thank you, Will Smith you are a god among men!

I think that is enough for one blog posting. I will try to blog before I go on vacation. Later.

Movies

Today, I have 2 movie reviews. I know you are all aquiver with excitement!

On Friday afternoon the whole family went to see “Wall-E”. Do you know who little kids are at a kid’s movie on Friday afternoon? …little kids. I think the average age of the kids in attendance was maybe 5. I do not know how great a movie this is for the 5 and under group. There were several scenes which caused crying from the kids. Plus, the 1st 45 minutes or so has no actual speaking. Several children were very confused about what was going on. Over all, it is a good movie. Since it is a Pixar film, it is heads and shoulders above most US kid’s movies, but it is not Pixar’s best effort. The animation is fabulous, but the story is a little weak. Basically, humans have trashed the Earth and Wall-E is there cleaning it up. Then another robot shows up and Wall-E ends up in space. I would recommend it. I am giving it 2 ¾ out of 4 knitting needles. It is a bit above average, but I do expect a lot more from Pixar. Perhaps, the marriage with Disney was not such a good idea.

On Saturday, we all went to see “Wanted”. The Girl had declared the day before that she did not want to see the movie because she hated Angelina Jolie. However, when we went to tell her we were going, she said she wanted to come with after all. Mainly, because she did not have anything else to do.
If you do not know, “Wanted” is about a guy who gets recruited into an assassin’s guild, which was started by a weaver’s guild back in the 1500s. It is a great movie, especially if you do not think very hard about the plot. It is very violent and graphic (hello, assassins), so if that bothers you, please do not go. However, if you do not mind that, it is great fun. Plus, there are some very nice knits. James McAvoy wears a lovely zipper cardigan throughout most of the movie. And there is a sweater that Angelina Jolie’s character wears that is a cream colored lace wrap style sweater. It is divine. I am giving the movie 3 out of 4 knitting needles.

On Sunday, I stayed home and watched movies on TV while knitting. Normally, I do not talk about the movies I watch outside of the theater because I watch a lot of movies and it would take up a lot of time. However, on Sunday I watched 2 very different movies about mental institutions. I watched “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” starring Jack Nicholson. If you have never seen this movie, you really need to go rent it. It is a great movie and everyone should see it at least once. It is a classic 70s movie, it has some really funny scenes, but then it is really kind of a downer as well. Anyway, watching it again, I realized that I felt kind of bad for Nurse Ratchet. She is just trying to do her job and then this troublemaker shows up and totally messes up the routine. However, she is also really cold. But I think that is probably how a lot of the medical profession was back then.
Then I watched “Harvey” starring Jimmy Stewart. I love “Harvey”; it is just such a funny and sweet movie. However, the mental institution portrayed in this movie seems much nicer than in “Cuckoo’s Nest”. Of course, it does not seem very realistic either. But it would be one for someone with some money, so maybe that is why it is so much nicer.
Give both of these movies a look. They are both very good.

Summer is upon us

It is hot. Now, when I say it is hot, I mean it is over 75° F. I hate the heat. I find the older I get, the more I can not handle it. I suspect that I have mentioned this before. All I know is, I will not be moving to Florida or Arizona when I get old. The thought revolts me. Please do not get angry with this statement. If you have chosen to spend your life in a hotter clime and you enjoy, good for you. My mom lives in AZ and I can not even stand to visit her in the winter when it is inhumanly cold here in MN. It just makes me sad. This is something else I have noticed in my life. Summer depresses me. All the sunshine is too much for my soul. I wish for the dark evenings. I am a homebody. I love to go home from work and put on my pajamas and relax. In the summer there is all this pressure to do “stuff” because the sun is out. I do not sleep as well because it is hot and I can not stand air conditioning. Bleech.

Movie Review
Last weekend, the whole family went to see “Get Smart”. It was really funny. We all laughed, a lot. Now, I do love Steve Carrell and I did not really like the original series so if either of these statements do not describe you, maybe it is not the movie for you. It is not a deep, meaningful movie; it is a comedy. You will see the plot twists from a million miles away. The whole cast is good, even The Rock, oh, I’m sorry I mean Dwayne Johnson. If you are looking for a little comedic escape from summer, I will have to recommend “Get Smart”. I am giving 3 out of 4 knitting needles, even without any good hand knits.

