Yarnsmith

Snarky Skater Sunday

2012-01-01T13:01:00.001-06:00

If you don't want your kid to get hit by a faster skater, tell them not to weave randomly, stop randomly, or randomly shoot off at a 90 degree angle to the wall. It's like trying to navigate an asteroid field.

Christmas Wish List 2010

2010-10-13T15:54:00.000-05:00

Wreck This Journal

Starbucks Gift Cards

Lego Wii Remote

Lemon Lotion

Cat Fight!

2009-03-22T13:36:00.004-05:00

That's Momo striking out for truth, justice and the Feline Way. (Also, he is nuts and thinks he's BMOC.) Sibbie is not without resources, however. Check out the clawed foot, lower left. Ouch!

Song Review

2009-03-08T20:35:00.002-05:00

There are not many songs that can bring me to tears. Ok, that's not entirely true, but the tears I shed for "Butterfly Kisses" are more like "Hallmark" tears and not as grief stricken as when I hear this song. This whole album is on the ipod, and Lee and I sing it in the car... it's a beautiful duet by Alison Kraus and Robert Plant.

Here are the words, but take a listen, too, and see if it touches that well of sadness reserved for times when this song would be sung.

God's given us years of happiness here
Now we must part
And as the angels come and call for you
The pains of grief tug at my heart

Oh my darling
My darling
My heart breaks as you take your long journey

Oh the days will be empty
The nights so long without you my love
And when God calls for you I'm left alone
But we will meet in heaven above

Oh my darling
My darling
My heart breaks as you take your long journey

Fond memories I'll keep of happy ways
That on earth we trod
And when I come we will walk hand in hand
As one in heaven in the family of God

Oh my darling
My darling
My heart breaks as you take your long journey

The Losing Game

2009-02-21T19:46:00.003-06:00

I have now lost 8 pounds since Christmas. How? Diet and exercise. I know, right? It stinks that that is actually the answer. I've been tempted (not really, but kind of, you know) to try a diet aid. But I figured I don't really want to act like a hummingbird on acid... so, I guess the old EAT LESS, and EXERCISE MORE is the way to go.

I feel a lot better about myself, about my clothes and how they fit, and about the example I'm setting for my children. I don't know who said it, but I heard someone say "Stop saying you don't have time to exercise... some of the busiest people in the world find time to do it." Ok, ok, I know you're right, but it's BORING, and I'm TIRED, and, and, and... And you have muffin top, so just DO IT, ok? You'll feel better... and dang it, I do. :)

Cool!

2009-01-29T22:42:00.001-06:00

Thanks, kid!

2009-01-28T22:59:00.003-06:00

The only beef I have with our YMCA's workout area is that there is no designated place to stretch. I end up out in the hall with people who want killer abs. I guess that's what they're doing... why else would they be laying on their backs, tossing a medicine ball in the air while doing crunches? Is that Killer Abs, or Exercises That Will Kill You?

So, I was stretching tonight after 30 minutes of the elliptical and 30 minutes of the treadmill, and about 7.5 minutes of "weight lifting". I was TECHNICALLY lifting weights... oooh... 8 pounds... in each hand, people.

Anyway, stretching... pleased to find that my right hip feels better... I thought I'd pulled something other than a muscle and didn't want to admit that maybe I am almost 40, and whattheheckamIthinkingtakingkarate?

Oh, yeah, out in the hall... so I'm out there stretching, and there's a girl wandering up and down the hall. Children under 12 are not allowed in the workout area... I saw a Mom and some kids get busted tonight. I was just wondering if I should say something to someone and the Y guy pushed them out. So, I can only assume that this girl was an exercise orphan and her mom was working out.

Ok, here's another beef I have with the local Y. They have childcare available for children UP TO 8 years old. Then there is nothing except classes that kids 9-14 can do. They can workout at 12 IF you pay money and they get trained on the equipment, and they have to wear a lanyard in the workout area. I totally understand that, but it leaves a big gap in ages to fill. They do have a "Teen Center" for that age group, but it looks totally unsupervised.

Oh, right... this girl walking the hall. She was crunching on Doritos and chugging something blue. I was thinking "Just finish your #$%@ Doritos already." That was really all I had to say... hmmm... not that interesting, now that I think about it. Never mind.

3 Pounds Down, and New Motivation.

2009-01-24T19:32:00.002-06:00

I have lost 3 pounds so far... about 1 pound a week. Working out makes a HUGE difference in conjunction with eating better. Duh. Why do I think it won't matter?

Vitamin D has returned me to my Summer Self... the one without SADD. Seriously. Why was I not taking it before?

My Father in Law weighs just a few pounds more than me. That's the motivation part. He's 5'11" and recently lost a few pounds by not drinking anything with sugar in it. And I thought, maybe I should never weigh as much as a tall man.

No Respect!

2009-01-22T14:51:00.004-06:00

Since getting children, there is very little that I can now call my own. By and large, the contents of my desk are mine, although I have conceded the front drawer that holds the pens. The children largely leave my working space alone after much exhortation.

One cat, however, is no respecter of personal property. Let me count the ways...

The Easy Way or The Hard Way

2009-01-08T22:15:00.002-06:00

Easy/Hard... all amounts to the same thing when you're trying to lose weight and get in shape.

"It's so EASY... just eat less and exercise more."

"It's so HARD... eating less and exercising more totally sucks."

Day 4: still on track, but realizing it's gonna be a long haul. It's Day 4 of the rest of my life.

Dear Cats that live in our house,

2009-01-08T08:02:00.001-06:00

Rico, Thank you for keeping my spot warm while I get up to go to the bathroom. If you would only give me my spot BACK once I return, I wouldn't be forced to evict you.

Murray, I know that it is considered "high art" among your feline set, but please stop leaving your "art" on our white bedspread.

Momo, I'm sorry about the blanket I threw over you and the subsequent sparks that ensued while you tried to get out. That's called "static electricity" and now you know a little more science than you did before.

Sibbie, thank you for keeping our borders safe. Your patrol at 10 p.m. helps all of us sleep better.

Back in the Saddle... Again...

2009-01-06T15:26:00.004-06:00

I debated about writing about this, just in case I FAILED. You know... wouldn't want people to know I'm a MERE MORTAL. I'm back to the weight I was 2 years ago, and while my pants TECHNICALLY fit, there's a bit more of me than can be contained at the waistline. Yes, my friends, I've got a muffin top. Also, it's getting harder to blame the dryer on shrinkage of jeans that I've had for 3 years.

I have been successful with Weight Watchers in the past... I reach goal, and then I kind of forget about all the tools to keep the weight off, and I slip back into bad habits.

This time, I don't have the time or money to go to meetings. Since I'm a life time member (I reached my goal 6 years ago, and 2 years ago, again.), it's free for me IF I am at my goal weight or lower. It's $12 a meeting if I'm not, which I'm not. I like the support of the meetings, but I'd like to think I could do this without paying a bunch of money.

As a program, I like Weight Watchers for the portion control, and the ease of use. There is one thing I don't like, and this isn't TOTALLY WW's fault, but the "WW culture." It is possible to eat a WW sanctioned meal that doesn't actually have much FOOD in it. The fake sweeteners, using cooking spray instead of real oil, substituting "food products" for "food" are, if not encouraged, are accepted. Of course, WW says to eat more real veggies and fruits, etc, but it is possible to still lose weight while eating fake food.

The other thing I find outrageous, is that all the yummy foods are penalized for having SUGAR, or FAT, or NO FIBER. It's as if these foods MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT. I don't buy it. :)

If you don't know how the Point System for WW works, it's roughly 1 pt. for every 50 calories. I get 22-27 pts. per day. The bowl of chili I had for lunch was 1 point per cup because of its high fiber and no fat. This dish composed of 24 mini corn chips and 1 oz. of cheddar cheese was 6 pts. You can see the spoon for scale... this was a small plate. I guess I could have eaten 6 more cups of chili, but no one but my colon would have benefitted.

Pick Me!

2008-09-25T21:21:00.000-05:00

I spent 7 months in Austria in 1996. I believe that makes me uniquely qualified to be the Vice President of the United States. Oh, wait, someone has already been picked? AND she LIVES between two foreign countries? Oh, rats!!

Mentos and Diet Coke

2008-08-22T10:13:00.003-05:00

Literary Sucker

2008-07-31T21:10:00.002-05:00

I am an absolute sucker for these lists...

Bold the ones you've read, dash -- the ones you read for school, and italicize the ones you started but didn't finish. Here's the twist: add (*) beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend to other people.

--The Aeneid
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
American Gods
Anansi Boys
Angela’s Ashes: a Memoir
Angels & Demons
*Anna Karenina
*Atlas Shrugged
Beloved
The Blind Assassin
Brave New World
The Brothers Karamazov
--The Canterbury Tales
The Catcher in the Rye
Catch-22
A Clockwork Orange
Cloud Atlas
Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Confusion
The Corrections
The Count of Monte Cristo
Crime and Punishment
Cryptonomicon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
David Copperfield
Don Quixote
Dracula
Dubliners
Dune
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Emma
Foucault’s Pendulum
The Fountainhead
Frankenstein
*Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
The God of Small Things
--The Grapes of Wrath
Gravity’s Rainbow
--Great Expectations
Gulliver’s Travels
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Historian : a novel
*The Hobbit
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
--The Iliad
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
The Inferno
Jane Eyre
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Kite Runner
*Les Misérables
Life of Pi : a novel
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Madame Bovary
Mansfield Park
Memoirs of a Geisha
*Middlemarch
Middlesex
Mrs. Dalloway
The Mists of Avalon
Moby Dick
Neverwhere
1984
Northanger Abbey
--The Odyssey
Oliver Twist
The Once and Future King
One Hundred Years of Solitude
On the Road
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Oryx and Crake : a novel
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Persuasion
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Poisonwood Bible
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Pride and Prejudice
The Prince
Quicksilver
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
The Satanic Verses
--The Scarlet Letter
Sense and Sensibility
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Silmarillion
Slaughterhouse-five
The Sound and the Fury
*A Tale of Two Cities
*Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The Time Traveler’s Wife
To the Lighthouse
Treasure Island
The Three Musketeers
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Vanity Fair
War and Peace
*Watership Down
White Teeth
*Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
Wuthering Heights
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into value

Something I noticed today...

