Found, one book

I was wrong. Tom was right.

Twilight was never on the bookselves in our bedroom. I read that a couple of months before he moved the bookshelf into the room. I found Twilight while I was searching for....oh yeah, Twilight. I spend about half of my time at home searching for one thing or another because Tom has this...thing...for putting things away, not leaving them in piles as I like to do.

Anyway, it was in a box with other books I'd gotten as part of this Teacher Reads thing at school. I hadn't looked in there before; all I saw in it were some balls of yarn and some books I didn't want right then.

One bonus of this search is that I found the pattern to my coral bamboo Tropical Tee that I started back in the summer. I hadn't worked on it since September, and the pattern was, of course, separated from the part I'd finished and the rest of the yarn. I'm knitting it in the round, and I'd finished from the bottom to the armholes. Over the weekend I knit the back from there and started (and got a good bit done) on the front.

At some point last week, I ran across the remaining yarn for the top. Now, of course, I can't remember where I saw it. I'm down to the last ball and I need it soon.

I guess I need to go back into that room and search some more.

How crazy am I?

Have you seen Knitty's new Shipwreck Shawl? Go look; I'll wait.

*hums tunelessly*

*ducks book thrown*

Just how much of a masochist am I? I whined and bitched the whole way through my Endless Test Knit Shawl for Claudia last summer; do I really want to try to knit yet another endless shawl--this one with 5000 tiny glass beads??? Each having to be prestrung by me?

Yes. Yes, I do want that shawl.

It's knit with Knitpicks Bare sock yarn (silk, yet), which is pretty inexpensive, then hand-dyed a faded deep blue. I'm not a shawl person, but oh, this one is so pretty.

I've been floundering this week with that damned DST crap and haven't been able to find both the patterns and the yarn for something that I'd like to knit. Last night I finally pulled out a "ballet" slipper (felted) pattern and started knitting a pair with some of my freebie Claudia yarn. I'm not terribly enthusiastic about that project, but it'll do for now.

Oh my. What to do.

And does anyone know where I could have put my copy of Twilight? I searched for it last night and it's nowhere. I'm driving Tom crazy.

How I spent most of my morning OR I caved

I just preordered this. Yes, I caved.

After finishing Breaking Dawn Friday night, I've been.....unsettled. I'm having a hard time reading normal books, books that I usually love: funny books (not comics, just humorous stuff), detective/murder/mystery books, or in the case of Tim Dorsey's books, funny/detective/murder/mystery books.

I'm sort-of semi-enthusiastically reading Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews, writer of Savannah Blues, which I loved. It's entertaining, but damn, I need some Twilight.

But I can't find it anywhere. It's driving me crazy. I put that book on the shelf in our bedroom when I finished reading it months ago, and I have not touched it. That I remember. I borrowed and read New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn in the last three weeks (actually, a kid loaned me Breaking Dawn in January, but I had to wait to borrow and read the other two before I got to that one) (hmmm, I need to find out just who that kid is and give it back to him) (maybe), and I know that Twilight was on that bookshelf while I was reading them.

Where did I put it? I probably picked it up during one of my Ambien Ambles, possibly Friday night as I lay in bed thinking about the series and "fell asleep". But where did I put it? I've looked everywhere that I can think I may have left it. Under the couch, under the headboard of the bed, on other bookshelves, in the pile of my stuff in the bedroom and the box (of my stuff) that I'm supposed to have put away, etc. I cannot find it. I don't want to buy another one; the first was a gift from the library, and I'd only read it once, and I don't want to have to buy that one plus the other three.

(I know. Tom's reading it but he doesn't want me to know that he's reading a girly-vampire-werewolf-romance-bodice-ripper.)

I saw that Costco has the set of four hardbacks for $46, which is a bargain if you like hardbacks, but I really like the big paperbacks. They're easier for me to handle and to hold on to with one hand when I'm eating (yet another reason that my weight isn't dropping). That size paperback opens so easily, and I don't have to crack the spine (which drives Tom crazy) to hold it open. I've got delicate wrists; it hurts to hold those things open.

So I decided that I have to own the movie, since I'm not going to rent it, and iTunes will charge $15 for the download. I googled "Twilight dvd" and found a site (which I cannot remember; maybe Twilight Lexicon ? (As we all know, I'm far too lazy to check that link out before I post this, so it'll have to wait a while.) If I don't like it, I can give it away. (Maybe a Twilight contest?) Or sell it. Although I imagine that everyone who wants it will have it by the time I get it.

But wait--there's more. I chose the Target one because it comes with a "free" iTunes download available on March 21, the day the movie is released on dvd (as if you didn't already know that, duh). Amazon has a 24-hour rental-download, but 24 hours might not be enough. What if I really like it and want to watch it again before it's delivered (between March 26 and 30, supposedly)? Amazon's costs the same, and Target's comes with a third dvd of videos and stuff) (which will, no doubt, all be available on YouTube by 12:31 a.m. on the 21st).

AND, even better, one of my sisters gave me a $25 Target gift card for Christmas, which I keep forgetting about, so I still have it. Or did. It ended up costing about $2.

It wasn't an easy thing to order. The website kept kicking me back to the sign-in page when I tried to check out, or it told me that there were no items in my cart, or there were 3 items in my cart, or some such nonsense. I ended up calling their customer service number; a very nice lady (Dawn, I think) placed the order for me, assuring me that the website is not usually that difficult to use.

So we all know what I'll be doing on Saturday, March 21.

After I sleep till noon, that is.

Contest alerts

First, Kadezmom is having a contest. She wants to know what spring means to you.

Knit Purl Gurl is giving away some cool Knit Witch yarn and a beautiful yarn bowl.

Please check 'em out, enter, and tell them I sent you! (Thanks to Georgi for heading me their way.)

Guess where we are my ass

That worked well.

I took a picture of the US Capitol building as we went through DC last night on the way to Annapolis, MD, but obviously Ntelos lied when it said it went through. Stupid Ntelos anyway.

As we drove past the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, we saw a large camera crew filming or getting ready to film something. There were people dressed alike in black jackets, pants and turtlenecks (shoes too, and probably underwear) all over the place; whether they were actors, extras, or crew, we don't know. They had one of those car-haulers with a camera looking back at the car. Maybe 24 since that's in Washington this season, or Bones, or some movie or other tv show, ad, whatever. If Jack Bauer was there, we didn't see him.

Wouldn't that be cool, though, to go to DC for some sightseeing (it's just a couple of hours from here) see a crew filming something that you actually watch at home on tv or the computer?

So, anyway, we went to Annapolis to see/hear Robert Earl Keen, an Americana/alt country singer/songwriter. We got to the Ramshead Inn? Tavern? a little after 6 and had dinner with Tom's sister, Penny, then went to the show (in the same building). It's too big for me; I think it seats around 300, and the tables were tiny and too close together. There were many idiots who became stupider as the beer went on who whooped and hollered requests during the whole show. One stupid drunk girl danced when "her" song was played; she was so out of it that she couldn't keep time with the music, but she sure thought that she was hot. The guy sitting behind Tom got louder as he drank and kept shouting out the name of some song that nobody recognized and that Keen ignored. Many women texted through the show; at one point Keen asked one to text his friend. It was really really pathetic. You pay $50 each to see this show, then you get smashed, talk loudly, shout, and text throughout it? The show was good, though, but I didn't sleep a bit on the way home (a four-hour drive). My legs get too restless on a long drive and I can't sleep anymore.

We got home around 2 and I couldn't go to sleep. I didn't sleep much Sunday night, either, and it was around 3:30 when I finally drifted off this morning, only to get up at 6:30. I'm cutting back on ambien (and didn't take any last night), so I'm not sleeping as well, but I'm tired of reading for hours during the night, being worn out, and not remembering a thing I read. Plus I tend to eat while I'm reading. No wonder I haven't lost any more weight.