Knitting
My knitting has been lagging. I am working on 3 different projects, 2 of which are just seed stitch right now. I am soooo sick of seed stitch. This is not my favorite stitch and when ever I see a sweater or some large project in just seed stitch it makes me shiver. I can not image doing an entire sweater in seed stitch.
I was tired yesterday when I got on the bus to go home, I could not even knit. I actually started to fall asleep on the bus. I do have to get going on these projects because I want them all done before I go on vacation in July. It is my hope that on my trip I will be able buy locally produced yarn and knit it into afghan squares. I have an old pattern booklet for afghan squares. It promotes the fact that by the time you finish all the squares you will be able to knit anything.
On this note, if you can tell me of a good place to get local yarn in Buffalo, NY, I would really appreciate any help.

Work
Now I know that I normally try not to talk about work, but today one of the people I work with on a regular basis is leaving. It makes me very sad. I know it should not matter, because I have worked long enough that I have said goodbye to many people, but she was like an ally to me. I guess sometimes you find someone who you connect with and it is hard to say goodbye. I did give her a dishcloth to remember me by. Another gal had been teaching her to knit and she had only made dishcloths, so I thought it would be fitting. She was part of our work knitting group.

A Parting thought
Last night DH and I were watching I Love the Millennium (2001) on VH1. My DH loves these I Love… shows, they are like crack to him. Anyway… They were talking about Enrique Iglesias’ video for Heroes and one of the commentators said that it was a bad video and they should redo it. I piped up with “What’s wrong with this video, he is wearing that cute stocking cap”. My DH muttered under his breath something about me and my love of knitted objects.
Am I unusual in this? Do others notice nice knitted objects in films and TV? Do others want to buy a film on DVD so they can stop and stare at a sweater and figure out what stitches were used in order to perhaps duplicate it one day?
I am sure they do. I would have thought he would be happy that I have almost completely stopped pointing out really cool light fixtures.

If Life Gives You Lemons, You Make Lemonade. And If Life Gives You Gators, You Make Gatorade

Letterman told this joke last night so I decided to steal it from him. It makes me do my snort laugh, so you KNOW it is funny. I am feeling a better today so I thought I would blog while things were going okay.

Last Friday, we had a therapy appointment for The Girl. It had been scheduled for some time. We decided it was the place to bring up everything I had discussed in my last blog entry. The Girl completely wigged out. She basically threw a temper tantrum. She yelled and cried and threatened to leave. We remained calm and I think over all it was a good thing. On our way home she said she was sorry. I think it was for the way she behaved at the therapist, but it was a huge start. I had been very concerned about our road trip this summer. I was worried about how she would behave and what she would do. I now think she is going to be okay. She said she would talk to her therapist at the next appointment, and she chose the date. So, fingers crossed.

Since I was concerned about the trip even taking place, I had not actually booked any rooms, so now I am scrambling to find places to stay. We are not going to go to Canada because DH can not find his documents and well, then I do not have to worry that The Girl will get us all arrested at customs. We are just going to spend more time in VT. I think it is all going to be good. There are only a few things that I feel we have to do so we will have plenty of time to drive around and just relax.

Over the weekend, The Girl and I went to see “The Happening”. I thought it was good movie. My main complaint would be that Mark Wahlberg is not in his under-britches even once. What’s up with that? That is one of the main reasons to see a Mark Wahlberg movie. It was an entertaining movie with some interesting characters. Wahlberg is very good in it. I actually really like him as an actor. Plus there is a scene where he sings and you realize what a terrible singer he is. How did he ever get a record deal to start with? I know this movie has been slammed by critics over all, I think this has to do with everyone wanting every movie to be “The Sixth Sense”. Now, I really was not all that impressed with “The Sixth Sense”, I actually preferred “Stirs of Echoes” that came out at about the same time. I really liked “Unbreakable” best of all. “The Happening” is not as good as that, but it was entertaining and had something to say. There were not a lot of hand knits in it because it takes place in the late spring. However, there is a scene where you see some little old ladies knitting with gas masks on which is kind of funny. It is good summer fare, not too deep, but it should help you escape the heat for a few hours. I am going to give it 3 out of 4 knitting needles.
Plus, you should go see it just to help poor M. Night out. You don’t want him to end up like Orson Wells… fat and bitter & doing cheap wine commercials… he is a terrible actor. And he did not give himself a role in this movie so that is a huge plus.

