Category: Uncategorized (Page 12 of 114)

OK, I gotta run through this fairly zippy-like, but let me first tell a funny on myself. I got a pair of ankle boots in the mail today (finally threw away the pair that were pulling apart at the heel & driving me crazy) and I unpacked ’em and tried them on. They looked cute…. the leather is even stretchy… but the fronts, over the instep? Man! They just killed! I walked around a couple minutes, fighting with myself about whether to repack & ship them back, or to keep them & hope they broke in and felt better. As I looked down, I thought it seemed kind of strange that some of the leather was supple, and the parts where it hurt? Nice and shiny & immobile. Hm. Could it be?

Yes. Plastic inserts that weren’t initially visible because they’re CLEAR, and once you take them out? Really nice boots. Sheesh. It’s a wonder I’ve made it this far in life without skewering myself on a traffic cone.

OK! Alyson, of YoYo Knits fame, had a contest before she went to Rhinebeck, and I was the lucky winner drawn who guessed correctly the number of items she would buy! I figured I would win a skein of yarn, and didn’t think much more about that – so let me just say I was BLOWN AWAY by my prize pack when I got home last night!!!

Not just ANY ol’ yarn, but WOLLMEISE, people. (Dramatic clutching at throat.) And two bars of chocolate, and three handmade stitchmarkers, and then the cutest damn package of fun stuffs by a company called Plain & Thimble. I am going to tell all of you to go to her website right now, and look at the yarn she has for sale, because she is destashing to help pay for Bitty’s Booty Surgery, and everything she has is awesome and very nicely priced. (Fiber for you spinning folks, too!) Really, you’re helping a fellow knitter/spinner out, AND her little dog, too. It’s not adding to your stash if it’s for a good cause. MMmmKay?!

Then, I have some more recent pictures of Tripper, because everyone loves puppies, and he is grown up enough now that he has to wear the e-collar, because he is always up for challenging the Pack Leaders (JWo and Me) and this was on Thanksgiving, when he needed to be reminded that he is NOT in charge.

Do you see the little divot on his head, between his eyes? He has challenged Suzy a few times, and those challenges have been rewarded with some toothy redirection. As in, his head is bitten as she flings him aside, much like a brontosaurus might have irritatedly flung a small biting raptor out of its way. Back in the day.

Modeling his Fetching Tag:

Last but not least – I’ll be doing some felting this weekend.

Slippers for me: (candy bar for scale)

and slippers for James:

His are going to have to come out of the machine quickly, because they’re just a smidge bigger than his feet right now. Mine? Might need to felt for a week. Holy crap. I’ll post more about the projects/yarns/patterns once they’re done & I can devote a whole post to ’em. With after pictures.

Anyway, there’s your Thursday update! James made duck gumbo last night & it’s been simmering all day – it smelled sooooo good this morning, I can’t wait to get home & have a bowl or three. And then the weekend will be here soon! More knitting! But now, with chocolate! Thanks again, Alyson!

So, this morning, I took my first sip of Diet Coke – and for the first time in months – there was no agony. No zinging pain, no deft maneuvering of my tongue to instantly re-warm the tooth in question, nothing. I’ll admit, I took the drink with great trepidation – I drank like I “used to” … and …. nothing! So sweet! Yay for root canals! (Boo for how much they cost!)

‘Merican Peeps – Happy Thanksgiving.

I am feeling victorious this holiday because, right now, I am the picture of Preparation Organization. I have all the serving dishes out, all the potatoes peeled & chopped & waiting for the burner to turn on, the turkey is in the roaster, the cranberries are simmering, and we are READY! And it doesn’t even “start” until 4pm. The only thing better would be if all the other rooms in the house were as organized! But it feels good. Having an extremely clean refrigerator helps a bunch, I’ll admit it, I feel a little rush of joy and pride every time I open the door. (It was long, long overdue for a cleaning, scrubbing & ruthless disposal of items.)