2008-07-14T21:54:00.002-05:00

that has nothing to do with adoption!

I haven't blogged here in so long, I don't know who will even read this... guess it doesn't matter...

OK, so I was on my way home and I noticed on the car next to me, that the gas plate thingy, because of it's location, had to have a crease put in it to match the body of the car.

I thought that was pretty stupid, and imagined the guy that designs the gas tank assembly being all EYE-ROLL "Look what they did again... can they not put the gas cap on the smooth part of the car?

Then I noticed that almost every car has that "feature" and I wondered how much $ it costs to have to do that, and how much $ it costs the consumer to have that.

Then I started thinking about IKEA, and how they should design cars, like they design their products... stackable, easily shippable. Dunno, it just kind of tickled me... IKEA cars. You heard it here first.

Blogging Here Now

2008-06-29T09:07:00.002-05:00

Lee and I are blogging here now, in case you wondered where we went...

Rough Seas

2008-05-27T15:30:00.002-05:00

We took the SS Badger from Manitowoc, WI to Ludington, MI this past weekend. It's about the 4th (?) time we've done it. My dad lives in Interlochen, and there's an annual "Sunday before Memorial Day Marek Get-together" at Don's in Mancelona. Don is my dad's cousin, which makes him what to me? Uncle Don?

Don is REALLY into antiques. Every item in his "cabin" has a story. Turns out he had a story of his own.... I'll tell you because it's really one of those miracle situations... He and a friend were driving back from an antique show in SC. They were on a highway in KY when his friend, who was driving, passed out. Don only had time to yank the steering wheel to keep them from hitting the concrete barrier. They flew off the highway, over and down a 65 foot hill. He thought, "This is it, I am going to die." They flew through saplings and glanced off a couple of larger trees. At the base of the hill were more saplings growing in front of a metal fence... those two things created a spring and a pretty soft landing. His next thought was "Holy S---, I'm still alive." His friend was alive, but groggy. Don was able to climb up out of the ravine and call for help. His friend possibly had low blood sugar... that's all they can think. Neither needed medical attention.

Had any one little bit of that story been different, it would have had a different outcome. Not to mention the fact that no one could see where they went off the road. Don is a changed man. He said things that made him uptight or worry before no longer do.

Anyway, I didn't mean to tangent like that, it's just such an amazing story.

Back to the Badger. The way over was fine and enjoyable as always. The ride home, however, we experienced rough waves the whole way. I used "Sea Bands" and ginger candy, and reclined in a darkened room almost the whole trip. Between those things, I was alright. I stocked up on the ginger candy for our upcoming trip. Lee slept the whole time. I heard a couple of kids tossing their cookies in the hallway. That sound! There were several adults that smiled ruefully as we all tried to pretend not to hear it.

Merging

2008-05-21T20:14:00.000-05:00

I blogged here about my 1st foray into Ethiopian cooking.

Olives, Cherries and Eggs

2008-05-17T18:44:00.003-05:00

What do these 3 things have in common?

All were hurled at my car while it was parked in front of our house. I had parked there because I got home late and Lee's car was in the way and I was lazy.

Lee's car has been egged, what, 2, 3 times? We usually don't park in the street for that reason.

What I don't get is the olives and the cherries. Was there a sale? Is this a new thing we're not cool enough to know? Those crazy kids... what they're into these days...

Lee gets extra props for cleaning my car late last night and moving his car and then moving my car, and then moving HIS car behind MY car. All without waking me up.

Don't P.O. the Llama!

2008-05-12T13:15:00.003-05:00

Lee surprised me Saturday by taking me here.

Here's a highlight...

Helicopter Ears

2008-05-09T10:22:00.003-05:00

You know, Sibbie, if you'd give me something other than Helicopter Ears, you wouldn't end up looking so peeved. Or is that your imperial disdain for humans?

Cats out of the bag.

2008-05-09T09:04:00.003-05:00

How do they know? Well, Murray didn't know, as he was rubbing on the cat carriers I'd just brought up. Sibbie knew. She was already in hedgehog position before I caught Murray. Then she wouldn't come out from wherever she was. Even *Kree-ing didn't bring her out. So I waited and eventually she tentatively came out. She was not happy in the carrier. Moooooooeoeeeeeeeewwwww. Yooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. All. the. way. to. the. vet.

Murray, of course, was a little gentleman and made not a peep.

Sibbie turned into 12 pounds of dead weight to pull out of the carrier. She got herself together enough to skulk around the floor a bit with her tail the size of Texas. Then she wedged herself between me and the back of the chair. Too bad, darlin', you need shots too.

While at the vet, a dog had a seizure in the waiting room next door. (Our vet has a cat entrance and a dog entrance. One time a dog and his owner came in the cat entrance. All the humans and their cat owners were giving them the evil eye. They must not have realized.) Also, while I was in the exam room, I heard sobbing, which was still going on when I left. I was having trouble not crying, because it was the sound of grief, deep and heartfelt. I don't know what happened.

As I was picking up the carriers to leave, a "dog/horse" was just going to the dog entrance. Seriously, this thing was probably 4' tall. And it had correspondingly large parts, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. I waited for them to get inside before taking Sibbie and Murray out.

Hmmmm... speaking of Sibbie and Murray, I haven't seen them since we got home. Here, kitty, kitty. Hmmmm... I guess I don't blame them for hiding.

*Kree - Did I ever explain Kree to you? If you are a Stargate fan, you already know. We started this, oh, 6 years ago... when we were watching Stargate for the 1st time. I trained the cats to come when I called "Kittens. Kree." "Kree" is a command that means Come, Go, Now, Don't... pretty much an all purpose word in the Stargate world. It is the language of the Jaffa, those who protected and served the Goa'uld, until they rebelled against their false gods, and through the use of tritonin were able to become free of the larval Goa'uld they incubated. And, if you didn't know before what a SciFi geek I was, now you do.

Elbow Room

2008-05-09T06:40:00.002-05:00

You remember that song from Schoolhouse Rock? "Elbow room, elbow room... got to, got to get me some elbow room..."

I went to my hair appointment yesterday. Trouble was, my appointment is NEXT Thursday. Oh. I didn't cry, I didn't even get upset, even though I'd driven to Elgin for this appointment. I shrugged and said "Oh."

Here is the state of my brain... our children, who are waiting for us in Ethiopia, have started taking over portions of my mind. Thoughts of them and our upcoming life together are elbowing out other things. Like WORDS, and IDEAS, and TIME, and, as it turns out, names of bands. I don't mind the band thing so much, but dang it, people, I'm starting to forget words as I'm speaking. Words I've known for years. I can picture my children in there sidling up to a word and just kind of leaning into it, pushing it out of the way.

Even when I started writing this post, I panicked for a moment, because I could not think of "Schoolhouse Rock". All I had was "You remember that song, from uh, from um, it goes like this..."

And I have to say, it's kind of pleasant, this forgetfulness. Because it means that I am making room in my life for 2 small people, who I love already, and I can't imagine more love, but I know it is coming. How good God is to have designed us in this way, with the ability to make room for more love. Hang in there children! Mama's coming to get you!

Dog Days

2008-05-07T14:47:00.002-05:00

Actual Conversation between Lee and I:

Me: Those puppies on Cute Overload are so cute... I just wish they'd always stay like that.
Lee: Do you want to get a dog?
Me: No. Too much work.
Lee: But you'll be home more once we get the kids.
Me: So, I get to do all the work for animals I do not want?
Lee: Yeah.
Me: No.

Hints that I should have stayed home today.

2008-05-07T12:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I sneezed and blew my nose all day. Got home late after helping Lee foil some stained glass, took 2 benadryl, then a night time cold capsule. Collapsed in bed at 8:15.

This morning: don't feel so hot after spending all night switching sides to get the snot out of one side into the other. You know that dance.

I arrived at the building where I start my day.

It started POURING as I pulled in. (I did not have an umbrella, or a hood, or anything even mildly useful to stave off the water.)

I head toward building. I called my co-worker to let me in the door. No answer. I called again. No answer. I alerted her.

Meanwhile I am already sopping wet and huddling near other locked doors. I know that the open doors are around the corner. Think to self "Well, if I'm going to walk there, I may as well go back to my car." Start walking.

Co-worker calls me. I ask "Can you let me in the building?" She hears "Do you need help in the building?" and therefore answers me "No, not really." I say "OK, then I will go to a different building." and I start sobbing. Not just crying, but sobbing. Then I think "Wait. She wouldn't answer me like that." So I call back, still sobbing, and she lets me in.

Now, I am not only completely drenched, but it's obvious I've been crying, and my hands are full of my bags, so I cannot wipe the snot running down from my nose. Nice entrance.... into 2 labs full of High School students and teachers. Excellent.

You can go ahead and laugh if you want... I think it'll be funny... eventually. Everybody needs a good ego bruise now and then.

Art and Stuff

2008-05-02T13:47:00.008-05:00

Here is me standing in front of my pictures for sale at the Brick, in downtown Belvidere. Be sure to purchase one or two... all proceeds to our adoption fund. Ha ha... ALL money we get (and have) goes there at this point!

At the Brick, there are clear class tea cups suspended with fishing line in a window. I thought they were so cool, so I took some pics. That made me wonder how cool it would be to trace the path of art from this one inspiration.

1. Somebody designed the cups, presumably with aesthetics in mind.
2. Somebody hung them with fishing line to create an interesting display
3. Somebody (me) took pictures of them and manipulated the pictures
4. Somebody.... what could be next? A painting based on the pictures? A collage? Who will take up the art challenge?

Nothing like stomach pain

2008-04-30T09:06:00.002-05:00

to break an addiction.

Last week, my stomach pretty much hurt all week. I stayed home Friday so as to be near a bathroom. Why did my stomach hurt? Well, I'm pretty sure it was the coffee habit I'd been building. I haven't had coffee since last Thursday. Ok, well, there was that Starbuck's run on Sunday. Doh. But it was 1/2 soy milk. Anyhoo, my stomach feels much better, and the thought of coffee makes my insides lurch.

I swear I'm not making this up...

2008-04-26T21:28:00.004-05:00

I found this memo I typed to myself among the stories and poems from my "early years".