Life, Don’t Talk to me about Life

When do you give up on someone? I have had to do it in the past, but it hurts. I gave up on my little sister. When I was a kid, she saved me from drowning. However, when she was older, she took up with the drugs and alcohol and I could not save her from drowning in it. She died in a car crash; she was drunk behind the wheel at the time. It is very hard to save someone when they won’t grab hold of the line you are throwing them. So I eventually stop throwing it and let her go down. However, she took all of us with her. Her two children were divided amongst us, both have problems. I have siblings who do not speak to one another. It was like the only thing holding our family together was my sister being a bigger screw up than the rest of us. Now, I see The Girl going down the same path as her mother. Part of me wants to cut her loose now because I know where this road leads and the longer I walk with her on it, the more painful the abrupt drop off at the end becomes. But I did take on this responsibility to raise her and just because I am not very good at, should not mean that I give up on her.
I suppose I should explain what brought all of this on…
On Friday, my 1st Friday off of the summer, DH and I decided to go to an estate sale. We went to one out in the posh suburb of Minnetonka. It was a lovely house, the type I will never be able to afford unless I win the lottery. There was some nice stuff, mostly things we did not need, so we did not spend very much. Then we decided to go out to lunch and hit a yarn shop. On the way home, we stopped at our local thrift store. I should probably mention that I have been missing my cell phone for a while and my husband told me on Friday morning that he had found it, in the washing machine. So we did not have a cell phone with us. When we arrived home, there was a message from the school saying The Girl had not shown up to school.
On Thursday night, she insisted that this friend of hers spend the night and she decided to skip school and hang out with him. We finally got a hold of her and she was defiant and obnoxious and said she would not come home at all. Well, she had promised her brother that he could come up to our house for his birthday and hang out with her. She did come home at 1:15 am, with this boy that had been at our house on Thursday. He would not leave and The Girl threatened to leave with him if he did. So this loser kid was at our house all weekend. We tried to get rid of him several times, but he was too dense to take the hint. We finally extracted him from our house at 10:30 Sunday night. My nephew did come up for his birthday; I do not know how much fun he had since The Girl mostly ignored him. On Sunday, DH went into her room to gather dirty dishes and found a pipe. We did not confront her on Sunday because if she has an audience, she makes the most of it and I figured she would run off for sure. She has school through Wednesday and we are going to try to get her to class for the rest of the year and then we will have to see what happens. DH thinks maybe rehab. I do not know if it will do any good unless she wants to change, and at this point, I think she is not going to listen.
I suppose it doesn’t do much good to complain about this on my blog, but it makes me feel better. So I am sorry dear readers, you will have to come back on a better day for happier thoughts. Hopefully, there will be some soon.

Episode 100

This is my 100th blog entry. Can you believe it? So I think everyone should have a big party in my honor.
It is very interesting to me that TV shows have a big celebration for their 100th episode. Basically, when they get to episode 100, it means that the cast gets money for reruns. Why should I care about that? Don’t know. I know that no one is sending me money for watching the said 100 episodes or any of the reruns, for that matter.
However, I am hoping that by pointing out that this is my 100th blog entry, the money will start pouring in! Oh yeah, I don’t get paid for this, it is just for my (and hopefully yours, dear reader) amusement.

WORK??!!
I started summer hours this week. That means that I am working four 10 hour days and I will be off on Friday’s. I personally think it is a really sweet deal. The only downside is that the bus schedule does not really correspond with my hours so I have to spend a long time down at the station after work. I have been thinking though that if I stay longer on some days, I can leave a little earlier and catch the 5:40 bus instead of the 6:40. It is not enough bother to make me stop riding the bus at this point. When it gets to be really hot, I might not want to sit down there for 40 minutes. We will have to see.
I have again been having attacks of ennui regarding work. I do not think it is where I work, because over all it is a good place to work, but rather having to work at all. I think maybe I need to sit somewhere where I can not see outside into the real world. I think it is bad for my attitude.

LOST
So we have seen the end of Lost until February. I figured I should discuss the season finale. I know that everyone loves my crazy theories.
Jin & Michael are both dead. I know there are a lot of people who believe that Jin is still alive, but I have a problem with him getting back to the island. How would he get back to The Island before the helicopter? He would be one hell of a swimmer to get there that quickly. Plus, he would have to stay on course. Most importantly, Daniel Dae Kim was arrested for a DUI and that usually leads to the character’s death on Lost.
As I have stated before, everyone will need to get back to The Island, which Ben confirmed in the last episode. Thanks Ben! You’re the best!
Did Faraday and the ship full of red shirts get transported with The Island? It seems cruel to leave 6 or 7 people out on the ocean to die. So I hope they get back, but I do not know that Faraday is going to be doing well in the future since Desmond was his constant.