And tomorrow morning, I’ll conduct my military-esque insurgence on the stores of my choosing; I even have a notebook with a list, the times they open, and whatever deal details I need to know. Ah, yeah. I think I just heard all of you shaking your head & saying “That’s crazy.” No, crazy is getting up at FOUR a.m. to go to JC Penney. My list is relatively short, I don’t go to Wal-Mart or Best Buy (I do not want to be involved in the pushing or running, it’s not worth it), I just hit about five or six stores, and am usually back home & tucking myself back into bed by 9 or 9:30. I know some people who shop ’til early afternoon! Now THAT’S crazy. It’s all in the perspective. :)

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, here’s your chance to reflect on what you have, what you’re grateful for, and to remember those less fortunate. It’s a good idea to do that every day, of course, but these days are filled with abundance for those who are fortunate, and even in my highly organized kitchen, I recognize the path I’m on, one that in part was given to me, in part one I’ve worked hard for, and that path allows me to (over)feed my family and look forward to crazy-ass early-morning shopping. I’m grateful, and I also wish I could get that Adam Sandler “Turkey for me & a turkey for you” song out of my head.

What? You want me to get all maudlin and preachy? You know what to do. Donate to a food bank, be somebody’s angel and buy some toys when you’re out tomorrow, give back, do good things, make a little birdhouse in your soul…. ah hell. Now that’s in my head. Thanks to all of you for reading, this crazy roller coaster funhouse of a blog, that wails and screams and goes clank in the night. I love writing, I love putting a chunk of me out there and it’s gratifying every day when you don’t boo me off the proverbial stage. Now. I gotta go stir the cranberries. Smile at the relative who makes you crazy and it’ll all be over in a few hours. ;)

You know that expression “Out of the blue”? Well, sometimes you get things that come out of the grey. Because when the skies are crisp and bright and blue, sure, it’s great to have things happen unexpectedly (as long as they’re great things), but they really count when the skies are grey.

JWo and I both had tough days, we’ve got stressful things that are and aren’t related to work, and at least we’re not stressing each OTHER out, but we arrived home tonight at the same time, his mind filled with thoughts, my mouth open, screaming at my dashboard to get that extra ounce of frustration OUT before I opened the car door.

Ten minutes later, he stood at the top of the steps to the backyard and we looked at each other (black labs tearing around us) and he said, “I’m so glad we have each other.” And we hugged and kissed and we were grateful (and this is where you go “awwww”…) and I went inside & hit the blinking button on the answering machine.

It was a reporter, from the New York Times. He wanted to interview James about duck hunting, and climate changes, and the season this year. I was so excited, I ran out the door & told him, and he came in after he finished marking for the fence, and returned the call.

After talking to James, the reporter is now trying to fly out here to go on a duck hunt with him; the challenge is finding a photographer and coordinating flights – during the busiest travel time of the year. I forgot all about my petty anger, and just felt pride. The New York Fuckin’ Times. Yeah. It just makes me smile, a smile that comes from deep within and warms me to the tips of my toes as it curves to my nose….

Oh, and the other little drop of silver in this day? Came in the mail. Welcome to the family, Tripper. You’re bona-fide officially ours.

I think that’s an excellent title if I do say so myself. Now, worry not, I’m not overly pissy, but I have these general irritations that chafe and bind at sporadic moments throughout the day. I’m quite glad it’s Friday, that’s for sure! I just have this over-arching sensation that I’m distracted from what I’m really supposed to be doing, because the more urgent little fires are demanding my attention. Meanwhile, the barn is going up in smoke!

I am finally getting a root canal, the Monday after Thanksgiving, so that’s fun. And since we are hosting James’ family on the holiday, we wrote out the menu & assigned some things last night, which helped me feel like I was getting a grip on things. We’ll have the house cleaned on Tuesday, our fence guy is supposed to start next week, and ahoy, I just remembered, I need to sand & putty & sand & paint an exterior window. I need a cloning machine. Because I would just get all my clones to do all the crap, and I’d sit comfortably in my big chair, knitting & catching up on a lot of tv I’ve missed this week!