Lakeland Library Cooperative was where my mom worked and was the site of my first job. I pulled books to be sent through inter-library loan. Apparently, on April 10, my mind was not on my job. I'm sure I wasn't day-dreaming any OTHER times on this job. Er...

I don't remember writing this poem, but I must have. It's funny that 20 years ago I thought that I needed to write every day even if I didn't feel like it. One of the books I'm reading advocates that as the only way to become a writer.

Um, ok, you probably want to know about "Casey Taylor". I don't remember where "Casey" came from except that my friends, Karen and Beth, and I had pseudonyms. "Taylor", of course, was because I was going to marry this man.

Oh Hai

2008-04-22T20:55:00.004-05:00

U R tween mi n mi fud

U G'Way Now

U got kittehs in teh hiz-ouse?

1st Sentences of High School Stories I wrote for "fun".

2008-04-20T18:08:00.004-05:00

Never before had I seen "Tony's" so swamped by patrons. I made my way over to the table in the center of the small happy restaurant, nearly tripping over someone's little boy sprawled in the aisle.

The immense man clad in a gray suit made his way briskly across the park crowded with lunching business people. He did not look over his shoulder; he stared straight ahead, oblivious to all except the pretty middle-aged blond secretary sitting on the bench facing the fountain. He stood in front of her waiting for her to notice. She finally looked up from the romance novel she held in her manicured hands and started violently.

Ahhh... Summer. Yet it can be so rudely interrupted by the worst possible scourge... BAND CAMP.

It's funny who you run into. The other day in Italo's, I could have sworn I saw my sister through the window. The thing is, I knew my sister Jayne had died several years ago at the age of 20. When I thought I saw Jayne through the window, my first instinct was to run from the restaurant and follow her, like she had come into town unexpectedly. Then the cold fact hit me all over again. The body. She died almost 10 years ago. And I hadn't actually seen her face, it must have been a trick of the eye. The heat in the big city does that. Doesn't it?

If you had told me, say a year ago, that I would write a book, see it published, meet the man of my dreams, marry, have a child, and lose it all, all within one year, well, I guess I would have laughed. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that is exactly what happened and in that order.

Early in the morning, a lone car meandered it's way to the High School. In the car were two girls who felt surprisingly wide awake for so early. The dark haired one started to say that it seemed like a trip that starts at daybreak, but the blond one beat her to it, which was not unusual for them; they always managed to be thinking the same thing at the same time and almost trying to beat each other at saying it, it seemed.

I suppose one could call my life strange. I do, every time I think of it. From the time I was 17, my main ambition was to be rich, not just well-off but bonified filthy rich. At 18, I entered the state lottery and won $50,000. It was good, but not good enough, so I invested most of it and went on a cruise around the Bahamas with the rest. On this cruise I met my husband.

The light through the open window falls on his still form. A summer breeze ruffles his dark hair.

Oh, yes, you may laugh. All these stories "end" after a page and a half. Maybe later I will publish the LAST sentences of these stories. They are just as good, if not BETTER. :)

Chaucer was a Chump. (Not Really.)

2008-04-20T16:24:00.002-05:00

Hey! I found my Canterbury Tale Poem from January 1987. I think it holds up well, you know, rather TIMELESS. Um, yeah. I'm not going to type the whole thing up, but here are my favorite bits...

To a fair city I once took my leave,
An incredible journey, and hard to believe.

The next morning while looking for the church,
We felt the car give a mighty lurch.
We found ourselves lost in Chicago's slums,
Far from any of our church bound chums.
The decadence of the city closed in on our ride,
"Hourly Rates" and "Mirrored Ceilings" printed on a motel's side.

Cramped in the backseat sat three well-hipped girls
Eating pretzel sticks and chattering like squirrels.
What we would buy! And where we would live!
We pondered the joy the town had to give.
Sailors on leave caught all our eyes,
The parents in front caught all our sighs.

That trip, very memorable indeed
For the moment, seemed all my restless soul could need.

Awesome! I apparently was a prolific writer, as I found many typed gems that I will share. There are some that are absolutely embarrassing... Woo hoo! So you've got that to look forward to. There's lots of written fodder typed on my portable electric typewriter. Oh, yeah, baby, a typewriter. I never used a computer for papers until college.

A Rose by any other Name

2008-04-20T13:51:00.003-05:00

In 6th grade, we did a poetry study... we must have been writing haikus and trying different styles of writing. Somewhere in there, I decided to put together a book of all the words that rhyme with -ade, -ent, -al, etc... I really thought I could achieve a comprehensive book of all the words that rhymed with every ending any word could have. I had pages and pages of these lists. I left enough room (about 3 lines) for every ending... you know, in case there were other words I thought of that would fit. Eventually, I realized that NOT ONLY were there more endings that I could possibly find, but also there were an infinite number of words to fill each list. I abandoned the project.

There was a time when I enjoyed writing poetry. I even got a poem in the school newsletter in 6th grade. It was about Thanksgiving dinner and it went something like "mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy; and the jello, nice and wavy." Um, wavy? I remember being really pleased with myself about that line.

In High School, we had to write a Canterbury Tales type travel poem. The only line I can remember from that one was "3 well-hipped girls" (I think I had us riding in the backseat of a car, or something.)

In College, my poems often went horribly wrong. They'd start out all serious and the last line would be a punch line. I tried to write sad, pathetic poems about love lost, and they'd end up with lines like "get too near the edge and I'll give you a shove." (I am sure it rhymed with "love".)

I think maybe I should see what's in my poetry well... and just let the goofy fly out onto the page. Could be fun as it used to be!

Pretty.

2008-04-17T21:01:00.002-05:00

Is Spring FINALLY here? Apparently, this little guy thinks so! Huzzah!

Almost Famous

2008-04-13T11:58:00.002-05:00

Yeah, not really famous. BUT, I will have photos for sale at our local Coffee Shop/Art Store, The Brick.

I'd been hemming and hawing about taking the pics in to show the owners. Even after talking to them about it and them being interested in seeing them. I fell back on self-sabotaging thoughts like "I think they're good, but they're probably not." "There are photos in here by people who have way more experience than I do." "Who do I think I am, trying to sell my photos?"

Finally, I decided to stop being a wimpy little baby girl and take the pics in. I matted and framed 6 of my favorite pics. Lee was doing his guitar set through lunch, and it was busy, so the owners didn't have time to look at them until after the lunch rush.

Sherry, one of the owners, looked at them and was excited about them. I said, tentatively, "If you don't have room..." And she said "Oh! We'll make room! They'll go RIGHT HERE. These are great pictures!" Now, I think that Sherry pretty much likes Art, in general, but it did make me feel pretty good. No, not good, great.

In the book I've been reading about unblocking my creativity, she talks about not needing validation from others to say "I'm an artist." or "I'm a photographer." I guess I'm not there yet. Although, even with others' validations, I can still sabotage my own self just fine. Must work on that.

Now there's talk of an Art Fair in Belvidere at the end of June. The question is, will I be able to grab the bull by the horn and get pics ready for the show? I'm tired of wimping out.... it's more tiring maybe than trying something and being successful.

Carbon Copy.

2008-04-07T14:58:00.004-05:00

Lee and have or have had the habit of having new people from church over for dinner. One of the families from last year were Chris and Ann. We got to chatting, you know, the usual. Turns out Chris was born in E.Grand Rapids a year after I was born in Grand Rapids. He followed me to MSU, even living in the same dorm his 1st year that I lived in my 1st year. Now he's in Belvidere, and I just found out he has a blog. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Gee, thanks, Chris! :)

We enjoyed dinner AND a show with C&A last night... their girls kept us laughing. It ended with a nearly-naked crying meltdown. (Not any of the adults... although I have felt that way from time to time.) The littlest girl has been taught to say "What the deuce?", and it is hilarious coming from a nearly 3 YO.

Don't you wonder about the secret lives of children? What's she thinking down there in the dirt?

This girl's got a killer swing.

Before/After

2008-04-04T14:00:00.006-05:00

With very little help from my backseat photoshopper, I managed to tweak this photo from "nice" to "WOW" in about, um... well, ok, I'm not the most EFFICIENT PSer. Yet.

See, nice... kinda cool.

Here is where you say "WOW! It's magic!"

Just For Grins

2008-04-04T09:38:00.002-05:00

Google (used as a verb here)

backseat photoshopper

The afghan that never ends

2008-04-03T12:30:00.003-05:00

My friend Katherine came over to knit the other night and pulled out THIS BEAST...

Notice the gigantor "skeins" of yarn on the floor. She's got 2 more in the bag next to her. Now that is dedication.

I was working on a tee-tiny (in comparison to the afghan that never ends) dishcloth.

Did you ever feel...

2008-04-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

Like you were....

Being watched?

Optical Upgrade

2008-03-29T16:48:00.003-05:00

So, I went ahead and had LASIK yesterday. It was just about the day that never ended... here's the story.

I made the LASIK appointment about a month ago. I'd been thinking about it for some time, since I have lost the ability to wear contacts. Believe me, if I could still wear contacts I wouldn't have considered it. My eyes started rejected them vehemently about a year ago. I kept thinking that since the appointment was in a month I'd have plenty of time to cancel, since REALLY, who would let someone cut into perfectly healthy eyes?

The day finally arrived and I had not canceled. I knew I could cancel at any moment even up to walking in the surgery room. I'm sure I wouldn't be the 1st to balk. At 11 a.m. I had to have my pupils dilated so they could check one last thing. My appointment for surgery was set for 4. No problem, we thought, we're out near Woodfield Mall and IKEA. We'll just go eat lunch and hang out somewhere. We grossly overestimated our ability to "hang out at the mall". After about 1/2 hour wandering around like Moses in the desert, (yes, it did feel like 40 years) we were so overwhelmed and exhausted that we paid $10 for ice cream at Coldstone. We left the mall and found a Borders, where at least it is sort of quiet, found some books to look at. Time moved incrementally slowly. I'd ask Lee what time it was... 2:30? I asked hopefully. He shook his head sadly. 2:15? Gah. FINALLY 3:05 rolled around, so it was time to spend another $10 on "food" at the Borders Seattle Coffee. I finally realized why I was so tired. I'd been stuffing down all thoughts of the surgery all day, trying not to dwell. My poor brain was working overtime "not thinking about what it was bent on thinking about."