Weather issues
Last Saturday night we received hail. It did not do much damage, except to my garden. It decimated my salsa garden. I am hoping it will make a come back, but I really do not know much about gardening. Generally, I just throw it in the ground and it grows.
There were also gusts of wind with the hail and it damaged one of our trees. Since the large branch did not actually fall out of the tree on to our neighbor’s house, we had to pay to get it out of the tree. It is just crazy.

I am going to leave you with a picture of my eldest dog doing what she does best; sleeping. Have a calm and happy weekend.

It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green

As I wrote earlier, I have taken up riding the bus to work. At first, I figured it would be just a couple of times a week, but I actually do it almost every day. In fact, I have only driven twice since I started. The one day I had Guild in the evening and the other I had to get to work really early (6 am). The earliest bus leaves the mall at 6:30. My husband still drives me to the mall, but I know that we have been saving gas money since he does not pick me up at the mall and the mall is much closer than my work. At first I was not sure that I was saving money, but I know I am saving wear and tear on my car, so even if I am not saving money on gas it self in the end I believe it to be a savings. Plus, I have been getting a lot of exercise. So that is a good thing. And more knitting is being done. That is also a good thing. I thought I would post some photos of stuff I see on my walk to and from the bus station near work. I am guessing at the bird species. Although my MIL is a hard core bird watcher, I have not picked up as much knowledge as I probably should have in the 20 years I have known her.

Here is a cedar wax wing in a tree. There were 6 or 7 of them when I approached, all on the ground twittering away. They all flew up in the tree when I came close. I still think it is a pretty good shot.


Here is a wood pecker I saw after work one day. He was a pesky little fella, hopping around the tree trunk while I tried to take a photo. Overall, I was amazed to get photo at all.


Here are some flowering trees in front of the church near my work. I think they are crab apple trees, but I do not know for sure. Botany is not my forte.


Here is a duck and a drake in a pond area near the bus station.


There is a lot of water between the bus station and my work. There are several fountains/ponds and a little run off area. I think it might be overflow from the lake across the street. Regardless, it attracts a great deal of wildlife. The one day I was nearly beaned in the noggin by an egret flying up from the run off area. I also saw a muskrat there one morning.

I failed to mention that last Monday was my anniversary. I have now been married for 18 years. My wonderful husband gave me this beautiful Longaberger basket.

Isn't lovely?
The Girl asked why we got married on Memorial Day. Of course, we did not get married on Memorial Day, rather the weekend of. I get asked this a lot. Not sure why, It seems a good time as any to get married, but there was an actual reason behind the date. My in-laws live in New Mexico. My husband was graduating from college on the Sunday in the Memorial Day weekend. Since we were going to get married that summer anyway, I figured it made the most sense to get married during the same weekend as graduation, that way his parents only had to make one trip up. So, we got married on Saturday, DH graduated on Sunday and we went to the zoo with my in-laws on Monday. I had to be back at school on Tuesday. So no honeymoon for us. However, I did not want a dance after the reception; my father did not always behave at such events and I did not want to scare off my in-laws. Instead, the wedding party went to see "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" at the local movie theater. Maybe we were too young to get married! LOL! It was great fun to see the cashier’s face when we came in and bought tickets wearing dresses and suits.


I just finished listening to Frankenstein on the Craftlit podcast. I am behind the on the schedule. I have read Frankenstein before, not when I a teenager, like so many people, but rather as an adult. However, it was several years ago, and it was before The Girl came to live with us. Listening to now, I realize even more deeply how wrong Victor is in abandoning his creation. If he had stayed and cared for the creature, could have he saved the creature from his rage and destructive nature? I would like to think so. By the end, I thought of parents who try to do the right thing and their child still ends up destroying themselves. Or even vise versa where the crappiest parent manages to raise a perfect adult, caring and loving even though they never were shown such tenderness. Perhaps the creature did not have a chance to be saved, but I think he is truly sorry for what he has done and takes responsibility for it at the end. He even mourns the loss of his creator. Victor does not take responsibility for anything. In the end, he just wants revenge, not to actually fix what he unleashed on the world. He blames the creature for his ills, when in reality; Victor was the cause of much of his own grief.
And the creature does have feelings of compassion to others before he is assaulted over and over again. It made me think of teenagers who are teased and bullied to the point of lashing out and hurting those around them. How much exclusion from the world can one creature take before it determines that the world does not want them? If the world does not want you, why would you take care of it?
I also wonder if when Mary Shelley wrote the book, if she thought people would sympathize with Victor, or even back then, he would have been considered an arrogant fool. I think she was trying to show the folly of hubris, but I also think it was a common attitude among the elite at the time. So I am sure there were those who did sympathize with Victor rather than the creature. But I think Shelley wanted people to understand the outcasts in the world.

