Over the Weather

As I am no longer "under the weather" I have climbed out of my coccoon on the couch, the one made of Afghanistan and a tumble of used tissues and cats. I am feeling better and it's time to get on with things.

I have been very very bad about knitting this past week. Last week, I busted out a side project (true, it was a very small scale project) and finished Sock #1 of the esteemed Pair O'Sox. Then I lie dormant whilst not working, watching TV of the likes that would destroy brain cell after brain cell. Enough!

I proclaim this week as follows:

Great Week of Creative Pursuits

That's right, here in Knitsburgh there will be a cultural revolution of sorts, a junction and grand fusion of artistic efforst so stupendous, it will earn it's own place in Knitsburgh History. Hold on to your hats!

Speaking of hats, I did buy not one, but two hats, this weekend. The first is my Irish hat, purchased with a gift certificate left from a return following Yule of last year. The second is my 100% green organic cotton cap found on sale at Anthropologie, in cranberry. How very exciting indeed, I don't think I have ever purchased two caps in the span of two days in my entire life. They are seen posing with the Trick or Treat ammo: that's 2 bags of 75-count Reese's PB cups and Kitkats, 2 bags totaling 7 lbs. of Tootsie Roll/Dots/Tootsie Pop assortmant and 3 bags of fun size 100 Grand bars. Last year we ran out and had to turn off the porch light. Nature Boy has already started the rationing: we start with the cheap candy and give one piece per goblin, no more! Seems he blames me for giving out too many candy bars at the start of the game last year. If you saw the stairs the goblins must climb up to even get a little something, you'd feel bad too!

Finally, I will leave you with my lastest creative pursuits from last week. Here are pics of a bath cloth and some geranium mint soap I made, as well as some bookmarks as part of the Vegan for All Seasons swap I participated in. The enitre package is featured last, with some yummy yarn.

It was really a lot of fun getting everything together and shopping for yarn. It's also nice to kinda get to know someone from a different corner of the country too. Well, I'm off to get all creative and stuff....'night!

On Cleavage

Ms. Knitsburgh steps upon proverbial soap box, clears her throat, and begins.

So today while on Ravelry, I read one of my favorite weekly columns, Ask Auntie BubboPants. For those of you who sadly are not on Ravelry it's an advice column, like Dear Abby, but much funnier. Maybe akin to Ask Mr. Fish.

One of the questions was from a woman who wrote, among other things, this:
"The real problem is how she dresses. She has a long torso too, and I understand that finding shirts is difficult. But it honestly took a lot, lot longer for me to ignore the fact that most of the time I’m looking at least half of her breasts, if not more, than it did to stop being jealous. I can ignore the clothing thing and talk to her face these days, and so can my husband (it probably took him longer), but it’s incredibly awkward having her meet my friends and family or going out in public together. I don’t really like drawing attention to myself anyhow and it’s not like I’m looking for guys, but it can be embarrassing and sometimes a little threatening when guys make comments. Furthermore, her clothing would be inappropriate no matter what her bra size is – I’d never go out with my chest exposed that way."

This is what I have to say on it. My mother has been battling breast cancer for years. When I was a freshman in college she was first diagnosed and started her treatments (chemo, then a radical mastectomy, then radiation). She was in remission for 12 years and then discovered it has come back, this time in her bones and lungs. She is very careful and self-conscious about the way she has to dress to hide the fact that she wears a prosthetic breast on one side. She doesn't wear dipping necklines or armholes that are loose for fear of someone seeing a scar.

I wear clothing that shows off my cleavage. If you don't like it, I don't give a fuck. Look away and/or don't pretend to be my friend if you can't handle it. I'm going to show them off while I still have them and feel good about them. I am a woman and enjoy being a woman and there is nothing wrong with my womanly body or your womanly body or anyone else's womanly body. So girls, show it off while you can, if you want to. If you don't want to then don't but don't judge those who do. Now go get a mammogram and donate some money to the cure instead of being mean and jealous towards other chicas. Peace out!

Salvation!

So last night as Nature Boy and I were on the couch, anticipating some fine TV entertainment for the evening, we heard footfalls upon our porch, then a knock on the door. I was all slumped down under Afghanistan so Nature Boy went to the door and was greeted by...

Well, not really Jesus himself but some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They kindly handed Nature Boy this card with Jesus and urged him to order the free DVD it advertised.


Now I'm going to rant here and if it's about to offend you, then by all means quit reading and go away. So I don't get why, even if I were in my home contemplating my life and feeling I was missing something spiritually, this church would think coming to my door to convert me would win me over. Personally and in my humble oppinion, it feels cult-like. I personally would not want to belong to a faith that randomly approached people to "save" in this way. I think most Americans have various churches, synagogues, temples and what-have-you in the name of religion all over their respective neighborhoods and if one were inclined to believe in the Christian faith, they could seek out a church on their own and go there. I think it's rude to assume someone needs saving by your own beliefs. Lead your life your way and I'll believe what I believe and we will both be happy and get what we need in the end. Your conversion will work better if people who actually want this come to you.