4 p.m. brought me papers to sign, items to initial... yes, I understand that x,y, and/or z may happen and that I assume all the risk associated with this procedure. Still time to turn back. Shown into waiting room outside of surgery room, given blue cap to wear.

CAUTION: If you do not want to know about the surgery itself, skip to the end under the heading "OK, YOU CAN LOOK NOW".

I was put on a swivel bed. Given several drops of the eye numbing kind. I kinda thought they'd clamp my head down or something. Nope. Turns out fear of the machine is all that is needed to hold your head perfectly still. My right eye was taped shut, and I was swiveled and my left eye lined up under the laser cutting tool. Then pulled back out for the insertion of the eye speculum. Once that was on/in, they applied a suction cup with a hole in the center. My eyeball was suctioned up to the point where I lost vision. It felt like I was fainting, but then, oh, wait, I'm ok, just can't see. Probably a good thing, since then the laser did it's thing, cutting through the 1st 2 layers of the cornea. Suction thingy removed. eye speculum thing still in. Then I was swiveled to the LASIK machine, in which I was instructed to "stare at the orange light". People, I tried, but the Dr. was fiddling with my corneal layers, making that orange light jump and move around and finally it became an orange blur. Ok, stare at the orange light and click, click, click. Then Dr. uses little paddle things to put layers back in place. I can see him doing this, can't feel it. So bizarre. Ok, next one. Couldn't get the eye speculum in place because my eye opening to too small. Went on "outside of lid". I think that's what it was, but that eyelid is no worse for wear, so I'm not sure. Same procedure for right eye. I think I didn't really breathe the whole time I was in there. I was the most relaxed NOT RELAXED person ever.

OK, YOU CAN LOOK NOW
After the surgery, everything was in focus, but hazy. Like I had soft focus. That has been, and should continue to diminish until every thing is clear. Last night was pretty rough. After the nice eye numbing drops wore off, I was left with wanting to claw my eyeballs out.... except I also didn't want to touch them. I took Tylenol PM and Advil and put drops in every time I woke up. Around midnight I woke up and moaned... didn't want to open my eyes again, but the main part of the itching/burning was over. I looked over at the clock and could read the time. Without squinting. I think I giggled and went back to sleep. Got up this morning, squinting into the backyard, realized I didn't have to squint. Neat.

So, I am happy with the results. My eyes feel better even this afternoon than they did this morning, and the soft-focus effect is less. I get to wear REALLY COOL (not really) goggles to bed and in the shower for a week. And I've got 3 different kinds of drops to put in for the next 5 days. Not too bad.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

2008-03-27T21:23:00.011-05:00

There was a black and white photo contest tonight at the Rockford Photo Club. I didn't know it was being judged by an outside person. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have put anything in it. When I found out, I got that terrible "I haven't studied for this test, nor have I been in class this whole term" feeling. Anyway, too late. My pics were in for judging.

When the judge was ready, he brought in 2 piles. One was about 3/4 of the pics... the "not going to talk about these." The other 1/4 had the winners on the bottom, and a bunch of, well, what is just below Honorable Mention? Anyhoo, these "also rans" were in no particular order. This one was on top. One of mine. I totally had PTSD symptoms... blood rushes to head, can only hear heartbeat in ears, clutching at chest. (This all goes back to critiques in college. Horrible things, not necessarily constructive, and even if they were, at that time I'm sure they felt like personal attacks.)

He liked the composition, the diagonal leading up to the lighthouse, the tree framing the upper right, the motion of the waves which also push your eye up to the lighthouse.

He was bothered by the little white house in the background, (Shoot, I didn't even notice it) and the bleaching out of one of the sides of the lighthouse.

The next one of mine that came up was this one:

Liked the straight forward subject matter. Good tones, good framing.

Then this one of mine came up.

Liked the subject (of course, because she's adorable!) Gave suggestions of how to crop it better, which I give you. The other version was not bad, just not all it could be.

(Katherine, I'll give you this print!)

Not that I'm keeping score... but PEOPLE! 3 of my 4 photos made the top 1/4. I didn't take any certificates home, but I am ok with that. I feel I scored a personal victory. As many "creative" types, I often feel that if I do something great that I'm proud of, that that's all there will ever be. That's ALL the creativity I have. I forget that God is the Creator (capital C) and has created everything, and since I am created in His image, I have that creating spirit in me. Just having my pictures talked about with positives and being able to take the negatives and learn from them is a huge step for me.

The pics that won were excellent, of course, taken by guys, who I'm pretty sure, usually win something in this annual contest. I don't begrudge them the win at all. :)

Wondering what my 4th photo was? Here it is. I went outside the box with this one. It's from the Boone County Fair last year. I love it in color, but I thought it looked awesome in B&W too. It's still a winner in my book.

Oh, Drat!

2008-03-27T12:36:00.003-05:00

I'm (expletive deleted) tired of this (expletive deleted) snow. Really! Why is it (expletive deleted) snowing AGAIN?!

(Expletive deleted.)

Spring, my (expletive deleted).

A Day at the Beach....

2008-03-25T20:15:00.003-05:00

UR DOIN IT RONG!!!

We went out to Grand Haven because I was feeling nostalgic. I told Lee "It's probably pretty cold. You might want your big coat." "Nah. I'll be fine."

I'm in Love...

2008-03-25T19:43:00.003-05:00

With myself. And Photoshop. And Frederick Meijer Gardens.

Can't Stop

2008-03-24T22:11:00.003-05:00

I'm addicted to these now. They take forever with my limited Photoshop skilz. Lee is an excellent back seat Photoshopper. Turns out my cousin Julie is too. Thanks, guys... and also, STOP IT!

Instructions for Planet Shaped Amazing Circles

2008-03-21T10:55:00.002-05:00

Kristin asked where instructions were for the Amazing Circles.

Can be found here and here, and there are probably many more places as well. (Thanks to Kelly who already linked the above as tutorials on her Flickr account.)

Yay! It's Officially Spr....

2008-03-21T10:50:00.002-05:00

OH.

Nevermind.

Work in Progress

2008-03-20T11:34:00.004-05:00

Obviously this is a Work in Progress. I saw this kind of thing for the 1st time on my friend Kelly's site. It looked so awesome, and I'm years behind the curve, and I didn't think I could do it, cause, you know... look how awesome it is. I found directions though, and used what pics I had... which, since I was not photographing with this in mind, isn't exactly 360 deg. ... anyhoo, enough disclaimers.

I'm super excited to photograph something in 360 to make this right.

I can see why people spend hours doing this kind of thing... because AWESOME.

Rock Star

2008-03-18T14:03:00.008-05:00

The problem with Guitar Hero... ok, besides the fact that it's TOTALLY addicting... is that it FEELS like you can play the guitar for real. And you kind of start rocking out and making Rock Star moves... you know, like, lifting up the neck of the guitar and shaking it... problem is, that in Guitar Hero, lifting the neck of the guitar puts you into a more difficult mode. It's as if it's saying "HA, you think you're a star, do ya? Try this."

Thanks to Brian and Theresa for bringing Guitar Hero to the party. Thanks especially to Theresa for SHARING, since she is really, truly addicted, and regularly uses all of the "family minutes" for GH. (You can set the game up to shut down after x amount of hours.)

Here's Carrie and I tentatively rocking out. First timers.

There were actual guitar players available.

Lee and his dad.

Matt

Jim and his daughter, who isn't sure she's ready for a rock-n-roll dad.

Party Time

2008-03-18T13:21:00.006-05:00

Our friend Greg outdid himself last Saturday... there were 3 heart shaped cakes. Chocolate, Yellow, and Red Velvet. Butter cream frosting... 8 pounds of powdered sugar, 3 pounds of butter. Ouch! Was that your arteries clogging?

Mmmmmm.... red velvet. It's just so pretty!

We had people wear name tags, since it was a "mixed" party of work people and locals (ie: church and Belvidere people.) I was afraid that Brownie and Wonder Pony weren't going to show.... they're flaky like that.

Happy Pi Day

2008-03-14T21:54:00.002-05:00

And Happy Anniversary to us! 10 great and wonderful years!

Cheaters

2008-03-10T09:40:00.002-05:00

Turns out that photographers are cheating cheaters who cheat. Lemme 'splain...

I went to a photography seminar on Saturday. I learned a lot. Probably the more seasoned photogs didn't learn so much, but since I am still a bit unsure about f-stoppage, it was excellent for me. I now know how to (well, in theory) use histograms and make them work for me.

Now, I'm sure that before Photoshop, photographers were cheating in their darkrooms... manipulating the negatives to yield fantastic images. They had to be... our eyes see so much more than a camera can, so the trick is to get the camera to pretend to see what you see. Sometimes to do this, you must take 2 pictures of the same scene, using different exposures, and put these pics together. Photoshop makes this easy. (I say "easy" like I know how to do it... I can sort of do it, but it takes me a loooong time.)

So, those fancy nature photos that you think you can't take... well, maybe you can't... but you can come close depending on how much time you're willing to put into post production. In my case, I'm not willing to spend TOO much time in Photoshop, so I'd better learn to improve my picture taking so I don't have to.

While I was at the seminar, Lee was making local art contacts for me. That wasn't his intention for the day, but he's got info for me about the Belvidere art scene.

We got up for church on time yesterday, and were pleased that we were getting out of the house so early. I was eating breakfast and Lee was shaving. I heard an "Argh!" and realized, as Lee just had, that we were NOT, in fact, early. We'd both thought of it several times the week leading up to DST. Oops.

Addict

2008-03-06T13:10:00.004-06:00

Well, that didn't take long. Ever since I wrote that last post, at least once a day I thought, "Oh, I've got to blog that." Then I remembered that I wasn't blogging, so that I could find myself or something. What the heck was I thinking? I was keeping myself from something I enjoy, in the name of what? The Greater Good... pffft. I love my little blog. I love writing little snippets of my life.

To sum up:
I was startled by the biggest freakin' cat I've ever seen. "Dang, that tail is HUGE", I thought as I watched the "cat" jump onto the fence. Oh, um. It's a racooooon. At least I didn't scream like a little girl like I did when we had a possum getting into the cat food. Time to start taking the food in at night.

