Selbuvotter

The experts have weighed in. Eli says these mittens are selbuvotter (selbu mittens), even if they do not have the selbu star on them, and Eli is the expert on Norwegian knitting in my life. :) Thanks, Eli!

Here is my new yarn love - two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, one Bark, one Loden:


Here is my boy Grady. Out on the porch I have this flowery bench cushion, which is outdoor furniture but not waterproof. When it rains I pick it up off the floor and put it on top of one of the chairs so it won't rot. It makes a perfect cat hidey-hole.


Fee is just mad he got to it first.

Ok, I'm back.

I am really, severely, truly having a hard time motivating myself to post without my little Blogger widget. Curses to Blogger for screwing up the code that let it work. I tried downloading it again - let's see if it works. Still thinking about moving the blog.

Sigh. Pictures! How about pictures? I laughed myself silly tonight, at silly things. The funniest thing was a guy on the news at Tower Records. He looked like a Yeti in a Judas Priest t-shirt. Seriously, folks! His loved ones should tell him. I mean, you can see all manner of geeks, freaks and weirdos at Tower. Too bad they are in bankruptcy, but I can't say they don't deserve it. I will miss the people watching.

Ok, picture time. This is a picture of my Mom's mittens. I don't know if this is a traditional Norwegian design. The story of these mittens is that my gran went over to Denmark to visit some of her Norwegian relatives and came home with them. They told her the style is from Lapland. I *think* I recognize the motif, but I think the x's had curved bits between them instead of harsher edges. At any rate, the mittens wore out but Gran loved them so much she asked my mom to make her a pair.



They are my mom's first attempt at stranded knitting. She charted the mittens from Gran's existing pair, and made two pairs of them. Unbelievable. I'd have been freaking out. 

Any thoughts on the motif? I know next to zero about traditional Norwegian patterns. I did a search for them but didn't see anything that was exactly like this. As far as Lapland goes, I don't see where their knitting has been standardized. I think this is far more likely to be a Norwegian pattern because it is two-color, it's black and white, and the palm has this pattern:



Pretty. Yes, they are a little grubby. Even Eucalan did not take it out. So she wants to make a new pair.

And my card was charged for the jacket tonight, maybe I will get it before spring! 

All this "stuff" are belong to us

Stuff as in "things" as in "I own this and I decided to pack it so now I have to lug it across three airports and get it in and out of this gigantic rental car trunk." I had a Mercury Montego. I am 5'8. The trunk was big enough to fit a family of four comfortably, and I could barely reach the lid when it came time to close it.

I bought some Araucania Nature Wool Chunky and a couple skeins of some cashmerino knock-off at AC Moore, three skeins of Cleckheaton country 8-ply for a fair isle sock project that may or may not work out, and some Haribo gummy bears. To anyone who hasn't had these before - they are the gold standard in gummies. You must try them! I was able to cram everything into my suitcases without too much trouble, but did I really think I needed to bring all those clothes? Seriously, I don't think I did.

Then there is all the online shopping I've been doing lately. Once again, I haven't spent much, but it's stuff. I got a shipment of tea from Adagio - Casablanca Twist (boring minty stuff), Green Anji (my daily staple), and some absolutely delightful smelling Earl Grey Bravo. Next, I found the Euro pillows to match my green duvet at Z Gallerie on clearance. I balked at the $50 each original price even though they came with the down insert, and luckily they had them in stock at the sale for $14.89 each! They arrived yesterday. They are so soft and cushy. Next time I am sick or it's a snow day I am going to just cuddle up in bed with one of those pillows. They are that nice.

Then on top of THAT there is the jacket fiasco. You may remember that a month ago I tried to replace my winter parka and had some bad luck at a few stores and some worse luck with online shopping. Finally I ended up calling Columbia and asking them where I could get the particular jacket I wanted. They recommended one of their wholesalers, and I got the jacket for a little more than half price, and they are supposed to be sending it. I don't think my credit card has been charged yet, so I am not sure what's going on with that but we'll see. They had to get it from Columbia and then were going to send it to me 3-day.

