It is very strange not having any control over how you feel. None at all. I've been exhausted lately - not worn out, but falling asleep while driving. It doesn't matter how much sleep I get (usually 8 1/2 or 9 hours). I'm tired all the time. Especially when the heater is on. So then I'm just cold and tired.
I counted my baby prozacs this morning and I have 16 left. 16! That's a whole lot! That's 16 more days of waiting to try something new, 16 more days of crazy-ass mood swings. I could have sworn I've been taking these things for longer than two weeks. But I guess not. Then I switch to something new and it's all baby-fied and I'll have to wait another two weeks to get on a regular dosage and wait a few months to see if it works and if it doesn't go through all of this again.
Work might just be plentiful this afternoon. I hope so. I hate having nothing to do and I'm getting really used to it. When someone actually asks me to work, I get all indignant. Not a good sign for my future.
I hope my swift and ball winder come this weekend. I'm going to wind everything in the house that's not already in ball-form. Including the furniture.
On this day in 1974...
The Three Muskateers was the #1 movie
The Mariner 10 flew past Mercury
The St. Louis Cardinals purchased Ed Crosby from the Philadelphia Phillies
Duke Ellington passed away
and
Marilyn Jordan and Chuck Buel got married. He wore a brown tuxedo and showed up to the ceremony still drunk from the night before and she got drunk at the reception.
I don't think things have changed that much.
Ladybird and Chives are celebrating their anniversary in San Francisco. They called me last night during ESPN's Dream Job, blathering on about eating dinner outside at a little Italian bistro overlooking the Golden Gate bridge during sunset. Tea in the Japanese tea gardens. Blah blah blah why didn't you take me with you? Does the product of your loins not deserve some recognition as well? I mean, really, is there any other reason for living besides me?
Well, I would have settled for a week with the dog. They better bring me some good presents.
Don't Piss Me Off or
How I Got in a Brawl on the Yarn Crawl
Well, it was more of a one-sided brawl. We went to Tracy Bunker's, she's amazing, her hand-dyed yarns are incredible and I very nearly bought some raw silk just to pet and love. Then we went to the Yarn Barn. I hate the Yarn Barn. I'd been there three times before, and each time I felt very unwelcome. This time, the salespeople went out of their way to be horrible to me, I think. I went in there intending to buy yarn for two sweaters. That's a lot of yarn and a lot of money. I was also considering buying the Absolutely Fabulous Throw from Colinette, which was $147. And I thought about buying a drop-spindle so I could learn how to spin my own yarn.
I didn't buy a thing.
First of all, they had nothing in stock. They only had four balls of the Rowan Kid Mohair in any given color, and I needed at least 10 to make the sweater. Fine. They wouldn't help me find anything else that was suitable. So I decide to find yarn for the sweater I'd like to make myself. Again, not enough yarn in stock. People, if you're encouraging the making of actual sweaters, I suggest having enough yarn in one dyelot to do so.
We parked at Knit Wit in Olathe and carpooled to Lawrence. When we got back to Knit Wit, I was so pissed off that I decided I would go inside and shop and purchase my items (even though there was no discount) just because the Yarn Barn didn't deserve my money. The clerks there were so very helpful and directed me to Cascade 220, which is so wonderfully soft and even more wonderfully inexpensive. The yarn for my mom's sweater was almost half of what I expected to pay, and since they were so nice and I was so mad at the Yarn Barn, I bought an entire bag of Cascade in a gorgeous red for myself. That's $130 the Yarn Barn missed out on. Suck it, Yarn Barn!
I also bought myself a ball winder and swift last night for a combined total of $75 - an amazing deal. The Cascade comes in hanks, not skeins, and I decided it was just time to do it. It'll be a good investment.
I finished the knee socks Saturday night and I'm planning on wearing them Wednesday. They're awfully cute. The green tank is back in action again, and it didn't take me too long to figure out where I left off back in August. I swatched my mom's sweater, but I still need to block it. It's going to take a long time - it has tons of cables and is ribbed all the way through. The swatch was fun to make, so the sweater should be even better. I'm just going to have to really concentrate when I do it.