What have you there my Pretty?

Look, I have finished stuff. Of course, I finished them last week, but last week was exhausting at work and I did not have the ambition to blog about the items.

Here is the Sheila the Sheep Tea Cozy:


Isn’t it darling? It was not hard to do. I will probably make up some egg cozies to go with, but I just have not been inspired to do it. You can make your, just order a kit from Blackberry Ridge. The yarn is really nice.

Here is the Tea Cozy I made for my MIL:

I really think it turn out quite nice. The color way, as I believe I have mention before, is carrot cake. So I also knit this little carrot cake cupcake to go with it.


Awww, isn’t that cute?
My MIL called last night to tell us she had received her package. This was made for a belated Mother’s Day. She was not sure what to do with the cupcake and my DH told her it was just decoration, so it went into her china cabinet next to my hubby’s aunt’s objete d’arte. So that is really cool. I made it into the art cabinet! Yeah for me!

For the past several days, I have been knitting dishcloths. Over the last week, I have made 5 dishcloths. It is a phenomenal number for me. I just have not been very inspired lately. I think I have been a little tired. It’s not like I don’t have stuff to finish up, but I really would like to start something new. I know, I know, I said I was going to finish up some projects I have already started. I have, however, made some progress in my WIPs, I have decided if I have started it and it does not appear that I will finish it, I am just frogging it. That is what I was doing last night while watching the conclusion of The Andromeda Strain on A&E. It was pretty good, although they changed the ending and I was a little disappointed about that. Oh well.

On Sunday night, the whole family went to the drive in. We saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Prince Caspian.
They were both very good movies for the drive in. Not too deep, but entertaining. Indiana Jones was the better of the two movies. Prince Caspian was not as good as the 1st Narnia movie and my DH said several times… “I don’t think that was in the book”. I don’t know if that is true or not, because I am pretty sure I never read Prince Caspian.

Blues Falling Down Like Hail

Today I am going to title all of my sections with lines from Blues songs. Just for fun. The header is from Robert Johnson’s “Hell Hound on my Trail”.

You may bury my body down by the road side, so my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride. (Robert Johnson)
I have started taking the bus to work. I discovered that a bus stops at a mall near my home and takes me within walking distance of work. It is about a 15 min walk. I figure even if I take it a couple of times a week, I will save wear and tear on the car, plus he can run The Girl to her appointments. However, I am not used to any real exercise and by Friday night, my shins hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I like riding the bus. It gives me time to knit and think, two of my favorite activities.

Run and tell Willie Brown, That I’m standing at the Crossroads and I believe I’m sinking down (Robert Johnson “Cross Roads Blues”)
Friday night I spent at Urgent Care with The Girl. On Tuesday, she was out riding on a friends motorcycle and she burned her leg. I looked at then and it was red, but not blistering or anything. Thursday night she said the blister had burst and it looked pretty bad, but she just wanted to put a bandage on it and move on. I honestly did not think much of it. Why? I don’t know. It didn’t look that bad. I mean it looked bad, because it was a large burn, but it wasn’t horrible. However, on Friday, DH received a call from the school that it was filled with pus and blood and that it should be looked at by a doctor. The Girl refused to go with DH to the doctor. Finally, I convinced her to go the Minute Clinic at the Mall. They refused to treat her because the burn was too big and it was getting infected. They said to go to Urgent Care. The Girl refused. After I got home I had to cajole her into going to Urgent Care. I explained that an infected burn could lead to gangrene and amputation and / or a very smelly painful death. She finally agreed to go. At 1st we checked into the Emergency room because I did not realize the Urgent care was open. After talking to DH on the phone we went down to Urgent care, where they were much nicer. However, we sat in the room waiting for the doctor for over an hour. Why? I don’t know, because it was not busy. Finally, the doctor showed up and cleaned her wound and scolded me for not bringing her in sooner. It was infected and so she is on antibiotics and a sulfur salve. I did not get home until almost 10. God, I hate kids.

