This power plant project is close to kicking my ass. That is all.

I finished one of the Toscana socks, and, umm, it's practically perfect. I'm almost to the arch expansion on the second one - hopefully I'll keep focused and be wearing them this weekend! I'm using the same sockitecture I used for the really ugly socks - I really like the Riverbed one. Initially, I was stuck on the Coriolis because it's so pretty and I love that the increases are organized into something so sweet looking. But the way the increases create this extra fold of fabric and how it's almost-but-not-quite invisible in the Riverbed organization... It's lovely. And it's really really exciting that I finally have socks that fit! And I'm already excited for the next pair of socks - I've got some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn I picked up in Indianapolis. I've got a navy color, and bright lime green. There's a simple lace pattern in the Bordhi book (that I'd intended for the Toscana socks) that I'm going to work on the navy socks; I'm not sure what I'm going to work with the lime. Maybe Monkey, or something cabled. Something as equally obnoxious as the color (which I really do love, a whole lot). Then maybe I'll go back to working on the Klein bottle bag, or the Twisty Turns wrap. Eh. :)

We went to the library last night. I kind of went a little crazy in the books-on-CD section. We got a lot of Prairie Home Companion, the Stories of Dusty and Lefty, and Julia Childs' My Life in France. Uhh, I picked that one because I really enjoyed Julie & Julia (which doesn't actually have any of Julia Childs' writing in it) and because she was a spy. :) We'll see how that goes. I'll have to get into them this evening before NCIS is on.

And, I think I'm going to go vote this evening! At least, I mean, if I remember to look up my sample ballot and spend some time this afternoon researching judges. And, if I could make up my mind on who I'd prefer to be president. (Yeah. Still not sure. Whatever.)

Needed a day..

I needed a day today. So I took one. I'm okay with that.

I sat on the couch most of the day, watching TVontheinternet (which is absolutely the best invention of all time) and knitting. We stopped at the merc on Wednesday before dinner with dad (I needed some buttons!) and I picked up some of the most fabulous sock yarn that's ever existed. It's Jitterbug Toscana, and the colors are absolutely amazing. It's jewel tones (sapphire and ruby and gold) in a field of greens (emerald and sage and shiny rose leaf) and it's so shiny it blows my mind. I was going to do an all over stitch pattern that I thought would look nice in the striping, but I was so enamored with the colors that I got totally distracted and forgot. But it's okay. The fabric feels so thick and warm and delightful ... I'm utterly in love, and I've just started the arch expansion. What's funny is I've got 4 skeins of sock yarn sitting on the shelf, and I've just not been in the mood for socks - until I picked this stuff up off the shelf!

I was supposed to take the bike back to dad's house this evening - umm, except for the rain. So that's just not going to work out. Raeface is half finished with the baby blanket for Talan, and she's real excited about that. We ordered yarn for our first sweaters this week. Mine came, but her's is back ordered. Now I just have to pick a pattern - I've got it narrowed down to two, but I'm still just not sure. I'd like to make Twist + Shout, but I'm not sure I've got the right color for that one. Then there's the sweater from the cover of Big Girl Knits. I think that's the one I'm going to go with. It looks easy enough, I can do it in the round, etc. Yeah, probably. Umm, I just realized that I'll probably need to order more needle tips if we're both going to be knitting sweaters. Hmm. And while I'm at it, I should probably order size 2 and 3 cable needles for working magic loop socks. (Even though I utterly adore my dpns. No, really. I love them.)

Rae's aunt is having her annual halloween party this weekend. Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and that makes me anxious. And depressed. Thanksgiving is depressing. I think we decided to tell everyone that we're at someone elses family for the weekend, and just hide at home, eat turkey sandwiches, bake bread, and ignore people. Last year was just too hard. It was too hard to not have my mom around. I think I just need to stay home, and make the food we loved the most, and not have any other people around who ask questions when I start to cry. ... I'm just not ready for that. (Uh, funny, though, that Christmas doesn't bother me, doesn't depress me, nothing. Thanksgiving, though, I have problems with.. )

Last week work was almost more than I could handle. ... I think.

We had a big private college project that went out on Wednesday that I got drug into. It wasn't really my project, but at the last minute I started making phone calls and looking for quotes, doing some pricing analysis. It was okay, though. I'd gotten a commodity price update on Monday, and used the extra stand-by time to do a update for the SPD guys. I got to go to a pre-bid on Tuesday; that was exciting. I like going to walk thru's - even if the site is currently just a dusty parking lot. I like getting to meet people, and see what everyone else has done on the project already (I usually don't find out about the things until the morning of, so I haven't done any work at that point.) We had a turnover meeting Friday morning on a project that we think we'll be awarded - so we're putting time and resources on getting this project started, but we don't have a contract (or even an intent to award!) yet. Lovely!