Did I mention that I hate losing that hour in the spring?

"Spring forward" my ass, OR My annual rant against Daylight Savings Time

Enough.

the end

Wow.

*wipes tears*

A bit of a cushion

Tom sold his old Porsche yesterday.

This is good because it'll pay the bills and possibly allow a down-payment on a house in Florida.

It's bad because Tom's had the car for about 40 years and was slowly restoring it. He's really been looking forward to driving it again.

I wish he could have driven it.

We are not happy

with the way that Breaking Dawn is going. Should I just quit reading while I still like the book, although I know that I'll eventually find out what happens on some web site? Or keep reading and end up hating the ending? Do I want to know that badly? I have a very bad feeling that I don't want to know how it ends. It's called "foreshadowing".

See, I remember some things from school. Just not anything to do with math.

Although yesterday I was able to help a couple of kids with their algebra. That's happened twice in the last couple of weeks. Amazing. Something must be rubbing off. I get so excited when I can actually help them with math; they think I'm crazy.

They're right.

I am weak

Breaking Dawn

Bella--Edward--Jacob--Renesmee--wtf??? No wonder people say this is the best book of the series!

In case someone who's reading the series ends up here, I won't give any spoilers. I will, though, encourage you to keep slogging through two and three when they're tedious, because four is unbelievable.

Literally.

It's almost spring?

In the Arctic Circle, maybe, but here it was under 8 last night. I just didn't have it in me to check the thermometer after that.

We didn't get any snow in our neck of the woods, but the city got enough that school was cancelled yesterday. We'll make up for it on Friday, but since I would have had to be here anyway, I'm not unhappy about it.

I just could not get warm last night. My ankles were freezing. Why didn't I wear my nice, warm legwarmers? I haven't knit in the ends, and it was too freaking cold to do that. I spent the day reading breaking dawn, book 4 of the twilight series. It's so much better than books 2 and 3, but I still can't quite figure out why I keep reading them.

I ripped out my neckwarmer on Sunday and started knitting another one. The bottom of it kept rolling up under my chin, and it was bothering me, so I just had to rip it out. That meant that I didn't have it this morning when I really really needed it. This one should be good and warm, though, if I ever finish it. The yarn is doubled in this one; I'm hoping that I'll have enough to finish it. If that happens, though, I refuse to start over; I'll attach another color and keep going. It's not for looks anyway. It's the Swirl Neckwarmer and it's turning out to be nice and thick. It's hurting my hands, though, because chunky yarn doubled is tough knitting. I don't think I'll try that again.

Or frog my neckwarmer on the coldest damn day of the year.

The state has decided--for now, at least--not to offer early retirement buyouts. If I can make it through two more winters, maybe, just maybe we'll be able to spend the rest of our winters in Florida. Summers, too, but I'm all for that.

I was given a gift today

I was thinking this morning how much I'd like to be able to take a mental health day.

It wasn't going to happen since I've used all of my personal leave (all three days of it) and most of my sick leave for the school year.

It's not like I'm against using sick leave for mental health leave. I've done it before. Good mental health certainly helps to keep me physically healthy.

Shortly after I thought about it and semi-mourned the fact that it couldn't be done, I was called into the principal's secretary's office.

My first thought was, "Uh oh, what have I done?" knowing perfectly well that I hadn't deliberately done anything wrong.

That's when I was given the gift of having tomorrow off. With pay. And not a day of sick leave, either.

My used-to-be boss had ear surgery last week and has been unable to drive. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning in a city an hour from here. I'm going to drive her. This won't be even remotely a hardship; it'll be fun to have time to talk to her. We still eat lunch together a couple of times a week, but we used to be in the same office all day long for over three years, talking as much as working usually. Our desks were just a few feet apart, but we'd email funny things to each other even though we could have just talked instead. We did both.

She has really treated me like an equal, not like her helper monkey assistant. She's one of the sweetest people I know.

So. I get to sleep later than usual, then spend the day with a friend. I bet she'll even buy me lunch.

I love my job.

I finished the legwarmers

Whew. I thought they'd never be done! I can't wait to wear them. I still have to weave in the ends; there were knots in most of the 5 hanks I used, so I had to pull them out and will weave them in. 116 yards per hank, almost 5 hanks, so about 500 yards total. I could have knit a nice warm wrap with that amount of yarn. One of them is darker and more vibrant than the other, but since they won't be seen in public, it doesn't matter. Actually, it wouldn't matter to me anyway. That's the charm of hand-dyed yarns. I don't bother to alternate rows with this stuff; it would just drive me crazy.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through Eclipse which is book number three of the Twilight series. I roll my eyes a lot, but the plot keeps me reading. I'm getting tired of Edward's overprotectiveness of Bella, but the story's good enough to keep reading it. I haven't seen the movie yet and probably won't; once I get a book in my head (or as long as it stays there, anyway), I don't like to see how someone else envisioned it. If it's too different from my thoughts, then I have a difficult time enjoying it.

It was ZERO this morning. I'm so ready for warm weather!

**UPDATE**3/6/09 Crap. I finished Breaking Dawn tonight, and now I have to see the movie when it's on dvd. I should never say never.

Mondays

We woke up to a little snow this morning. Unfortunately it was only on the WV side of things, so I had to go to work at the usual time.

We had a nice, quiet weekend at home. I did a lot of reading (I'm on book 3 of the Twilight series), watched the last two episodes of 24 on the laptop, watched "Little Miss Perfect" on WE (I know one of the mother/daughter teams on last week's show), and knit a LOT.

So, did any of you see "Little Miss Perfect", and if so, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Honestly, I expected it to be a lot harsher on the moms. A has done pageants since she was 6 months old and I've gone to a lot of them, so I know what goes on behind the scenes. "Pageant Mom" has a bad connotation, and for good reason. My daughter, though, is one of the good ones. She doesn't cut down the competition or bad mouth anyone; she goes out of her way to be helpful to the others, loaning (and borrowing) clothing and accessories, doing hair and makeup for other kids. She buys dresses and other clothing on ebay and removes the "stuff" already on it, then takes it apart and resews it to fit A, adding crystals and beading and coming up with something that no one else has. One dress A wore for over two years; J would change the neckline, add and subtract bows and glitz and change things around. I think she's still using that dress; J has saved big bucks that way.

I enjoyed watching that show because I know some of the people, and because A and J were asked to participate way back last summer while I was visiting. The producer and a couple of helper monkeys came to their house and interviewed the family, asking leading questions. They emphasized that this was to be a positive reflection of pageant participation, but the questions they asked led us to believe otherwise. J and M decided that it wasn't in A's best interest to be on the show. I think it was a wise decision.

Okay, the knitting. I've almost finished those legwarmers. I actually finished the second one; then, since I'd forgotten to use smaller needles on the ankle and foot of the first one, I pulled all of that out and started over at the ankle. I've turned the heel, so it shouldn't take too much longer to finish it. The foot was just too big to stuff into my clogs, so I'm going for the footless variety.

No photos. I haven't even taken the camera out of the bag for a while. But I do have this photo of Chester and Zippy:

Now I remember

I hate answering phones.

Really, I hate all phones, but worst of all I hate answering the phones in the main office.

If it were just the phones, it wouldn't be so bad, but the nurse leaves in the morning and I have to answer the phones and hand out medicine. At the same time.

It wasn't so bad a few hours ago. I felt on top of things. I had things in control. Until I had lunch.

Since then six lines ring at once and four kids come in to get meds, pick up their provisional learners permit, and then I have to call a cab for a kid. Because she can't wait the 5 miinutes until the city transit bus stops here or the hour until the school buses show up. Because she's sniffling and holding her cheek and whining.

