Finished!

I finished my scarf last night. I had been a little undecided about how long to make it, but it ended up being decided for me when it became apparent that I was going to run out of yarn. I ended up making it 1 row of boxes shorter than I thought I would, but that's just fine. It measures 67", taller than me. I ended up with perhaps 5" of yarn left, so I had just enough.



Don't ask my why I wore a red shirt to model a red scarf. Doh.

I went out today to buy more yarn. While I was knitting, it had become apparent to me that my next project will be a shrug for myself. It's a plain black yarn, very soft. It's going to be quick and dirty, and help me learn new techniques: It will be one piece, a ribbed cuff, then garter stitch up the arm and across the back, and back down the other arm. It will be a good chance to practice increasing and decreasing, because I haven't done much of that yet, and I'm going to make the cuffs in the round, which I've never done before I'm not going to knit the cuffs in the round, because I've cast on and started 6 times now, and I keep getting gaps in the stitches between the needles. (If I don't get going on this shrug soon, I will get frustrated and lose interest. So I will try again to learn to knit in the round at another time, on something larger than a cuff.) And then it can keep my arms warm while I knit more!

I also bought some baby yarn (on sale) to make my cat a blanket, because she was very interested in the scarf while I knitted it so I thought she might like something for herself, and two other skeins of pretty multi-colored purple-y yarn (on sale) because there's a baby blanket in the Stitch N Bitch book that I want to make. I don't know who it's for yet, but my friend Trish is having a baby so it will probably be for her. Her favorite color is purple and I'm pretty sure I was thinking of her when I picked it out.

And do you know how much I paid for gas today???? $1.89 a gallon! I filled up my car for less than $30. Hallelujah!

And the cat would like to say: oiiii;lllllllllllll

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving episodes, ever.

Now, please excuse me while I go watch my other favorite Thanksgiving episode, ever, "Pangs".

Woohoo!!

Bwahahahahaha!!

Oh my God, I'm such a dork!

I'm watching an old episode of Star Trek: Voyager that I haven't seen in at least a million years. One of the crew has gone into labor and is about to deliver her baby. Suddenly, her pain is different, something is wrong. The Doctor discovers that the baby's forehead ridges (don't ask me the race of the baby's father) are causing a complication. If they don't deliver the baby now, the uterus might be punctured and cause internal bleeding.

Doctor (on the tv, of course): Prepare for fetal transport!
Me (out loud, to no one): Sweet!!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Wow...and I thought *my* cat was out of her mind!

Slinky Cat:

LOL!!!

Ok, fine. I give in!

It's 27 degrees out (F). I finally relented and turned on the heat for the first time this season.

They see me rollin'...they hatin'...

*sigh* What am I going to do with this boy?!?

I'm just kidding. In fact, if you cannot stand shameless bragging about one's offspring, please exit this blog now.

Today I went to the parent/teacher conferences and got the boy's report card:

(click picture for larger version)

He takes his schoolwork seriously and works hard to get his grades. He is responsible and well behaved. I'm obviously very pleased.

Got Fruitcake?

It's just about that time of year again. For those of you who enjoy fruitcake, I'd like to recommend what I have found to be the Best. Fruitcake. Ever. Made lovingly by the monks at the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia. They are a bit pricey, but definitely worth it. I treat myself to one every year at Christmas time.

Book Meme

Bradi has tagged me for a book meme. I’m supposed to tell you six book-related things about myself and then tag six others to do the same. I don't have a damned clue how to go about this, and there's a good chance this will never get published. But I'll give it a try.

1. The Little House on the Prairie books were my favorites growing up. I learned a lot about how things were done back then, through the eyes of a little girl: I learned about making maple syrup and maple candy; about butchering a pig, which included making headcheese, roasting the pig's tail (a treat!), and blowing up the bladder as a balloon to play with; how they sewed all their clothes and made mattresses stuffed with straw. I sewed a skirt, shirt, nightgown, bonnet, mattress (stuffed with batting, not straw) and a quilt for my Holly Hobby doll.

2. One of my all-time favorite books is Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson. I was first introduced to Ms. Jackson in the eighth grade, when my English class read the short story Charles (which is part of that book). I am currently rereading this book for the eleventy-millionth time. My copy is literally as old as I am, and falling apart worse than I am.

