What fresh hell is this?!

First of all, mad props to the person in the city of Fresno who decided that it was NOT OK to be able to see your garbage cans from the street.

We keep the garbage cans on the side of our house, like all out neighbors do. They are in the spot where they have been since we moved here, three years ago.

The exact phrase in the notice we got was: "No container shall be stored in the front yard, side yard or on a street, unless the container is screened from view of the street." It is signed, "D.HOLM Code Enforcement Specialist." Because nobody wants to be called, "D.HOLM- Trash Can Photographer". Or "D.HOLM- Garbage Snitch N'Bitch."

The first offense is a warning. The second offense is $50. Repeated offenses? Up to $1500. Yikes.

We got our first Notice of Violation this week, along with (as far as I can tell) 99.9% of our neighbors, because they were all standing around and complaining after the mail came.

For your enjoyment, here is a photo of the enclosed photo of our unlawful garbage can placement:



Hard to see what the problem is? Let's go hi tech!



Ok. Granted, there are people who have Christmas decorations which are arguably more irritating to view than our garbage cans. But we complied, for the time being.



Look! You can see our fence! And our extremely ugly water and power meters!!!

In the meantime, we are trying to come up with a solution that thwarts the need to put the garbage cans in the backyard. So far, I have come up with this attractive option:



Who doesn't need a festive garbage can cozy? We could change them seasonally to share our holiday spirit with the whole neighborhood.

In other news, PG&E just gave us a credit on our bill. A $480 credit. Whoa.

While I am thrilled to not have to pay the people for the next few months....how the heck did they make a mistake of this magnitude? Almost 500 bucks? The hell?!!

I sort of want to demand that they pay us back. IN cash. WITH interest. Which is what they would demand from us, if our bill was in arrears. There's also no explanation of how this happened, or any kind of apology. Just a credit on our bill.

Did they think that we wouldn't notice?

Anyway. Ho ho ho! I am off to SF again, but I leave at the ass-crack of dawn tomorrow, and return at 8PM, so it's not much a a trip. I am so totally bringing my knitting. :)

hee!

Stumped for a thoughful gift idea for "the man who has everything?"

Ok- THIS is hilarious.

Take that, jogging bitches!

I used to ride my bike while my dad ran in the evenings, when I was a kid. When we passed people, they'd acknowledge us- you'd always wave or say hi. That's still the case in a lot of places.

I have been running/walking alternately with the dogs in the mornings, at least 4 days a week. It's working out well for me and the dogs, so that's good.

Anyway. There are at least two men who run in the early mornings- they both always wave to me and say good morning.

The jogging bitches, however, are a different story.

First of all, they both wear matching jackets with the reflective stripe, and they both are talking effortlessly as they jog past me.

Secondly, they have never once acknowledged my prescence in any way.

The first time I saw them, I waved- and nothing. Did they not see me?

This is not likely. I have two panting 90 lb. dogs, and I am gasping for air, so I am not exactly inconspicuous. The second time I saw them, I said, "HI!"

Nothing. And I know they heard and saw me, because they stopped talking when they rounded the corner of the street I was on.

Ooooookay. Am I polluting their air with my fatness? Are they anti-dog? What the hell?

I don't know why this bothers me so much. but it does: I want to find out where they live and let my dogs defile their begonias.

O Christmas Tree

Date night tonight was great. I skipped the gym, but I did manage to go out this morning and walk the dogs.

The Man and I hit CPK, and I ordered a salad with the dressing on the side like a sycophant good girl. I decided to do a small splurge and have a few bites of the dessert we ordered- apple crisp with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup. What can I say- I am a sucker for caramel! Three bites later, The Man coaxed me into a fourth bite, and then I ceremoniously put down the spoon.

Then we headed to Target, and picked out our Christmas tree. It's a nice 7 foot Noble Fir, there is just enough room for our star to fit on top without touching the ceiling. I will post pics when we get all the lights and decorations on.