Raeface and I re-organized the living space this weekend. We got a closet cleaned out, the couch moved, more yarn storage set up, etc on Saturday. We moved the rat cage, and now I've got a sewing table - that's exciting. No more ironing on the fold up TV tray! I've got stuff I've got to grab from Dad's house - Grandma's curtains, a dress I started (well, years ago) and I think I'd like to maybe make some simple clothes, perhaps. And probably a baby blanket. Oh! Pajamas for Keaton for Christmas! Maybe a helmet bag for Josh for Christmas.. That would be nice. Except then I'd have to do something with a zipper. Or it would snap together - snaps I could do!

The christmas bowls are almost finished. I finished half of Renee's King Max crown - the headband part is finished, and it just needs the points now. I'm close to complete on the first left wrist warmer. The Twisty Turns hasn't been worked on for a while now. And I think I'm going to work on the Klein bottle bag before I pick that up again. Small projects just kept getting in the way! But now that everything is (more) organized, maybe things'll work better...

Ahh! Erin had a baby! I love him! He's reallyreallyreally cute! (And now I want a baby. But that's not happening. Not for a while. Raeface and I talked a lot about that this weekend. Babies, family, where we're at, buying a house, etc. We decided that we still like each other. :))

Saturday was packed full of goodness. Zilla and I went to breakfast and took a walk, then she went to work and left me alone for the day. I cleaned, tidied, washed all the laundry, dusted, etc. And I knitted a lot. I made two obnoxiously hot pink cozies. And I love them. I might not be able to give them away. They still need buttons, but I'll get there. After Buttface got home, we peeled zillions of billions of apples and started the applesauce process. Okay, so only slightly less than a bushel - less than half of what we have to peel.

Sunday we got up early and went out to The Wilds for the day. (Some of) Rae's family went with us. It was Experience Columbus, which meant there were way more people there than normal. And they had private tours scheduled, which meant there were fewer buses than normal. Which means we spent forever waiting for buses to get us from place to place. The weather was really nice - not too hot, but definitely warm. Too warm for a sweater, but cool enough to carry it around just in case. I knitted a bit - got through most of a left wrist warmer before I realized I didn't have waste yarn with me for the thumb (annoying). We got to see some neat animals - rhinoceroses, giraffes, Pere David donkeys, Persian ongers, camels, zebras, antelope (several species), and - my new favorite - the takin. They were fantastic. They've got a back end similar to a bear, a face like a goat, and horns. They can swim, climb, run, jump, and go anywhere on the property. The girl who told us about them said they were the most aggressive /dangerous animals in the place, and special electric boundaries had to be installed because they were trying to get into the people cages. I think that's my favorite thing about The Wilds - the people are in cages instead of the animals. And the tour guides make sure the visitors know that.

Due to the busing delays, we didn't get home until after the SNBA Gala had already started, so we didn't end up going to that. By the time we would have showered and changed, the thing would have been closer to ending than beginning. I was a little bummed - even though the thing would have been full of privileged white men making their money off the backs of poor people, I would have liked to have gone. Katie Reider was going to be honored with an award, and that would have been nice to be a part of.

But since we didn't go, I got out the sewing machine and made Zilla's Halloween costume real fast. Then I started my grandmother's Christmas present - just some throw pillows, but it's absolutely the perfect fabric for her. Then I remembered that I promised her some curtains (the fabric is sitting at Dad's house somewhere) and I need to get those done to send with the pillows. I think I want to make a ruffle for edging on one pillow, but I'm not sure how to do that...

We have a big weekend planned. Today should be pretty relaxed, as far as a work day goes. I might run down to the yarn shop over lunch to pick something up for a swap. Something quick, and brightly colored. And feltable. And buttons! I love buttons. We're going to a comedy show tonight with my brother. And before that happens, we're going to stop at Dad's house to get one of my mom's sewing machines. Then I'm going to start hemming things, and maybe finish a dress I started making a long time ago, and bang out a couple pillows for Christmas. Maybe I'll use it for Christmas cards, too. We'll see. And I've got to make Renee's halloween costume. We already bought the fabric - it's all a matter of 4 quick seams. Then the show at Shadowbox tonight should be a good time.

Saturday is going to be all about finishing cleaning I started last weekend. I need to get the ceiling fans, take out the ac units, and clean out our middle room. We're going to use the living room as storage (yarn, books, movies, etc) and laundry hanging space over the winter, and live in the center room. I'll get that going this weekend.