3. The most books I've ever read by one author is the Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman. I started reading these in (I think) the early 90s. I read maybe 7 or 8 of them, stopped reading all together for a few years when I had a baby and was otherwise occupied, and then picked them back up a few years ago. In my absence he had written quite a few more of them, so I had a great time devouring them all to catch up. But now that I am caught up, I have to wait for him to publish the next one. :( I have read 21 of these so far, and am waiting for the latest to come out in paperback. A few years ago I emailed the author about my disappointment about some character developments. He emailed me back, assuring me it was not the last we would see of that character. True to his word, things are now back on track. And also, the author's wife, Faye Kellerman (also an author) has the same birthday as me.

4. The first book I ever got emotional about, I cannot even remember the name of. I was in the first grade, and I got this book out of the school library. It featured pictures of ragdolls as the illustrations, and I cannot remember the storyline but something sad happened and made me cry. I took this book out every week for I don't know how long. And thus began my habit of obsessing over things.

5. The furthest away I ever sent for a book was for a used copy of The Sunflower Forest by Torey Hayden, ordered on Ebay from England. I had read it years prior and decided I had to re-read it and own it. By that point it was rather hard to find a copy of it.

6. The last books I've purchased are Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, and The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I haven't even received them yet.

I am not going to tag anyone for this, as I figure everyone I know on the interwebs has already been tagged and I'm too lazy right now to check. If you are reading this and have not been tagged previously, and would like to participate, please consider yourself tagged.

WARNING to all cat owners!!

Progress

Did some housecleaning today. Then my friend Ericka came over to watch a movie. (You didn't really think I'd clean the house for no reason, did you?) We had quite a bit of girl talk (she's got some interesting changes going on in her life), then watched Memento, which I haven't seen in eleventy thousand years, and she's never seen. Got a pizza, drank a little vodka. The only thing I really had for a mixer was V8 Fusion juice, you know, the kind that mixes fruit and vegetable juices and counts as a serving of fruits and a serving of vegetables. So I convinced Ericka that it was a healthy drink when you add vodka, and that was fine with her.

And I got some knitting done:


I'm really excited. I can knit!!

A crisis of faith

I am Christian. I believe in God and Jesus. I grew up Catholic (though my family is pretty much non-practicing). I have always considered myself to be Catholic. After I divorced, I avoided church for a while, unsure of where I fit in. I finally made peace with that, I started researching Catholic annullments, and started attending church on a regular basis. I found it comforting. I enrolled Jake in CCD, and we made church part of our lives. When Michael died, I got mad at God for a while and stopped going. Then I tried to go back, but just being at Mass became so emotional for me that I had to leave in the middle of it. I don't think I've been back since.

Since then, our church stopped offering regular CCD classes, and started some "total family" classes, which I didn't really want to be a part of. So we have been completely away from church for a couple of years now.

Jake mentions church sometimes. I think he misses it. I think I'd like to go back. But I don't think I can bring myself to rejoin the Catholic church. I have mostly two issues, one being the whole pro-life/pro-choice thing, and the bigger issue being the Roman Catholic church's view on homosexuality. I believe in equal rights and acceptance for homosexuals. And I don't feel like I can go back to the church.

I've been doing a little research, I think there are a couple of Christian churches in my area that accept homosexuality. (There's even a Free Catholic Church, but there isn't one in my area.) So I'm thinking about checking them out. And while that might be a happy answer to my problem, I'm still feeling very sad about my loss of my church. Not sure I can articulate it, but I'm feeling it.

Getting my knit on

A few years ago, I bought the book Stitch 'N Bitch, and taught myself to knit from it. I didn't get very far. I got to where I could knit and purl, made a practice swatch with a garter stitch, stockinette, ribbing, and seed stitching. I made a little sweater for a stuffed animal. Then I thought I'd make myself a little scarf out of eyelash yarn, but the eyelash yarn kicked my ass. I restarted that one I don't know how many times, and never finished. I came to the conclusion that I didn't have the patience for knitting. When I make something, I want to see the finished results QUICKLY. I don't have months to dedicate to ONE project. That's why I sew, and bead, and build stuff. And so, I abandoned knitting.