Tell me another lie, You won’t tell me the truth. The more you lie to me, the crazier I get about you. (Artie White “The More you Lie to Me”)So the end of Lost’s season is almost upon us. It is a sad, yet exciting time. It is always hard to say goodbye to Lost for such a long time. I have many thoughts running through my head right now, so it is time for some speculation.
I still think that Jin is dead. Sun was so vengeful towards her father. If he was alive, there would be hope that she would see him again. She is acting like she will not see him again. Plus, he has redeemed himself, so The Island could take him at any time. Sun also paused when the reporters asked her if her husband survived the crash. I think he will die on the freighter when it explodes.
But what about Desmond. Will he die on the freighter? Is he one of the 8 that survive, but one of the 2 that “died”? Maybe he was on the boat that reached the island, but since he was not on flight 815, they had to make up something about him. Maybe Michael is the other one. Or maybe he dies on the freighter.
Or maybe Desmond dies. It doesn’t seem likely since they have set up such an elaborate story concerning him and Penny. Of course, that has never stop the Lost writers from doing something cruel. They did kill Libby for no good reason.
I also think Claire died in the house explosion, hence the reason Miles was staring at her. He knew she was dead and could not figure out why she was walking around. He obviously saw Christian in the jungle since he said she went with some guy she called dad.
Keamy must be destroyed. He will wreak too much havoc to remain alive. I am assuming that Ben will despatch him to the great beyond, but that will cause the freighter to blow up. Here are my thoughts… the Oceanic 6 that remain on the island will be brought to the freighter via the copter. Once there, they will see all the C4 and start to remove people via the life boat / zodiac. Where they would be heading, is unknown, but perhaps the freighter crew tells them another island is not far away. Or perhaps they are heading back to the Island and since the island moves, they can not get to it.

What is Happening Here?

I hate talking on the phone. Unfortunately, with my job, I have to spend a lot of time on the phone. I am a buyer. Yes, I know you are very jealous. Who doesn’t want to be a buyer? I am not a retail buyer, mind you, I buy for a manufacturer. So I am not buying fun stuff like shoes or toys, but rather dull boring stuff like load cells and bearings. Anyway, my job is not very interesting and I have to spend a lot of time at it. This has nothing to do with anything that is going on… I just thought I would let everyone know.

It was a big weekend. My husband and I went over to the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival on Saturday. We had a really good time. I was going to bring my camera and take pictures for this blog, but of course I forgot. So there are no pictures. Only words. Sorry. I bought 3 skeins of Llama yarn from Ra-chAl-pca, in 3 different colors. I am going to do a Fair Isle hat with it. I also bought some perfect yarn for my MIL’s tea cozy. It is in a color way called “Carrot Cake”. I am also going to knit her a piece of carrot cake to go with the tea cozy. I think she will appreciate it. As we were leaving the festival, my husband said he was going to learn to spin. He is just the sweetest thing. What more could a person ask for than a husband who would spin you yarn? I can not think of anything.

For Mother’s Day, The Girl made a HUGE breakfast for us all. It was lovely. My husband made beef tenderloin on the grill for dinner. And the whole day was mine. The Girl got off the computer when I wanted to go on and I got to watch what I wanted to on the TV. I was able to watch a crappy movie on the Sci-Fi channel (“Don’t Cry Werewolf”). Normally, I get a bunch of flack for such indulgences, but I was able to pull the Mother’s Day card! It was very exciting. Now, I enjoyed this movie, but it was basically a very poor version of “Fright Night” with a werewolf instead of a vampire. So it wasn’t a good movie, but it was fun in a cheesy way, so I liked it. Plus, it was free, so what more could a person ask for? And The Girl made sarcastic remarks about how bad it was, and that was very amusing.

It was an extremely good weekend.

I am working on a baby blanket for charity. It is made out of 2 strands of sock yarn held together. It was some yarn that I won. It is really kind of ugly. I might actually dye over the colors to tone it down a little. I still need to finish off the sheep tea cozy. I know, I am terrible at finishing objects. I don’t know why since doing finishing really doesn’t bother me. Maybe I just don’t like things to end… Who knows? Maybe I am crazy. Actually, I think the problem with the sheep is that I was not sure I liked the head. I have decided it is okay and I will get it done tonight or tomorrow.
I am going to start on my MIL’s tea cozy tonight. I had started it yesterday, but I did not really like it and then The Girl’s devil cat got a hold of it and drug it around the house and it had to be ripped up anyway. I found a different pattern that I think will be better. I will let you know.