We have a dinner with our Yahoo! reps tonight - mmmm, Lidia's. I love that place.
Oh man, do I love my secret pal. I came home yesterday, hoping a surprise would await me in my mailbox, and it sure did! It got The Knitter's Companion spiral-bound book, which has some great tips (especially since I only cast-on one way) despite the spaghetti sauce I immediately splattered on the edge. AND I got some magenta sock yarn. Not any magenta sock yarn, but Nature's Pride, which I actually can't find around here and wanted to use on my knee socks from
Stitch and Bitch.
Speaking of said knee socks, they're almost done. I should be able to finish them during lunch today - one last stripe before the toe decreases. I'm hoping to wear them on the Yarn Crawl tomorrow (even though it's going to be, like, 70 degrees. Maybe a cold front will hit Lawrence right when we get there.).
I know I said I wasn't going to buy any yarn tomorrow, but I'm also a liar. I'm planning on making a sweater for my mom when I finish all of these other projects, so I'm going to see if I can find anything at the Yarn Barn. I mean, come on, 20% of is a great deal that shouldn't be passed up. Also, if they have any sale Rowan Bulky or Super Bulky, I'm all over it. I'm going to bring along the green tank top of last summer to work on - I'm about halfway through the back and it shouldn't take long to finish it up. Maybe by next weekend? And then it's on to the microsuede sweater in powder blue with the awesome cable, and then some Regia socks and then arm warmers and then that stupid mohair sweater that I ripped out about six times...
I'm looking forward to a weekend spent watching movies and knitting. Yay for boyfriends who take a long time to get ready - I can get a lot of work done just waiting for him to tie his shoes.
Sometimes you have those days, those days that are just so utterly horrible that you sit with your head in your hands at your desk and wonder, "How did two more hours get to be so long?" and you hate everything, especially yourself. And then you drag yourself to the gym, change into your smelly clothes and consider just going home and laying on the couch instead of sweating. But you get on that stupid bike and watch the last half of
Roseanne and an Oprah show about cults and you think, "Well, at least I'm not in a cult." And you go home and have some tortellini and squash and zuchinni with feta and GOD do you feel good. So you do some sewing and make something totally rockin', manage to get the clothes off the floor (as well as the clean sheets that have been there since Sunday) and everything is suddenly bright and new.
It's too bad you can never tell when those days will happen.
Roo and Roxy took a field trip to Justin's last night because the exterminator will be visiting my apartment today. I mean, nothing would probably happen to them, but I worry. Because exterminators have stuff that kills mice, and Roo is a mouse, not the Incredible Pooping Machine that he thinks he is. I cleaned their homes last night and we all slept at Justin's. Roo noticed this morning that he wasn't at home and got kind of freaked out. He was fine last night. I think Roxy is just happy to have clean water.
Yes, I did indeed leave my lunch at home. So I ate something from the deli downstairs and now I think I'm going to die. A grilled chicken wrap shouldn't make you dizzy, should it?
Even MORE people I know, people I graduated with, are getting married. For the love of God, people! No more marrying!
But I also saw that my former DARE officer got married. He's a really nice guy. When I was in 5th grade and had chickenpox, I missed the DARE graduation (AND Track and Field Day) and Officer Kimball came over to my house and gave me my certificate. That was the nicest thing in the world.
Stupid things that have happened in the past a lot of hours:
* I almost Euro-chopped Justin instead of an onion. Those things can really shoot across the room.
* I dropped an egg on the counter
* Soap bubbles came out of the lettuce we washed on Saturday night
* I made the shittiest mashed potatoes EVER
* I somehow got a hole in the butt of the only jeans I ever wear
* I think I left my lunch at home this morning
* I am incapable of making a french knot
* I tore a (small) hole in the back of my turtleneck as I ripped off the tag in the car
Good things:
* My new Overstock.com sheets are freaking amazing. 230 thread count, satin-y, and only $25. I fully endorse Overstock.com
* I finished and felted two cute little bags yesterday
So of course all of this wedding talk has gotten me thinking about
my non-existent wedding. In case you haven't heard the plans:
* It will be an evening wedding so everybody can dress up
* The reception will be right after with a lot of dancing and a cake on each table. Nobody wants to eat that stupid chicken and beef stuff anyway. I know Justin won't.