But Cassy's party gave me serious knitting fever. Everyone (well, not literally everyone, but a good number of them) was working on such lovely projects! And I needed to knit. I decided I'd buy some good yarn, and actually make something. A scarf. A scarf can't take TOO long, right? Earlier this week I went to a crafty store and looked at the yarn. I picked a red wool, and found it was even on sale. Woohoo! Bought some new bamboo needles, too, since I was pretty sure I didn't have the size I wanted at home.

Yesterday I spent a few hours getting myself reacquainted with the book and with knitting. Today I dove into my project. I'm going to make myself a red scarf, in a 'basketweave' pattern. I cast on 45 stitches. I started with 15 rows of seed stitch, then did: 5 seed (that is to say, 1k, 1p, 1k, 1p, 1k), 7 knit, 7 purl, 7 knit, 7 purl, 7 knit, 5 seed. And of course swap the knits and purls on the next row, etc. I think I am just about at the point where there areas are squares so I will start doing the opposite. I'll decide that tomorrow. And also, I am really happy that I started with the seed stitch, because plain knitting or purling positively flies by in comparison! Incidentally, I got this pattern idea from Crazy Aunt Purl's blog. Once I saw it, I knew I wanted to try to make it! Here's a shot of what I've done so far:

I am pleased, so far.

Seriously...

what kind of assholes have a screaming argument at ONE IN THE MORNING? Especially when they live in an apartment building so all their neighbors are thisclose, and their windows are open?

I NEVER get good upstairs neighbors. The latest ones let their daughter run and stomp all the fucking time. Seriously. For HOURS. Sometimes just stamping in the same spot again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. I mean, I KNOW kids play and run. I do expect there to be certain level of noise. I have a kid. I raised him in this building. And I spent a lot of time telling him to be "easy on the floor" because we have neighbors downstairs. If your kid needs to run that much, take her the fuck out to play for a little while.

And they leave their laundry in the machines for HOURS. Do they think they own this building? Do they think that those machines are for themselves, alone? Newsflash: you are sharing those machines with 11 other families! Common courtesy and common sense should tell you that it's NOT OK to leave your stuff in the machines for 3 hours, for 4 hours, and longer. OTHER PEOPLE WANT TO USE THEM, ASSHOLES. And when you find someone emptying the machine of the clothes you just left in there for 3 hours, don't cop an attitude about it.

So, now they're fighting. Right now I can hear him saying, "What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?". I can't decide whether to yell "SHUT THE FUCK UP" out the window, or just pound on the ceiling.

Wow. I didn't mean for this post to get this long. Guess I needed a good little rant, there.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled posting.

Bwaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Is it just me, or is the Buffy board not working?

I mean the temp board, of course.


*sob*

I really think I prefer when my head is firmly planted in the sand

I was just reading a news article, in which a 9 year old girl in Massachusetts was kicked off the bus by the bus driver, on a busy street, far from her home, just because she got up and switched seats without permission. She could have gotten hit by a car, she could have gotten kidnapped, and worse. Luckily, another student who got off at that stop told his parent, and that parent got the girl and drove her home. People are outraged, the driver was fired. I'm so glad it all ended well.

But while reading the news article and the accompanying comments, I came across this one:

So the liberals come out in force to fuss and whine about this poor child, and the poor single mother fighting against sexism. Boo hoo hoo.

Fact is, if your child has a different name than the mother, then something's wrong. The mother should put EVERYTHING into creating a solid family with a mother AND a father. Not a family with a single mother. Not a 'solid' family with two mothers. Not a 'solid' family with two fathers.

A mother and a father. Instead of wasting time crying about this daughter she couldn't even bother to DRIVE to school, she runs off to the Telegram and the police.

Stop fussing about this, and figure out how to marry well (and no, 'Ellen' or 'Rosie' doesn't count). If you can't do that, and teach your child how to walk along Route 9 and how to CROSS THE STREET!

-Telling it like it is

There is SOOO much I could say about this person's comment. But I'm going to focus on just the first point, which I've bolded above: "If your child has a different last name than the mother, then something's wrong". Wow.* People still think like this? When I give my name and my child's name for school registration or doctors appointments or...whatever, the person I'm dealing with may be a person who gets a little blip in their brain and assume that our family life is 'wrong'? That I'm a bad mom? That my kid suffers in a poor environment? That I'm immoral in some way?