She looks innocent, but don’t let that fool you, she is a spawn of Satan! And she loves yarn!

GRMN CH FDGE

This is the sign that was outside of the Culver’s today. What is it supposed to be? I figure the FDGE is fudge. So some sort of fudge concoction. Perhaps CH is chocolate; although that seems redundant since in most minds fudge is chocolate. Now I know you can have other types of fudge. My father used to make peanut butter fudge. Although, he was the only one who really called it that, just like he was the only one who would eat it. Here is his recipe, as far as I could tell: take a bunch of peanut butter and put it in a pan, heat; add Karo syrup and sugar. Cook until you get bored with it, dump it on a plate and let harden. Try to eat before it gets fossilized.
He never measured anything, just dumped what he had in the pan. It was actually really gross, but it is one of my fondest memories of my dad. He had very strange eating habits and this was just one of many quirks.
Okay, back to Culver’s… what the heck is GRMN? Is it graham, like graham cracker? If so, where is the N coming from? Can the sign writer just not able to spell? I can not think of anything else that would go with chocolate fudge with those letters. It caused me a great deal of puzzlement this morning on my drive in. Curse you Culver’s and your delicious butter burgers and your cryptic frozen custard of the day!
Just so you know, on those rare occasions that I actually get frozen custard from Culver’s, I almost always get vanilla with blueberries on top. It is absolutely deliciously. So really, what the custard of the day is should not matter to me. However, I find myself looking everyday to see and I am just a little disappointed when it is not yet posted. I know, I have serious issues.

Okay, I could not stand it any more and I went to Culver’s website and looked up what the flavor of the day is supposed to be: Almond Hooray. WTF? It is not even close. And yesterday’s was Turtle so it can’t be left over from yesterday. In fact, I see absolutely nothing in the month of May that looks like GRMN CH FDGE. Okay, that is just scary.

Upon further exploration, I found the flavor elsewhere on the website. It is German Chocolate Fudge: Our already delectable chocolate custard becomes abundantly rich when we add coconut, brownie pieces and streams of caramel.
Actually, that sound kind of good. Who would have thought of German? Of course, once I saw it; it made perfect sense. Good job Culver’s employees. I just hope no one is disappointed when the get to Culver’s and discover there is no Almond Hooray.

My husband did not make it into the improv group he tried out for last night. He was completely bummed. I told him that I thought he was very funny, but I guess it is like your mom telling you that, it is not as believable coming from a spouse. He really is funny though. There has been many a time in my life that he has saved me from myself through humor.

I knit my sheep tea cozy’s head. It looks way too small for the cozy. I might be because I messed up the decreasing of the wraps. I always seem to miss some and I can never figure out where. I just need to decide if I want re-knit it or not. We will see. It did not take a long time to knit up. I think I will put some stuffing in it and see how it looks.

Oh The Humanities!

Today is the anniversary of the crash of the Hindenburg in 1937. 36 people died. That was only 37% of the people on the Hindenburg. This, if you think about it, really is not bad considering that it ran into a power line, exploded and fell out of the sky.
I really don’t have any more commentary on the event. I was just surprised that so few people really died.

It is getting dark outside. It is only 1:30 in the afternoon. A storm is coming.

Last night I did absolutely no knitting. I did weave in the ends of my mom’s rug and my DH dropped it off at the Post Office today. I did not get anything knit for my MIL, but I told my husband to put in the card that I was working on something. I am going to make her a tea cozy. I told my DH that I wanted to pick up some yarn at Shepherd’s Harvest for it. He just looked at me and asked that dreaded question, “You don’t have any bulky yarn already?” Of course I do. I have yarn in every weight. I am a yarn addict. I just told him I wanted to buy special yarn for her since she is my MIL and she is going to be getting it late. I think he bought it. Whew!

He is actually already agreed to come with me to Shepherd’s Harvest this weekend. We will be going on Saturday. It should be a lot of fun. I had a good time last year, but I was all by my self. Everything is more fun if I haul my sweetie with.