It took a lot of maneuvering to got the thing set up- we had to move a big table, and then a bunch of chairs and my spinning wheel and a cabinet sewing machine got to visit a few different rooms before we achieved a workable layout. But it's worth it- I do love the smell of a real tree!

I did go to the gym last night, which was surreal, because the place has been REMODELED completely since the last time I have been in there. Whoops. It's nice though, they have more machines, and I actually got to hop directly onto an elliptical without sticking my name on a list or anything. I had a great workout, although I noticed discrepancies between my Polar monitor and the figured produced by the machine. Hmmmmmm......

I also bit the bullet and took my measurements today. There's a wakeup call I really didn't want to answer. I suppose it could be worse- I could have kept ignoring the weight gain until I was back where I was in March! Ironically, the only thing that has actually gotten bigger than my initial measurements is my bustline- by an inch. Everything else is smaller or the same. I guess I should be thankful!

In other news, the Grinch seems to have paid my brother a visit. When my bro and his wife came home from work today, they realized that someone had stolen a bunch of their Christmas decorations. How awful is that? Gotta love Sacramento...although, I know this happens in Fresno too. There are some really messed-up people out there.

I Ran...(so far away)

The End.

No, seriously, I did.

Mostly because I could feel the jeans getting a mite snug. But also because I looked at my two mutts outside, and realized that they needed exercise as much as I do.

Plus, I was up at 6AM for no discernable reason, and it was either exercise, or clean the catbox. (Aha! I have found my source of negative motivation!)

So we went out into the freezing cold, and I ran, and walked, and ran, and walked...and also tested out my new Polar Heart Rate Monitor.


I was a little intimidated at first, but I can actually see how this would be a really great motivational tool. First of all, when you are a Big Girl, it's difficult to get a fair picture of calories burned. It was something I didn't even think about, until I realized how many more calories I burned when I used the elliptical machine than when I used the treadmill, or looked up the data on an aerobics class.

Then I finally had that epiphany- HELLO, the only thing that you actually plug your weight into is the elliptical machine. What are those other weight formulae based on? The assumption that since you are a woman, you weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 120-150 lbs. Which in my case, is laughable. If one of those women put 100 lbs in a back pack and set off up the hill in her Nikes, she might come close.

So I set up my Polar Monitor, and lo and behond! It states that my walk/run combo this morning burned almost 400 calories in a half hour, and also reminded me to bump my heart rate up into the ideal "target area". (Whatever the hell that is. I haven't dome it yet, because it requires some mad mathematical skillz which I totally do not have.)So it will, I am sure, warn me if my ventricles are going to explode, or something. It also stores your highest heart rate achieved, the median heart rate of your workout, calories burned, and exercise time.

I plugged it all into Fit Day, and set some new goals- my final goal is my birthday next year. It spat out my caloric limits and ideal weight loss per week, so it's totally do-able and healthy.

I have been slacking, and making excuses. A big one has been the pregancy thing. Ideally, if you want to get pregnant, you're supposed to take it easy on the exercise and not be dieting. Yes, that policy's been working great for me so far!

The other side of the double-edged sword is that it's supposed to be easier to get PG if you are at your ideal weight. So I have decided to play with the other side of the odds, and not make excuses anymore. If I get pregnant(by some miracle) my body won't be under a lot of stress; I prevented myself from lowering my allowable amount of calories. I want to be happy and have some wiggle room, since this is going to be...

*gulp*

Well, let's face it. It's the rest of my life, this ongoing battle with weight. I want to be healthy and active, to stay around for The Man, and to eventually be one of those moms out there on the playground, playing as hard as their kids do. And while I can exercise without dieting and lose pounds and inches, dieting without exercising does not have the same effect. Skinny is not the goal here- healthy is.

What kind of lunatic starts a diet two weeks before Christmas?!

I guess you're looking at her.

Oh HELL no.

I went to Walgreens with The Man the other night- he needed to pick up some decongestants, and I needed to pick up some shampoo.