I guess I thought that we were past this kind of thinking. It's a new world out there. I didn't know I was getting looked down on because I have a different last name than my kid.

This just makes me very sad.



* (In case anyone didn't know, I have a different last name than The Boy. I went back to my maiden name when I divorced DF; the reasons behind the decision would be a whole 'nother post.)

God bless her

Determined Texas Woman, 92, Votes in Ambulance

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Betty Owen is 92 and after a stroke four years ago, needs a feeding tube and can't walk. But she was determined not to miss Tuesday's election. She arrived at her polling place on a gurney in an ambulance, where an election judge and support worker climbed aboard with an electronic voting machine and let her cast her ballot.

"And you have voted," precinct judge Sam Green said after Owen pushed the red button finalizing her choices. "You know, you look so pretty in that red dress."

Owen grinned, the San Antonio Express-News reported in Tuesday's online edition.

Her daughter arranged for the ambulance ride at the last minute after Owen failed to get an absentee ballot.

Owen, a Marine Corps veteran who served in World War II, cast her first ballot for Wendell Willkie, a Republican running against Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.

She became a Democrat after voting for John Kennedy in 1960. She cast a straight Democratic ballot Tuesday.

Why do people still act like assholes when they're on airplanes?

Don't they realize that NO ONE is going to put up with it?


FBI: Airline passenger restrained with duct tape

RALEIGH, N.C. - An airline crew used duct tape to keep a passenger in her seat because they say she became unruly, fighting flight attendants and grabbing other passengers, forcing the flight to land in North Carolina.

Maria Esther Castillo of Oswego, N.Y., is due in court Thursday, charged with resisting arrest and interfering with the operations of a flight crew aboard United Airlines Flight 645, from Puerto Rico to Chicago.

Castillo, 45, struck a flight attendant on the buttocks with the back of her hand during Saturday's flight, FBI Special Agent Peter Carricato said in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. She also stood and fell onto the head of a blind passenger and later started pulling the person's hair, the complaint stated.

Ankle cuffs kept slipping off Castillo, so the flight crew and two passengers were forced to use duct tape to keep her in her seat, the complaint states.

She calmed as the pilot diverted the flight to Charlotte-Douglass International Airport, but became disruptive again when authorities boarded the plane to remove her, authorities said.

Carricato states that a passenger saw Castillo having drinks in an airport bar before boarding. She bought another drink on the plane. Flight attendants stopped serving her alcohol because of her behavior, the complaint states.

United spokesman Jeff Kovick said Wednesday that safety is the company's top priority and that it's cooperating with authorities.

FBI spokeswoman Amy Thoreson on Wednesday declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

A message left seeking comment wasn't immediately returned by Castillo's attorney, Julia Mimms.

Holy Shit

Jogger runs mile with rabid fox locked on her arm

The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; 6:02 PM

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff's office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

Ok, ok, another one!

Police Dog Fail:

This just made me lol so hard!

WANT!

I don't even know which set I want. I want them all. Stone dice!

Look at the aventurine ones! So pretty!

Look at the clear quartz!

And rose quartz!

Ooh! Carnelian!

Botswana Agate!

Hematite!

And they have metal: steel, brass finish and copper finish.

I think I just had an orgasm.

Stolen from Jenn

Use one word to describe or answer the following list:

1.Your house? none

2.Your significant other? none

3. Your hair? curly

4. Your family? stressful

5. Favorite place to eat? Chinese

6. Your favorite thing you can see right now? cat

7. Where is your cell phone? counter

8. Your favorite drink? Kahlua

9.Your dream/goal? house

10. What Room you are in? bedroom

11. Your hobby? beads

12. Your fear? heights

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? housed

14. Where were you last night? home

15. Something that you aren’t? employed

16. Pie? Please!

17. Wish list item? DVDs

18. TV show? How I Met Your Mother

19. Last thing you did? blog

20. What are you wearing? jammies

21. Vacation spot? island

22. Your pets? cat

23. A best friend? no

24. Your life? whee

25. Your mood? whee

26. Missing someone? sometimes

27. Your car? Toyota

28. Something you’re not wearing. pants

29. Your favorite store? Amazon

30. Best memory? Vineyard