mmm.

So. Rough weekend. Renee is sick - she's got an abscess in her throat so she's been really whiny. She finally went to the doctor on friday, and she's taking 1200mg of antibiotics every day for a while. Pretty gross. So it was a long weekend at home, making lots of soup and soft foods for her to eat, dealing with her whining, making her gargle, letting her nap, etc.

Then this morning we went out to run to the grocery for breakfast, and the window of the car had been busted out. So that was annoying. We walked to the grocery (luckily it's just half a block, but it was still too tiring for Renee) and made breakfast. Then she took a nap and I dealt with all the broken glass. Our landlord is letting me keep it in the garage for the next while or so, until the glass is repaired. He also let me borrow his shop vac to get the glass all cleaned up. Really, just annoying. Luckily, my deductible isn't too bad, and it should be easy enough to get taken care of. There wasn't anything in my car to steal (I'm not that dumb) and my stereo is, well, an AM/FM radio. So nothing is missing, other than the window.

Whatever. Spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch, knitting. I'm making a set of arm warmers for Renee's sister - Knitpicks Andean Silk in chocolate brown. They're pretty simple, with an eyelet pattern on the wrists. I wasn't paying attention, though, and I made two for the right wrist. It's a good thing I like them - because I'm going to be making two pairs (as long as I remember to make two lefts next time). Again, annoying. Just a little annoying.

Renee is working on more bowls. She's got 4 finished and ready for felting. The 5th is over halfway done. I think we only have 3 more left to finish the Christmas list. Then we're going to make one for halloween (a teeny tiny one).

I picked up a ball of hot lemon yellow WW wool for some gloves for her nephew. He'll like them because I'll tell him they're for hunting. Or something. Maybe I'll make a matching pair of socks for the baby. Eh. Renee is really into the Christmas knitting. Me ... well, not so much. Maybe something for a few select friends, but. It takes a lot of time. And, well, I have a better time working on the project if I know it's going to be used and appreciated, otherwise I get negative. And it takes forever.

PS. I love Pat Benetar. Long time.

About half the f'en icord is done now. And I decided to save the rest of the icord until the end of the project so perhaps some excitement of a finished item will carry me through. I'm probably about 2/3 the way through the increases, which is followed by about a foot of straight knitting. Half of which is reverse stockinette in the round. The thought of that makes me a little grumpy, but I decided that it would be a perfect chance to practice my purling continental style. Or something.

I watched the President last night. I hate him. I mean, I'm sure if we sat down and had dinner together and indulged in some light conversation, it would be fine. But the second anything political or economic came into the picture ... well. First, we don't tax the wealthy at the same percentage rate as the middle class. Second, the wealthy hide their money in stock market assets that are less taxable. Third, they make risky decisions that involve instilling false hope in the availability of the American Dream, and then tear it away because it wasn't actually within reach to begin with. Fourthly, when it all goes sour it screws over the people they were taking advantage of again. Then we all have to bail them out.

F'en Icord.

Okay, so it's not that bad. Now that I've figured out tension, etc for this bit. And, as soon as it's over, I get to start some stockinette flat knitting! Woo! But, after that, I get to wiggle it all around and I make a delightful klien bottle purse! And that excites me. I'm double stranding Cascade, Walnut and Heathered Sparro. They're lovely and mottled and pretty damn delightful, if I may say so. I'm going to like it, lots. Then I've got to rip out half an old sock, re-wind the yarns, and make some toes. Then Zaposa is going to teach me some magic loop magic. It'll be lovely. And I'll get a nice pair of worsted weight socks that are, magically, both the same length!

Fall TV is starting. Which makes sense, as fall did begin today. So we're watching the last season of Grey's Anatomy to make sure we're all caught up. We saw the premier of House last week - don't think I'm going to be as enamored with it this season. The surgery scene was just pretty weird. And Ugly Betty starts soon, and Numb3rs (which I'm totally going to nerd out on) and NCIS, which is stupidly showing at exactly the same time as Bones. Which makes me grumpy.