I tell you what, I am sick of waiting for all these packages. Last night I carried in a 25-pound bag of cat litter, a 15 pound bag of another kind of cat litter, and the pillows. I live in a second-floor walk-up. That equals roughly 50 pounds, or 2 pounds more than I lost on Weight Watchers. Can I just tell you I am newly motivated to keep that weight off? Because 40-50 pounds is a lot of dang weight to lug around on your hips. I do not want to ever gain it again.

I remembered the mittens from my youth as having a Selbu pattern on them. The mittens that Mom brought out to show me last week, though, didn't have the Selbu on them. She said the Selbu mitts were "boughten" (isn't that a funny old word? The dictionary says it means 'bought' rather than 'homemade.') But the ones she made? They had a different pattern (pictures later) and they were really pretty. One of the things i did while I was at Mom's was chart the mittens for her so she could make another pair if she wanted. (Where she will find Dale Hauk or another suitable yarn in Florida is beyond me, and she does not internet shop.) I copied the chart for myself and am swatching it in the Country 8-ply. If it works, I'll incorporate it into a nice boot sock. More later, with pictures.

My head hurts thinking about it all. Too much stuff!

PS: The catsitter had a death in the family. She asked someone to cover for her on Sunday, and they didn't. Sigh. She's sat for them for years and does a good job. I think this was an exception.

I'm not down with the universalism sound

Apologies to anyone who is a universalist - I just wrote that somewhere and thought it sounded funny. So I wanted to share, because I am occasionally actually a teeny bit witty and I don't want to let those moments slip without pointing them out.

So here is another something witty - my mom and I were in World Market on Saturday. I was browsing in the furniture section and she was looking in the grocery aisle. All the sudden someone smacked her on her behind! She turned around - it was about a 15 or 16 year old kid with Down Syndrome, looking at her and smiling. His mother gave a horrified DON'T YOU DO THAT, Mom laughed, I think it was about the funniest thing that has happened in a long time. The idea of my mom getting smacked on the bum is just too funny.

(For anyone thinking of lecturing me for mentioning that he had Down Syndrome, the Down Syndrome Association of Middle Tennessee is one of my few remaining freelance clients, and some dear friends of mine have a daughter with it, whom I dearly love. I am not in any way, shape or form laughing at this boy - he just did something funny. I don't believe it's something that needs to be hidden away from people or apologized for.)

I had fries from this thing called a Frypod.

Yes. I can't even begin to tell you how much BK's new french fry container cracks me up. What's even funnier is that there are 20 PHOTOS OF THESE THINGS AT FLICKR.

I'm home. I'm tired. The catsitter, I don't know what happened. I came home to two kitties who had no water, cat boxes at toxic hazmat levels that hadn't been cleaned in 4 or 5 days, and very little food. Fee wouldn't come near me. I have to tell you, I guess I can overlook the cat box thing but the water? Completely hacked off. I paid her for this.

But happy to be home. Oh, and remember me talking about the dog? He got into my Lamb's Pride Bulky, chewed through the Ziploc bag and mooshed around on the yarn a bit. Snagged a big tooth on the outside of the ball, but didn't do any real damage. So I'm glad I didn't take the blanket. (Phew.)

Time for some popcorn.

It's Not Thanksgiving Till Mom Cleans the Fridge

Hello bloggy friends! Happy Thanksgiving! I'm not going to bore you with long lists of everything I'm thankful for - let's just say I am happy with my life and feel incredibly lucky, and I'm also thankful for the turkey that is thawing in the kitchen sink.

I arrived into Orlando Tuesday night on the first night in a zillion years where Central Florida had snowflakes. Not snow, just snowflakes! There was almost nobody out on the road, which was nice. No plane delays either. Whoo!

The nephew and I drove up to Gran's house yesterday morning, and we saw "Fat Boy's BBQ." At least they are being honest.

In my family we have some fun holiday traditions, my favorite being Mom Cleans the Fridge. Almost every holiday you know the fun has started when she fills the kitchen sink with water and starts dumping out leftovers. The containers get washed and piled up for Turkey Day leftovers. Yum. This one is closely followed at Christmas by "It's Not Christmas Till Somebody Loses a Gift Card." (More about that later.)