I have been drinking decaf coffee lately. A lot of it. I make a 1/3 pot in the morning and drink a thermos full all day with soy milk. This morning, I put the coffee in the filter, put the pot on the maker and turned it on. Had to get the cats out of the basement before I left, turned my back and heard a PING! Then a CRACK! I thought, "That sounds like glass breaking." Indeed. That's what happens when you DON'T PUT WATER IN THE COFFEE MAKER. The pot is cracked. And more tragically, I did not get my coffee this morning. Now, I realize that decaf still has a bit of caffeine in it, but what I didn't realize is that that has turned me into a stone-cold addict. All morning I thought about how I could/when I could/how soon can I get to Caribou Coffee and get a fix. I got it around 10 and sucked that baby down like nobody's business. I suppose the pot cracking is a good thing, as I am usually too lazy to replace broken things right away... things that I don't technically NEED. And I also am too cheap to pay $4 for a Mocha from Caribou every day. Dang, that Mocha was good. (Oh, and BTW, Caribou gets props for a clear menu that indicates which drinks are frozen/cold. Starbucks assumes you know. I ordered a Frappacino on a day it was -7 because I wanted something "warm". Wondered why the barrista looked at me strange. I get this frozen drink, and everyone I'm with is like "Why did you get a frozen drink?" and I had to admit ignorance of knowing what a Frappacino was. It was delicious, but I had to drink it fully bundled up.)

I've knitted some things too, but since I posted them on Ravelry already, which totally fulfills a knitter's/crocheter's dreams and plans, btw, I may or may not get around to putting them here. If you haven't joined the Ravelry community already, you can ask for an invite here. They don't deny anyone, but it takes time to get in, because Hoo Baby, is this site popular. If you enjoy the minutia of knitting, this one's for you. And I got in the Beta site early enough to get the name Yarnsmith, which TOTALLY rocks, as I haven't been able to get it for several other online things.

Which reminds me, how do you all handle the abundance of UserNames and Passwords you need to know in this world? Do you let your computer save the info, so you just click OK, and don't have to remember? What happens if you computer crashes? Do you write them down and tape them to your monitor? I have officially exceeded the limit of UserNames and Passwords I can remember. I started to write them down, but there are several I can't remember, can't remember the password to get into the email system that has the password for the site I can't remember.

I am working my way through The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Highly recommend it, EXCEPT, it is turning me into a crazy person. Chapter 2 says it will seem that way as you identify blocks to creativity and have to deal with them, and as you try to stop being afraid of success. Not afraid of failure, but of success. I had a crazy-person moment last night as I tried to reconcile new ideas into the old regime of my mind. That Old Regime will not go quietly, as it is quite SAFE and COMFORTABLE, and lulls me back to sleep with it's talk of "you know you can't, so why even try? That dream is too big... you know you won't do it."

I'm totally and utterly afraid of Photoshop, so I've been toying with various Photoshop like programs to edit photos. It's definitely a learning curve... this working with layers thing. I was able to do this yesterday with Paint.NET. I mostly did this particular thing because I wanted to see if I could. It was pretty fiddly, but I think Photoshop is too. Big thanks to Brian who talked me down from the ledge when I messed up. He thought of the least confusing way to fix it, and told me about layers in a way I could NEARLY understand. Which is closer than the I NOT UNDERSTAND AND I IS FRUSTRATES ME which I had going on before.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Sorry in advance for the profanity, but this thing made me snort. Loudly.

Hiatus

2008-02-24T15:54:00.003-06:00

This blog is going on hiatus for a bit. I'm currently reading The Artist's Way, and I need some time to process all that, and to figure out what this blog is to become. I don't think I'll be gone long. I enjoy writing it... it's not you it's me... we can still be friends... :)

In the meantime, keep checking Lee's blog. Peace.

Photo Biz

2008-02-17T20:53:00.006-06:00

I joined the Rockford Photo Club last Thursday. Yep, it was Valentine's Day. Lee and I don't usually do anything anyway, but I did feel kinda bad... "Um, ok, bye honey!"

It was the 2nd meeting I'd been to, and it was a "Display Night". I showed some pics and did not disgrace myself. The topic was architectural detail. Here are the ones I showed:

Margarita Island, Venezuela. Oh, how I wish I was sitting under this now.

The oldest sun dial in this hemisphere. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The RPC is doing a display at the Burpee Museum of Natural History. They were asking for pics of nature... landscapes, animals (no pets - too bad... I've got a million of Lazy, Lazy, and Crazy.) I signed up to bring 6 pics. I asked if there was any kind of quality control... ie: did they need to see my pics ahead of time. He said it wasn't usually a problem and "based on what you showed tonight, there shouldn't be a problem." Toot, toot. That's my own horn. :)

I should say that there are some very professional sounding amateur photographers in the group. I did not understand a lot of what they were talking about. I just want to take pictures.

Check it.

2008-02-17T20:50:00.002-06:00

I posted an entry from the 13th, and couldn't change the date to today, so it showed up below the "Naughty, Too" post. I kept pushing the Publish Post button, and, to me, nothing was happening. It's there though... scroll down. :)

Naughty, too.

2008-02-14T14:16:00.003-06:00

Lee just sent me an email with the subject: "Wait 'til yo mama gets home."

The following pics were attached...

Apparently, I need to keep my stash elsewhere, or secured in a better way. Lee said he didn't see Rico actually doing the deed, but Rico seemed willing to take the credit for it.

Spreading some VD joy.

2008-02-13T12:54:00.006-06:00

I mean Valentine's Day, of course! I'm making dishcloths.

If you haven't gotten one of these from me yet, it's only a matter of time, since I cannot seem to stop making them. Stop on by the house, or leave a comment, and I'll bring you one or two. Carrie and Nicola, don't you worry little ladies, I've got some already picked out for you!

I got it in my head that I wanted to make heart shaped dishcloths. Tried making my own design, then got wise and decided not to reinvent the wheel... er, the heart-shaped dishcloth.

Found this pattern online. Awesome. It's crochet, which I haven't done in FOREVER. Turns out crocheting makes my hands numb after while. Er... maybe I shouldn't have made so many hearts in a row. It's highly addictive. Seriously.

I Must Break You

2008-02-13T12:16:00.004-06:00

So, the conversation at work the other day was "Which is the best Rocky movie?"

I immediately answered "Rocky IV". But then I had to elaborate... I saw Rocky IV in 1985 on the big screen. I was 16. Therefore, everything I saw or heard at that time is linked to HORMONES. Things at that time for me were the FUNNIEST, or THE SADDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD, or Wow, that song expresses EXACTLY how I feel. (And, Mom, I don't remember if I wasn't supposed to see this movie or not. Well, it was rated PG, so it was probably ok. I won't tell you what I saw instead of the 2010: Space Odyssey, which I still haven't seen, btw. Ok, it was Footloose. That Kevin Bacon made me do it. Hope you can forgive me 22 years later.)

Anyhoo, we tried to rent it Sunday at our local place. They had II and III, but not IV on the shelf, so I asked for it. They said "We don't have it anymore." I said, "But that's the best one!" The guy grinned and said, "Yeah, you're right."

So, last night we were at our local Evil Empire, and Lee asked if I just wanted to see if they had it. $7.50. Awesome. We watched it last night.

I have to say, it still clearly IS the best Rocky. I forgot about the AWESOME 1985 outfits and fast cars, and the SONGS .... And in true 80's formula movies, there are no fewer than 3 montages. I kept saying "See, it's awesome, see, Drago is training in a lab, and Rocky is DOING THE SAME EXERCISES, but he's doing them IN THE SNOW! See! Look how time has passed, because now Rocky has a BEARD."

Later, Lee mentioned that Rocky IV was panned because it's the most violent Rocky movie, and as I was drifting off to sleep, I said, "Well, YEAH, cause it was against the Russians, and did you see Drago, he was like a FOOT TALLER than Rocky. Rocky's so scrappy."

For me, Rocky IV is still the best one, although we liked Rocky Balboa quite a lot more than we thought we would. No, wait. Rocky is probably the BEST, but IV is the best of the II-V franchise, Rocky Balboa being technically VI. Speaking of Rocky Balboa, they could not have cast Rocky's son any better. Seriously, we're watching Rocky IV, and saying, "Man, doesn't young Rocky look like Milo?" Check out the lower lip and the sad eyes.

FAVORITE QUOTE:
Duke: [to Rocky] You see? You see? He's not a machine, he's a man, he's a man.
Drago: [to his own trainer] He's not human. He's like a piece of iron.

Lee's Folks are Buzzards.

2008-02-08T13:27:00.001-06:00

So, Lee's parents are currently in Hawaii. They told us to "pull into the driveway once in awhile if it snows, to make it look like someone's been here." Uh, yeah. If we could get IN the driveway over the 2 feet of plow rubble. We parked at the neighbors' and got to work. Did I mention it's a 2 car driveway? 45 minutes later, we're practically having coronaries.

Mom and Dad, you may be getting a snow blower for Christmas next year.

Done as it's gonna be.

2008-02-06T16:39:00.000-06:00

My sweater turned into a vest. Anyone need 2 knitted sleeves? Anyone, anyone? Here's what happened... I was having so much trouble with the sleeves, and was about to throw the whole thing on the scrap heap. I knew in my heart that if I didn't FINISH IT somehow, it was never going to be done. So I threw some borders on the arm openings and neck, and VOILA. Done. Woot.

Digging Out.

2008-02-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

He works hard for the money.... I mean "for his honey".

Our neighbor also works hard. It's good to share a driveway with Steve... he's got a Bob-Cat. Boo yah!

Muchas Expensivas

2008-02-06T11:48:00.000-06:00

Don't get me wrong: I like expensive yarn. I rarely BUY expensive yarn, but occasionally I do and make something special, or keep one skein of the "good stuff" around as a pet (with mixed results).

I got a new Patternworks catalog, and I laughed out loud at this one....

Let's do the math, shall we?
$32.00 per skein.
You get the pattern free. Um, yeah. Looked like striped stockinette to me.
The pattern calls for 9 different colors...

$32 x 9 = a scarf that had better be massaging my neck while keeping it warm. And cooking me dinner. And washing my car.

Let it Snow.