Tonight, my DH is trying out for a novice improv group. He is very excited. I hope it goes well for him. I should be able to spend time knitting tonight. I will work on my sheep tea cozy. Hopeful, there will be pictures in a couple of days.

I AM IRONMAN

On Saturday, the hubby and I went to go see “Ironman”. It was awesome! It is one of the best action films I have ever seen. It really is a flawless example of what all action films should aspire to. Robert Downey Jr. was excellent as Tony Stark. He was able to go from a self centered spoiled rich genius to Ironman in a very believable manner. The special effects were perfect; they did not overpower the film. There is time spent in “Afghanistan”, I am sure they were not really filming there, but I have found when a good movie portrays Afghanistan, there is always great headwear. And Ironman is no exception. There were many lovely hats, some knit, some woven and some appeared to be crocheted. There was one in particular that I really liked, and I think I will try to make one for myself. And there was a scarf (one of those big ones that men in the desert wear) that I also really liked. Even though it was woven, I think I could make my own using slip stitching. I will have to think on it. If you are a comic book geek, like my husband and I, then you must stay until the credits end for a very fun surprise. I do not know that it would mean much to you if you have no knowledge of the Marvel Universe. However, you do not need to be a fan boy or fan girl to enjoy Ironman. It was just a stellar action film. Go see it in the theater ASAP. I give it 4 out of 4 knitting needles.

The only issue that came up in the film was that I was knitting during the previews and somehow I dropped 2 stitches. I found to one right away and was able to fix it, but the other I did not discover until I got home and it was too far gone for me to fix it. I will be the first to admit, that my knit fixing skills are limited at best and I did not know how to pull it up and keep it in pattern. So I just ripped back to the garter stitch section. Regardless, I finished the body to my tea cozy over the weekend and just need to do the head and sew it all together and I will be done. Yeah!.

Why bother?

Yesterday I managed to piss off several people.

I managed to get myself kicked off of the Yarnover committee. I did not really want to do it again, but I did not want to make anyone angry and apparently, that is what I have done. I don’t know if I am even going to be able to continue going to Guild, which I am really upset about because I like going to Guild. I am going to go to the next meeting to see how it goes, but if it is going to be uncomfortable, I will probably just give it up.

Then I pissed off my co-worker and she actually yelled at me. Who does that? Who yells at a co-worker? It is just bizarre. I really do not want to work with her any more. This is not the 1st time she has done something like this and she is REALLY paranoid. I am not able to deal with that sort of thing. I asked my boss if I could move, but he said no.

BECAUSE OF LOST

I really enjoyed Lost last night. Although I hate Kate, I found the episode great. Are they all dead, as Hurley stated? Now from the beginning the creators have said that it is not purgatory. However, what if it is that The Island is alive like in Solaris and the Oceanic 6 and the rest of the people on the island are in fact projections it uses to keep itself safe. Well, maybe not everyone on the island. Ben seems very real, although he does seem to know an awful lot of info about everyone he meets. This would explain Charlie and Christian Sheppard who keep popping up. Jack seems to know in the future that he was related to Claire. So how does he find that out? Perhaps Miles tells him. He obviously saw Christian with Claire. Why did Kate wait so long to contact Sawyer’s daughter? Because of the trial, perhaps, or has she had quite a lot of contact and that was just another meeting. I am assuming that was what she was doing for Sawyer since he talked about before. Maybe it is something else. Of course, it is just like Jack to point out that he left the Island and Sawyer didn’t. What a jerk. So Jack starts his decline because his dad is in the lobby. And he apparently thinks Kate is having an affair with Sawyer, who is still on the island? I suppose also the fact that Hurley had said Jack would be getting a visitor, making Hurley seem less crazy. Poor Hurley. I hope he will be okay. Of course, if they are all dead, none of them are okay.
Claire disappears, which probably explains why Kate takes Aaron off the Island. Because if you think about it, who else could take him to safety? Not Rose since she is not going to leave the island, not Sun since she is going to have her own baby and she could not pass Aaron off as hers, not Juliette since I don’t think she will make it off the Island.
And something from last week’s episode: Where the hell is Penny’s mom? She is never mentioned. I mean, even if she died, you would think she would come up at some point. I also think I am the only person in the universe who would not care if Penny was killed. I mean, she is okay, I don’t hate her like I do Kate, but she is sort of whiney and very dim. Plus, I think Widmore deserves it for killing Alex and Danielle.