I told her to watch for the cab. A half hour later (25 minutes AFTER the transit left and 30 minutes until school lets out and the buses arrive, in case you're keeping score), she came back in and asked me to call the cab company again. (I hate making phone calls.) I asked her if she'd been looking out front, which is where the cab would be. She said yes. So I called the damn cab company again, and the woman says the cab has been waiting out front for 15 damn minutes.

I hate working in here.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Today is J's birthday. Last year I wrote about her birth, so I won't do that again, except to say that it's one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I love you, J! Happy birthday, and many, many more to come.

Toner shortage is over

Four boxes came in this week, two bottles each. That might last a week or two.

And now I can pay back that one bottle I begged from Guidance.......

So, would you like to see what we did Saturday night?

I'll show you anyway. I'm mean like that.

Joan, Scott, Liz, and Berend (Joan's daughter and her boyfriend) (Liz's boyfriend, not Joan's) went with Tom and me to Ashland Coffee and Tea Saturday night for a show by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, our absolute favorite singers. (Go to their website and listen to their music. I'd rather listen to them--and Last Train Home--than anyone else. Yes, Betty, even more so than Neil Diamond!)

Joan and I are a little....obsessed (but in a good way) with these guys. We had such a good time listening to the music, talking about the music, talking to Eric and Peter, talking to our husbands, enjoying the food, and trying to reassure Liz that we wouldn't totally embarrass her. (Thanks, Betty!)

They played a mix of their own songs, songs from their duo cd, and songs that they haven't recorded. Their voices are so different, but they blend together so well. The harmonies are so beautiful.

Kevin Cordt, who is part of Last Train Home and also a jazz group, took the train from DC to the coffee shop. The stop is literally feet from the entrance.


Here you can see some of the studding on Peter's suit.

Rumor has it that he paid $40 for the suit. I'm guessing that having the crystals put on cost a whole lot more than that.

Legwarmer socks

It's really difficult to take a photo of these things that show the actual length! When pulled all the way up, they're above my knees. They're then doubled over at the ankle, making a nice, thick anklewarmer.

I decided that I don't like having the full sock; it doesn't fit in my clogs. So when I finish the second one, I'll take the foot off the first and knit ribbing at the instep. Maybe it'll still cover enough of my foot that I won't freeze there.

I could have used them last night; I was just freezing, even with the electric heater just a few feet away. I would have finished them Saturday on the way to Mom and Dad's, but I didn't bring the smaller dpns that I needed to finish the ankle and foot. Oh well. Maybe tonight.

Terror alert HIGH!

Where has my blog gone???????????

Amended: Oh. There it is.

*whew*

Toner shortage continues

I managed to score 4 bottles of toner today. We're not due to get our shipment till the end of the month (and that's if I believe Xerox), and I had to put the last bottle I had left into one of the copiers yesterday.

At a time when jobs in this division are likely to be cut, I don't want to run out of toner now. I need to keep busy.

I'm hearing some really heartwarming feedback from the faculty, though. It's nice to be told that I'm doing a good job. I appreciate it. I mean, I know that I'm doing a good job, I get things done fast and before they're due, but it's nice to hear it.

On the knitting front, I'm plugging along on my thigh-high legwarmers. I've done about 12" of the second one. Another 6 or so inches and I'll be able to turn the heel, knit a couple of inches in k2p2, then bind off. That day can't come soon enough, although then I'll have to rip out most of the foot of the first one and do the ribbing. They're just too thick to be worn with my good ol' Birkenstocks. But thick is good when it's cold (which it hasn't been for a week--not that I'm complaining, and I hear it will be this weekend).

Tomorrow night we're off to Ashland to see Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. Tom and Scott will tolerate Joan and I drooling panting thoroughly enjoying the hair the view the music. If Liz and Berend are brave enough to come along, I know we'll embarrass them. But give us a break, kids, and don't mess with our high. We old ladies can be tough bitches cookies.

Not that you're old, Joan, really.

Hmmmm

Today has been a sloooowwwww day. It didn't help that we had an electricity outage during the night and someone reset the clock. It wasn't until we got to school that we realized that it was still dark, no one was there, and huh, it was only 6. I asked if we could just hang out there and let me sleep till 7, but that didn't work because a teacher came in really early, saw a man sitting in a car (my seat was reclined, and I was out), called the custodians (TWO of them) who then came out and asked what Tom was doing there. I sat up, said hi, and "Oh, hi! Mrs. -- was scared and asked us to come out." So I gave up and went in to work at 6:15. *sigh*

I really really don't do well without enough sleep. I'm not sure I've ever had enough sleep.

Take THAT, SiriusXM!

*flips the bird*

We (concert-goers) are screwed

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/70355-why-a-ticketmaster-live-nation-merger-will-cost-you/

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/04/markets/thebuzz/?postversion=2009020413

Weep with me.

What do you mean it's only Tuesday?

And not even 2:30, at that?

Eye stuff

I had an appointment with my retinologist yesterday (a whole day off school!) (yes, that's the second one this week, thank you). My eye is continuing to improve, thank goodness. So no more Lucentis injections this week.

I thought I was coming down with the flu last night, but today I'm just very tired. I'm glad it's Friday.

Have a lovely weekend! It's supposed to be almost warm this weekend.

At least it was pretty

Last night:


This morning:


If you look closely (click on photo), you can see some snow falling off. As the morning went on (and I only saw a few minutes of the morning before I went back to bed) it looked like little avalanches as the snow slipped off.




It's beautiful, but it's cold. And I am oh, so tired of being cold.

Have I mentioned lately that I hate winter?

If not, here's a reminder.

It started snowing about 15 minutes before I left work today. By the time I'd gotten say, 15 minutes out of town, the roads were covered and traffic was going about 40 mph; by the time I hit the mountain, it was about 5 mph. It took about 25 minutes to go over the mountain; even with the state trucks salting the road, it was terrible. Trailer-trucks and little cars slid all over the place; the rest of us crept over the mountain at about 5 mph. A trip that usually takes 40 minutes took an hour and 10 minutes.

By putting the Camry into low gear, I was able to burn an inch or so off the tires and make it up our driveway. I've never driven in weather this bad. Ever.

And I never want to, again.

I'm hoping that school will be, at the least, delayed an hour or two tomorrow. It's supposed to snow all night (a full 4" is predicted, with another inch or so tomorrow. That is, if the local weather forecasters are right. And they rarely are.)

I hear that the VA General Assembly may put together a buy-out package for us old people so we can retire up to 5 years early.

I'm waiting.

Contest stuff

Jennygirl, Georgi, and Karin, please send your mailing info to me at rita knits at g mail dot com. I'm actually getting things together.

I may actually mail things someday.

Thank you!!!

Superwhat?

I'm not a football fan. In fact, I dislike all sports. I missed the sports gene, and I'm sincerely happy about it.

So, while people everywhere are celebrating football, I'll be trying very hard not to know who's playing.

Thank you for indulging me.

New playlist

I love these days when it's cold enough to keep my door shut and turn up the music.

I'm listening to "YDHtLTB" on my computer at work. It's got some beautiful songs on it. "I Know a Bird" and "Down to the Well" are absolutely haunting. Eric and Peter's voices blend so beautifully and so well.

This article sums it up well. (I'm afraid they'll come after me if I just copy and paste it.) (Scroll down waaayyy down past the ads.)

It didn't occur to me, until I got to work this morning and no one was here, that perhaps it was too dark for 7:20. Sure enough, it was 6:20. A.M. In the morning. And I didn't even realize it, although the clock in the car said 6:20. I just figured it was wrong. Last night when I reset the alarm (after getting up two hours later yesterday due to school's delayed start), I reset the time, too. I was wide awake, though, so I didn't curse (for a change) and got my morning's work done before anyone else got here. Yeah, I'm that busy today.