Sunday we're going to the wilds! And that's exciting. And then we're going to the SNBA gala event. I don't know what that'll be like, but I know I've got to wear a dress. (Well, anything dressed up, so I'll wear a dress. And be pretty.) Hopefully we won't be out late, though. I don't like being out late on a weeknight.

welp.

Busy weekend. Friday night I was ... doing something, I'm sure. And Raeface called to see if I wanted to go to the Indigo Girls concert that night. It seemed rude to refuse karma tickets, so we went. We're not entirely sure where the tickets came from, but they came with backstage passes. When we got there, we ended up giving those to someone who promised to find someone who would appreciate the experience a little more than we would. The opener was ... well, really gay. That general acoustic guitar and feminine whiny voice thing. And it didn't seem like she'd played Columbus before - she kept insinuating that people must not have liked her because they were talking. Ha. We didn't stay for much of the Indigo Girls, though. After you've stood all day at work it's not much fun to stand through a show. And I was just exhausted.

Saturday we went to breakfast at Cafe Corner. I love the eggies in a basket. And then I cleaned most of the day. I did laundry, moved furniture, swept under the bed. I didn't get to dust the ceiling fans, but I will soon. I'd like for most of the dust to be out of the house before I seal it up for winter. That evening we went bowling with my little brother! Now, other than gym class, I've probably only bowled maybe 4 times in my life. And I didn't do too badly - well, I scored 22 the first game. And the second I was in the low 80s. Sunday morning, though, my shoulders were sore - they made me bowl left handed for half the first game, but I just wasn't strong enough to keep doing it that way.

Sunday morning we went apple picking and Lynd's Fruit Farm. We got an entire bushel of apples, for making apple sauce. And for eating. Then we went to my Dad's house to do some laundry (blankets, the couch slip cover, the heated mattress pad, etc - more getting ready for winter) and we (partially) cleaned out my closet there. It's time to start working on getting all my crap out of the house. A lot of the stuff I'll donate, especially if I haven't used it for a year. But the fabricy stuff, and the books, and the childhood mementos I've held on too ... well, those at least need to be condensed.

The big problem is that the room is filled with my mom's stuff. When I moved back in, we never managed to get all her stuff out of the drawers and dressers in the room. Most of the stuff we took out of the closet was her stuff. It's hard seeing parts of her, being so close to, well, it's just her stuff. But its stuff that exhibited her personality - both the surface stuff (likes, hobbies, etc) and the deeper parts (the need to hide things, the inability get rid of things, squirreling things away, etc) too. I had awful dreams about her last night. I think I re-lived finding her that morning a dozen times last night... It's been over a year now, but I guess those are things that take time to fully work through...

We're going to knit night tonight. We didn't go last week because of the ill. She's feeling better, but I'm still calling her pus pit. And disease girl. And bacteria babe. (She acts like it upsets her, but I can tell she doesn't mind. She's laughing, inside.) But we're going tonight. I'm going to rush home and cast on for the two left wrist warmers, because one of the ladies said she'd learn me magic loop. And I decided I'd rather start with the wrist warmers instead of socks. Heel turns frighten me. At least, heel turns combined with new methods intimidates me a little bit. Regardless.

Umm. The economy (and our government) scare me. Sarah Palin scares me. Pirates in Somolia ransoming a ship full of tanks scares me. I think it's time to move. I just did some math, and I, personally as an individual, own approximately $32,848 of the national debt. (I won't even deduct the percentage of money that was spent on the Iraq 'war' (conflict? police action? religious conversion mission?), which I don't agree with and didn't vote for. (If I had the means) I'd write the US Treasury a check for my financial responsability and immigrate.

But I don't have the means, and most of the people I know don't have the means. And I'm really not in the mood to immigrate today. Instead I'm going to start working on putting together my business plan. And gathering information on grants. And reading books on water conservation and filtration. And then, even though it'll scare me, I'm going to quit my job. That's the only way I'll ever get anything done.

In other news,. If I stretch real hard, the Twisty Turns wrap goes around me once - kind of. So that's promising. I've got a ball of sock yarn I'm itching to start working with - but I don't think I want to make socks with it. I think I might want to do a scarf verion of a Clapotis. I think that'd be durn purty. The yarn is purples, greens, and browns. At least, that's what I'm seeing in my head.

My focus at work might be altered for a bit. We think it's likely we'll be awarded a 10 million dollar project that's got a retarded fast schedule. So, if that comes to pass, I'll jump over to project management and help get that going - maybe some scheduling, helping draw up a budget, getting submittals in, etc. I think it's a great opportunity to use some of the other skills I paid a lot of money to learn. :)