2008-02-06T11:23:00.000-06:00

Never was there a more eagerly anticipated Winter Storm Warning than the one that started yesterday. I work for a school district, and everyone, and I do mean everyone, was checking weather.com every 5 minutes. I go MONTHS without looking at a weather report. We don't have regular TV or cable or anything, so I just stick my head out the door for an up-to-date weather prediction.

But, yesterday... I, too, was checking the hour by hour update.... you see, we all wanted a snow day. That is the beauty and glory of working for a school district. So all yesterday and last night was, will it or won't it? C'mon... start snowing... but not TOO soon... don't want them to have time to plow... Woo hoo! Now it says blowing and drifting.... argh... too soon... why isn't it snowing yet? I'm going to bed. Poo. I woke up at 4:00 and looked outside. Rats! There's hardly anything on the ground. By 5:30, it was snowing pretty hard, but still the call had not come. (The whole district gets an automated call if it's closed.) I was reconciled to get up and get ready, after a couple more snoozes... then the phone rang.

Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! Lee and I actually giggled.

Trust

2008-02-04T21:12:00.000-06:00

I have done this to myself on EVERY sweater I have made...

I second guess the pattern's sleeves. It never seems like the sleeves could possibly fit the hole in the body of the sweater. And since I don't (ahem) block my work, of COURSE it doesn't look like it'll fit. So, I start fiddling with the sleeves, even after I've got them partially sewed to the body.

I have just fiddled myself into the goofiest looking sleeves. I'm not even going to photograph them. Lee said "I think sleeves are supposed to pucker a LITTLE when you raise your arms. But you've got shoulder pads." Yes, indeedy. Now I'm seeing that, YES, the sleeve WOULD HAVE FIT IF SOMEONE HADN'T FIDDLED.

Trust the pattern.

Naughty.

2008-02-02T17:28:00.001-06:00

Now that we have 3 cats, it is even harder to tell who was naughty. My money's on Sibbie, as she has been known to take all of my skeins of yarn to a different location, as if they were her babies.

However, Rico could be framing her. He's a bit of a wild card, yet.... he DOES hoard toys under our bed.

Murray would NEVER do such a thing. Or is that what he wants us to think?

Winter Wonderland

2008-02-01T20:05:00.000-06:00

I went to a meeting of the Rockford Photo Club last week. The topic was about winter photography. The 1st guy started talking about what to wear when taking winter pictures, and I thought, "How lame." And yet, when I went out to practice taking winter pics this afternoon, I realized I maybe did not take into account the depth of the snow. (At least I had boots on... and wool socks... may have to rethink the blue jean thing. And I'm a dope, because I actually had snow pants with me. Duh.)

I finally got a lens cap strap, to keep the lens cap attached to the camera. Uh huh. At least it made a nice little circle in the snow so I could find it.

I had mild success with shooting snow. Basically I took a million pics with different shutter speeds until I got snow to look like snow. I'd like to try more pics on a blue sky day. Everything was white, white, white. Too hard to get the white to be white, but not blown out.

Out of all the pics I took, unfortunately this was the best one. Yes, I wear that hat. It's very warm. Yes, people laugh and point.

Invited.

2008-01-21T17:28:00.001-06:00

Finally got my invitation for Ravelry. Awesome. It's still in the beta testing stage, but you can get in invite in a few weeks. If you are interested in the minutia of knitting, this place is for you.

Body Types

2008-01-20T21:36:00.000-06:00

Hey! My shoulder is not this shape. What was I thinking?

Huh. I wish I could set a sleeve in right the FIRST time. Nah. What fun would that be?

Want.

2008-01-20T15:13:00.000-06:00

Want.

I'm not the only one.

2008-01-20T14:36:00.000-06:00

Murray, too, has an interest in Gone with the Wind. His interest may be a bit more superficial than mine.

I asked Murray why I loved him, and he curled up his little paw and tucked it under. Oh, right. That's why.

Important sweater news!

2008-01-19T21:58:00.000-06:00

Get the latest, up to the minute reports RIGHT HERE...

This just in... I totally rock.

This sweater I'm working on is from, you guessed it, the best sweater book of all time. This will be my 4th sweater from it. I don't think I've ever gotten my money's worth like this from a book before. I never did use this book, because, ugh... it's no longer the 80's.

The pattern wanted me to do a separate front and back. With Fair Isle. I suppose there's a way to do that, but why? I knew that I couldn't knit the rib stitch in the round, since mine leans, so I knit that regular and then joined it up and knit the rest of the body in the round. I had to do a little math even.

On to the sleeves. I decided to knit these in the round too. The fair isle pattern didn't work as well with the sleeves, as I had increases in there. I made a rookie mistake and was only increasing 1 st where I should have been increasing 2... my math failed me when I converted to in the round. But that's all behind me, and the 1st sleeve is almost done. It's mind-numbing straight stitch now.

I figured out that whole 2 circular needle knitting too. The one instead of dpns. I believe it has saved my bacon on the sleeve, which has too many stitches for dpns and not enough for 1 circular. It's kind of a pain, and does slow me down a bit, but I have not dropped any stitches. I did have one of the circular needles drop to the floor, when I made the common mistake of DOING IT WRONG.

Knitting just to Knit

2008-01-19T21:50:00.000-06:00

I can't be the only knitter who will start a project just to knit. I wasn't particularly interested in knitting this hat, but I wanted to knit, had no projects in mind, and I wanted to use this yarn, so I started a ribbed hat, that I kind of knew I would never finish. Bye! Frogged...

Also, see how my rib stitch LEANS? My straight stitch doesn't, just the rib stitch. Anyone else have this problem?

I keep forgetting...

2008-01-19T21:26:00.000-06:00

Do you do this, too? Start to clean something out, walk away for a "minute" to do something else, come back an hour later and find the mess you made, only now your mess has been made larger by helpful felines? Happens here all the time.

The part of "Helpful Feline" is being played tonight by Rico (aka: Mr. Skitterpants)

I had to clean out my stash tonight. I've got a bunch of made items that do not have a home, and they were taking up valuable real estate, that should have been used for actual stash.
Here is part of the process... (the part where I pull everything out, then walk away and forget I've pulled everything out, then come back and am surprised.)

Helpful Feline 2 is being played by Furry Murray Fuzzy Pants, who took this interesting approach to help me write this blog tonight. He often does this, and I usually wouldn't mind his warm little body on my lap, but he keeps touching my mouse pad and messing me up.

That Time of Year

2008-01-17T08:36:00.000-06:00

Apparently, January is the time I read Gone with the Wind. It was the 1st book I read in 2007, and is almost the 1st book I'm reading in 2008. I picked it up last night on a whim, and totally got sucked in again. Dang it!

When I 1st read it, I was in 7th grade. I skimmed (ok, skipped) any parts having to do with the Civil War, character studies, and scenery. When I read it a few years ago, it was just after watching Ken Burns' Civil War, 12 VHS tape series. Suddenly, the war part in the book made much more sense... now that the information had something to stick to... I had some framework in my mind.

I watched the movie GWTW with my mother-in-law once, and at the end she said "Well, I don't care for Scarlett." (Or something like that.) I always forget how much deeper her character is in the book, and no, you still don't necessarily like her, but you can understand how her actions made sense to her.

Anyway, I'm stuck now, so I'll let you know how it ends this time.

BTW, don't read "Scarlett", the modern follow-up to GWTW. Just don't. And DON'T watch the made for TV movie. I beg of you. I'm trying to save you many hours of your life. (The book is somewhat better than the "movie", but that's not saying a whole lot.)

But DO read GWTW sometime. If, for no other reason, you can say you read a 900 page book. That's why I picked it back in the 7th grade... to prove that I COULD read a 900 page book. Who does that?

Cruise Day 3

2008-01-13T18:45:00.000-06:00

December 25, 2007
Christmas Day on Legend of the Seas

We all agreed that there would BE NO GIFTS, since the cruise WAS the gift. There were some gifts. I bought Carrie and I scrapbooks. I know, I know. "My Caribbean Vacation" photo albums SHOULD be cheesy. I wanted them to be cheesy. Carrie wanted not to like them. But we both did, so I gifted us with them and we made plans to scrapbook together.

There was a very fancy Christmas buffet. Here's some of the food art:

See also Lee's Day 3: here and here.

Cruise Day 2

2008-01-06T11:20:00.000-06:00

December 24, 2007
Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Also read: Lee's Day 2 synopsis.

You could fill a book (or a hundred thousand books!) with the things I don't know. When asked where our cruise was going... I'd shrug and say "Caribbean". Even when I knew the names of the islands we'd be visiting, there was nothing else attached in my mind. Here are a couple of things I didn't know about St. Maarten:

It has 2 capital cities: Philipsburg (the Dutch capital) and Marigot (the French capital)
The island was taken over by the French and Dutch because of the salt flats that produce excellent salt.

Just so you know, flip-flops are comfortable for the 1st 2 miles, but the 2nd 2 miles is asking for it. Oh! Also, that scarf/wrap I bought, I saw in the very 1st shop on the boardwalk. I bought it on our way out, and it was only $6. I'm not a very good tourist. We did not go in one single jewelry, booze, or duty-free shop, although we saw roughly a million of them.

Me with my scarf/wrap, and very handsome man:

We bought foot cream in a tiny, cramped hole-in-the-wall "pharmacy". A man (tourist, also) asked me if I knew how much such-and-so cost, and I said "Does it really matter? You know you're going to buy it anyway." He laughed and said "You're right."

You know in stores how they often put expensive, or age sensitive, or shop-liftable items behind the counter? In this pharmacy, where I was expecting to see, oh, I don't know, condoms, cigarettes, or magazines, they had 3 packs of men's underwear.

This "throw-away" shot turned out to be one of my favorites from that day. I was fiddling with my polarizing lens, trying to get the sky bluer. Like it really needed my help ("Don't tamper in God's domain", and all that.), but anyway... I like how Paul's orange shirt keeps the balance with the orange building, or at least keeps drawing my eye.

And from the Thanks for the Heads Up Department:

I don't know if you've experienced this... I hadn't until Cozumel in 2004. A whole bunch of places in the world do not have toilet systems that can handle toilet paper, so you throw it in the garbage. I remembered in 2004 that I had seen this as a child and it didn't make sense until just that moment. I was at John Ball Park Zoo in Grand Rapids, MI with my folks? and possibly other family members, and I was in the bathroom, and a family of non-English speakers were in there and they threw their used toilet paper in the garbage. I reported this to my family, and I can't remember what they said, probably because it didn't make sense to me and didn't connect to any experience I'd ever had in my 7 years. Now I know. Huh.