Now it's caught up with me, an hour before school ends, and I've got to wait till 3:30 to leave.

Winners!

Bis and Elaine are the winners of "You Don't Have to Like Them Both". Please email me your mailing info at rita knits at g mail dot com. I'll get them in the mail--really--honestly--truly.

I hear that there are videos of Last Train Home and Peter Cooper and Eric Brace on YouTube, but I can't link to them from work. Stoopid rules. No YouTube, no myspace, no facebook, no flickr, no Raverly (reason for that one: dating, personals. It's a freaking yarn/patterns group!).

Betty said that SHE listened to the guys. This was a major sacrifice for her, what with the steel pedal guitar and country stuff. But I really appreciate that she tried.

If you're in the area, on February 14, Eric and Peter will be at Ashland Coffee and Tea. Great for a Valentine's Day date! Tom and I will be there, and Joan and Scott will mostly likely go, too. Join us; we'll be sitting right in front of the stage.

Contest--"You Don't Have to Like Them Both"

I have two copies of the cd, both personally--and personably--signed by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. Want one? (No, Joan, you already have one.)

Comment by midnight EST tomorrow night (Tuesday). I'll choose the winners by pulling them out of a hat, or if there are a lot of entries, by random number generator.

And I'll mail them. Really. I promise. The others, too. Within the next week, sooner if I can get my ass moving.

Trust me, you'll love them both!

It was 11 hours coming home

And I'm wiped out. I'm definitely not as young as I used to be. Why, only ten years ago I could drive three hours to a concert, get three hours of sleep and go to work. I can't do that any more.

Joan's boss gave her today off so she wouldn't have to come home and go to work a few hours later. Slacker.

Tom and I got home at 11, and in spite of half an ambien, it was almost midnight when I went to sleep. I was five minutes late to work this morning, and I'm a zombie today.

But it was worth it! The show was great, Peter and Eric and Mary Ann were all so nice, and it was fun to be at the release party for their cd. The Station Inn is a tiny old club; some of the seats are from Earl Scrugg's (I think) old tour bus. The place is full of posters for old bluegrass shows, lots of personality and flavor. (Except the food. Microwave nachos and pizza just don't cut it, but we gamely ate them anyway, since that's what was available. Maybe the bbq was better......)

We really lucked out with the hotel I found at hotels.com. I've gotten a couple of not the best options that way, but this one was in our price range ($64, a "last-minute" special), and we didn't know the city at all, so we decided to try that one. It turned out to be the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel, a pretty nice place and usually much more expensive, and in a good neighborhood. Some medical school was having its Cadaver Ball there that night (I'm not kidding about that, either.) and there was a convention. When asked what convention it was, initials were muttered, then the guy came clean with "Amway". Good grief.

After checking out Sunday morning, we toured the city by car, with both back windows down and Joan and me hanging out with our cameras. Being immediately marked as tourists doesn't bother us. We saw enough to know that we want to go back some time when we can spend a few days and it's warm enough to go outside.

But maybe we'll fly next time.

Two time zones in one day

We left home at 6:30 this morning for a little trip.

We met my sister Joan and her husband and headed off to a show.

Two weeks Ten hours later, we arrived in Nashville. After marveling how much longer it stays light here, I got a sneaking suspicion that maybe we were no longer in the Eastern time zone.

After a little google search, we discovered that was correct. Oh well, it gave us an extra hour to get lost find The Station Inn.

Oddly, we took a wrong turn and found the place immediately. (This never happens. Ever. We always get lost.)


We drove for 10 hours so we could attend the cd release show for Eric Brace and Peter Cooper's "You Don't Have to Like Them Both". Mom calls us "groupies". We call us "fun".

The show was excellent, as always, and we met Tom T. Hall. Last Train Home sings one of his songs ("I Flew Over Our House Last Night"), and Eric and Peter sang it tonight.


Tomorrow is the long long drive home, but it was worth it.

Uh Oh

At 3:45 p.m. yesterday, my subscription to XM Radio expired. With no warning (other than us not renewing it or something like that). Bang, no satellite radio. Which means, basically, no radio, because the local FM station was playing the same songs it played when I last listened 5 years ago.

This leaves us with a dilemma. Do we suck it up and reup, or stick with our guns and stay expired?

To my dismay, I'm finding that I need XM.

Crap.

Disaster averted

Oddly enough (or maybe not), Mr. Copy Tech Guy hadn't heard a word about a nationwide toner shortage. I called him early this morning to see if he could score me some toner.

An hour later, bless his heart, he showed up with two bottles of toner. Since I managed to score one bottle from the guidance department, I'm sitting pretty for a week or two.

Mr. CTG said that his manager hadn't heard anything about a shortage so he's looking into it. Maybe it's just for our particular copiers. Maybe it'll just go away.

Maybe I'll have to borrow Joan's flying monkeys.

WTF?

So it seems that there's this national toner shortage.

At least, Xerox is having one.

They never send enough toner. I'm always having to call and request more, even though I send in our copy counts every freaking month. Every month I get an email that I'll have more toner by the 22nd of the month, and I'm always out before that and have to call for more.

Today is the freaking 22nd. No toner arrived. I put the last bottle in one of the copiers day before yesterday and one copier is totally out. Yesterday was the first day of the second semester, so this is not a good time for there to be a toner shortage.

So I called Xerox to request more, and fast. And I was told that there is none. In any of their warehouses. And they don't know when there'll be any.

Since keeping my job depends on there being enough demand for copies (and being able to meet that demand in a timely fashion), I freaked. Then I called the middle school to see if we could borrow some.

And they have plenty. Plenty. Xerox won't send me enough to keep us going, yet in a time of toner famine, they have plenty.

Thank God.

*UPDATE* Their toner bottle didn't fit my machines. *sigh*

Contest at knithappens!

Yes, I still need to mail out my contest winners. I will.

This one is giving away "four handknit washcloths, two skeins of Sugar and Creme in purple and pink, one rose petal candle, a box of sweethearts, one handmade fob for your scissors so you can tell there yours. this is made out of real amethyst chips and has a heart charm at the bottom. I made this myself. As seen below one skein of malabrigo yarn 850 yards of lace weight yarn in the color cinnamon.check out hand painted yarn for all your malabrigo. they are great! and good prices too." I ended up copying and pasting; there's so much that she's giving away! Check out her scissors fob; it's beautiful.

To top it off, she's giving away a handmade Valentine's card.

So, go enter and tell her that I sent you. Turtle sent me--thank you!

Weighty matters

Way back in April I swore that I would lose 30 pounds by New Year's Eve.

I almost did it.

I managed to lose 25 pounds without much deprivation or angst. And without exercising.

(I know that I should exercise. I'd lose more weight and it would probably be better distributed than it is now.) As it is, my face is a little thinner and my boobs are a little smaller (thank goodness, since now I can wear some blouses that had been straining at the buttons), and my nonexsistent waist drops my pants waistband to my hips. Pants that I bought last spring, right before my swearing, are too big. The pants that I've been wearing all along are looser in the waist and hips, but not by much. So where did that 25 pounds go?

Not that I want to find it, mind you. I'd just like to know how I look almost as big as I did 8 months ago but I weigh less.

So I'm swearing again. By Jan. 1, 2010, I'll weigh 30 pounds less than I do now. Then I'll weigh just about what I should weigh ideally.

How did I lose weight? Instead of eating whenever I thought of it or out of habit (when I'm reading, when I'm watching tv) (when I'm breathing), I asked myself if I was really hungry, or was it just habit? Somehow that made it easier. I also limited buttered popcorn, my absolute favorite snack, to weekends only. On holidays and special occasions (like eating out) I didn't worry about what I ate; I enjoyed myself. I love m&ms, so I limit myself to a small handful each evening. Once they're gone, that's it for the night.