I have been knitting like crazy on some Hedera socks in a spring green Regia 4-faedig. The pattern is super easy and keeps you occupied. I haven't worked on them a lot, just on my flights and a teeny bit last night and today. I'm almost done with the leg.

And I wayyyyyy overpacked. That is how I roll. With major suitcasage.

Morning

To the idiot who is trying to steal my Blogger password - you're not too bright, are you? Another strike against Blogger. Wish I had time to switch it all over. I'm serious.

It's all mohair and fuzz around here, as I have been knitting these:


(Those are my women's size 10 feet next to them, so you can appreciate how truly huge these things are pre-felting. My foot is almost exactly 11 inches long.)

To anyone coming over from Mama-E's or to see my socks: Hi! How y'all doing?

The sock is really simple. I cast on 66 stitches and did a 10-round cuff of K1TBL, P1 ribbing. When you knit the knits through the back loops you get the wonderful standy-uppy ribbing. I knit a basic stockinette sock with a boring old French heel (smarter knitters than me could find a way to incorporate those twisted stitches, but I couldn't), and finished up with a twisted rib toe - 14 rounds of decreasing every other round, and the rest by decreasing every round. I wasn't sure I'd like the twisted rib toe - would I feel it in my shoe? Was it dorky? but I actually quite like it. It's stretchy and comfy, and I can't feel any difference in my shoe between it and any other sock.

I am leaving for Florida tomorrow afternoon, and have had a hard time picking out what knitting to take with me. The Flower Basket shawl I abandoned back in October? Socks? (of COURSE!) The blanket I am knitting? I decided that I'm bringing the shawl and enough yarn for two pairs of socks (I am wildly optimistic). I'm not, sadly, bringing the blanket. Besides the fact that it would take up half my suitcase, my parents are the proud owners of Crazy Dog, who is wildly unpredictable around things like cords and string. I am not going to risk the dog chewing up this thing.

I'm going to work on the Hedera socks from Knitty (love that twisted rib cuff, again, Cookie did this to me!) and I have a pair of toe-ups in mind for some lovely All Things Heather yarn in Vacation.

And another pair of clogs. They are tedious and quick and addictive. I made this pair starting Friday night and by last night at 7pm they were in the washer, felting. And I didn't work on them all weekend, by any means. I came home with a bag full of Lamb's Pride Bulky the other day, and I'm consumed by knitting these things. The only complaint I have is my #13 Denise needle - the cord is too thick and the points are too sharp. When I knit with bigger yarn I push the left needle down with my right index finger. It is not currently happy.

The new Bond movie? A teeny bit too much "James has gone soft" at the end, and a bit of trouble with the ending (seems never-ending) but this man looks VERY VERY GOOD in a tuxedo and that is at least worth the price of a matinee. He's not as suave as earlier James Bonds, but he is completely appealing. Heh. He's kind of the cement block version of James Bond, more Transporter and t-shirts than 1950s dashing four-in-hand man. I like the change. He was also a bit more virtuous - no trail of women dragging behind him. I liked the movie. Go see it!

MG Socks!

Finished Object: Mean Girl's Twisted Rib Socks
Pattern: My own, pretty basic with twisted rib cuff and toe
Yarn: Mama-E's C-eye-ber Fibers in Mean Girl (retails under Pink Suede)
Needle: 2.5 mm INOX Express
Time: Too long



I have scads of this yarn left, and I may make some wristwarmers with it. It's so soft and cuddly. I haven't taken the socks off my feet except to shower since I finished them Thursday night.

Fee says "Take those socks off, I want to lay on them." In the background is a painting by my high school art teacher. He is very talented. (I am going to buy one of those big bad manor house paintings for over my fireplace.) Everything I know about art I learned from him.



Grady says, "Is it dinnertime yet?"

Oh no

On the eve of a rival game so huge the Wolverines are bringing their own police bodyguards with them, one of the heroes of my youth has died.