It was around 7 PM, and I guess while I was looking at the shampoo, a stockboy was shoving large boxes of Christmas yard decor onto the top shelf in the next aisle.

The Man called me, and I went to the end of the aisle at the same point when I guess the stockboy shoved too hard, and 15 boxes of wrought iron holiday lawn art slammed down off the top shelves, exactly where I had been standing about a second before.

Dumbass. Then when I asked the stockboy "What happened?" he denied all knowledge of the incident.

Having narrowly escaped death-by-falling-wrought-iron-reindeer, I remembered that I needed ribbon to wrap my Christmas presents. The Man grudgingly followed me over to the aisle- there was a sweet little old lady (we're talking grey curly Grandma bob, wire rimmed glasses, the whole shebang) looking at gift wrap.

While I rummaged for some silver ribbon, The Man promptly found a gold mylar pre-made bow the size of a dinner plate. I deflected him when he acted like he was going to stick it to my head.

TM: "Didn't you have a dress with one of these on it in 1980?"

Me: "Dude. In 1980, I was FIVE."

The little old lady chimes in, "You'd better behave yourself there- she just might tie you up if you don't!"

Uhhhh....OK. Since I am holding about 300 yards of silver ribbon...and it IS a little old lady. So it's probably not a kinky reference, right? Right.

I give the Man the hairy eyeball. "Yeah. Behave yourself." I kind of shrug and laugh.

Little old lady: "If you're naughty, she might not just tie you up...she could handcuff you! And they don't always have those nice fleece liners!"

At this point, she winked lecherously. And that's when I grabbed The Man and the ribbon and we hightailed it out of there.

WTF is up with Walgreens, people? Is it Christmas that is making everyone crazy? The hell?

My week in video

I have decided that this is what it's like to be me right now.

The part where the hamster gets hurled out of the wheel and wanders around in a daze? That's my weekend.

The Man just came out of hibernation, and we had the following exchange:

Me: "Getting ready for work, sweetie?"

The Man: "Work?"

Me: "Um, how is that surprising? Yes, work."

The Man: (patiently) "This is my night off, hon. Remember?"

D'Oh! I am seriously losing it.

Can I get a "do over?"

So this last week?

Thank heaven, the work week is over.

I mean, I am not expecting anything miraculous this weekend. The way this week has gone, as long as there is no plague of locusts, or rain of blood and frogs, it's all good.

I am going out on a limb saying that, because I am taking Greyhound to SF again this weekend, which may be considered another sign of the apocalypse.

I am usually incredibly responsible when it comes to work. However, being sick messed me up in more ways than I ever could have imagined. (Note to self: you are human. Suck it up, let someone else take care of it!) Besides the chills the other night, I had a temp over 102, which for good old sub-normal temp me, is more like 104. Evidently, it boiled my brain. I missed several appointments, and generally was in a fog for two days, during which I made at least 4 major work-related mistakes that I am still kicking myself over.

I am feeling better today, and I am hoping that I will be good to go for another week at work. I got the news today that I am basically booked through the end of the year, which is just insane. I am going to be training people to pick up some of the slack next week, because the demand is huge. It's thrilling for me, because I love this company, and I am doing my best to get them as many bookings as I can finagle.

It pleases me to no end, however, to find out that I have a waiting list. Teachers are calling in, requesting me to come to their classes again, and when they find out I am booked, are actually requesting to wait until I have an open day...even when they find out it will most likely be sometime in February.

Just....wow. That is about as cool, and as flattering, as it gets. I am blown away.

It does make things harder on some level. I am thrilled that the kids like me, and incredibly happy in my job.

Here's the problem. I take questions at the beginning and end of my classes. Being kids, the first questions usually have nothing to do with why I am there, but I answer them anyway. Questions two and three are usually things like, "What's your favorite color?" and "What's your favorite animal?" Question number one: "Do you have a family? Do you have kids? Or just "How many kids do you have?"