* Justin doesn't like cake, so I don't really give a crap if he comes at all
* If he does, I said he could order some pizza
* There will be dogs. Lots of dogs.
* The centerpieces will be made of yarn and cassette tapes
* My parent's friends will be locked up in a building at least 500 yards away from the actual ceremony and reception, except Reverend Pat, who will be marrying us
* Stevie Wonder will be the musical artist/DJ
This is all assuming I marry Justin. But I've always assumed that. That's why I decided to like him in the first place.
But I've been reading this message board and everyone's all up in arms about veil lengths and photographers and honeymoons. I say what really matters is the music played during the reception. My list of "must-haves":
* "Do You Realize" by the Flaming Lips
* "I'm the Man who Loves You" by Wilco
* "Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder
* "They all Laughed" as sung by Ella and Louis
and, of course,
* "Whoomp! There it is" by Tag Team
I'm also open to anything with the words, "Na na na na," in it.
And by the way...
ABBY PETERSEN, IF YOU GET ENGAGED, EVER, IN YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL NEVER EVER FORGIVE YOU.
Because if you get married, how can we live on a farm with a lot of dogs and baby chickens? Drew's nice and all, but I am far more 80s than him AND I can name all the Cosby kids. I publicly vow, right here and now, that I would give up Justin for you any day. Unless you refuse to be Leroy to my Shirley. Then we're over.
If my head explodes, I designate YOU to pick up the pieces
I. Am. Freaking. Out.
So I'm taking a small break from looking up competitor's ads (a lot of fun, actually) and look at my blog stats. I noticed people have been searching for a name of someone on here a few weeks back. Then I Google him and end up on some crazy QC Weddings message board and Holy Mother of God, they're all getting married. (For Abby: The Hobeast is married, but I think you knew that) Most of them are actually in Abby's class, but a lot of them talked about guys they dated in my class (for whom, of course, I had deep, unrequited love). And my ex-boyfriend Brian is ENGAGED. ENGAGED. Meaning he has to have a job other than paintball (right? right? You can't live off paintball, right?). And I saw pictures of Abbie and Conrad and they're freaking GETTING MARRIED and Mitch - MITCH - is engaged and he was my first kiss. MITCH. Let's all (me and Abby and my mom) consider how truly scary that is. Petty Theft. Mitchy-Mitch. Nothing good can come of that.
And to top it off, I got a card last night from a friend I probably haven't talked to since middle school AND SHE HAS A BABY.
Now let's look at my life. I OWN A MOUSE. And he has an offensive personal odor (which is not his fault - he's just a mouse) and thinks I'm a toilet.
Holy crap.
There has been a Big Change in the "no yarn clause." Not that there won't be any yarn. I was planning on buying the Colinette Absolutely Fabulous Throw kit at the Yarn Barn, but it's rather pricey and my discount won't do much. So I'm going to LOOK at it at the Yarn Barn next weekend and then I'm going to BUY IT from a place in England. Yay, England. I'm thinking the
Versace colorway - thoughts?
I have a doctor in Kansas City. Good job, me. She's really nice. So nice, in fact, I'm going back to see her in April AND in May. Wahoo! She also gave me a lot of free drugs. Yay, drugs. The downside to this is that while it's quite easy/amusing to say, "I have some extra Prozac," it is not easy nor amusing to say, "I have some extra Wellbutrin." So I'm keeping all of my drugs to myself.
My music collection needs an overhaul. I just don't want to listen to any of the CDs I have. So I'm taking Justin's.
Friday was indeed a not-so-good-day. That is until I got home and checked my mail - thank you so much, Secret Knitting Buddy! I love anything with a K on it and I especially love hot pink. My day did an immediate 180 once I opened the mailbox.