So. We'll see where I am in 11.5 months. I plan to weigh about 140 pounds. Let's see if I can do it.

My hair is shorter than my Dad's

It was zero this morning. Zero. ZERO. Enough, huh?

So guess what I did Monday night?


And I like it! Now I have a real reason to knit lots of hats and learn all kinds of new things. (For example, weekend before last I learned to cable. I'd been putting that off forever because it seemed too hard. But it isn't, and I did it without a cable needle.)

Why did I cut off all my hair?

1) That nasty dark brown was still hanging on the ends.

2) I needed a haircut anyway.

3) Tom has been asking to clipper my hair for years. He likes women with really short hair, so I finally said okay, big boy, show me what you've got.

4) It feels so good. I don't have to comb or brush it. When I wash it, it dries almost immediately without any effort on my part. I don't have to style it.

I sent this photo to A, who wouldn't comment on my hair at all. B2 looked at it and said, "her eyes are red!" (And the red-eye corrector didn't help a bit.)

Stupid lung stuff

For the first time ever, prednisone did me no good.

My lung function test was the worst ever, which is saying a lot. At the same time, it means nothing to me, because I don't feel like it's bad. I'm not short of breath. I can climb stairs without gasping.

But I can't have my allergy shots until it's better.

So it's back on the testing/specialist/more money treadmill.

Googlies

I'm seeing a lot of google searches for things relating to XM/Sirius' new programming, and a lot of it is along the lines of "XM Outlaw Country sucks", and I agree with the sentiment.

Another one that's being searched is Elizabeth's Cook's apron strings show. Her show seems to be only on Friday mornings as I drive to work (yeah, it's all about me), so I hear part of it. She plays decent music most of the time and even talks about the music a bit, but she talks too much. She talks about the weather, what she's doing this weekend, "what are y'all doing this weekend?", and other stuff that I really don't need or want to hear at 6:30 in the morning, thankyouverymuch.

Ms. Cook, if you happen to read this or hear about it, please, less talk and more music. That's why I listen to the radio. If I want talk, there are plenty of talk channels I can switch to. But I want music, just music, and no talk that early in the morning.

Or any time of day, for that matter.

Thank you.

--an XM Cross Country listener who is hoping that "Outlaw" Country will become less "Outlaw" and more music

We freezed

This was yesterday morning. Last night was -10.

This morning the pipes were frozen.

Tom managed to get them thawed, so we're in business.

Heh. I said "business".

http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTlegwarmersocks.html

I need these, but I'm too freaking cold to knit them.

I

It's clearing up, and it's still doesn't hurt. Never did. It feels kind of odd. My allergist called it "conjuctivitis", but it doesn't itch.

He also insists that I have asthma and that my only symptom is the cough, even though I "passed" the methacholine challenge. He says he's had one or two other patients who passed it and still had asthma. So he

**Alert to Betty**

prescribed this:

and I have to go back on Tuesday. If my lung test is improved, then I have asthma, he says, and I either have to give up my allergy shots or take Symbicort, which I refused to take after last visit because ads say it can cause "death".

Death. It can cause death.

He says that it has to advertise that because one person died from uncontrolled asthma by taking the drug. I say, that if I have asthma and it causes my cough, then it's uncontrolled.

???

But. I have 5 days' worth of prednisone. I hope it doesn't make me hungry all the time. Sometimes it does, sometimes not. I hope it gives me energy. Sometimes it does.

Hmmmm, did my last course of prednisone make my depression worse, or did it get better? I need to keep track of these things. I don't remember exactly when I last took it, but my mood took a huge nosedive in September. I feel great now, have since December sometime. Unusual for me, since this is usually my worst time of year. Odd, that.

But I'll take it over the alternative.

NEW NTELOS PICTURE/VIDEO MESSAGE

SNAFUBB So. My work computer has a virus and it has to be left off all day. If you get an email from me or anyone claiming to be a Hallmark ecard, do not open it or click on any links. I don't send ecards. I think I'll turn the useless thing on and just listen to music..... Crap. I can't even do that. Tech Goddess says no.

I'm still here

And, in spite of the way it looks, still fine.

(Don't know what caused that.)

AirTran is my new BFF

After watching and hearing a bunch of kids run around, scream, throw balls against the window of the airport, and cough, I asked if I could use my $50 in vouchers to upgrade to business class. The woman said that I couldn't use them to upgrade; they had to be called in. I thanked her and said that I'd spent the night at Disney World with my grandkids and couldn't put it on my card, and

She

Upgraded me for free.

I love Airtran.

*Sigh*

Here I am in the MCO terminal, and it's past time for my flight to leave. Conflicting reports have it due to bad weather in the DC area (where the plane is leaving) or a mechanical problem. Rumor also has it that the same AirTran flight last night was delayed due to smoke in the cabin.

I don't want to leave the warmth of Florida, but I don't want to spend the time in the airport waiting for the plane to get here.

As it was, we would have probably gotten to Betty's house around 1 a.m.; now it'll be closer to 3. I haven't slept much in the past couple of nights, so I'm ready to sleep NOW. And I have to be at work tomorrow morning at 7:30.

Wouldn't you know it, I left my regular phone charger in my book bag at home, and I forgot to charge the phone in the car today, and it's almost dead. Tom is already at Mom and Dad's house waiting for my flight to get in. And, there are no electric receptacles in sight and the laptop battery won't last much longer.

We did get $10 food/beverage vouchers, but we ate a big late lunch at Disney World, so I won't be eating again tonight. Luckily it can be used in other airports at other times. We also got $25 vouchers toward travel; that makes $50 I've gotten in the last 7 months.

Hmmmm, it might be worth that $50 plus $19 to fly business class tonight......

Knitting

This is the cat bed that I knit for A's kitten, Marie. I knit it of Claudia's Chunky in the Pink Dot colorway and edged it with pink fake fur yarn. (Kitty Pi pattern, available on Ravelry.) I took this photo of B2 wearing it to show the size it was before felting.

Well.

So how'd that turn out, you ask? Notsogreat. As a matter of fact, it did not felt at all. Not one little bit. I put it through 45 minutes of agitation in extremely hot water, and it didn't shrink at all. This is 100% merino, and I've never come across merino that wouldn't felt. (My $100 Oven Mitt is testimony of that all-wool-felts axiom. And it was 50% silk, too.) Even after 15 minutes on high heat in the dryer, it hadn't felted a bit.

This is the first of Claudia's yarn that I've tried to felt. I'm glad that I didn't buy that 3 hanks of Chunky. I could possibly unravel it and try to use it for something else, but the hot water didn't do anything for the color. The blues ran and it's not the prettiest shade anymore.

I've got some odds and ends of her Felt Me in my stash; I guess I'll try to felt that and see what happens.

But I bet that if I went to the trouble to use that Chunky yarn to knit something really time-consuming and accidentally washed it in warm water, it'd felt. Right away.

Just like that $100 Oven Mitt.

For Liz

My youngest niece, Liz, has had an occasional visitor at night for 15 years. That's when they moved into an old house and evidentally inherited the resident ghost.

Liz slept in the little room in the attic (it really was a room; she didn't just have to sleep in the attic). Occasionally she'd wake up and see an old man scowling at her. After her initial fright, she kind of got used to it.

Now she's grown up and on her own, but her ghost still is following her.

One of her clients suddenly asked her if she had lived in an old house. Yeesssss. She asked if Liz had ever sensed a presence there, a malevolent presence. Liz felt that the ghost disapproved of her, so, yes again. The woman is a psychic; she asked if she could go to the house. She felt that the presence bore ill will toward Liz.

