Working on the Yard

I don't know what happened to my unfortunate bag of sugar as is traveled it's way to my kitchen. somewhere between here and the factory it must have gotten doused whith ( I can only hope) alot of water. I just about need a sifter cement pounder to break it up. Normally I would have noticed these things and avoided the bag 'o funk, but really in a 9am no-coffee-in my-system sugar run, shit happens. After a smell test, precautionary lick test complete with flashes from "Steve don't eat it" and a dog check (hey if he licks it its OK to eat) I am fairly sure it's just had a run in with water.
I have researched my caladiums and found that I don't get to plant them until May, which sucks because of course by may I won't know where the bag went to and I will more than likely have calads running wild in my heating closet. I do have alot more of Girly's pansy seeds I may plant in the meantime in the area for them so It doesn't look so terribly bare. I'm sure my neighbours will appreiciate that my yard doesn't so much look like a hippy armpit any more. Every one else here keeps their yards impeccable in the winter months. I however like to let it rest. My laziness has resulted in the sweetest black dirt in the back yard, but not somuch in the front. but hey It's got growth now at least. when I moved here 4 1/2 yrs ago there was nothing but mud and sand. 4 years of not rakeing the leaves, and chucking pears for the dog finally paid off.
after a bout of raking some branches up that fell out of the paer tree and some I whacked off the bushes of mystery I figured I'd take a nice break and listen to some music. It would have been nice. If PG hadn't misplaced my flipper switch. Over the winter I complained that I kept getting shocked every time I got out of the car.I guess I thought he'd FIX it. Instead He found that the amp wire was arching off the door and that was what kept zapping me. His answer was to ripp the durn flipper out, thereby keeping it from arcing off the door, but also keeping ME from cranking the tunes to deafiningly loud levels. Now I have my wired up sub, and no flipper to turn it on with. poop.
SO now instead I am killing time until the crafters get-together @ 2pm at the library. I should be going to a baby shower that I made booties for. But PG is barfy and I don't want to be too far from him incase he needs something. And unless there is yarn, coffee, or some other shiny important thing I don't drive farther than 20 minutes away alone. I get REALLY bored, and start to nod off. I have tried K-while driving twice on these sort of trips out of desparation to keep moving. tip: loop your hands through the steering wheel and put the yarn around the back so as not to get tangled up and so you can still steer. Naturally you can't CABLE or make anything fancy or you defeat the purpose of NOT killing anyone. If you can do it with out looking, it'l work. Wait why am I telling this? really don't knit and drive. it's not safe. which Is why I don't do it anymore. But I Have tried it, for the learning experince. One should always try new things. It inhances the mind right?

Tales of Yarn

It's been a week of yarny goodness. My birthday on monday with my friends and cake and a kick butt stash bag from Sally. Then making booties for another friend's baby on Tuesday, Wednesday Girly and I went to a great antiques(and not so antique) shop and I got some tapestry yarn to make a rug with for girly's room, it's great for felting because it's 100% virgin wool. Then thursday Sal Girly and I went to the island to scope an LYS when was wonderfull. First we fortunatly lucked up and went the wrong direction and stumbled onto thier NEW location which was NOT on the map I googled. they weren't open yet so we had a blast at the ACE garden centre looking at the flowers and getting some agnes bushes for Sally's yard and I got some low lying plants to go around the bottom of my pear tree. Where the soil is like heaven. probably the only spot in my yard I can say that about. We also got some Ivy and pansies for Girly to plant. Didn't want to leave, but the prospect of a juicy yarn store was too much to pass up.Girly took some pictures of her favorites:
They had CHEERY TREE HILL for pete's sake, and gobs of Noro Today I got my reciept from WEBS and a handy litle tracker from UPS so I can see where my yarn is. I should be getting it Either tomorrow or monday. Monday would be good for me, PG won't be home, and the Kntting posse will be here for monday morning Knit in, since Sally's house will be sleep central and we don't want to disturb anyone. oh yes, there will be much cleaning and raking here over the weekend. I was out back doing the weeding and prep for the caladium bulbs...Those in the Picture BTW are NOT mine, they are off the holland bulbs site. (the brand I got) I can only hope mine turn out that well.
ANd I pissed off some little blackish creature I think It was a salamander, but when large shiny things run at me I kinda glaze over and run screaming. I poked around back there but I coudn't find it again so I ran the weed eater for a bit around the general area to make SURE I scared him off. I don't think he'll be back for a while. Now I am off to check that I am palnting the bulbs correctly, I will take some pictures ...If they don't die.