I had a wonderful weekend. The worst part is that it's over. Friday night Justin and I had dinner (I can't remember what - can you? Oh yeah, really good homemade pizza.) and visited with the Muellers and family at Starbucks. Saturday was the celebration of Connie's birthday, so we went to Mimi's Cafe, got super-trendy haircuts at the Spy Agency, ate fried pickles at Tomfooleries and engaged in other debauchery. Then Justin and I went out for pizza (we like pizza), went to my place to finish
Y Tu Mama Tambien, then spent the night at his house. Yesterday, we finally got moving around 1:30 and went to the grocery store. I came home and took a nap, then went back to his place for a walk and fajitas. Then I went to bed at 9:30.
Tonight is Guild - I missed last month, so I'm looking forward to tonight. I'm wearing Rosedale United today to remind me to go to the meeting.
It's not 5:00 yet. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I could totally go for some chocolate.
I pulled this up a long time ago, before I went to meet with some reps, and now I can't remember what I was going to say.
Oh! Yes!
I did indeed go to The Studio and I did indeed buy some yarn. Almost all for gifts and one skein for me to practice said gifts. My next purchases will be the Denise Interchangeable needles ($45 for what would cost you, if you bought them separately, $1000) and a Colinette throw kit. I'm going to buy the kit on the Yarn Crawl in a few weeks because I'll get a big discount and that baby will be expensive. And then I will not WILL NOT buy yarn until...let's say June. I'll make that my goal. Unless it's that skein of Lamb's Pride Lotus Pink, because I'm trying to make a felted hat and I ran out. So then no more yarn until June. Promise. Hold me to it.
This freaks me out. We saw a presentation from the production company that does this stuff. Please notice that even when they're not talking, the people are blinking. That's the creepy part. Also, they're not videos - they take one picture of a person, integrate it into their software and then it lip synchs to the audio on its own. Neat, but creepy as hell. Sara likened it to Max Headroom. I concur.
I'm going to The Studio during lunch. I haven't left the office during lunch yet this week, and it will be my reward for when I finish this client report.
I had a really good workout last night - I did the eliptical trainer for 35 minutes and I wasn't out of breath or tired at all and I even sprinted for the last five minutes. I know. I'm out of control. But I think I'm starting to get in shape, which definitely makes exercising more palatable.
The long awaited story about Alfonzo
I'm spending the night at Justin's, sinning as usual. At 3 a.m., I wake up to go to the bathroom. I come back and Justin starts telling me all about his David Koresch dream and then we hear really loud banging. I say, "That's the cops!" and Justin asks how I know. Listen, I lived in FARC long enough to know when the cops were in the building. Anyway, I ran to the door and looked out the peephole (Justin wasn't allowed to because he wasn't wearing his contacts and therefore worthless).
This is what I gathered:
Alfonzo is 20. He's not wearing a shirt, but is wearing some lovely blue sweatpants. His hands are in his pants. The cops think he has a gun, but his hands are just cold He has a cut on his face and on his chest, as well as some sort of marking on his eye. He and his girlfriend had a fight. He didn't like the people she went out with earlier in the night. They yelled at each other and hit each other. The cops asked who was more aggressive and he said, "Look at me. She fucked me up." And the cops all laughed and Justin and I went back to bed.
I'm hungry. I'm on my way to the gym. I'm going to try to fix my computer tonight. Let's all rally together and try to get OH WHAT IS HER FACE, not Shandi, not Yoanna, not Mercedes, but the other one voted off. Because, really, she's too clinical. (Drinking game of the night: take a drink everytime someone says 'clinical'. Two drinks if it's the guy from
Jane.)
FHP
I seriously reenacted one of those Tampax commercials. You know the one - the woman goes in the bathroom and starts beating on the tampon dispenser, and another woman hands her a generic tampon. The woman says thanks and proceeds to use the generic to get the Tampax out of the machine.