We might have just picked up a large project at work. Exceedingly large. Even though I was hardly involved, it still makes me excessively nervous. The whole thing was mostly a cluster, and so explaining that cluster to everyone ... well, let's just say that even we don't really understand all that went on. Seriously - we didn't have power for half the bid cycle, and that's just the beginning of all the murkiness. Eh.

Stupid babies.

It's a lovely saturday morning. At least, I think it is. We got to the bar early today, and I helped out Renee with some stuff - cut potatoes (and my finger a little bit), etc. Plus I'm doing laundry - it's just faster when you can dry a load in 30 minutes, rather than 12 hours. Since it doesn't take as long, I can stay focused on it. And I fold when I pull the clothes out of the dryer, which is better than leaving everything in a pile on a chair in the living room when we pull it all off the hangers. Eh. Then I printed out Twist & Shout which I'm utterly enamoured with. I think I'm going to use Comfort - that way it won't make me itchy and I don't have to wear long sleeves under it! Exciting. I might have to special order it, though - Mercantile doesn't tend to have large quantities of the stuff in the same color, and this sweater uses a whole boatload of yarn. (Plus, that way I get to pick a color they might not have in stock. I'm thinking an oaty brown, or a denimy blue would be nice. Something I can wear with anything.) I'm excited.

I think I'm about 1/4 the way through Twisty Turns. It wraps about half way around now, and it's got to go around a little bit more than twice. The ribbing isn't very even, and that bothers me. I know it'll block out, but I think I might end up having to block it twice. I'll have to block it wide and open to even the ribbing, but I don't think I want it with the ribbing all stretched out. I like it bunched up looking, and I think the weight will pull it out nice enough.

I'd like to take photos of all the stuff I've been finishing - I felted two bowls last weekend (or the weekend before, whenever) and three last night. The ones we just finished are pretty awesome. One is orange and brown (for an aunt who's a big Browns fan) and one that's gray, light blue, and bold blue. The handle is gray in the center, with the edging in bold blue (so the rim of the bowl part is bold blue with a gray stripe) and the bulk of the bowl is light blue. It's really damn pretty looking. And the third is with a moebius rim instead of a handle. The rim is bold blue with a red icord bind off, and the bowl part is the same blue. So the moebius is really nicely outlined with the red. (It makes a better hat than a bowl, I think. Renee doesn't really agree.) That one is for her sister who's having a baby. The shower is tomorrow afternoon. I've got a bunch of baby things to fill the bowl with (butt paste, baby spoons, some bottles, wash cloths, etc) and then we'll stick the full bowl in the baby bath we bought. Then maybe I can get some wrapping cellophane stuff and tie it all up like a fruit basket. Nice.

We're putting together one of the games for the baby shower. We're getting a bunch of baby food, and having a tasting contest. I decided I'm getting all green and yellow, and putting food coloring in the yellow stuff, so there are fewer clues. It's going to be pretty disgusting. Gag me with a spoon. *bleck*

We return to the living.

Or, at least, those with power. The electric is back on at work, which is delightful. I couldn't take one more day of writing things down and making the math with a calculator, so I brought in a laptop today (and an extra battery) but luckily don't need it. It's exciting.

Renee and I went to knit night last night at the Chocolate Cafe. That place is dangerous, terribly so. I think the ladies might think we're unfriendly, but we're not. I promise. It's just awkward to work into an established group. And neither of us have really foreceful personalities. Which is actually why we decided to go, because neither of the two ladies we met over the weekend had forceful personalities. So we went, and had a nice relaxing time. We worked on moebii. And one of the ladies was working two sleeves on one cable (she called it "Magic Loop" though it didn't look nearly as complicated as I thought magic loop should look) and she offered to help me set up some two at once magic looped socks - as long as I brought in some completed toes. Perhaps.

Ike-a-like.

So, hurricane speed winds have left half the midwest without power. Or, 300,000 of central Ohioans, at least. But we never lost power, as utterly ridiculous as that sounds. We lose power at the hint of a raindrop, yet in the middle of the gale, our power is solid. Awesome.