Joan, Liz' mom, asked me to ask B2 if Liz' ghost was a Red Visitor, as B2 used to call the bad ghosts that visited him. So, after showing B2 photos of our family's Christmas celebration at Joan's house, I asked him.

He was really interested in the colors of the rooms and everything that was contained in them. He asked a lot of questions. Then I showed him photos of Liz in the living room of the house and asked him about Liz' ghost; was he a bad ghost? Did the ghost want to hurt Liz?

B2 looked at her for a long, quiet moment, then emphatically said, "No. It's a good ghost. He won't hurt her."

So there you go, Liz, it's okay. B2 says so.

Livin' the suite life

Do you recognize this landmark?

That's where we are tonight. The kids and I. Well, J & M are here to play for a while, but they're going home to take care of the cats (Rex the Bulemic Cat and Marie).

B2 has always wanted to stay at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World, but it's a pretty expensive place to stay, especially if you happen to live nearby. But J was able to get a really good rate tonight, so here we are.

This is the place that the monorail runs through. B2's entire life has been dedicated to monorails and All Things Disney, so he's a happy little boy. He and J are at the Magic Kingdom while A, M, and I relax in the room.

We even went swimming tonight. (Not that I'm bragging or anything, but it's warm here.) (Okay. I'm bragging.)

At 12:24 a.m., A will be 9 years old (going on 15). She doesn't have to go back to school until Tuesday, lucky girl. I'm supposed to go back to work tomorrow, but, um, I'm *delicate cough* sick *cough*, so I'll fly home tomorrow night and go back on Tuesday. Let me tell you, that's going to be a dunking in cold water after being warm for a few days (and nights) and staying up most of the night and sleeping till noon or later.

I guess that this'll have to hold me till I get back down here. The earliest it can possibly be is the first week of April, spring break, so I'm resigned to a long, cold winter in West By God Virginia.

What we've been doing

Watching tv (B2 said he was a box):



Playing with Rex:



Drinking cooca on New Year's Eve:



It was chilly that night, remember? I mean, I bet it was in the low 50s.

Today it's warm and sunny with just a light breeze. I put on my old-lady bathing suit and lay in the sun while the kids played.

Rough life, isn't it.

Happy New Year!

By the way...

Happy holidays! I didn't wish you all a wonderful holiday season before Christmas, so I'm doing it now. From Florida, where it's warm and sunny and not 37 degrees as my webmail tells me it is at home.

I wish Tom could be here with me. He loves the warm weather as much as I do. I'm so glad we met a little over 5 years ago (*cough*yahoopersonals*cough*).

See how much the internets can change one's life? A wonderful husband and new blog friends, unlimited free knitting patterns and access to yarn and books and family and photos. What will they come up with next?

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve tonight. I'll be watching "Wall-E" with the kids while we pig out on M&Ms (at $11.99 a pound from the M&M store; you should see the huge tubes of so many colors and types, but watch out for those levers; they'll roll out a pound of the things in a split second, as we found out yesterday).

This is the life!!!

I tell you, life in Florida certainly beats life in WV in the winter!

Here it is, New Year's Eve, and the kids and I were outside in our bathing suits, soaking up the sun. The neighbor asked if the kids wanted to play with his Slip'n'Slide, then he set it up for them. December 31 and we're outside playing in the sun and water.

Sure, it's "cold" here by Floridians' standards. It's probably in the low 70s, but even B2 (for whom I knit a thick wool hat and scarf because he's always cold if it's under 80) was slippin' and slidin' and having a blast. Okay, B2 was crawlin' and fallin', as A just corrected me.

The grass is green; flowers are blooming; the neighbors are growing papayas and pineapples.

And it's December. And it's warm.

At least, I'm warm.

Four more years, or 4.5, really, till we can move to southern Florida and grow our own flowers and fruits, even in the wintertime. Unless Tom gets a job down there, then just maybe we'll be able to live in the warmth earlier.

Either way, it's in reach now, and there's hope that we can get rid of our winter clothes and live in shorts and t-shirts year-round.

I can't wait!

Another FO and a goodbye

I'm on a roll!

Tonight I knit a hat for Dad in Claudia's chunky Santa Fe, which is a colorway that is unfortunately no longer available. It was discontinued before I worked for her. It's my favorite of all her colorways, although it's difficult for me to "just pick one".

Still no photos. I am lazy.

The main reason I knit it in chunky for Dad is that he took my aunt's elderly German Shepherd wannabe (Cindy was about 40 pounds and probably not purebred, but she was all Shepherd in her actions and devotion) outside three times a day for ages. No matter the weather, Dad went to Dorothy's house, 2 doors up, and took Cindy outside. Cindy was 14, old for a dog her size, and old for the abuse she went through her first two years.

Cindy was a neighbor's dog, but they didn't care for her well, if at all. Cindy would break free if chained and had a route around the neighborhood. She'd go to kids' houses, say hello, then head on to the next stop. When she had puppies and they reached the appropriate age, she took them to neighbors' houses. My aunt and uncle would call Cindy's owner and say she was out, but Cindy was always roaming. Finally, my aunt, who is a dedicated animal lover (it's in the Jinkins' genes) took Cindy into the house, had her neutered (with her owner's blessing), and kept her.

Cindy was a queen for the next 12 years of her life. She was mild-mannered, ruled the roost with a firm yet just hand, and took attention and love as her due, which she deserved. She was beautiful, a small German Shepherd, and devoted to Dorothy and George. She was the perfect dog for them.

Except when she had to go in the car. Cindy hated being in a car. This was the only time she was at odds with Dorothy and George; they loved to travel, but Cindy. Didn't. She won, of course, as was her due. She gave back so much love that they overlooked that one flaw. The only time they made her get into a car was when she needed to see her doctor.

This morning, Cindy took her last ride. She could no longer hear, could barely see, but she kept going until last night. Dorothy knew it was Cindy's time when Cindy could no longer stand up or go to the bathroom once she and Dad were able to get Cindy outside. So she gave Cindy that final gift, a ride to the Rainbow Bridge.

It's so sad that it had to happen right before Christmas. George passed away just a couple of months ago, and now Cindy. But Dorothy has her cats, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if another lonely, neglected dog comes along and claims a place in her home and heart.

Goodbye, Cindy Cinderella. Look for Roo; he'll show you the ropes.

Winter break,and a cd giveaway

This is one of the biggest reasons that I work in a school. We always have 10 days off at Christmas, and sometimes we have two whole weeks. This is one of those times.

I've been lazing, sleeping late (although not well at night, in spite of--or maybe because of--the ambien), staying up relatively late for the working me, not the nighttime me that I used to be. I actually watched tv--and knit--till 1:30 Saturday night. It was heavenly.

I knit a hat for my nephew for Christmas; plenty of free yarn from Claudia back when I worked there, and it's coming in handy now. Tom would roll his eyes when I'd drag in another bag or two of yarn back then, but see? I'm using it, Tom, sweetie, it's not costing us anything, and I can make nice warm gifts for Christmas. I don't know how the recipients will like their hats and scarves in place of money or a year of XM radio, like in the past, but that's the past, and this is now.

I started a Fingering 55 (merino/silk) scarf in a very simple feather and fan pattern. It's really pretty, very slim, and I hope I don't run out of yarn before the scarf is long enough. I might have to put that one aside for a while as it's taking forever to knit even 12", but I got to about 15" last night. Once I'm motivated enough, I'll take photos and show you what I'm doing. But I'm lazy.

It's cold here, as in COLD 10 degrees. Lily the Heat Whore is in front of the electric heater we keep going in the living room; she even forgets that Zippy is in the room just three feet from her and will roll over on her back, all four feet in the air, and show her fat pink tummy. Zippy spends most of his time in his cardboard box. Tom cut the front down so he can get in easily, put his old pillow in there, and Zippy's happy. It keeps the drafts off him.