Hey! It's my Blog-iversary!

2008-01-04T20:01:00.000-06:00

I posted my very 1st blog ever on January 4, 2007. Woo hoo! Remember this gem?

And lest you think this will become a travel-blog... ok, I will publish Days 2-7 later... here's what I am working on currently. I did some knitting on the plane, and my needles did not get confiscated, nor even questioned. Nice.

It's a sweater from my favorite sweater book of all time... this will be my 4th sweater from it... each one totally different. I'm done with the fair isle part of it and can now blissfully K without thinking until my fingers bleed. I wasn't trying for this, but it appears that I am replacing all my sweaters with hand-knitted ones. Cool. Not less expensive, certainly, but ones that fit and that are not like anyone else's, and that are the exact colors I want. That is the coolest thing for me now that I can actually produce wearable garments.

Cruise Day 1

2008-01-03T19:06:00.001-06:00

December 23, 2007
Legend of the Seas, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines

Also read Lee's Day 1.

After breakfast at the Marriott and our mad dash through the food lines, we met a family who had just come off the cruise we were going on. Santo Domingo is trying to build a more touristy image. The cruise right before ours was the 1st ever to leave out of SD. This family told us that everyone leaving on the ship had to pay $20 because of the Leaving Tax. (It costs $10 to enter the country, and $20 to leave. By this point we thought "money well spent to get out of this place.") They said the cruise line was pretty upset about it, but this being a new port, they didn't know about it, or it wasn't communicated to them.

We took taxis to the port. Of course, the price quoted by the Marriott people was way less than what the drivers were offering. Once again, our bags were being held hostage, so we had little choice.

This is our Ship: The Legend of the Seas. This is at the port at Grenada.

We got on the ship a few hours before we were to sail, so we went to look around. Once I saw the pool, I knew what I wanted to do. I had heard that pools on cruise ships were filled with salt water, but I didn't believe it since I smelled chlorine. I jumped in and... AUGH! My eyes! It IS salt. Once I reconciled myself to that fact, it was fun... no need to work too hard in salt water... it provides extra buoyancy. Of course, you feel like you weigh a TON when you get out.

I'll write about ports of call later, because I've got to get the following goofy pics out of my system:

Cruises provide AMPLE opportunity for people watching. You will see people at their best and worst, and more of some of them than you ever wanted to. As we were looking around before the ship sailed, I spotted this guy:

Dude! If your back is that red on the FIRST DAY, you're in for a world of hurt on this trip.

By the way, in my 38th year I have finally come to terms with the fact that I Do Not Tan. I burn. I did not even try to tan on this trip. I put on 55 spf and a goofy tourist visor and mostly stayed in the shade. It worked, as I am just as pasty now as before. Perhaps my flip-flop line shows a tiny bit.

I mentioned buffets in my earlier posts. Anyone who has ever been on a cruise talks about the 24/7 food. It truly was. I'll post later about our dining places, but for now, I'll leave you with the thought that buffets make for interesting food choices. You can have your key-lime pie and broccoli together, just like you always wanted. (This was my MIL's plate one day.)

And I apologize to Luis Acosto, Hotel Manager, right now. Luis, I know how hard you and your people work to keep everything on the ship running, and you certainly deserve a break. I'm just so, so sorry that I took several pictures of you sleeping. I couldn't help myself. And I'm sorry that I'm posting it now. But, not so sorry that I won't post it.... :)

Cruise Day 0

2008-01-02T19:07:00.000-06:00

December 22, 2007
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I call this Day "0" (that's a zero) because we arrived in SD a day before our cruise left. We all thought it was a good idea to have some lee-way in the timing. (ie: not having a schedule so tight that nothing could go wrong.)

We got to the airport on time and after paying a $10 fee each to ENTER the country.... Wha? (Turns out there's a $20 fee to LEAVE the country. More on that later.)... we went in search of luggage.

This is our first view of Santo Domingo:

Bienvenidos! Donde esta mis maletas?
(Welcome! Where is my luggage?)

Could have been worse: it was only one bag that had snorkeling apparatus. The "helpful" people at the counter said to wait for the next Atlanta flight which should arrive in "10 minutes". I'll do the conversion for you: 10 Dominican airport minutes = 10 American football minutes. An hour later, next flight comes in... no bag, and even more people to get in the missing luggage line.

We took a taxi to the Marriott hotel. Sounds easy, doesn't it? We were accosted upon exiting the airport by several taxi services. One group started loading our luggage. (You're supposed to negotiate prices BEFORE they touch your luggage... but we didn't move fast enough.) So, we "negotiated" a price... we pretty much paid what they asked for, since we were at their mercy.

Notice the lack of driving in your own lane. These are not a people who pay attention to traffic "laws." You'd think there'd be anger involved with all the cutting off. Not so... I cut you off and receive a gentle toot and a friendly wave.

Since it was now past dinner time, we ate in the Marriott and stumbled to bed.

Next morning - we're all ready to go sight-seeing. We step out of the Hotel and see this:

Nothing in our sheltered American experience has prepared us for lines of people stretching several blocks, with one end of the street barricaded with armed guards. Er...

Paul and Carrie went back in the hotel, but Mama and Papa G. and I decided to go on... we wanted to get to the Plaza Cultura on the next block, unfortunately on the other side of the barricade.

We asked the hotel people what was going on and was it safe. Turns out that every year on the 23rd, presidential hopefuls hand out food to the people. Bags of food and live piglets and chickens, as it turned out. The hotel guys escorted us down the middle of the street and through the armed barricade.

The Cultural Plaza was very telling about Santo Domingo... neglected, but with potential for beauty. The only part of the Plaza that showed any signs of recent work and thought was right outside the Museum of Modern Art.

We left the Plaza and headed back to the Marriott. The color of our skin let us pass right through the barricade and down the middle of the street again. The guys from the hotel were laughing and taking our picture as we headed toward them. I asked them if it looked funny, because I certainly could see the irony, and it would have been a picture I'd have taken if given the chance. I asked the guy to email the pic to me and he did! We were clearly not from around here.

All of this left us with a fairly bad taste in our mouths about Santo Domingo. The city redeemed itself later, but not until Day 8.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T20:10:00.000-06:00

It barely registered with me that it is a new year. We didn't do anything last night, as Lee has a wicked cold, and we were both recovering from 12 hours of travel the day before.

Lee noticed this morning that one of our car doors was open... and had been all night, and all the day before. Must have been when open since we got in at 3 a.m. Monday. It had been snowing too, so there was a nice snow drift inside. I cannot believe that the car started. With less trouble than it usually has starting. While I left it running, I cleaned the car off and shoveled... throwing out my shoulder... gah! After cleaning the car off I ran to Wal-Mart for supplies. Usually I avoid it like the plague, but it was close, and it's the only place in town that has the soy milk I like. Not too crowded on New Year's Day at 9:30 a.m. I'll have to remember that.

The rest of the day we watched Die Hard 1 and 2, and I photo-edited... maybe that's what threw my shoulder out! Ha ha. Although, with 900 pics to go through...

So, Happy 2008! I hope your Jan. 1 was more exciting than ours! Boo ya, do we know how to live.

Those Who Know Me

2007-12-31T19:58:00.001-06:00

Will Not Be Surprised...

My tendency is to pack very well, and then when I get to my destination, my items explode from my bag. Lee thinks this is humorous.

I THINK he thinks it's humorous, or else he rolls his eyes in his mind. (He's not allowed to roll his eyes at me anymore.) :)

I hope he can live with it, because it appears to be part of my nature. Here's what happened when I got home. (It was worse earlier.)

Also, this happened this morning. We've been gone a week. We had a friend checking in on the cats, but they were ALL OVER US this morning... regardless of what I was trying to accomplish.

Yes, that's Sibbie trying to push my laptop off my lap. She's a jealous one.

Finished Objects 2007

2007-12-31T19:34:00.001-06:00

Turquoise V-neck sweater
Mulberry short sleeved sweater
Blue cardigan
Purse
3 French Market Baskets (felted)
1 Teal sock
DPN rolled cases (4)
Wicked 2! (Just right!)
Wicked! (Too big!)
Socks (red/brown striped)
Kitty Pi
48 Dishcloths, and counting
Felted Log Cabin
2 pairs Glove/Mittens for Theresa
2 Nantasket Baskets

Books Read 2007

2007-12-31T18:25:00.000-06:00

The Eyes of the Dragon - Stephen King
Dead Cat Bounce - Sarah Graves
The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell - Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare - Lilian Jackson Braun
Father Brown Mysteries (all of them) - G.K. Chesterton
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears
The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
Handling Sin - Michael Malone
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Tough Choices - Carly Fiorina
Izzy Willy Nilly - Cynthia Voigt
17 Against the Dealer - Cynthia Voigt
2X Harry Potter: Deathly Hollows - JK Rowling
The Angel of Darkness - Caleb Carr
The Alienist - Caleb Carr
The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
The 6th Lamentation - William Brodrick
A Thief of Time - Tony Hillerman
Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather
Possession: A Romance - A.S. Byatt
Sons from Afar - Cynthia Voight
Eldest - Christopher Paolini
Ramona and her Father - Beverly Cleary
Eragon - Christopher Paolini
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Last Enchantment (Merlin) - Mary Stewart
The Hollow Hills (Merlin) - Mary Stewart
The Crystal Cave (Merlin) - Mary Stewart
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
The Boy from the Basement - Susan Shaw
Silent to the Bone - E.L. Konigsburg
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants) - Ann Brashares
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Skybreaker - Kenneth Oppel
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Airborn - Kenneth Oppel
Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
Harry Potter: Order of the Pheonix - JK Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

If this Ship's a Rockin'....

2007-12-31T13:43:00.000-06:00

Well, you know the rest...

Remain prostrate in your cabin for the day and order room service.

I was worried about being sea-sick on the cruise. I was a little woozy on the 1st day, but I was able to mostly keep the nausea at bay by consuming COPIOUS amounts of food at REGULAR intervals. We all did. Thankfully, there was food 24-7. The buffet in the Wind Jammer was almost always open. Great food!