My problem was similar, but not. I left my purse at home today. I'm still not sure how that happened. I swear to god I had it when I got in the car. When I got out, it was gone. I imagine it's next to my couch. Anyway, without purse I don't have a) feminine hygiene product and b) money. Someone finally gave me a quarter. I go to the bathroom to use that handy little machine and the damn thing is jammed with quarters. I managed to get one of the quarters out, gave the borrowed one back and went up to the 15th floor to use that machine. So I scored $0.25 AND a trip to 15. This is exciting stuff.
And if you're short on cash, there's another quarter in the machine that I couldn't get out.
My computer has committed suicide. (My home PC, not the work PC.) It's five years old and suddenly stopped opening any and all folders, as well as Microsoft programs in general. Gateway support says the only thing to do is reformat my entire harddrive. Are you mad? I have a lot of valuable Sims data stored on there! So instead I'm getting a new computer/slightly used monitor. My computer still runs Windows 98 and has been missing pieces of Microsoft Office since my sophomore year (coincidentally, I lost the first disk during my freshman year). So it's a new computer for me. I would like to thank the Bs for the computer, whenever it arrives, and I promise to repay the favor when you are old and drooling all over each other. I'll get you one of those nice oxygen tanks with wheels - maybe even a double wide.
That darn mouse
Roo loves me! For real! He jumps right into my hand when I get him from his cage and when I come home and say hello, he stands up on his little hind legs and looks out the bars of his cage to find me. We've made a lot of progress. I finally saw him go up his new tube - he was looking for Cheerios, so I put some more in.
Coming soon...
I have a great story involving the cops and a guy named Alfonzo who lives next door to Justin, but I'll have to save that for tomorrow.
Beaten with the idiot stick
If I have for some reason given you my cell phone number is the past, oh, say, 2.5 months, odds are its wrong. Mostly because the prefix to my cell number and my work number are one number apart and I decided to just combine them or something. I don't know. But let me know and I'll give you the real one.
Last night was horrible. On top of a lot of other things, I tried to watch
Blast, a Broadway drum & bugle corp show. And I couldn't. It's kind of weird on stage - I like it on a football field a lot more.
I wish:
* my mouse wasn't a poop machine
* I could sleep as much as I want
* I had a hook to hang my new yarn holder from the ceiling
* Queer Eye was on every night
Exactly.
You're France!
Most people think you're snobby, but it's really just that
you're better than everyone else. At least you're more loyal to the real
language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else. You aren't
worth beans in a fight, unless you're really short, but you're so good at other
things that it usually doesn't matter. Some of your finest works were
intended to be short-term projects.
Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid
Update Central
Nestle Crunch with Caramel: Not so good
S'more candybar: Not so good
Verdict: Candybars are not so good
Miniature golf: Good
Sleeping next to your boyfriend: Very good
Verdict: Dates, even "first" ones, are good
Shopping for mouse cage accessories: confusing
Putting together accessories: confusing
Getting the mouse to go up the tube: frustrating
Verdict: I love that mouse
Roo's Big Night
My little mouse and I decided to let bygones be bygones and played together last night. I worry that Roo is an unhappy little mouse, mostly because he thinks I'm a toilet and absolutely hates his bedding. As soon as I put clean bedding in his cage, he stuffs it into every possibly nook and cranny. I'm not really sure exactly what he likes besides Cheerios.
I put him in his ball for a few minutes while I washed my face, and he was pretty much done pooping by the time I came back. I've learned that he needs time to let everything go after I first visit with him. I took him out and we watched Queer Eye. He was peeking over my fingers and eventually climbed off my arm.
That's when I discovered Roo's true love: yarn.
He couldn't get enough of my Homespun blanket. It was piled in the corner of the couch and he climbed it and ran between the folds and bounced around like the was having the time of his life. My beautiful crazy scarf was on top of the banket, and he immediately started exploring.
You must understand that Roo is afraid of everything. His first few hours with me were rather traumatic and I'm afraid he's been scarred for life (his back is almost healed, though). So it's amazing that he didn't even hesitate to play in the blanket and with the scarf.