Beghera spends most of his time on the bed, cuddled up in the covers, unless Tom is in the living room. Then Beghera is either on his lap or draped over his shoulders.

Chester the Cat is pissed off these days. Several days, coming home from work, I've caught old Chester too close to the road. That's quite a way from the house; we have a long, winding driveway, and old Chester likes to go right down to the road. So now he's a house cat, not allowed outside at all, and he is one pissed cat. We've never seen the othe two cats that close to the road; they rarely go past the bamboo at the bottom of the yard; at least, that's all we've seen. When Lily goes out, she sleeps in the sun on the porch, but today, even though she really was in a hurry to go outside, she was equally hurried to get back in. Like I said, she's a Heat Whore. She used to sleep on the heat vent in the bathroom, but now she has a heater, and shes loving it.

I love this time of year in spite of the cold weather that accompanies it. We don't decorate, partially because Chester the Cat would rapidly undecorate, partially because we're lazy, which bothers A, because every house should be decorated for Christmas, as far as she's concerned. I love seeing holiday decorations, but like I mentioned, I'm lazy, and it's cold, so I'm sitting on the couch trying to stay warm.

For the last few years I've enjoyed the decorations that others have done along the drive home from work. Many people have lights and reindeer and wreaths and all kinds of pretty shiny things in their yards, and I've thoroughly enjoyed them. Some are tasteful, but most are the over-the-top crazy out-of-control type of decorating, and I love those the most. There's a single-wide trailer, rusty and leaning, that's always decorated to the point that I wonder how the thing can stand up under the weight. Their yard is similary overdone, but it's wonderful in an awful way. Or awful in a wonderful way. I wish I could get a photo of it at night, but it's cold, I'm lazy, and I don't know how to photograph it so it would properly display the awesomeness.

Tomorrow is B2's 5th birthday. Unbelievable. He was a big baby, and he's still big. He's not a little boy any more.

A's 9th birthday is coming up the first week of January. I've taken advantage of my free flights and am going to Orlando on Dec. 30th. I'll be "sick" *cough cough* on January 5th so I can be with my Bunny Baby on her birthday and fly home late that night. Back to work early the next morning, but it'll be worth it.

Hey, anyone want to have some Last Train home and East Nashville musicians Christmas cds? I have three to give away, courtesy of Eric and Mary Ann. The first three people who comment and claim them will be the lucky recipients of one of the cds. I have two Last Train Home's "Holiday Limited" and one "Yuletide from the other side--More Music from East Nashville", with 37 songs from artists including Last Train Home and 36 others. I admit that I haven't heard of most of the artists on this one, but if Eric thinks they're good, then they're good.

And regarding the last two contests: I'll mail the prizes of all three contests by Friday of this week. I promise. You guys have been so patient with my laziness. I appreciate it, and I appreciate that you've stayed around.

And now, I'm going to eat some black bean and corn salsa and knit for a while. After I go to Ravelry and see what hat pattern for chunky yarn, suitable for a man, that I can dig up. I haven't knit with chunky for a while, so I've forgotten how many stitches I cast on, and I can never remember how to decrease at the top so it looks decent.

Wish me luck. I'll be lost for hours, browsing the patterns and groups and people at Ravelry. It's fun!

B2 was right

Caylee was found behind the big tree in the stinky water.

B2's been insisting for the last couple of months that Caylee's been moved, she's not there any more. When the skull was found a week ago, he freaked out. "It's not her! She's gone! It's another kid!" after J explained to him what a skull is. To him, Caylee was a kid, not bones.

He says he can't talk to her. She's gone.

May she now have the opportunity to rest in peace.

You Don't Have to Like Them Both

But I do.

Putting the school's mail in the mailboxes is part of my job, so I get first crack at the mail each day. Rarely is there something for me. But today....

There was a square box with my name on it. I thought, "It's the yarn that I won from the KAL." I was wrong.

It was THIS:

(Please excuse the crappy photo. And that thing on the electric stapler is a Last Train Home hat. I was in a hurry to take the photo and didn't do very well.) (I'm supposed to be working, you know. But it's slow today.)

Eric Brace and his wife, Mary Ann Werner, sent us a box of Red Beet Records (see Last Train Home link) products. Including *trumpet fanfare* their latest offering, "You Don't Have to Like Us Both" by Eric and Peter Cooper. Two of those, as a matter of fact, one autographed for Tom and me, and one to *ahem* give away. We were going to buy it (maybe a couple) at the show in Ashland on the 27th, and it was all I could do to wait. Joan feels the same way. Ask her. She'll tell you.

Along with those (as if that weren't enough), they sent TWO each of "Yuletide from the Other Side--More Music from East Nashville" (you can find all of these at the Last Train Home/Red Beet Records site), Last Train Home's "Holiday Limited", and Fassoux McLean's "Early". I think that we have all of them; all that we don't have will be contest prizes.

Stop laughing at me. I mean it. All of my former contest winners' loot will be mailed out next week. Honest. Really. I hope I can find their addresses.

Anyway, thank you, Eric and Mary Ann. What a nice Christmas present, and we get to share it!!!

Happy dance

Ahhhhh, the last day of school before "winter break". It's two whole weeks this year--this is why I work in a school.

Tom's applying for jobs all over the place. Everything is online now, which helps. He's started applying in Ft. Lauderdale. Let me think about that. Move to Florida several years earlier than we'd planned? Warm sun, warm air instead of no sun and cold air?

I think I could cope.

The cons are

1) My family, and Tom's, are in this area, most in Virginia, some a little farther north, but most here. I'd hate not being able to decide on a whim to visit one of them; it would be a trip instead of a few hours' or a day's visit.

2) I have a good, secure (I hope) job. It's an easy, mindless job. People are happy when their copies are done quickly. I like (most of) the people I work with. I doubt that I'd be able to find another job that's easy, that doesn't involve working with kids (much), and that pays this well for only 10.5 months' work with great breaks throughout the year.

3) Our place is a hunter's paradise. We've trained the deer to come to the house to eat. We drive up the driveway and they run to meet us (after running away), stand in a semicircle around the car while we get out. I hate to think that someone could stand on the front porch and shoot the deer.

Pros:

1) Warm. Sun. Palm trees.

2) Housing prices in the Ft. Lauderdale area are low enough that we might be able to afford something decent.

3) Flights from Ft. Lauderdale to Richmond aren't that expensive, usually. Family lives within 2.5 hours of Richmond.

4) Our daughters live in Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale.

We'll see what comes of it.

So much for that.

I gave up. After only one round, I could tell that the mitt was going to be waaayyyy to big for petite Bev. So I frogged that one, too.

A big part of the problem is that I'm trying to use Knitpicks Gloss in black. Black. I cannot see the stitches when I'm unknitting, and one tiny mistake just ruins the pattern. I wanted to use a lighter, neutral color, but I don't have any sock yarn that is light enough, or neutral enough.

So much for mitts for Bev. I quit.

Screw it

After 11 rows and three hours, I've given up on the perfect mitts. I simply cannot keep track of the stitches and I'm tired of unknitting.

So on to the Pomotamus mitts! I've cast on. I'll give up in an hour or two.

*sigh*

An old knitting dog CAN learn new tricks

I taught myself to knit about 8 years ago. It was a slow, painful process. I'd cast on, knit a few uneven rows, then put it away for a couple of months. Every time I started again, I'd have to look up how to cast on, because it sure wasn't sticking in my mind.

After a while, though, it clicked. My stitches became nice and even and I could remember how to cast on. I started knitting regularly.