When I say no kids, I have a big huge husband and a lot of pets, they get...well, indignant is the best word.

"But why not!!! Your kids would have so much fun!!! You could do science with them at home, and they would be so lucky!!!"

Ouch. Just....ouch. Luckily, I am out of the teary stage, because as it is, it damn near does me in. EVERY time.

Anyway. Today I managed the Big Three Questions from a class full of fourth graders and then another little boy raised his hand.

"When's the guy getting here? Isn't there a guy?"

I was puzzled for about a second, and then I pointed to my lab coat and said, "I'M the guy!!!" And I made a silly face at him.

The class all busted up laughing. The teacher explained that she had talked to a guy on the phone, which was why they had been expecting a male scientist- but wasn't it great that I was a woman? Because girls can grow up to be scientists too!

I guess the little girls felt empowered, which is great. They all swarmed my table after the presentation- asking where to get dry ice, and telling silly knock knock jokes. I hit them with the vintage interrupting cow joke and they went bananas. It was hilarious- they were all squealing and slapping their teensy knees, and then they followed me out into the parking lot, offering to carry stuff for me. The teacher from the class saw them and called after me, "I'm jealous! You already have groupies!!"

The good outweighs the bad- definitely. And I have to remember, my knock knock jokes from 1982 will always be a hit with the fourth graders of the world. I have found my audience! If I had my own kids, they'd eventually hit puberty and find my mere prescence to be totally humiliating.

Thrills and chills

First of all, I just realized that this is my 200th post. Holy crap!

Second of all (reference the "chills" above) I am sick. With my usual creeping crud, on top of what is evidently the flu. I have a fever, with chills, and while I am not barfing yet...

"By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes."

I did go to work today, and I was just in a daze. It's been a hard week, I accidentally released some of the kids in my class yesterday 15 minutes early, and the pissed-off parents called my workplace. I evidently had mis-set my watch. So I explained, did the whole mea culpa thing, and hopefully now we've moved on. My usual tendancy is to beat myself up about it, but hey, it was an honest mistake, and nothing (thanks to Baby Jesus) bad happened to any of the kids I released.

Halloween was hilarious. The animatronic bat has been in use for three years, and now the neighborhood kids look forward to it. It amuses me that my home is known in the neighborhood lexicon as "the bat house!!!!"

I guess it's better than "That house with the unmowed lawn."

Spring forward, fall off.

Ok, I have no excuse. I don't even really have a specific reason for being so erratic about teh blog. I guess I just like to keep peeps on their toes!

Disjointed ramblings:

Top 5 places to hide Halloween candy from your husband-

1. Behind the trash bags

2. In the cabinet containing the cleaning products

3. Trunk of unwashed car

4. Laundry basket

5. Crisper drawer of fridge, beneath bags of pre-pack salad

All of these would totally work in my house- however, I opted for:

6. Behind boxes of diet soda on the lowest shelf of the pantry.

It seems to be working. I just wish someone would hide it from me- I have already fallen victim to the siren song of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
_______

Behold, a conversation chez moi:

The Man: You bought new yarn.

Me: Yes. Are you monitoring my stash?

The Man: Which one?

(This is the part where, if you are a knitter, your blood runs cold.)

Me: What do you mean, which one?

The Man: Well- there are the boxes of yarn in the spare room closet...and the yarn in the two big baskets in the entertainment center....and the yarn filling the entire cedar chest in the living room. Am I missing any?

Me: Uh....

The Man: Would you even tell me if I found it all?

Me: I plead the fifth.
_______

Between stashing yarn, working my butt off, and prepping for my favorite holiday, I have been archiving our CD collection. More than 500 done so far, and I am not even halfway done. When the hell are we going to listen to it all?