I was a little nervous that he'd expunge something unpleasant, so I moved him to the coffee table. He must not understand glass, because he would only walk on magazines and a plastic bag from
The Studio. The bag is clear, so he "hid" from me for awhile behind it and gave himself a bath. He was out of his cage for about a half hour total, and he didn't poop on a thing. It was a very proud moment for me and my little mouse. But when I put him back, I tried to clean his wheel and he was scared all over again. We'll try again tonight.
Last night on Queer Eye, Carson ate something very old from a refrigerator, much to Ted's horror. It was my moment of the night.
And Camille got voted off! Praise the Lord. Next week, Shandi has sex with a really hot Italian guy and her squeaky boyfriend doesn't like that one bit. Don't make the squeaky boyfriend mad, Shandi.
I'm going on a date tonight.
So I went to the vending machine a few minutes ago. I know, I know. But I went for a walk during lunch and I'm going to the gym tonight and I was so freaking hungry yesterday afternoon on the way home and I was hungry again now. Anyway. I checked my options - cookies, cupcakes, candy bars, chips and (what I fell for yesterday, but not by choice) Certs. For some reason, I decided I wanted Fritos.
I hate Fritos. Hate them. Can't stand them. Horrible things. But I thought they sounded good so I ate most of them and then threw them away (with chips still in the bag).
Please remember: You hate Fritos, Kristin.
Today is a better day. I attempted to start a purse out of yesterday's purchase, and it just wasn't right. So I grabbed some honkin' big needles and started a scarf, which is absolutely wonderful. It's gorgeous. It's probably not going to be warm, but very fashionable. If anyone wants to buy it, I'll sell it for $30 (the yarn itself was $33 - I'm willing to take a slight loss and not charge for my time) because somebody needs to wear this gorgeous thing.
I watched five episodes of
Sex and the City. I had grilled turkey, zuchinni, squash and onions for dinner. I put together my new bathroom towel rack. All in all, it was a pretty great night.
I went to the yarn store. I bought yarn. It's beautiful and crazy. It has white cotton, pink sparkly acrylic or something and turqoise eyelash all mixed together. I'm going to make a purse with bamboo handles and line it with pink fabric. Anyone want to buy it? I have a connection here to sell it in a store or somewhere, but I'd much rather it go to one of my friends. I'm thinking it will be in the $50-$60 range. I'll post a picture after it's finished. It's going to be AMAZING. I feel a change coming on.
I'm stuck in a funk, a rut, a horrible nasty place to be. I already ate my lunch, the printer I need to use is broken, so I can't work on my competitive reports yet, it's lunchtime so no one will be there to answer my calls and I can't look at this computer screen anymore. So I'm going to the yarn store.
I haven't been knitting. It's been more than two weeks. I picked up a scrap scarf last night for about 20 minutes, but I just didn't feel it. My mom said I'm transitioning to a new part of my life, and I agree. Everything is constant with me now - boyfriend, job, friends, income. I even quit Borders to streamline my weekends (how I'll miss that $6 a week). The sky is always gray and I'm sick of television and doing the dishes. I miss that bounce in my step and the extra bag of yarn in my hands every morning. So I'm going to the yarn store.
I think I need a haircut.
I spent much of the weekend in a horizontal position. It was nice. Yesterday, I turned off the TV, laid down on the couch and watched the rain through the sliding glass doors. It was peaceful and beautiful until Justin banged on the door like he was dying. He wasn't.
I like having him here. It's an adjustment, though, one I knew I would have to make but didn't really want to. Visiting for just a few days is different - it's romantic and rushed and sad and comfortable all at the same time. I SWEAR TO GOD IF THEY DON'T STOP GRINDING METAL UPSTAIRS I'M GOING TO HURT SOMEONE. Sorry. They're remodeling the floor above me and will be doing so for another month.
Anyway. It's different with him living here because now we have to bring our lives together and find some way to make them mesh again. We haven't lived in the same city for 10 months. That's a long freaking time. I got used to being alone (not that I always liked it) and not having to share space. And I'm DEFINITELY not sharing a bed every night.
You're Watership Down!
by Richard Adams
Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
I've never read this book. I probably never will.