My office, however, still has no power. So the first half of Monday, we worked with rulers and flashlights. I worked at home all afternoon - after all, I had power, lights, and a computer. And today, I had an all day field trip to a power plant! Which was oodles of fun - especially when they decided to tell me about the extension. Could have mentioned that earlier, but whatever.

okay, okay

So, she can purl now. And she really wants to make sure I tell you all that, so you don't think she's afraid of the purl. ... She say's it's not as fun as knitting, though. She made a seatbelt cozy. At least, that's what we decided it was after she finished binding off. :)

And she's decided that I'm going to be a football widow this fall, so I might just finish that wrap I started after all! It's about 20" long now, round-a-bout. I'm pleased.

Bang.

So, it's finally happened. The world is going to explode. Renee is learning to knit.

..... We both knew it would happen. She used to crochet as a child, and picked up a hook I had lying around about a month ago. She started a little something, but didn't get very far. I'm working on a moebius bowl for her sister's baby shower (to fill with diaper cream, etc) and I haven't been feeling well. I was knitting in spurts last night, and once when I set it down she picked it up and went, "Which way do I hold the needles?" and that was all it took. She's totally a visual learner, so all she's had to do it watch my hands. She's done a long tail cast on, knitted cast on, and the knit stitch. I tried to show her how to purl, but she closed her eyes and started shrieking "Not yet not yet not reeeeeeadddddy!!" so I gave it back to her. :) Now when we go to the yarn store, she won't be wandering around listlessly! (But she'll probably use the rest of the acrylic in my stash first, eh.)

I mucked up the latest moebius bowl thing. Eh. I did something wrong when picking up the stitches around the brim, and things got twisted in a funny way. I ripped back, and the yarn ended up in a nasty little ball around the handle thing. Eeek. Whatever. It's all rolled up nicely now, and I've got the stitches on the needle again, but I'm not quite ready to knit it all up and try real hard to not twist it funny again. Goooooood times.

Anyway. Sick. Feels like an awful combination of an ear infection, a sinus infection, and the flu. I hate it. I'm too hot to sleep in the bed, too cold to sleep on the couch, to gross to go to work, etc. There's been a lot of movie watching, and I just gotta say - Matilda is awesome, and absolutely hilarious. Looove it.

Classes!

I've spent a lot of time at the yarn store lately. Well, more than usual, anyway. I went in last week to wind up some hanks for the Twisty Turns I started, and to pick up some gifties for a new knitter (knitcheck, point protectors, tape measure, etc) and ended up signing up for some classes! One I knew I was signing up for - a spindle spinning class! I'm terribly excited, but it doesn't happen until November. So I'm patiently waiting, playing a little bit with spindles/roving at home once in a bit. And I signed up for a moebius bowl class! It was on Saturday. I'd checked out the first Treasury of Magical Knitting from the library (moebius = fun, I was sure) but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out the damn cast on. Or what to do once I thought I had stitches on my needles. So I took the class, and it was magic. I didn't think I was actually going to like to bowl thing (that's a little too femmy kitschy chique for me) but, turns out, they're fantastic! I already finished the one we started in class, and then made a second one on Sunday. I decided they're what I'm doing for Christmas. I'll make a bowl for everyone, in appropriate colors, and then Renee can weave matching hot pads, and we'll stick a chocolate-chip-cookie-mix-in-a-jar in it. Perfect, easy, quick. I made her grandmothers first - it's dusty rose and rose leaf green. I used the green on our bowl (our walls are a trio of leaf greens) but I'm not sure what else I'll use the pink on. Renee's littlest sister is having a new baby, so I started another bowl last night for her baby shower - it's dark blue, with a dark blue twisted band with ruby attached Icord edging. It's not going to be handled, though, just have the moebius band around the edge. I'll stick cotton balls/Q-tips/diaper cream/etc in it - HA! and a snot sucker turkey baster thing. Those things are hilarious. I'll have to get around to photos.

So it was a fantastic class to take. Lots of easy gift potential, plus now that I can do the cast on, I can make myself a lovely twisted shawl. After I finish the twisted wrap I just started, of course!