Ok, so the rant is over now. Also in the photo you will note Sock 1 from Pair O'Sox in all its finished glory. Between coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose I managed to finish it today as I sat on my couch. You see I called in sick to work today, for the first time in I-Can't-Remember-When. I'm done with dragging myself in to work to help out people who don't seem to appreciate the things I do anyway. Ok, back to the sock:

That's about it for now. I'm gonna jump in the tub to relax with a nice, hot bath and then watch The Office. If I can pull myself out of the bath that is...

Yarnburst

Look what came home with me!


During the photo shoot a passerby stopped to see my taking pics of yarn on my front steps. I felt the need to explain my actions. The next time I think I'll just say, "Move along ma'am, nothing to see here, that's it, on your way..."

Here is Sock #1, from Pair O'Sox:

Progress is slow but is still going onward, at least. I am already ruminating on what to make when I'm finished with Pair O'Sox.

Here is my vegan pudding waiting for me yesterday in the fridge when I came home from work:
I know, our fridge looks way classy, right?

So I saw Wicked and that night finished the last 50 pages of the book. They were very different and although I enjoyed the musical, I did like the book a lot better. Some things never change...

Some things do change. There's been lots of change around me of late, at my job and here at home and even amongst friends. Today I got news of the best kind of change ever so I'm over the moon right now. I've been enjoying meeting up with friends I haven't seen in a bit, both last weekend and today, and I think I've been grinning ear to ear all day thus far. The sun is shining, the earth is brown and red and orange and warm, and I feel at peace for the first time in over a month.

A Taste...

Here's a lil' taste. This is a sample, a tiny speck of a sample, of a day in the life of me, a Customer Service Specialist at an esteemed ER animal clinic.

"__ Vet, this is Ms. Knitsburgh, can I help you?"

"Yeah, I was told by my doctors to call you, even they can't help me. I got bit by my friend's ball python. They told me to call you, what should I do?"

"Ma'am, we don't treat humans here, I would recommend you make an appointment with your doctor or go to the ER."

"Well, the bite is little and clean."

"Again, I would recommend you be seen by a doctor. The fangs can puch bateria deep into the skin and it could get infected even if it looks clean..."

"Well I don't think it is going to be a big deal, it looks fine..."

"Well, you can do whatever you like. Goodbye."

That's just a sample. Never mind the man who called me just to ask how to calculate sales tax. Or the man who wanted a family special. It's all special, all day long, all the time.

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Crystal water turns to dark
Where ere it's presence leaves it's mark
And boiling currents pound like drums
When something wicked this way comes...

A presence dark invades the fair
And gives the horses ample scare
Chaos rains and panic fills the air
When something wicked this way comes...

Ill winds mark it's fearsome flight,
And autumn branches creak with fright.
The landscape turns to ashen crumbs,
When something wicked this way comes...

Flowers bloom as black as night
Removing color from your sight
Nightmarish vines block your way
Thorns reach out to catch their prey

And by the pricking of your thumbs
Realize that their poison numbs
From frightful blooms, rank odors seep
Bats & beasties fly & creep

'Cross this evil land, ill winds blow
Despite the darkness, mushrooms glow
All will rot & decompose
For something wicked this way grows...

I am reading. Reading in the kitchen while my teakettle heats. Reading at the table waiting for Nature Boy to serve up the dinner. Reading when I should be sleeping, even reading while knitting.


Why, you ask?


Well, I am going to see a musical this weekend. And in my mind I need to read the book first, or it will all be ruined. I'm one of the breed who usually like the book better than the movie, play, what-have-you. If I see it, then I will never go back and read the book which would have been infinitely better. So I am reading because of that.

Plus this came in the mail today:

A double whammy. So torn about which to read! I am still working on Sock #1 of Pair O'Sox. I hope to return to knitting full force once this reading jag is through.

Speaking of, I recently tore through three novels by Jules Watson. They take place in Scotland during the time of the Roman invasions and I could not put them down or read them fast enough. My local library is so sick of me, seems I'm requesting book after book from them of late!

I have been checking out some knitting and sewing books to see if they are worth the purchase and so far nary a one is looking like something I'd want taking up precious space on my bookshelf.

My sleep has been fretful, eluding me and then driving me mad with strange dreams. I am very frustrated of late in one area of my life and am trying to figure it out. It still amazes me, a former student of psychology, how the mind can irritate, aggravate and unnerve every inch of one's bodily systems, from digestion to immune system, circulatory to muscular/skeletal.

Oh well--off to read a little more and then try for some sleep, I work a dreaded 12-hour shift tomorrow and will be alone all morning to boot. No wonder a girl can't sleep!