On the last day at sea... it was a travel day... we were heading back toward Dominican Republic... the waves and wind were really bad. I mean really bad. The crew put out barf bags on all the stairways. I made it to breakfast in the Wind Jammer... trouble is the WJ is at the front of the boat on the 9th floor, and so I staggered in like a drunken sailor, grabbed some cereal and milk, and careened back out to a more central location, hoping for less "lift."

Later I found a spot on the back of the ship which was ok, except for the pitching and heaving and wind... oh, and the creepy old guy rubbing suntan lotion on the nubile young woman's buns. Why anyone needs tan buns, Lee's mom and I couldn't figure out...

Lee didn't make it up to breakfast... he talked with Carrie on the stairs, then went back down. I made it until about 10:30, then I went to lay down too. We were ok when lying completely flat...but sit up, and ugh. We ordered room service and watched movies.

They closed the pool... you can see why!

I'll post more about our other adventures after I'm done sorting pics. I may have been just the tiniest bit click-happy, but I don't think 900 pictures is THAT many... er....

Lee says he can tell where I am by the click my camera makes. :)

Socializing

2007-12-15T16:19:00.000-06:00

We had our "holiday" party at work on Friday. I was going to help decorate in the morning, but things started exploding at my buildings. (Figuratively, not literally.) I did get to help a bit... I made the cellophane "fire." (Log cabin theme, in case you're wondering.)

Here's my cube at work. Some others were really getting into the whole "decorating" thing. I succumbed eventually, since we were not decorating our house. (a. won't be home during Christmas, b. cats, including new one who is still in crazy kitten phase, c. would get home and have to put it all away.)

The little dangling things are the 12 days of Christmas done in felt and sequins, made by my mom. One of my co-workers wondered why I had chickens hanging from my shelf, and why they didn't have Santa hats on (?!?!). Someone finally told her what they were.

Hey, Kelly! My pasta nativity scene is in my upper cabinet. Got lots of comments on that. Good: That is so cool! Bad: I feel like boiling some water.

Oh, we know you're there...

2007-12-15T13:53:00.000-06:00

We are just choosing to ignore you...

With disdain.

And extreme prejudice.

Uneasy Truce

2007-12-15T13:43:00.000-06:00

Rico and Murray have been chasing each other around lately... I think it's a good sign... and Rico's been fighting back, when Sibbie starts batting at his head.

They seem to have an agreement while sleeping. I don't know what kind of negotiations were necessary to set up the perfect equilateral configuration they've got going on. I've only got one question... where are Lee and I supposed to sleep?

Once a Year

2007-12-15T12:14:00.000-06:00

My friend Katherine dropped off some homemade toffee the other night. It almost makes me weep, it is so good. And it is 1/2 gone. SOMEBODY cannot eat just one piece. Um, that would be me. I console myself with the fact that I only get this item once a year. The problem with this thinking is that there are about 57 things that I only get once a year... but I get them ALL at THIS time of the year.

So, let's see... 57 items (which I eat about 1,000 calories of each - you know, the "can't eat just one" thing)... so 57,000 calories in about 2 weeks. Divide by 3,500 calories (which = 1 extra pound of "jiggle"), which gives you (well, gives me) 16 pounds. AAAAEEEEEEIIIII.

I worked out this morning with the same instructor that Lee writes about here. I have been working out for a few weeks in anticipation of the afore-mentioned 57 "once a years" and the cruise (which is a food-fest from what I hear). Quite a few of my "slacker" muscles are feeling the burn. Now that they are being called into service, they're a little unsteady and awkward. You want me to what now? On one leg?

Attending classes costs a little extra at our club. I talked to the owner, and he suggested I try the classes to make sure I liked them before I paid. Like them? Like them? I've heard that exercise should be something you enjoy. Enjoy? Enjoy? I've always liked the results I get from working out, but I have NEVER enjoyed it. Ever. And can I just point out the obvious... it's totally unfair that in 2 weeks I could gain 16 pounds, but it would take 2 months or more to take it off.

By the way, Katherine, I don't want to NOT get toffee.... after all, it's only once a year.

Typical Knitter

2007-12-08T15:33:00.000-06:00

After the success of my last sweater, I am pumped to do another sweater. I was going to bust a move out to my favorite yarn store in the middle of a crazy, busy Saturday to get yarn for a new sweater.

So, I took inventory and found some alarming things. I have Unfinished Objects that I had forgotten completely:

1 1/2 socks. Oopsie.

Another French Market Basket.

So, I did what any typical knitter would do... I took the dpns from the socks and started a new project. Ha ha! Mittens!

So no new sweater for me just yet. I'll go the the yarn shop on Friday and get new yarn. Hopefully, I'll get somewhere with the UFO's. Those socks, though... ugh.

My 1st Wearable Garment

2007-12-08T15:23:00.001-06:00

Not sure if I ever posted this because I was a little embarrassed by it. It technically fits, but it's too short and the neck is too big. It's been sitting in a drawer since last year. I wore it this week because it was -2. Gah. I got compliments on it. So, ok. I guess I'll wear it.

It's made of bulky acrylic. I designed it based on a sweater I liked from Kohl's. I did LOTS of math to get it shaped like the Kohl's sweater. I apparently ran out of math when I got to the neck.

The picture is pretty bad, but you get the idea. My photographer decided to take a nap.

Natural Instincts II

2007-12-08T15:19:00.000-06:00

Every good story needs a sequel.

Murray, Murray, Murray... this is becoming a bad habit of yours! You're keeping us down! We've got stuff to do!

I can haz sweater?

2007-12-08T15:12:00.000-06:00

A friend asked if it was cheaper to make a sweater than to buy it.

No.

But... it fits, and is the color and style I want. Plus, I got to knit it. Hoo boy.

I had some trouble with the sleeves. What a surprise. I had to rip back and rip out. I finally figured out how to attach the sleeves... only 1 re-do of the sleeve seams... getting better!

Murray's Bags are Packed

2007-12-07T15:13:00.000-06:00

... and he's ready to go!

And so am I! We are going on a cruise over Christmas break. It's our first one. We'll be in the Caribbean (pronounce it any which way you want - I don't care! I will be warm).

Suffering, as I do, during the long, dark winter months, (Look up Seasonal Affected Disorder... that's ME.) I've been looking forward to this trip like nobody's business. The Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, all my will and energy were bent on the Caribbean. Every thought of mine begins with "on the cruise, we can..."

I cleaned my camera... all the lenses. I bought another set of rechargeable batteries and another SD card (memory). I will not be caught short! My brother in law is looking forward to doing nothing, and said he was counting on me to take all the pictures. OK! On the cruise, I can....

I am actually partly packed. My suitcase is out and has all my summery clothes in it. Lee will pack the night before, I am sure! Must remember quart size ziplocks to keep all my "hazardous" liquids contained.

We leave a few days before Christmas... we have 10 working days until we go. Longest days, ever!

If your pants are tight...

2007-11-25T19:50:00.000-06:00

... you did Thanksgiving right! Amen.

We had 2 Thanksgivings... got ourselves invited to friends on Thursday and went to Lee's folks on Friday. The 1st dinner, which Lee discusses on his blog, left us utterly full for 8 hours. I could not eat pie. I took one bite and I felt like that John Cleese/Monty Python sketch... "it's wafer thin..." We figure the fullness was due to the butter, sour cream, bacon fat, lard... and those were only the fats we KNEW about. I'm sure I personally ate the equivalent of a full stick of butter. Or two.

I did NOT have to unbutton my pants, thankfully. I DID have heartburn 2 nights in a row. Guess which nights! Ha ha. And Lee was up super late Thursday because of 2 Cokes and 2 cappuccinos.

I made 4 pies for Friday. 2 pumpkin and 2 apple/raspberry. I do not care for pumpkin pie, but ended up with and extra one to take home. Have been chipping away at the rest of the apple/raspberry. Pie is good for breakfast, right? Fruit? (I made apple/raspberry because I did not have enough apples for 2 pies, as I was only going to make one, but what the heck, it's Thanksgiving, so I made it 2 with a bag of frozen raspberries I had. Delicious, btw.)

A cat by any other name...

2007-11-21T10:56:00.001-06:00

So, Lee and I have been thinking of renaming the kitten currently called War. He is a tuxedo cat. See illustration below... The picture called "tuxedo" is exactly his coloring.

We have long harbored dislike for common cat names. For example, the obvious name for War would be "Mittens" or "Boots" or "Socks"... or derivations thereof.

We're more inclined to be "funny" or "goofy" or "just plain strange".... but actually we're into obscure pop culture references. Murray is from Stargate, Sibbie is from Homestarrunner.

Here are a few things we were thinking for War's new indoor name... besides "crazy eyes", which he definitely has.

We went through the tuxedo angle...
Lee: Who wears tuxes?
Me: James Bond.
Lee: Butlers.
Me: Penquins. (you see how easy it is to go too far.)
Lee: Alfred. (batman's butler)
Lee: Mr. Belvedere.
Me: Bwa hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Lee: We could call him AC/DC.
Me: Oh, Back in Black! I get it.
Me: Or Angus (the guitarist from AC/DC) because it's a funny name.
Lee: How about Gordon?
Me: ....
Me: .... AH! Gordon Lightfoot?! Bwa hahahahahahahahahaha.

We haven't decided yet. Any suggestions?

And I've been knitting...

2007-11-12T14:24:00.000-06:00

This is sweater #3 from the best sweater book EVER! It'll have sleeves. I know it looks small, but it stretches like crazy.

Here's a detail of the 2 rows of "cabling" up the front...

Cat Eyes.

2007-11-11T21:14:00.000-06:00

There aren't many websites that make me laugh out loud, but icanhascheezburger is one of them. I cannot resist cats with laser eyes. Can't do it.

Napping Gardner Style

2007-11-11T21:07:00.000-06:00

I never was a napper, until I joined my husband's family. They are notorious nappers. Today, I became completely assimilated into napping culture.

We got home from church around 10:30. Lee went down for a nap right away. I joined him at 12:30, to "rest my eyes." I woke up at 2:30. Lee was still sleeping.

Assimilation complete. Resistance minimal.