Work is ... different ... right now. We got in drawings for 3 big projects all on the same day. Delightful. Whatever. We'll make it work, right? We each got a project to be in charge of. The two boys are splitting the two large projects, and I'm doing the mid-sized one all myself. Tuns out, one of the bigger ones is actually huge, and my mid-sized one is, well, tiny, actually. Plenty confusing and requiring lots of fucus, sure. But still not going to take up my time for the next two weeks. So even though we're busier than we have been, I'm still just taking up time... Which is boring, and kinda stressful. Whatever. :)

I finished my Ravelymic socks, though a bit late. I kept forgetting that the deadline was not at midnight my time, but midnight Bejing time (which was noon my time). So I was a couple hours late. That's cool. I still finished them. And then stayed up a little late to roll the next skein into a ball. It's Cherry Tree Hill Yarn, Supersock superwash 100% merino, Slate color. It's really pretty. The texture is interesting - it's almost looks like a 'tightly spun boucle' I guess. It's got nubbins on it. The color is lovely. I've decided to do a lace sock with this one - the solid color without a pattern would be a bit boring, so I'll step outside my box and try to stretch my skills. Which means these socks could take much longer than my week each average. (Which I'm seeing is a pretty long time to knit a sock. Eh.) I'm deciding between Knitty's Sweetpea and Knitty's Falling Leaves. But I might not actually use those specific patterns, but rather translate those stitch patterns and then incorporate them into the Ridgeline sock pattern. I really liked the way those socks turned out - the little increase triangle on the sole is really nice. And the foot went pretty quickly - faster than I remember the Coriolis going.

I think I'm also going to toss out some child socks for Keaton and Talon (*shudder* Who names a person Talon?) and maybe Haley. They have little feet, and I can probably make a pair (or 2) for each of them out of the leftovers from the last two balls. Since I don't tend to make cuffs, I probably actually have enough leftovers for another pair of adult footies in each ball. Problem is that I don't like the ugly Austermann yarn, and I don't think there is quite enough of the pretty blue/brown/orange yarn for another pair.

So, it's been about a month. Nothing really too exciting has happened. Raeface's little brother stayed with us for the last 6 weeks, or so. But now he's back at school, so he'll only be here for the weekends (and even then, only for a bit of the weekends) so that's nice. It wasn't awful having him here, it was just a bit stress inducing. Having a third person in our tiny apartment was rough, and as he was aaaalllwwways here, the only alone time was in the car to and from work.

Speaking of work, it's official. I've been gainfully employed for over a year. And I'm not bored, which is the most impressive feat of all. The last time I'd been at a job for a year, well, it was making coffee. That hardly counts. So, congratulations for me.

As far as knitting, that's been fun lately. I finished a pair of socks for me. They're 100% wool, superwash. Cerulean, chocolate, and tangerine. On size 3 needles, 7 spi. I used the Simple Coriolis pattern from the Cat Bordhi book. I widened the swirling band to 5 stitches. They're a little big though, and I wish they weren't superwash. Eh, whatevs. My next pair is for the Ravelymics. I'm using Austermann Step (with the aloe vera and jojoba oil in the yarn, which is nice and nifty but doesn't quite make up for the splityness) and the 1st sock is done, the second about 1/3 the way finished. And they're actually ugly as hell. In the ball, the yarn is really pretty - lime, orange, cream, and nutmeg. What I didn't see were the black spots. Which are really ugly. But the pattern is nice. Another Cat Bordhi - Ridgeline this time. I'm doing something new this time. A different toe than normal, a new pattern. I like it, even though they're ugly.

Wow. Sometimes life really, really sucks.

Death is everywhere right now. It's hanging a shroud over me, clouding the details of everything I see. I'm too distracted to work right now, at this moment, and I've actually got something fun on my desk right now.

Yesterday morning, Katie Reider passed away. She'd been battling serious health problems, but everything had been looking up. Even with the health issues, the loss of Katie is shocking. She passed early yesterday morning, and people in Columbus knew by 10am. Then the lesbian phone tree kicked in, and there was a gathering last night in Goodale Park, which was appropriate. There was some of her music, and kind words from many people who knew her well.