In other news, I have been corresponding with my ex-boyfriend from college. The Man has no cause for worry, that train has sailed. Still, it's been interesting catching up on the last ten years, and I have even managed to keep myself from saying "I TOLD you she was a bitch!!!"on several different occasions. Let's just say that as girlfriends of my ex go, I was probably the sanest of the lot. Which is saying something.
________

So, I am trying to decide if I should dress up for the trick-or-treaters tomorrow night. The Man and I did go to a halloween party, and this year was much better than last year. The best part is that we went as Perseus and Medusa. Yes, pictures will be forthcoming.
________

I finally watched Red Eye on cable. Cillian Murphy never fails to give me the creeps. EUGH! I can't even look at him without skeeving. That being said, it was a decent thriller. But still! *skeeve*

What happened to my weekend?

Every two weeks, I go to San Francisco for acupuncture.

Yes, it has something to do with the whole baby issue. And evidently, it is working....to the point that people who hardly know me are saying things like, "You're so much calmer!"

The people who DO know me well have hatched a conspiracy theory which involves my unknowingly having taken some kind of Chinese lithium. (For the record, that one was Secret Squirrel, who watches way too much CSI.) But The Man has noticed. My family have noticed. And while it's great that it's working, there's some part of me that is resentful. (Ack! Was I so horrible before?!!!!)

I know they won't answer this honestly, for fear that I will suffer a relapse and attack them with a Salad Shooter. But still...! I am fully awarethat some things which would have rendered me apoplectic with rage at one time now are just sort of irritating, but nothing to get worked up over. Recognizing this while it's happening is sort of surreal.

Anyway. My regimen involves the needles, and an everchanging formulation of Chinese herbs that has come to be known simply as "Ass Tea." (Rhymes with NASS-TY!) The nearest way I can describe the taste? Murky. If you need more detail? It's like top ramen flavor packets with the salt removed. Yep. Taste sensation! I usually throw in some Crystal Lite, which is probably not condoned by ancient Chinese medicine, but does manage to camouflage the ass to some degree.



So, San Francisco. Secret Squirrel tagged along, and we had many strange and hilarious conversations. One that came up was the sad, strange take of Lorena Bobbit. Yes, guys, women talk about this all the time...and we laugh.

Me: "Whatever happened to Lorena, anyway?"

SS: "Well, she went to jail. I mean, she chopped it off."

Me: "I never understood that. Wouldn't he be pretty wiggly? He must have woken up.
Did she use anaesthetic? A machete? How is that logistically possible?"

SS: "Um, I think he was pretty drunk, but he woke up in the middle of it."

Me: "Welll...ouch."

SS: "I was always surprised there were no copycat crimes afterwards."

Me: "Well...I think men were probably much more zealous in guarding the junk after that. They were pretty traumatized, as I recall. Didn't they find it and sew it back on, and then he did porn or something?"

SS: Welll- I mean, she chopped it off, then ran off and threw it in a field. THEN they sewed it back on."

Me: "Thanks for the timeline."

SS: "Well, it couldn't have been out there too long. He's lucky. I mean, it could have been eaten by wild dogs."

(pause)
Me: A dingo ate my penis!!!!!!BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA......

Yeah, that's pretty much how the whole weekend went. We talked and laughed a lot, bought some yarn (aka crack) from Artfibers, met up with my sister for drinks, and ate some meals that were completely insane, but totally worth it.

On the way home, we hit the Bridge School Benefit, which was fantastic. It was worth it for the Foo Fighter's acoustic set alone.

Always Read The Label.

So, I went to SF this weekend (more on this tomorrow). First, I have something to get off my chest.

We went to Sephora. I spent way more than I intended to, which is what happens every time I go in there. Three bottles of nailpolish, Bare Escentuals foundation and concealer, a really cool eyeshadow palette- and then I remembered OH! yeah...I am out of eye/lip makeup remover. So I bought the store brand, which was a pretty good deal, I thought. I have had great experiences with the Sephora brand, and for eight bucks...well, how could I go wrong?



