6:30 AM is too early for a yarn/needle explosion

I think I need extra help.  Is there a 12 step program for those of us who knit/crochet? 

This morning, just in time for me to leave for work, there was a yarn/needle explosion.  At 6:30 AM all my double-pointed needles decided to jump out of my yarn closet straight at me. 

My first thought?  Leave it till I get home tonight.  My second thought? Claire is going to be into this mess as soon as I walk out the door and I wont be able to find half of my needles by the time I get home.  I could feel her large green eyes and pea-sized brain planning and scheming.  Just waiting for me to leave so she could take advantage of the situation.  She likes to chew on all my knitting needles, even the metal ones.  She is not the brightest cat.  I think she has 3 brain cells and most of the time two of them are lost or two of them are fighting.

I picked up needles by the handful and chucked them back into the yarn closet.  I should take a picture to show you how much of a disaster it is.  Compared to others, my stash is relatively small, but it really needs to be whipped into shape.  Maybe that’s what it was trying to say when it exploded all over this morning.

Brought to you by the letter “A”

All is quiet on the Western Front.  It’s foggy and rainy.  Work is, so far at least, fairly slow today.  I started a pair of fingerless gloves for one of my girlfriends.  If you hear someone chanting “Knit 4, purl 1, knit 4, purl 2” then you can be pretty sure it’s me. 

Today’s musical interlude is brought to you by Air

Vacation? To a warm and sunny location?

Thanksgiving at the coast ended up being a lot of fun.  Surprisingly, there was very little drama, so little, I can declare the holiday Drama Free.  Hawkeye’s Mom made pumpkin cheesecake with caramel sauce.  Oh.  My.  God.  It was very good.  I hope she makes it again next year.  I am less than enthusiastic about the mashed potatoes and feta cheese.  An okay dish, but I prefer mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, butter, and sour cream.

Speaking of Hawkeye, he, M, and I are going on vacation to Palm Springs in January.  M is a very nice man and bought Hawkeye’s ticket.  We’re renting a nice house with a heated pool for 4 long days of relaxation.  It may not be 80+ degrees but it will be sunny (SUNNY!) and it will be warmer than either Oregon or Iowa.  Since Palm Springs is in the desert it will not be raining.  Yea!

This vacation comes at a good time for me.  It’s been almost 2 years since I had a real vacation and we leave nearly a year to the day C had to leave and I declared 2010 the “Year of Me”.  August was the last time I had more than a weekend off (woo-hoo Lady Gaga!) so, needless to say, I’m really looking forward to it.  I get to vacation with two of my favourite people in a warm and sunny location.  What better way to kick off the New Year.

Not necessarily grounded

Even though I do not have a car, I manage to get around pretty well.  I’m off to McMinnville for the weekend.  A nice weekend out in the country with little to no traffic noise, streetlights, maybe a little snow, some ass kicking in Soul Caliber Four, and maybe a deer sighting.  Staying the weekend at M’s means I get a little spoiled.  There is always good wine and he usually offers to make and bring me a cup of coffee in the morning. 

Several years ago I worked with a man who would tell me that M is my real boyfriend.  And you know what, there is some truth in that.  Gay boyfriends are the best boyfriends.

At the end of week two, I can honestly report that I’m still doing 20 minutes of cleaning a day and it seems to really be working.  Huzzah!

Social skills are like steel. Left unattended both get rusty.

One of the things I’m working on in the “Year of Me” is to break out of my shyness and make new friendships.  Hanging out, observing healthy relationships, both platonic and romantic, learning how to talk to others and make friendships.  In short: social interaction.

After 3 years of having little social interaction with people outside of work, M, and C, I’m a little rusty.  I didnt have a whole lot of social interaction with C anyway outside of a 2-5 minute conversation once or so a day.  I’m shy to begin with and having to talk to people does make me nervous.  My biggest fears are social faux pas, saying something stupid, foot in mouth disease, etc.  I also fear being judged for what comes out of my mouth when I open it.  This is especially acute around new people.

However, I am trying and will continue to try. 

It starts with being laundry rescued.  I do not have a washer and dryer in my apartment.  The laundromat is my least favourite place to go.  I hate, hate, hate, going to the laundromat.  Not long ago Rabbit (half of a couple Hawkeye is friends with and introduced me to) said I could come to their place and use their washer/dryer.  It took a few weeks but I sucked it up, overcame my fear, and asked if I could do the deed at their place.  Saturday I packed my things up, packed myself onto the bus, and headed over. 