I didn't know her well. We'd met, of course. I've seen her perform a few times. The most memorable, though, was at Little Brothers. I was underage, and drinking. I went outside for a cigarette and didn't have a lighter. There was a group of people off to the side; I approached and they did have matches - Katie Reider matches, at that. We started talking about how cold it was, and my lack of a jacket. Then someone else walked up to the group and joined the conversation. They started talking about the sound check - at which point, I say - Oh, you're one of the bands? And they say yep, we're the Katie Reider Band. And I turn to the newest girl and say, What do you play? and she responds, Well, I'm Katie Reider! Slightly embarassed (but too drunk to realize it) we all walked inside. Ten minutes later, the bassists wife brought me a shot of burbon, and told me I should come to more shows.


And then Raeface called me at work this morning with the news that a co-worker of hers (my personal favorite at the bar) -- his grandmother died, likely yesterday as well. She'd been in poor health, but they weren't expecting it. And, a regular customer at the bar had passed within the last few days as well.

See? Death everywhere. So hold on to your love ones; it's looking to be as depressing a summer as last year...

Uhh, so she did kick my ass. That's okay. I'm used to it. She's generally better at games than I am. Except Othello - which we play so I can win sometimes too. (I'm really not a sore loser. I just hate losing every single time on every single game. That's all.) The funniest part is that she haaaaates 80s music, which, of course, is what Guitar Hero is filled with. I pick Warrant and Kansas and Cheap Trick - she just groans. She likes some of the songs, though. It's all right.

She played last night while I started a pair of socks. We went to Heavenly Creations Tuesday night so I could pick up a top whorl spindle (suggested because apparently most beginners don't start with a bottom whorl) and I picked up a skein of Encore (which I think makes perfectly good house socks - it pills a bit on the bottom, but that's okay - besides, I don't have the patience to make a pair of socks at 10 spi (which is what the Comfort sock ended up at) so the worsted weight is good for me) that's absolutely beautiful. I've been wearing her socks lately (which makes her yell at me) so I'm just making myself a pair. Ha. Anyway, the colours are so pretty that I almost wish I was making a scarf instead of socks. You'll have that, though. But I don't really have anything else in my stash to make me a quick pair of socks with (just the Comfort sock, which, again, I just don't have the patience for right now). If we don't do anything tonight, I think I'm going to sit down and watch some YouTube on spinning - perhaps with a top whorl, the videos will make a bit more sense. And maybe I'll have the focus to sit down and watch them. Here's hoping!

I'm so glad this week is almost over. I've got a job that should go out tomorrow afternoon, then another one to start Monday morning. This pace is a little slow for me - I find that I'm saving things to do later so I don't end up with a whole lot of left over time at the end of a project. Really, I think I could probably do 1.5x the work load they give me - I won't tell them that, though, because if they did that I'd likely accidently end up with 3x the amount. Eh. With all the time I spend with the boys because they're idiots, it all works out.

My bike has a stupid flat tire, and I hate it. That's all.

I've been working on the Murky Falling Water scarf a lot lately. It's a pretty easy knit at this point. We went to a flea market over the weekend, and it was great to do in the car on the drive. The flea market itself, however, was wretched. Now, I like flea markets and buying used "vintage" and generally old things. I love the tables filled with odd glassware and old tools. But, uh, the booths filled with dollar store cast-offs .... I could have done without. There were 4 or 5 places selling used DVDs. A "grocery store" selling close to expired cereal and baking mixes. Several pet store - with real animals, which is what confused me the most. The place is only open on the weekend - how are those animals being cared for during the week? Regardless.

I stole my brother's Guitar Hero the other day. Buttface was up laaaate playing. I think she plans on playing all day today, as well, that way she can kick my ass when I get home tonight. That's okay.

I'm really sad right now.

My mom's birthday was last weekend - likely part of the reason why vacation happened last weekend. And then the anniversary of her death is next Saturday. So that's two reeeaallly crappy weekends really close together!

I'm not really sure what to do with this sadness. I don't really so much want to knit with it, except for boring things that hurt my hands. But I've been cooking a lot lately, and I think that's it. I'm baking bread and actually preparing meals. More so on the weekends. Like breakfast. I make a good breakfast. We had pancakes this morning - we haven't had pancakes in so long, it was a delicious treat. And I've got something marinating for dinner tonight. Marinating - ha! What a hoot.