Yarn addict

I told my husband he was a spammbaiter addict last night....Ironically with a sock in my hands, a cable needle in my mouth, and two bags filled with yarn spilling out around me. Oh yes, I did. " Are you sure you want to talk to ME about addiction?" he incredulously asked doing the little finger swirly around my general area. "maybe not so much" But of course he let me win since it WAS: my birthday:DI don't think I would have won had he seen my purchase today from WEBS.. What, I got $80 ish for my birthday in cheque, Why not spen it on yarn and stuff....Okay MOSTLY yarn, but I did get some circs and a cable needle too. I usually can only dream of WEBS closeouts, today that dream is MINE!!in these and other fabulous colours

I got a cone of laceweight to make some nice summer projects And later paint, and some tweed sock yarn too, Sadly they were out of the really great navy blue, which is a favourite colour of mine, so I got a white flecked one that wil suit my cableing better.
Do you drop the (e) in cableing or not? I never know. English was always my better class so I'll go with the (e) for now. I know by my typing you can't really TELL I'm good with english, But really I am, my hand eye stuff just isn't that great, and I have a tendency to have typing dyslexia I've noticed.
I think though that I will always have my add/random thought screaming to get out problem though. such as above. Back to the yarn, Ah yes. I have come to accept that I will more than likely have at some point over the summer a hot sticky woollen project on my lap. Mainly because I love the feel of wool. I love the light scratchyness, the fluffy, and the just overall feel of the stuff. I don't think I can go a whole summer with out SOMETHING woolen. But I'm trying to save up all my non wool to use for the summer. Bob knows I won't have my socks done by then.

And to end, A nice Quote from Sojourner Truth: If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again!

summer projects

I've been trying to find some light summer projects to do once the heat wave rolls around in about oh.. 2 months from now. I've been saving up my silk for then so I'll have something not so hot on my lap. I'll probably be doing some lace work too then. Which I hate because of the tiny stitches. But the end result is trully worth it. I haven't done any yet, so it will definitly be a learning experince for me. I sould be in bed right now but I slept for about 3 hrs this afternoon and now sleep is impossible. Plus my throat and ears hurt from the pollen. We FInally got our taxes done, so in two weeks I will be less stressed and maybe feeling better. having the money to pay the bills AND get groceries and gas( at $3.20 pg)in my military tank of a car, somehow makes me not as snippy and short. I've noticed that my stress levels and yuckyness somehow magically come together at the same time... how can this be...
I also finally got Girly to watch Princess Bride with me. I've been trying for 5 yrs now. She chased everyone around yelling "Humperdink" for about 30 minutes. Ah yes, finally sucess. Did anyone else notice the cool knit outfit of the miracle man's wife? eccentric yes, but you could definitly make some adjustments to turn it into a wrap... Princess Bride is a sort of rite of passage, much like every boy simply MUST jump off a roof at least once before adulthood( often and usually more than once)Yes it's cheesy, And a bit odd, but it's got something special there. Something movies don't have much of anymore these days. Not to mention the kick ass wardrobe. I never realized just HOW much my dog looked like a ROUS. especially now that he has patchy bald places. But yes I realized the time had come for both she and I to watch PB (for me , agian) when a friend was making references and despite the familiarity niggling at the back of my brain, I could not for the life of me remember WHERE i knew it from. Shameless I know, forgive me. And so For my Dear daughter's sake , and to keep my own life's saftey from the knitting needles of a good friend, We stayed up until 10 pm and had tea and The Princess Bride. I may try and find A nice bit of black cloth to make Physics Guy a mask and cape for fun....He DOES look alot like Wesley.....

It isn't easter ham But...

I've been looking up some new recipies to add to my meal planning. I am a bit uneasy about some of the thai ones, Fish sauce doesn't sound all that yum, It brings on memories of catfish gutting and the goop you pullout. Never the less I bought some to make a sea food stew called Yose nabe in hopes that it doesn't tasste like the fish and sour feet that comes to mind when thinking of fish sauce. If when I open it it smells too terrible I will revert to a nice safe gumbo instead. I have to omit the mushrooms already since PG is horribly allergic and ends up itchy and vomiting like the girl on Exorcist. It's not a pretty sight. I'm also going to try a nice greek dish which looks really yummy. And more to the standard eating habits of my family. Prawns, rice and tomatoes are always big here. throw them together it's gotta go over well.
In knitting news I have most done on my cape, leaving only one side of the front and some possible adjustments to the hood before the bordering.
It's going to be a basic diamond cable. And of course blocking the durn thing so it doesn't curl anymore. I may have to crochet a few places on the underside to STILL keep it from curling because even though I moss stitched the first inch it wants to curl once I get past the moss. I haven't gotten much done on the socks I have on the needles Either. really I've been so tired the past few days I'm surprised anything is done at all.I will be gratefull for this 3 day weekend so I can get some rest. 5:30 am to 11-ish Pm is not a very restfull thing, especially given that from the time I get up to about 2 1/2 hrs after I am rnning around getting people dressed and off to their business and out for a walk with the dog.
Girly is STILL awake because her tooth hurts. I don't know why, the dentist was supposed to have de rooted it and capped it, yet it still freaking hurts two months later. She's driving my mad in there screaming like I ripped off an arm. of course it doens't bother her during the week. Must yell at dentist first thing monday morning....