I was nervous.  I’m sure I said some dumb things and I have no doubt that I came down with foot in mouth disease at some point, but, I was invited back!  As I get to know these two people better and their adorable boy, I will become less nervous and have fewer incidents of foot in mouth disease. 

Having friends and maintaing friendships is a skill.  Like any skill whether it be knitting, bicycling, cooking, crocheting, etc, you get better at it the more you do it.  And, just like any skill, if you neglect it you get rusty.  Friendships make life rich.  Friends let you know if you’re on the wrong track of if the person you are dating is bad for you. 

It wasnt until after C was gone for a few months that I realized just how isolated I had become.  It wasnt until recently that I began to get an understanding of how rusty my social skills had become.  Hopefully Rabbit and E will give me time and grace to grow a friendship with them. 

I was invited back.  That is as good a place as any to start.

Naughty fun is the best fun

Tonight I’m off to see The Stolen Sweets perform with Rose City Shimmy who perform burlesque.  There are going to be some people performing swing dance too.  It’s a new venue for me The Secret Society Lounge which sounds kind of cool and old timey. Burlesque is not the same as a strip tease.  It is a type of performance that is all about the tease.  The ladies wear all manner of costumes from ostrich feather fans to shimmery pleated fabric.  The ladies also have all manner of props from tea pots to bath tubs.  As much as I like the costumes, I also like the fact that the women look healthy and normal as opposed to anorexic.  And the women genuinely look like they’re having a good time.

Last year for my birthday I saw The Stolen Sweets perform with a burlesque show.  There was a lot of hootin’, hollerin’, and whistlin’ from the crowd  The crowd was also very mixed, lots of men and lots of women.  C was living with me at the time and insisted on doing something with me for my birthday so I bought him a ticket and we went  He must have been determined not to have a good time because he couldnt even clap.  Even after there were women dancing in thongs and pasties (some girls made their pasties go around to the left, then to the right, then both ways.  That is talent) he still couldnt  clap!

Now C is gone and I’m going by myself.  More mostly naked ladies (and excellent music) for me, none for thee.

Can it really work?

I saw an article at Apartment Therapy the other day about how to keep your apartment clean in 20 minutes a day.  Not everything on the list applies to me.  I dont have any “extra rooms” nor do I have multiple bathrooms or bedrooms, nor do I have a car or porch.  Well, I sort of have a porch that is full of gardening stuff.

I thought I’d give this a go because I live in a studio and it doesnt take much for it to get trashed.  If I neglect to do dishes one day it looks like a hurricane went through my kitchen.  That’s not dishes left in the sink from a huge cooking endeavor from the night before, that’s just normal usage. 

Like a lot of people I spend a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday cleaning.  Twenty minutes a day is do-able, even after yoga when it’s 7PM and dinner hasnt even been started yet.  Yesterday I tried it out and swept, picked up some clutter, picked up some trash, washed some dishes, picked up some clothes, and a few other things.  Today I’ll go for taking out trash & recyclables, clean Claire’s special place, sweep, and do dishes.  Yesterday, it was surprising how much could be done in 20 minutes. 

Hopefully I can stick to it.  I hate when my neighbours come by and feeling embarrassed by the way my apartment looks.  It’s not like I’m a force unto nature or that there is dried out food stuck to every open surface.   My space is small so it doesnt take much before it looks like a disaster area.

Got the foggy, election day, blues

It’s November 2nd.  Dont forget to vote!  It’s your civic duty as a citizen of this country to get off your sofa and get your duff to your local polling place.  If you live in Oregon dont forget to drop off your ballot!

It’s nearly noon and so foggy I cant see across the river from my desk.  It’s so foggy, I can barely even see the river and it’s less than 200 feet away from the building I work in.  Well, maybe a little more than 200 feet.  Usually on even the rainiest winter day I can at least see the river.

I’m afraid I have no real election predictions for you.  My hope is that Measure 74 will pass here in Oregon and allow dispensaries to open for medical marijuana patients.  While Oregon has medical marijuana you either have to grow it yourself or find someone to grow for you.  This is not an option for a lot of people.  Other than that it looks like the Dem’s will get their asses handed to them.  While I do not take joy in the thought of someone like Sharron Angle getting elected (or some of the other people with the crazy getting elected) if Democratic voters are going to sit on their asses rather than vote then they only have themselves to blame if Republicans shut down government early next year as some have promised to do.  And Dem’s really only have themselves to blame for being a bunch of limp dick weenies.  They stand for nothing.  They couldnt even properly dismiss the whole “Death Panel” fiasco with health care reform.  If they get trounced maybe some of them will finally start to show a freaking spine.