Now I need to go run around a little bit more and make sure nothing is ticking or smoking or leaking toxic waste ….. I need to leave today with at least some things wrapped up! Productive weekend, here I come! (and as soon as I typed that? I immediately wanted to lie down & take a nap. Gusto, where did you go?)

Well, yesterday was JAM-packed with everything you could ask for!

I went and saw my dear friend Shelley’s baby over my lunch hour:

Meet Miss Kara!

OMG she is so teeny tiny and perfect and cute. She has her momma’s eyes and a wonderful round face and loads of hair. I couldn’t be happier for the family, and I hung around until Gramma got there so I could share in her joy as well.

So then the Cowboy part of all this. We went to the Sprint Center last night for the 9th & final Garth Brooks concert, and wowza, what a show. I do not know that much of Garth’s music (though I can belt out some chorus words, especially that “I Got Friends In Low Places” song!) The Sprint Center was really cool. And? Louder inside than a Chiefs game. Probably because it has a lid on it, but holy mother of god, the entire arena was full and these people DID know Garth’s music. He is the consummate performer, I must say. He loves what he does, he does it well, and this concert was also being broadcast around the country and Europe in movie theaters. After about an hour & a half, he “ended” the show, complete with an encore – and then came back out and proceeded to play for the crowd for another hour or so. (He said something to the effect of, “Now that the movie theater taping’s done, let’s give you folks more of a show!”) It was pretty impressive. He ended with Don McLean’s “American Pie”, which was one of my dad’s favorite songs and one I learned at a very early age, so I sang along, with tears streaming down my face & clutching my husband’s hand, not having to explain a thing. You fall in love with words and talking, but sometimes love is even stronger when you don’t have to say a thing.

Thanks, Garth, for a fun, fun night!

Oh, but the really funny thing? The suite next to ours? Was filled with the most stoic, serious, unhappy-looking people. We found out that suite is owned by a large um, concert ticket provider. You’d think those people would like to party! Maybe they all had to pay exorbitant handling fees…..

Maybe they had fun? But they weren’t showing it on the outside. We laughed & laughed….

I have not been able to get my shit together since Daylight Savings Time rolled back. Actually, if we’re going to be technically correct, I’ve not been able to get my shit together for a really long time. But I pay someone to listen to me talk about that, and meanwhile, if you subscribe to my blog in Bloglines, you’ve been thinking I have updated, like at least 10 times today. I dunno whazzup with the RSS on the FEED there, but sorry dudes, I’m not live blogging my day, it just keeps showing up as “new”!

In other news, I had a heart-to-heart with the Time Warner Cable technician who came out on Friday. He sat down on the hassock, I sat on the loveseat, and I felt like we were breaking up. Amicably, but breaking up nonetheless. I told him I had suspicions the problem was in the signal. He hung his head, shaking it. I went through all the issues, showed him the error messages, and that’s when he sat down & clasped his hands. Basically, he’s seen these errors (and more!) all across the metro, in all sorts of different boxes. It’s not the signal. It’s not the hard drive on the box. Basically, it’s not me, it’s you. It’s YOU, Time Warner Cable Mainframe Computer, it’s YOU. You’re the reason these poor tech guys go around to peoples’ homes and have to sit in their living rooms and apologize for your mistakes and problems. This tech guy looked like he was going to cry with gratitude when I told him I had some connections and planned to pass my concerns along.

Essentially, they have issues at the Main Nerve Center, and the only thing you can do is reboot your box (really fast) and it somehow stabilizes it for a while, until the evil computer sends it mixed messages again and causes its little brain to explode. (That’s when you pull the power cord out & plug it back in really fast.) The people at the Nerve Center tell the Supervisors of the Technicians that “they’re working on it” which we all know means, “We haven’t got a friggin’ clue, and don’t let this get out.” This man was clearly at the end of his rope. I at least felt better because lord knows, I was getting tired of trekking over to the Winchester station and trading these damned DVRs out, and I also no longer have to call customer support. Oddly enough, this solution pacified me, when it was the same solution from the phone company a month ago, and I was having none of it.