Jojo is in town. He had his chest restructureing surgery this week. He look fantastic. With his changed face, physique, etc and his posture - looks like he always should have, I guess. I think we're going to try and hang out again before he leaves to go back to Northhampton. It's so strange to see him. It's a "blast from the past" combined with a strange voyeuristic glimpse into what my life could have been had a made a single different decision, or two. It's interesting, and different, and strangely .. strange.

We got another window unit. So now the whole house has air conditioning. It's cold. I mostly love it - except for that sometimes it gets too cold, because I'm just so used to the heat now..

We went on vacation. Just a little one. But it was pretty aaaaamazing.

We stayed at Ravenwood Castle in Hocking Hills for the weekend. We both took Friday off work, and headed down there. Due to problems that were entirely (not) my fault, we totally and completely missed our exit off the freeway - but that's because we never actually passed it. So we grabbed a map, and made our own way. It only took twice as long as expected, but we got to drive through so much green and over so many hills it was all okay. Except for where the road closed, and we had to backtrack 30 minutes. That was stressful, but we all survived.

Then we checked in at our little cottage which was delightful and cozy with a huuge bathtub. And ran over to Old Man's Cave for some hiking and walking around and being part of the green. We took the long way back, intending for dinner in Rockbridge, but there weren't actually any places to eat there. So, to the 'city' we went, where there was one restaurant open. And the food was delightful. Well, the Goat Cheese Walnut Potato Skins were. The rest was just okay.

Saturday involved getting up with the sun (I'm not very good at sleeping in anymore, it seems) and a lesiurely breakfast on the back deck of the castle. We stopped at various shit shops, and purchased various knick knacks. We headed into Nelsonville, got a coffee, walked around the town square. Nelsonville Pottery had a fantastic statue of a lady I just had to have, as well as coffee bean soap! The Spinning Turtle was delightful, with a pretty large selection. Both high end and moderate yarns. As well as SPINDLES and roving. So I purchased an Ashford Turkish drop spindle and a couple ounces of roving! I've been denying the desire to spin for so long; it felt good to give in to a bit of temptation. I haven't gotten very far yet, though. The shop owner gave me an "introductory lesson" except that she was terribly flighty and all over the place - and didn't once let my touch the spindle in her presence. So it was largely useless. I'm bumble through, though, once I have the ability to sit and focus. Pants got a potholder loom, and some cotton loops. She's making potholders pretty obsessively right now; it's darling. We broke out some pretty cotton yarn the other night, and wove with that instead of the loops. The thing came out pretty, and feels just about right. I wouldn't use it to take our cast iron pans out of the oven, though.

I've been baking bread! It's fun. Especially since we don't/can't eat store bought bread. It's nice to have it around, again, for little nibbles and morning toast with eggs. I used it to make Toad in the Hole for breakfast on Monday; it was amazing. I need that all the time for breakfast. Because it uses different flours than standard bread, it's incredibly different. But, the last time I ate store bought bread, I thought the texture was wierd. Ha. Funny how quickly paradigms can change.

On the needles right now I've got my Muddy Waters scarf, which is coming along nicely. It's probably about 18" long right now. I started a sock with Comfort sock before vacation, but I'm only about 4 rounds into the to right now. I'm still working on a grocery bag. I completed one, but I disappointed with how much stretch is in it. I might just end up working a pattern of my own I've been working on in my head. We'll see...

Well, that ball game or two could happen. We went to the game last night, and it was delightful. There were actually people in the stands, they were paying attention, playing along, singing along, and it was fun! And they won, so that helps too. It was actually a good game. Because we got there late and the place where we usually sit was pretty full (and I need lots of room - yarn, and all) we sat on the other side of the stadium, wwwwaaaaayyy up high. And knitting at that altitude wasn't working, so instead I paid attention to the game. And it was a good game to watch, so that was delightful. Broken bats, and all. I even have a favorite player now (but I think that's only because I sing a song about his name.)