I’m not hype up about returns or anything like that.  Actually, today, I’m more interested in knitting a sock, doing my job, going to yoga, and reading a ton of international news and economic news.

Long Time No Post and What I did once on Halloween

Um, yeah.  That’s one way to look at it I suppose.  It has been quite a long time since anything was posted on this blog.    What have I been doing?  I went to see Lady Gaga with M.  It was my birthday/Christmas present from M and his husband.  At 175$ a pop, I can see why.  I would never have paid that money, not for one night of entertainment.  Normally, I could care less about pop music.  It doesnt to anything for me.  For some reason, I dont feel that way about Lady Gaga.

It was a lot of fun.  I got embarrassingly intoxicated but thankfully, M was there to take care of me.  He runs a good hospital.

I went camping with my neighbours.  We hiked 7 1/2 miles up Eagle Creek Trail, past Tunnel Falls, and camped for 2 nights.  Then we hiked ourselves out.  It was a lot of fun.  Yoga is still a part of the weekly routine.  Twice a week in that hot room allowed me to go the whole way and keep up even though I had never hiked that far with a 20 lb pack.  I’ve never hiked with a pack.  The last few miles at the very end on our way back kicked my butt.  I lagged then but it was well deserved.

As soon as I got home I took a hot bath.  Oh my God, I was filthy.  I washed, rinsed, and immediately emptied then refilled the tub with clean hot water.  My hair had so much grit.  Eck.  I cannot remember the last time it felt so good to be clean.

I saw The Stolen Sweets for my birthday.  That was fun too.

There has been a lot of thinking going on here.  Learning to reconnect with myself and my friends.  Remembering my feminist side, re-experiencing my love of music and novels.

I thought I’d start trying to get back into by telling my very own, rather unconventional, Halloween story.  It’s not at all what you’d expect.

I got married on Halloween in 1998 to Hawkeye.

It’s his favourite holiday.  I figured it’d be the one day he wouldnt forget.

We had already made the decision to move to Oregon but, hadnt told anyone.   I thought his parents might take it better if we were married.  Um, this is not a good reason to get married.  It’s not one I would recommend.

But we got married we did.  It was a small wedding, maybe 70 people.  I did not have a full complement of bridesmaids.  Just a friend and one of my Aunts.  Hawkeye had his brother and friend stand for him.  We got married at a park and for Iowa, that late in the year, we were gifted with good weather.  The park has a lodge where we had both the ceremony and the reception.  We decorated it for fall with hay bails, carved pumpkins, gourds, etc.  It was not fru-fru.  Neither Hawkeye nor I are into the froof.

My Dad, true to his Homer Simpson self, would not let up about when he was going to get some grandkids.  I couldnt take it anymore and said something to his sister who is the matriarch of the family.  She talked to him and he stopped.  Thank God.

I was so terrified at the ceremony I couldnt say anything when we came to having to recite our vows.  I was so terrified, after it was over, I threw up.  After that, I was okay and had a good time.

Although we are no longer married, we are very close.  It’s more of a familial relationship now.  His Mom says he and I are soulmates.  In a lot of ways, he and I grew up together.  I’ll take that any day over hating each other.

 

I think I’m in love

Knitting needle love. 

I’m working on the Cold Mountain Shawl from last summer’s Knitty.  It’s slowly coming along.  With the muscles in my left shoulder constantly wanting to kink up, I can only do a little at a time.  I was using a bamboo needle but it the tips were not pointy enough.  Fighting stitches was not helping my shoulder any.  Yesterday I broke down and bought an Addi Lace circular needle. 

Oh, My, God!  What a difference a new needle makes!  The tips are very pointy, the needle is smooth as is the join.  I’ve done 2 rows and havent had to fight with one stitch.  Did I mention the tips are very pointy?!

I bought an Addi circular needle a while ago but it didnt work for me.  Too damn slippery and the stitches kept falling off the needle.  This new one is so nice.  It has very pointy tips!

The shoulder should work itself out.  Having lived the last 2+ years with a high amount of stress, I’m not surprised that certain parts of my body have kinked up because of stress.  That’s what yoga and massage are for.