Rest well - you are a Victor. And GO MICHIGAN!

(Insert Witty Post Title Here)

I had a good one, while I was waiting for the elevator at work today, but I lost it. Then I had another one, while I was watching The Office - but I lost it, too.

I have a finished object to show you, a WIP, and two kitties.

My own pair of arch-shaped socks, in which I accidentally decreased down to different numbers:


Progress on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting, which I am tag-teaming on with Heather (Y'all! Look at that yarn! Go buy some from her! It rocks! I am The Enabler!)



Fee, gettin' bizzy with her hairbrush (that is HER hairbrush, and you better not touch it). Sorry for all the cat hair in it:


And Grady, taking a snooze on the closet floor because he's amazed that he can find it (and so am I!):



I believe he is staring off into space and dreaming of chicken. He is a Chicken Man. (Like in the Springsteen song, except I hope what happened to the Chicken Man in Philly doesn't happen to my Schmade.)

If you want the arch-shaped socks pattern, here it is!. Plus, I'm really seriously thinking now about moving the blog, and not sure whether to go to Typepad, Pretty Posies or another service. A lot of people like Wordpress, but I'm not sure I do. Yet. I'm exploring my options. I'm a slow "decider."

I got my cover done - the thing I was most scared about. The rest of my deadline stuff is either wrapped up or on hold. If I can stay relatively productive until noon Tuesday. At 5pm Tuesday I am going to hop on a plane to Orlando and visit my family in Daytona. I haven't seen Mom since LAST Thanksgiving! I can't wait. This week will involve eating lots of turkey and playing lots of Halo with the nephew. Also I am going to get the Nacho Libre dvd, because today is especially delicious.

:)

Coolness Coolness Coolness

Today has just been all-around COOL. I need to ask permission to link to the photos, but Cynthia wrote to me today to tell me she has so far knitted FOUR pairs of arch-shaped socks, she loves the pattern and WOW, she did them in variegated yarn and I lurve them. I mean, I really lurve them! Cynthia, can we link to your photos so everybody can see? Please??? I am so EXCITED!!! [Update: Cynthia is blogless and sent me links to some pics last night: here, here, here, here. Isn't it strange what happens with the variegated? And cool! Woot!]

Then I go over to Mama-E and I see that she is SELLING MEAN GIRL YARN! Y'all remember the Mean Girl socks? Twisted rib? That I am about seven rounds away from finishing? That yarn was custom-dyed by Mama-E for me as part of a swap this summer. She's now selling the yarn under the handle Pink Suede. (Which I quite like, even better than MG.) You can have your very own! Just go on over and read her blog and you'll find out how.

Let me just give her some props in the sock yarn department. Ladies, this yarn is sooooo soft. It knits up sooooo well. There is no pooling, splitting, knotting or other knitting heartache in the skein. It's just pure soft socky love. Mama-E is TALENTED. She is sweet and funny and very gifted with the dye pot. If you're thinking about buying sock yarn, she's got great stuff. You will walk away in disgust from JaWoll after touching it!

Another thing that I am happy about is that a long time ago when Pay It Forward first started, Mama-E (aka Erin) sent me a pair of lovely green earrings with little daisies in them, and I love daisies! but I don't have pierced ears! I never posted about them because I felt bad about not being able to wear them. Well, tonight I was looking at them and HELLO, STITCH MARKERS so I got out my pliers and everything and they are now attached to jump rings and happy as little clams (whoever said clams were happy?). Thank you, gallie!!!

I have to get some sleep because tomorrow is the last bit of the deadline marathon week. I'm behind on my square for Gran Purl, I have two different sock toes to finish, and I'm not letting myself start a new project on vacation (say it slowly: custom-dyed Black Bunny Fiber) until I wrap up those loose ends. Plus, The Codenames have a new Christmas single coming out called Truck Stop Christmas (v funny), and I have to design the faceplate. This weekend. So, sleep. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I promise I'll catch up on those soon, but for now I need some shuteye.

Why yes

That IS me, in the back of the group shot, making a face.