Regardless. Happy Father's Day. Had lunch with Dad yesterday. He brought his new girlfriend. Whatever. She doesn't talk much, so. Apparently Grandpa (my Mom's dad) is regretful about the life he's lived and wants his family back. Which, whatever. I'll give the dying man his last wish, but he'd better not think I'm going to make all the effort here. He's treated his entire family like second class citizens since I was 12. Whatever.

No, not bitter at all. I'm almost finished with the heart for A & J. They're so damn adorable it's disgusting. I need to write something for them too, perhaps something like an intention prayer mantra sort of thing. Filled with goodness, desire, respect, etc. More than a simple wish-you-well! card. I should work on that now...

My friends Amy and Jennifer are getting married! In 10 days. Which is super exciting. They've asked that, instead of gifts, to donate dollars to the marriage equality fund, or something. But that's so boring! So I've come up with a cute little gift idea - small stuffed hearts! Just a few, something tiny and small. And I can use some of the rest of that rainbow yarn from Bam. What I should do is make a bunch, slap them on pin backs, and give them away to people for Pride. Well, make them flat, though. Don't stuff them. That'd be cuuuuute. Way cute. People would love them! Ahh!

But I hate Pride weekend. And Comfest. And all that crap. And it's all coming up, waay too soon. I don't really care to deal with the mess, is all.

Knitters' Connection is this weekend. I'll probably go hit the marketplace tonight, if I leave early enough. Tomorrow looks like it'll be a good day for bike riding, so I'll probably get in some of that. What else... Perhaps a ball game or two. I like baseball. :)

I took a personal day yesterday. We went to the ball game tuesday night, and being outside for that long was just more than I was medicated for. So I was groggy and my face felt like I was going to explode. But whatever.

Got my package shipped off to El Salvador. That's good. It took long enough, but that's okay. I think I did okay on the book shopping. That was the most difficult thing, ever. I tried hard to pick out books for her, and not just books that I wanted to read / would enjoy reading. I need to pay off my library fines, and get some books reserved. I want to read : Gag Rule, The World Is Flat, The Big Switch, The Anatomist, and The Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs. I'm sure there are other things, too. Like things in the vein of Freakenomics.

I hear that Chrissy Hindes intends to open a restaurant in Columbus. It's actually been the gossip for a while now. I'd like that. All the veggie restaurants are pretty sub-par. Well, the affordable ones, at least. I'd like to have a place within walking distance that doesn't gross me out and isn't a chain. I mean, Northstar is pretty good, but the service sucks and there's no variety, and Zilla can only actually eat one thing on the menu. Anyway, that would be okay.

So work isn't busy anymore. It goes like that, though. We'll be slammed for three weeks, and then not have anything to do for the next week. Not having anything to do is actually more stressful than too much, though, I think. Regardless.

We're supposed to go to the baseball game tonight, but that might not happen. It's raining now, and if it's raining tonight, we're not going. There was a story in the paper yesterday about the increase in ticket prices for next year - we were worried that prices would go up so much, we wouldn't b able to go as much next year as we've gone this year. Well, we've been to 6 or 7 games this year. But it looks like the game ticket prices will be about the same for general admission, but the seats will be fewer and higher up. Eh, whatever. Plus, we can almost walk to the new location. We could definitely take the bus - and since parking will be a complete nightmare, we probably will. So much easier... I don't think the bus goes out to the current stadium.

I think she likes going to the games as much as she does is because of the parking lot. It's big - and mostly empty - so she gets to practice driving the car before we go in. She's starting to get it, which is good. I think she'd been better off if someone else was teaching her - someone who wouldn't let her quit half-way through. She tried to drive home from the grocery the other day - but there was a little hill at an intersection, and she got frustrated. I think it's funny, but don't tell her that.

I didn't work on anything that night - too hot. We spent the evening watching a movie on the computer in the air conditioned bedroom. We need another window unit for the rest of the house, otherwise we won't survive the summer. We'll have to move the TV into the bedroom just to get by.. The tv, and the rat. He's not doing well with the heat.. Actually, I should move him tonight. ...