Now, I just have to get my shit together & call my “connection”. They know someone who knows someone, you knows what I mean? :wink:

I feel like I’m shooting trap this morning.
PULL! BLAM! PULL! BLAM!

JWo must, too. We both got up & have been tearin’ through our to-do’s. I made two enormous pastries (it’s an old family recipe) that caused me to realize that I simply have to find one of those big pastry plastic thingies you roll dough & what not out. I remember ours unrolled & had measurements (and various pie-sized circles) on it; I ended up using two silpats cobbled together & that did NOT suit me one bit. I ended up making the dough too thick, so the treat did not turn out as well as I’d hoped. (And you make the dough the day before, so it’s freakin’ involved, and I hate that so much effort went into it to have it not turn out as planned!)

Anyhoo, I’ve got split pea soup with ham in the crock pot, I’m about to go start laundry, and I just finished scraping the 1 year+ paint off the garage door windows. You know how some things just become so familiar? Well, we’ve had this sort of “artsy” look to those windows for a year now, because they needed to be scraped. (I use “artsy” in the same way one might describe my two-different-shoes mishap of Friday.) I didn’t really understand or know what scraping meant, and didn’t think I knew how to do it. And I just sort of stopped seeing the strangeness. It didn’t even cross my brain that I could actually do it! Until last weekend, when JWo had me scraping the stickers off the greenhouse glass, which was ever so much fun. I am serious! I adore projects that provide instant gratification & satisfaction for the work you are doing. So this morning, I took my new leetle friend, Le Razorrrr Scraperrrrr, please to say in ze Frenchie Accentie, ok, baybee?, and we went out and had at those windows. I am so proud! It went quite quickly, and now perhaps I must do it on ze inside, because ze peoples who painted the inside of the garage many yearz ago were the Messies with the windows as well. But my armz, zey are tired. (This accent thing is hard to break, sorreeee!)

We somehow got a New York Times delivered today as well, and the Wo joked that I would be tackling that crossword. (I tear up the Star’s, it’s not overly hard.) Ayah. Because I want to undermine all my accomplishments of the day with feeling like a dolt! But perhaps, just perhaps, one of the clues will involve SKEET. PULL!

That’s actually the name of this sock yarn, hand-dyed by Gypsy Girl Creations/Stone Barn Fibers, purchased from The Loopy Ewe.

They’re super cute & cushy, and perfect for Halloween. Alas, they don’t go at all with my bright red shirt/black skirt, so another day – they can double as Le Tigre and have multiple wearings…..

Happy Halloween! I hope to see some interesting costumes on my doorstep tonight – I already know we’ve got some crazy ones going here at the office.

Oh. Oh.

Where to begin?

I just told a co-worker I’m waiting for the storm sirens to go off. Could this day get any crazier? Could it? All that’s missing is a dude in a chicken suit! Breakdancing!

(ok, in the interest of not over-sharing, and b/c Blogger doesn’t allow password posts, I’m editing this out. If you missed it & would like the meat, email me or leave me a comment w/ your email.)

Anyway, I found myself at one point this afternoon longing for a storm cellar, just like Auntie Em ran into when the winds began to whip across the Kansas plains, and the chickens ran in every direction. Boneless chickens can’t run, and men in chicken suits are prime targets for getting hit by tornadoes and golf carts. (I like to imagine running over my enemies with a golf cart, it’s just so much more personal. Plus I don’t want to jack up the suspension on the Murano any more than my off-roading already does.) I’ll take those bone-in chickens any day, just don’t call me stupid in business, because I will RUIN YOU!