No surprise

"Feel" and "fill" do not sound the same. Ha. Got this from Cara's blog. Which I would say "Kehr-uh." Probably wrong.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Midland
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Weird

You know what I'm talking about, right? Funny Weird is the guy on the freeway I saw every day for almost an entire summer, driving his green convertible to work with the top down, shaving his bald head with an electric razor. (I used to wonder what would happen if he lost his Kung-Fu grip on that thing.) Funny Ha-Ha is more like the friend I have who would find the vilest, most horrible-sounding or otherwise unencouraging scripture verses and write the citation down in your birthday card, so that when you looked it up you'd find "The donkey fell down the well and died" or something. Happy Birthday, right?!? (I used to love getting those cards.)

So, funny ha-ha or funny weird - I think my cats are both. Fee is obsessed with playing with a mini flashlight beam - no matter where I focus it, she'll chase it. Note to Fee: THERE IS NOTHING THERE, SWEETIE. Also, when I put her sweater on her she walks real slow and low to the ground, VERY CAREFULLY. She seems to really like wearing clothes, though.

I am working on knitting this blanket for a friend, and no matter where Grady is in the apartment - he could be eating, or laying upside down in my closet - if I set it down for even a second to put the kettle on, he will come running and attempt to lay on it. Apparently he has Blanket Radar. I have spent quite a bit of time fending him off (thank God it's washable.) What's funnier, though, is when I am sitting and knitting and watching episode #43772 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Detective Goren is putting the smack down on some clever criminal and all the sudden I hear Grady snoring. Yes, my cat snores. Lots of times he sleeps on the other pillow on my bed and snores. And occasionally sticks a paw out and pushes on the side of my head when I am sleeping. For no reason. (He ain't right.)

Or maybe *I* am funny weird, because last night I again ended up watching about four back-to-back episodes of CI, and again I dreamed that Detective Goren was protecting me from evil by putting the smack down on some clever criminal (and ranting). And while I appreciate all the attention, having a crazy policeman ranting in my dreams ain't exactly lullaby time.

I keep waking up exhausted and laughing. Y'all, I am on deadline for two, technically three products at once and while I'm not a drinker I understand why people take it up. Because if the options are "vodka tonic" or "Detective Goren Dreams" at some point the vodka is going to win.

Happy Tuesday.

Later: a funny-weird blog search I got today - SPOOKY STORIES THAT REALLY HAPPEN IN KENTUCKY LIKE KIDS GETTING KILLED AND OTHER STUFF FOR FREE.

For free!

So accurate it's scary

What band from the 80s are you?

You rule. in 15 years, you won't be as known as you are now, but most of the people that will know you then will like you (or else I'll beat them with a stick). You're nice to listen to.
Take this quiz!

The Blogger widget is screwed up, too.

Y'all, I am home. I have two new names for my collection (note: I collect cheesy hair salon and pet grooming salon names like Hair Affair or Groomingdale's): A pawn shop called "Happy Hocker Pawn," and a hair salon called "The Best Little Hair House..."

It really does have the dot-dot-dot in it. I don't know why. People, I had the roughest trip ever. Somehow or other I kept missing turns and getting lost and stuff, only to find my way out no problem or find something even better (like a Crate and Barrel) by accident. I made it through alive, but let me tell you it was so frustrating. The first rental car I had was a Ford Taurus. I picked it up and got on the freeway, and as soon as I got going 55 or so the steering wheel started shaking so badly I couldn't steer. Went back to work and had them bring me another car (I really did ask the kind gentleman at Hertz to bring me something that was not a Ford). This one was awesome - a Mazda 6. If you ever buy another car, you must get one that has the mute button for the stereo in the steering wheel. I love the mute button. Me and the mute button became best friends on this trip.

I have been to New England in the fall, but it is absolutely nothing compared to driving over Monteagle mountain on the I-24 in November. If you ever get a chance...drive it. It was amazing. I had to mute the radio and just stare at the trees and try not to drive into other people. (Did I mention I love the mute button?)