I'm kind of ashamed to say that I never learned the provisional cast on. If a pattern called for it, I'd find another pattern. My brain just couldn't handle trying another way to cast on. The long tail method was what I first learned, and by golly that's good enough for me.

But this past week I found a pattern for wristlets that is so perfect that I have to make them. And, of course, it calls for a provisional cast on. I sighed then googled, found a site, printed it, and sat down to knit.

I could not figure it out. It looked like a foreign language. So I did some more googling, found another non-video site, and tried it again today.

Still couldn't get it. So I sucked it up and went to Youtube. And I found the perfect explanation.

I don't know why I've avoided Youtube and videos this long. Yes, I do know, I'm lying. I hate computer noises. Startup, "you've got mail", that annoying bleep when I do something wrong. So, for years, I've kept the sound turned off. It pains me to even turn it on to listen to music, and I loves me some music. (Last Train Home, Eric Brace, Peter Cooper)

Anyway, I found this video, Crochet Provisional Cast-On, and watched it once. Suddenly it clicked. I picked up my yarn, crochet hook, and dpn and cast on provisionally. And it worked. The first time.


Wow. I feel empowered. I am Woman. Watch me cast on.

Not really. I'm not up to making a video right now. I'd have to turn the computer's sound back on.





My perfect wristlets: They'll have to be added later. IE froze on me.

And I didn't even have the stinking sound on.



P. S. Another reason I like this video so much--"crocheting" is misspelled. Or is it mispelled?

I won!

http://carefreeholiday-ornot-kal.blogspot.com/

The random number generator chose me to win two skeins of Crystal Palace yarns. My first choice is Panda Silk (bamboo, merino, and silk); second choice is Panda Superwash (bamboo, merino, and nylon). Earlier I won a book of sock patterns simply by finishing a project (thanks to the random number generator again).

I have two skeins of Panda Silk in Strawberry Cream; A chose them while we were in Sonora, CA so I can knit her a pair of vacation socks. That's in the very near future. I bought pink glass beads to adorn the cuffs. She's a bead kind of girl.

That's my excitement for today. Pretty good!

Horrors!

While I was in the main office for a few minutes this morning, a woman called about something she'd left at the school over the weekend. She was very upset and I could understand why.

She'd left her knitting bag, full of knitting, at the school, and it hasn't been found.

That would have been enough to panic me, but I later learned that she had an expensive phone with all of her important info programmed into it.

The bag, the knitting, and especially the phone are most likely gone forever.

Why do people take things that don't belong to them? I've had Pepsis taken out of the main office kitchen fridge, and there aren't that many people who use that fridge who drink regular Pepsi. $10 disappeared out of my desk (someone had paid for books that are sold every few weeks in the mailroom), so that means that someone went through MY desk. This room cannot be locked off from the rest of the main office so that no one can come through after hours.

People.

Ha!

I am now a mo-bile blogger.

You can see how busy I am right now. I'm sure the deluge will start any second. XL has already sent a handful of pages to be copied for her students. They'll wait a while.

It makes me feel a little better.

This is a test.

A suggestion

I got an email from MaryAnn Werner, Eric Brace's wife. She suggested that we (anyone who cared about Cross Country radio) start calling and requesting songs and artists that we like, that maybe we can cause a little change that way. I've spent the last hour looking for a phone number for XM radio, but all I can find is their multipurpose "customer care" number. Cross Country used to have its own call in number; I have it programmed in my phone and called often requesting Last Train Home and Peter Cooper songs.

I'm still mourning the loss of Cross Country. I miss hearing Todd Snider, Corb Lund, and others whose names I can't even remember, in addition to Last Train Home and Peter Cooper. I still check Outlaw Country frequently hoping to hear something I like, but now they have loud, obnoxious djs such as Fred Imus (whose claim to fame is that he's Don Imus' brother) and Mojo Nixon, who just yells all the time. Imus has some woman who does nothing but bitch about everything in a whiny, back-country voice (I can picture her; someone who sounds just like her used to be on Hee Haw).

THAT's what Outlaw Country is--Hee Haw for radio, with some obscenities thrown in for good measure. They play George Jones who better belongs on Willie's Place, which is nothing but old country singers.

Oh well. I'll try to find a phone number for Outlaw Country. Meanwhile, I continue my email campaign.

And keep switching stations when something I don't like comes on, just like when I watch tv.

*sigh*

It's official

I have started my weekend, although I don't get off work for another hour.



This morning, our Sup informed us that we'd be getting a survey this morning to copy and distribute to each of our 1325 students. We received our copy at 11:00, the beginning of 3rd block, and were told that it was to be in the students' hands by the end of 3rd block. I copied all of them then went through the roster and divided them into stacks to give each teacher. We were done well before the end of 3rd, but I was a bit anxious about the whole stinking thing.



And yesterday one of the extra-large teachers here, one of the three who send down extra-large copy orders and want them within 15 minutes, sent 7 students down by the end of 2nd block, each with several pages to copy and make transparencies. I do not know what project she's got cooked up for the next week, but after #7, I sent her a (hand-written) note that asked her to please send all copy work down at once, preferably the day before she wanted it; I am copying large quantities of exams and SOL preps and can't stop every ten minutes to make 1-18 copies for some kid who's standing there expecting it RIGHT NOW.



I immediately got a call from Extra-Large (why is it that the most obnoxious people here are the largest?) saying that the kids had misunderstood, she wanted the copies tomorrow or the next day, and she'd send them down at the end of the day. Within 10 minutes, she'd forgotten and sent yet another student to my office with something to be copied RIGHT NOW.



So all of her things were put at the bottom of the stack.



Unfortunately I quickly finished all the other work and had to do HERs anyway.



Enough. I've had enough. The weekend has started.



AAAAANNNNNDDDDDDD.....



XL just sent another student in with maybe 20 sheets to be copied, 28 copies each, and, of course, tranparencies of each. I hate her.



A coach just came in here looking for yesterday's absentee list. I told him I threw away each previous day's list when I put out today's, and it was in the trash. He asked me to look for it.



This is not a tiny trash can. It's four feet high, and I've had a lot of printer mishaps today, such as 300 pages getting jammed because the tray didn't move down as it's supposed to. And lots and lots of confetti from the hole-punchings. And it's now all over the floor, but I found the damn absentee list.



And another coach wanted enlargements of the winter season sports schedule. No matter what I did, it didn't cooperate. I finally got a reasonable facsimile and copied 30 of those.



It's 3:09. Stick a fork in me. I'm DONE.

Reply from Sirius/XM

From their so-called Listener Care with my comments in parentheses:

"Dear Ms. Post,

Thank you for contacting XM. We apologize for the delayed response to your email and we understand your concerns as it relates to the changes in our programming.

In response to your email, XM remains committed to broadcasting the best music, sports, news, talk and entertainment so that we continue to provide our subscribers with something to turn them on. (Not interested in sports. Not turned on by your other broadcasting.) Providing you with the best content sometimes mean that we may make changes to channel formats, update on-air personalities or simply move channels around to add even more entertainment choices. (No. You didn't change, update, or move around. You took away the only Americana channel and fired the programming manager. And by being bought by Sirius, you took away our choice in satellite radio companies.)

Please feel free to contact Programming directly at (email address which didn't link correctly) regarding the schedules and programming on XM. We hope that you will continue to find great value across our 170 channels. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly in the future if you have questions or need additional information on XM?s programming. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346). Our Listener Care Centers hours of operation are as follows: Monday - Saturday: 8AM ? 11PM EST Sunday: 8AM - 8PM EST

Thank you, Nadine"

Nadine, I've done what I can by contacting Listener Care, Sal Resendez, and Patrick Reilly. I signed a petition started by Paul Thorn. We've cancelled our subscriptions to XM.

Thanks for nothing, XM Listener Care.