It wasn't until I got back to the hotel and tried out my new purchase that I realized I'd been had. At first I was thrilled, because it did indeed work like a charm on my waterproof eye makeup and all day lipstick. But...there was something really familiar about the smell and consistency, so I checked the label. One ingredient- petrolatum.

In case you don't know what petrolatum is?



Surprise!!!

I paid $8 for an OUNCE of Vaseline (but Vaseline made in France!) cleverly repackaged in a cute little tube. Considering that you can buy a 13 oz. tub of the stuff for $4.49 at CVS online...that's what? Like over 1000% markup? Great.

There are way too many dirty jokes possible here, so I am just going to let it go.

Project Runway

Well, crap.

I hate it when I'm right.

The biggest one-horse town in California.

So, I am in Fresno.

This post is going to be pretty vague, due to the non-disclosure agreement that I signed when I started my job.

I grew up here in Fresno. I know a lot of people because of that. Due to the nature of my job, the huge social circle of my parents, and my husband's ties to the military, I need to be careful when I run into people. Note to self- it's "Nice to SEE you", not "Nice to meet you!" Invariably, I screw that one up, mainly because my ability to match faces with names is god-awful.

Anyway. I was given a dossier on a little girl to tutor. It had an addendum that part of the reason that she was having problems in school was because of a family tragedy- her father had died violently a few months before and since she was shy anyway, they wanted someone with a "bubbly" personality.

I showed up on the front doorstep on Monday, and when her mother answered the door, she shrieked, "Jenna! I didn't know you were tutoring!"

They're friends of friends. People we knew by first names only, and so I had no idea that this was someone I had spent time with at birthday parties and barbecues.

I was literally gobsmacked. In the meantime, the friends who are the link between us, called, and gave me all the gory details.

Every time I look at this sweet little girl, who is just caught in the middle of all this crap- it just breaks my heart. And all I can do is correct her spelling and teach her how to multiply, and try not to get too involved.

Sorry. This has been bugging me since Monday.

Here we go...

Project Runway finale is tonight.

I am such a PR dork. I am beyond excited.

I really don't care what the outcome is, as long as Jeffrey doesn't win...although I have a sinking feeling that The Angry Little Peanut is going to take it. At this point, I love love love Laura's stuff, even though it's not exactly young or "boob-friendly". Michael's stuff looks like it came straight out of Captain Save-A-Ho's trophy collection. I have always liked Uli, and I actually think she's a contender for the win (Of course, I may be in denial- see above re: Jeffrey.)

Anyway.

Catwarming!

Remember that kitten I was talking about?




This picture is of Lucky on her second day with us. She's staked out the bed as her own personal property, and she communicates in sweet little squeaks and trills, which I hope she never grows out of. And her favorite thing ever? Is playing fetch with the fun-fur mice I bought for her.



There were originally two mice. The first guy lost his felt tail and exploded early on, but this guy has been hanging in there. I decided that he probably needed to be retired. Before we went back to the pet store, I decided to see if I could possibly build a better mouse.

So I busted out the knitting needles, along with Stitch N' Bitch Nation and gave it a go. The pattern is called the CatWarming Set. I was about halfway through with my mouse before I realized there had to be a mistake in the pattern somewhere, but I didn't feel like looking it up. (And yes, today, I found the correction on the Stitch N' Bitch website. D'Oh!

Still, I think the little guy turned out really cute, if a bit skinnier than anticipated due to the error in the pattern. I added whiskers and stuff- i think next time, I will modify the pattern and knit him in the round, because I really freaking hate mattress stitch.



No matter what he looks like, Lucky has been carrying him around since last night, so I guess he is a hit!

In the meantime, Big Fatty (aka Tiramisu) has not been happy as part of a two-cat household. He's adjustting, but slowly. In the meantime, I tried to placate him with more knitting, this time, the felted Kitty Pi Bed from Wendy Knits.

Here it is, pre-felting:



"Dammit! She ruins EVERYTHING!!!"