I tried to find the 17th St exit off I-75/85 for IKEA like Google said, but there was none. I got off in the middle of rush hour at the next exit (by Georgia Tech) and by a sheer miracle of God managed to find my way back. Then, it turns out they were having THE WORST ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD on the 400, which was where my hotel was. So I had to drive to it another way, and I did not experience the HOURS OF DELAY the ominous-looking tv announcers were calling for. Instead, I experienced hours of traffic lights and 35mph speed limits. But no construction!

The hotel was under construction and the lobby was decorated in sheet rock. I got to my room. It stunk. It smelled like a man who had not taken a bath in oh, weeks had gotten all nice and sweaty and nekkid and rolled around on the bedspread. That was spectacular. (They put me in a new room, but there was no hand soap.) You may ask, what kind of cheap-arse hotel room has no hand soap? The AmeriSuites hotel in Alpharetta, Georgia, that's who. (I expected better.)

I got through my meeting and got home okay and I have a story to tell y'all tomorrow about just how redneck I've let myself become being here in the South for so long, but I need pictures. Because I don't care how nice the light is for movies, people should not leave Christmas lights strung up all year round.

I am so glad to be home! Y'all!

Dispatches From the Land of Busy

Y'all! I went to Stitch n' Bitch last night and was so happy to see so many of my knitting friends. I really have to make time to go more often. Just a couple of hours really helps, no matter how busy I am!

("Busy" yesterday meant walking around downtown yesterday with two teenage girls and a photographer in tow. It's amazing how many idiots adult men will catcall a photo shoot in the middle of a busy street. The models were 14 and 16. I would get into a whole thing here about pedophiles and whatnot but it isn't the place. It's just creepy.)

So, I tried while I was packing for my trip to think about something funny to write about, and the best I could come up with is how when I was a mean little kid I told my younger sister she'd get trench mouth (didn't know what it was, either) from drinking out of the hose. I scared her so bad she washed her own mouth out with soap. Liquid dish soap. (I told you I was mean. I'm nicer now though!)

When I logged on to check blogs, though, I found this meme at Anna's blog and I haven't got around to doing it yet but here goes. Hope my answers are mildly interesting! And if you read this and want to fill it out, then Tag, You're It.

48 things

1. FIRST NAME? Jennifer

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No - Mom thought it was pretty, one of the top 5 names of 1970!

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? I can't remember. I don't cry very often.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? My handwriting varies wildly from drawn, artisty-looking coolness to chicken scratch. I don't mind it, but I don't really like it. I also don't want to improve it.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Smoked turkey

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, because I like loud, bigmouthed people.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? You're looking at it.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep. I have all my parts except for the unfortunate incident with Jennifer Jo's bed.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Never - I'm terrified of heights. I get woozy in tall buildings.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? What I eat every day is Raisin Bran (I need the potassium). But my favorite is Golden Grahams.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Rarely.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes, occasionally.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? I don't eat much ice cream but I love Cherry Garcia, Starbucks Java Chip, and plain old vanilla, which to me is not plain.

14. SHOE SIZE? US 10

15. RED OR PINK? Both, and pinky-reds and reddish pinks.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Olympic-level ability to waste time; worrying (those are tied)

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My friend Emily whom I've lost touch with. Also my friend Laura who lives in LA and I do keep in touch with, but I miss hanging out with her.

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? Nothing

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Jeans, pink t-shirt, bare feet

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Breakfast

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Grady is opening the patio door

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Olive green

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Coffee (though I don't drink it anymore).

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My friend's voice mail

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their eyes. General demeanor.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? Yep!

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? Water or green tea

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? To do? Running, walking or rowing. To watch? Hockey or football.

29. EYE COLOUR? Hazel.

30. HAT SIZE? Dunno

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yep

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Pasta with olive oil, garlic, cracked red pepper, shredded chicken and a tomato; grilled grouper sandwiches with tons of garlic; sauteed spinach with olive oil and garlic (are you seeing the pattern) from Gene's Restaurant on W 11th in Greenwich Village. Popcorn.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy, but not sappy.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Both. Don't like spring. Love fall.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Both

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? my mom's apple crisp or pumpkin pie

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? The right, it's near the light. No reason.