Broken

Physics Guy crashed the vid. card last night playing Splinter Cell. I never realized just how much of a difference this hd monitor made until the card went out. everything looks weird and strechy. And flat. It's kinda like life. the whole you don't know what you've got thing. I never knew what a real tight knit family was like. The sharing, the openness, the calls every few days, just to say hi and make sure everyone was in good health. The first couple of years with my husbands family were foreign to me. I didn't understand why these pepolpe called "all the time for no reason" now I miss it when they don't call for a few days. I am very close with his mum. Closer than with my own, I feel like anything I am going through I can share with her. My own family doesn't call very much, even the ones in the states. I never knew that a knock down drag out fight doesn't mean ending contact forever with that person as it typically does with my family. I still find it strange that if you need something a family member will help you get it. be it a night off from the kids, or help with a morgage payment. Family is SUPPOSED to be close, like a part of your heart not living with your body. People who know birthdays, heartaches and are there to share them with you. I am very grateful for my new family, if it were'nt for them, I don't think I could cope with the one I was born to.

Who Exactly is This Patrick guy?

And why does he like us to get boozy and sing ballads of Ireland?
Well actually he doesn't. He's not even Irish. Nope. Really no one knows where the heck he's from. There's a plethora of guesses, but the closest one to Ireland Fair is Scotland. He was a slave in Ireland, and went to Rome and other such places. Then he decided to go convert those "horrid druids" in Ireland. I.E. God called him to save the Irish. Basically led a bunch of soldiers into Ireland preaching to them,and killed the ones who didn't convert. (the soldeirs not him personally) Basicaly pissing alot of people off. He seems to from his history to be a nice enough guy for the most part, albeit misguided and uneducated. And we all know what happens when those things come into play eh George? It looks to me like alot of the history on this subject has been lost and glossed by the CC, so we really don't know alot about St. Patty other than the myths and legends. The whole shamrock thing is pertaining to Pat trying to convert the "heathenous irish" but they were to simple to grasp the concept(more likely they didn't give an R.A.and so played dumb, And being half irish not to mention married to a full blooded one, I can say with certainty we like to pull the stupid card to get outta stuff ...alot) so he used the shamrock as an example of the xain trinity, so they could understand. Then the whiskey soaked minds sopped it up. Wearing green or getting pinched? well this one Actually pertains to Ireland. Ireland is called the Emerald Isle, so of course, we wear green to remember Ireland, and you get a pinch to not forget your roots. There you have it, old St.P is not irish, and the only thing the guy has to do with Ireland is having a part in the bloody hostile takeover of a peaceful country. And if you've ever read irish history and tales, you know how vile that turned out. AS it usually does with the rape and looting and torture, you know all those Good moral values. So I guess we get liquored up to forget all the shit him and his buddies did. That a good enough reason for me. I can't help but see that durn near all the holidays are of a religious nature, catholic predominatly. Shit. If I actualy was a more bitchy person I'd only celebrate Presidents day, Mlk day, and new years, and maybe thanksgiving, since at that time the Native americans and the forigners were friends, and the whole religious freedom thing, thankfull for being alive etc.. Fortunatly, I realize every freaking thing and holiday is so shit stuffed and comercialized, I could celebrate damn near anything I want, and I'm not going against my lack of religion and being hypocritical. Almost everything was stolen, poached or filled of B.S. from the start anyway. I'm not an angry Athiest, like the stereotype goes, maybe once I get older I may get more pissy, but now a reason to party and scream loudly at strangers that you're Irish is Ok with me.
I see Alot of atheists who don't celebrate anything at all because of some religious connotations attached. I disagree. Why limit yourself and the things you choose to do because of someone elses beliefs? That, my friends is just the same as having a religion and letting it dictate for you. If you like to decorate, and like presents(or beer) and you want to celebrate and throw a party for your own reason then do it. If you're Irish( or not) and you love the culture and country, Celebrate it. BAsically my eternal motto: Be YOU, Be happy, be real. No need to give yourself a head enema about it.
I do reccomend being knowledgeable about the whos and whats of things. If nothing else for the education factor. One can never have too much knowledge, or as Yarn harlot says: too much yarn. DO with your knowledge what you will. It's your life, and the only one you get. BE wise in your choices....and have a pint!
Cheers