"Well...maybe it will be OK."


Oh Hell no! My new bed, it has been DEFILED by her MERE PRESENCE!!!

Benny's from heaven.

I am a sucker for a good pun. The title of this post is also the title of a Rhumba Bums song- their re-working of "Pennies From Heaven".

The giggles are all in the intro, about how a soldier comes home after a three year tour of duty, and his wife has a three-month old baby. So he kinda does the math and says, OK, honey, where'd the kid come from? So after this long build-up, they start in with "Benny's...Benny's from heaven...!"

Maybe I am just a swing dork, but The Man and I thought it was hilarious. Even more hilarious because the lead chanteuse, Carmen, is probably about 7 months preggers.

So we had a great time, and even got some dancing in. Then we rushed to the car so The Man could get to work on time, and I managed to catch part one of the Project Runway finale. I can't even express what I think about it at this point- besides, these guys sum it up better than I ever could.

Today has been pretty darn good. Work is going great- I am teaching four classes a week, and have about 20 science workshops scheduled over the next two months. My employers are wonderful people, and I definitely feel appreciated, which is something I will never again take for granted. Most of the kids are great (as usual, there are one or two exceptions) and I am having a fantastic time. Who knew that enjoying your job was even a possibility?

Um. I am enjoying this so much, that I am thinking about heading back to school and getting my teaching credential. Maybe it's temporary insanity? Whatever happens, it will have to wait until The Man is out of college, sometime next year.

This is so bizarre- I feel so grown up!

Get Lucky.

So I was cruising around online Monday night, and I thought I would check in to see how some of my fave modern swing bands are doing.

Just for kicks, I took a gander at the Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums tour schedule. They usually play SF, but I have been there a lot recently, and The Man has expressed a desire to see them.

So imagine what a pleasant surprise it was when I saw the listing for 10/11/06- The Big Fresno Fair. I love love love their music, they are fantastic live, and they're actually playing Fresno. Who doesn't love a band who has a double-entendre-packed song about gravy?



Here they are on Amazon, if you're curious.

OK, the drawback is that *cough* it's THE BIG FRESNO FAIR. But for Steve Lucky et al, I will brave the wilds of the Thug Life crowd and all eight bajillion babymammas. Well, plus the big musical act is The Black Crowes, so I am guessing that might have some affect on the usual suspects in attendance. Hopefully, I can convince The Man to make an evening of it.

So- great music, a night out with the hubby, and maybe an old fashioned cinnamon roll.

And then tonight is the first part of the finale of Project Runway.

My cup runneth over!

I melted my Visa card.

So, we all know, I am a knitter, and a reader. And you put those together, and you get... an unhealthy obsession with knitting books.

I seem to have had some kind of blackout over the last couple of weeks. Combined with the credit card and Amazon.com (Damn you Amazon! Damn you!) ... well, let's just say it's not a pretty picture.

I somehow have 10 new knitting books. Count 'em, 10. On top of the 30 or so that I already have. This is not counting the knitting magazines, which I really don't want to talk about, aside from that old saw- "Admitting that there is a problem is the first step to recovery." Or something like that.

And did I mention, I also placed pre-orders on two more books that are coming out later this year?

Oh, and there's one more that should be showing up tomorrow:



Knitting needles. Yarn. Martini glass. Yea, Behold...it is The Promised Land!
Yeah, if there's any combo that would make me click "Add To Cart" juuuuuust one more time, that's it up there.

I wonder if Blue Shield covers this.

Tag! You're it.

Yes, I have been pretending that I didn't have all these blogs for awhile. Then I logged in, and I realized...Blogger now has TAGS. Bless you, Blogger!

So- I am probably not going to be maintaining three blogs, just one. Good old TMWA will likely be the one to stay put. The knitting and weight loss stuff will just be posted here under different tags, and then we can all live together in peaceful harmony. Or something.

Anyway, to quote the fabulous Tim Gunn: "Carry on! Make it work!"