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? Ahem. Ahem.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Hitler, by Joachim Fest. Rising Tide, John M Barry. I'm stalled out on both of them.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Don't use one.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? My Name is Earl and a DVR of LOST.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? My cats purring, waves on Lake Michigan, thunder.

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Both - because sometimes you need the happiness of Let it Be, but sometimes you need to ride down the highway in Nevada in August toward Las Vegas with the windows down and Let it Bleed playing at top volume.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Nagoya, Japan.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Sarcasm.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? West Shore Hospital, Manistee, Michigan.

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Nobody - I stole it.

OK! AM LATE!!!

Paying my Crazy dues

I have a shoot today and no time this morning so I leave you with two photos - one of Fee's irresistible desire to sit inside empty suitcases whenever possible (sorry about the eye, I had a real hard time fixing it because of the three catch lights). The second is that medicine cabinet meme thing, because I think it's funny and I'm nosy, too. :) Other nosy people are welcome to click on the picture, then All Sizes and really snoop around. Post a picture of yours, too! (My makeup drawer is off limits, though. That is horrible.)

Go, fake football team!

Really, I almost enjoy Friday Night Lights more than actual football games. 

Pictures of a secret knitting project coming soon (need daylight, have been working tons of hours).

Last night I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 1am with Fee screeching and meowing - she was having her middle of the night fun. I got up, changed into jammies and went to bed, and heard a tremendous, epic cat fight start up at the foot of my bed as soon as I turned out the light. 

I turned the light on and a blur of cats ran out of the room. I grabbed a towel and followed (besides being conscious of my neighbors, cats who fight do not work things out like dogs do and somebody usually ends up hurt). When I got out to the living room maybe 15 seconds later, they were curled up together on the floor like spoons, Grady laying with his body wrapped around Fee and his arm around her, and they both looked up at me all sleepy, like "what?". 

I have never, ever, in all the time I have had these two cats, seen them lay or sleep anywhere near each other, let alone touching.

I petted them, went back to bed positive they would kill each other by morning (they didn't). 

Maybe this is the start of something good.

In political news - I hope y'all voted. :) Krispy Kreme donuts was offering a free donut to anyone who came into the store with an I Voted sticker on! (If you don't know about KKs, they are the Best. Donuts. Ever. Forget Dunkin' Donuts, these are the real deal, baby!) 

I like living in a town that gives out free donuts for voting. Donuts!

I think the election turned out fine. There is always more balance and less vitriol when the Congress is forced by numbers to work together. And we'll see if the Democrats really are for change. Now that they can get something accomplished in the House, we'll see what they do. I'm a big believer in letting people have all the rope they want. The religious right needed to be humbled a bit, and the Democrats needed the direction they got - most Dems who won were moderates. 

Let's hope this is a good, positive direction for the country. Amen?

Also: I'm sorry it's Rummy, who apparently didn't want to go to Iraq in the first place (though I support the war).
I mean, too bad it wasn't Karl Rove instead, right? If heads had to roll his would be my number one choice.

I'll take Funny Bible Names for $200, please

From 2 Samuel 2:28 - Abner, son of Ner.

("What a cute little baby! We'll name him Ner.")

(I know.)

God said share, but they don't care

The other night one of my nephews was upset because he got some money in the mail from grandparents with the instruction to share it with his baby sister. This is only the first or second time that it's happened, and he kept saying "what does she need money for, she's a BABY." Because sharing it meant that he'd be $5 short for some kind of snow speeder super duper trick toy that he could NOT live without.

Despite having several new toys in his possession and one on order from Target online, this really burnt him. I got to thinking a little about how prone I am to doing stuff like that. (You are too, fess up. It's human nature.) I told him "God said share, but _______ don't care" (cause I think it's funny) and my sister said he walked around the house, laughing like a fool all night and saying "God said SHARE, but _______ don't CARE!" and he pretty much got over it.

So I had this long post about how I grew up in Michigan and it's still funny here to me in Tennessee that they close the schools everytime it snows, and how I need a new winter jacket because mine is shot and the last time I bought a new one, Kirsten was my roommate and I was dating a guy named Butch. (I have a long history of dating guys with dog names.) I found several in the $200 range, but it felt silly to buy one for that much in order to wear it maybe one month of the year, and I really didn't like that the only color available in one of the coats was red and white, and being from Michigan I'd get disowned for wearing a jacket that is those colors. Also, down here people would think I was a Bama fan, and we can't have THAT. (Maybe Betty or Kirsten will tell you why I would get disowned for wearing red and white.) But I do need a winter coat, because at least once or twice I've been caught in freezing rain and stranded, and my 20 minute commute turned into a four-hour nightmare of driving home on a skating rink in a 2,500 pound automobile with lots of other, but crazy, people doing the same thing. But in addition to the no red-and-white rule it really would be just silly of me to get a coat with white sleeves, since we have just entered Nosebleed season here in the dry-as-a-bone South. I was really moping about these pricey coats and how much yarn I could get for that and more or less feeling just like my nephew except no sharing was involved. 

Today I found one online for half the money, good brand but no fancy zip-out liner and (thankfully) in black. I'll be ordering it tonight and taking advantage of free shipping. 

The nephew? His Target order wouldn't go through, so he decided to get the toy that was on order at Target when he visits Gran at Thanksgiving. And, funny enough, no $6 shipping charge means he now has enough to get the snow speeder thingy. 

Things look better in the morning, even when you are talking about buying all kinds of goofy toys you don't need, or a coat so you can be warm on the few days of the year it drops down into the 20s here.

Chris, no laughing. 

Nuts

I figured out the problem - Blogger changed its uploading protocol so that it no longer works with my Mac dashboard widget. 

I had a long, decently funny post about finding a new winter coat and mostly about winter in the South and it's gone. Because Blogger is about as useful as a pocket of dead flies. (Well hey, if you run into trouble, you can gross out kids on the playground with the flies, so it's not quite that useful.)

I have a new widget. We will see if it works. And I'll post the winter coat saga another day.

28 degrees today!

And my posts are still disappearing. I am thinking of switching the blog over to Pretty Posies, or maybe TypePad. Because this is insanely stupid.

I finished the armwarmers last night and they are so warm - they were perfect for driving to work today in 28-degree weather. At first I put them on over my gloves and they kept the critical glove-cuff-to-coat-cuff part of my arm very warm. Then for driving I took off the gloves. I was nice and toasty!

I had this whole post about LOST and how it's just not the same show and I'm so disappointed but it just sounded too stupid because after all, it's just TV. I like Friday Night Lights and Six Degrees and Men In Trees and even Numbers better. (And My Name is Earl.) Men In Trees is just yuppie fluff, but I am still going to keep watching because I want Jack to tell Marin "I'm not your friend." She needs to hear it. (The actress who plays Annie is a Knitter.) And about Numbers, I admit to having a crush on agent Colby, which is hilarious because I wouldn't be caught dead liking a guy like him in real life.

Lost, on the other hand, has come unhinged. They just couldn't let it go as it was - they had to start messing with it to try to make it cooler. The show's original premise of how to survive on a tropical island is gone, but I did learn one important lesson - everybody essentially reverted to what they were before the crash, with a few exceptions - Sayid is a soldier, Locke a hunter, Jack a doctor, Sawyer behind bars, etc. What this tells me is that if I am ever marooned on a tropical island it will only be a matter of days before I start drawing big sand pictures and organizing the food storage or decorating the tents or maybe making an announcement for the baby's birth on banana leaves. Because you can't be but what you are, and art directors aren't really very useful on tropical islands.

Anyway, what do y'all watch on TV? Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

The Deuce

I knit the armwarmers this way - finish one, write up the pattern while it's fresh in my mind, and knit the other from the pattern. So I am testing it right now. So far I seem to have done a decent job of writing it.

Hey, leave me a comment if you are going to knit it! Because I am NOSY!



I wore my single armwarmer in the car this morning - it was about 30 degrees. It's very toasty. I'm not sure they would be practical for outside work, but they are really nice for traveling.