Invasion of the alien life forms

Please do not pass out; I am indeed blogging.

We had rain over the past 2 days. No one knew how to act. People were absolutely giddy about having wet shoes and bad hair. Nobody remembered how to drive and accidents were abundant. People went to the store and bought bread, eggs, and milk. Total chaos.

That's all fine and good, but then the aliens landed in my front yard. In addition to the normal mushrooms that we all know and love:

This thing started growing. I call it the orange octopus.
The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's got this green, slimy goo on the inside and it seems to pulsate and shimmer. I've never seen anything like it. I'm hoping it doesn't come loose and crawl into the house. On the bright side, maybe it will cut loose and eat all the dog poo in the front yard. That would be handy. Scott says that if an eyeball opens up in the middle of this thing he's going to set it on fire. But I think he might just make it angry.

And the orange octopus brought buddies.

I am informed by my friend Katey that this is a tree brain fungus. I think it looks like radioactive mutant marshmallow. It too seems to pulsate and glow, but with an ominous hum. I'm told it changes and grows into crazy shapes. Can you say blog fodder? Stay tuned. If it gets interesting, you'll be the first to know.

There have been other strange happenings of the mammalian/avian kind as well. In the past 2 months and on different occasions, I have opened my front door to find 3 deer, an eight-point buck, and a gaggle of no fewer than 20 turkeys. I forgot those things can fly. They all looked at me, like, WTF? and took off over the fence across the street. And no, I didn't get a picture of the deer and buck. It was dark and those things move much faster than turkeys. And to top it all off, the frog is back on my back porch.

Sign of the coming apocalypse? You be the judge. "And the seventh angel spilled forth his bowl, and lo, it was full of turkeys."

Flying by the seat of my pants.

Whew. This week has flown by. My Dad and uncle went to Scotland for a visit with their oldest brother who lives over there. He said he had a smashing time and is very tired and so has gone home to go to the grocery store and get some sleep. He's been on a plane all day long, as one would expect when flying across the pond, no?

When he went over there, I asked him to please look around and see if he could find a small shawl pin for me. I was expecting something much less fabulous than what I got. I was floored. Can you see why?Holy sweaty Scotsman, batman. The picture isn't so good, but it's a solid silver antique plaid broach with Celtic knots, a dog, and a ship. It's resting on a scarf(for my mom) made of the Russell family plaid. Of course I'll bring it to knit night, did you think you'd have to ask? He also brought some fat pills in the form of Scottish Tablets. Sounds innocent enough, except that they are almost pure sugar with a little butter and evaporated milk mixed in. I'm gonna have to find a recipe 'cause these things are not lasting so long around here.

I've been off all week to take care of mom and my darling little brother came in from Arizona to help out. Here he is displaying his usual sunny disposition:Isn't he cute? He's always waving that finger about. What a little ambassador for the family. He hates having his picture taken, poor dear.

Anyhoo, some projects finished this week. Pictures? My pleasure.

To start, my double treadle kit came for my Ashford Traditional wheel. Ed and I stained it and installed it in no time flat. And there is a trick about taking the wheel off, it's so simple, you won't believe it. All you need is a nail and a hammer and ping, it's off. It's more of a visual aid thing, best shown in person. Will do on request.

Here's my "new" wheel. Ain't she pretty? We chose a cherry stain, and I have to say it's hardly distinguishable from the original finish.
Tah-dah!

In other news, I took a crappy, old cabinet that had been Scott's grandmothers and refurbished it. It was originally red, then painted white. I took the (installed backwards) hinges off and painted the whole thing. It's beautiful now. I am so happy with the way it turned out. Here's the outside:
And I painted the inside something the paint chip said was Japanese Fern. It's really more like screaming parakeet green, don't you think? And yes, it's brighter in person. I love it. Seeing it finished makes me want to hop up and down.
And of course it is being used for what? Say it with me, folks. Yarn/fiber storage. Yeah, baby, life is good. I now have a place to keep my fiber from getting, shall we say, other additives. Namely cat hair. I think I'm going to devise some kind of system on the inside of the door to put my straight and circular needles so I won't constantly have to look in three different places for them. That should save me a lot of hassle. Nothing like getting organized is there?

Speaking of organization, I also went through the clothes and got rid of 7-8 bags of stuff. It's good to get rid of crap once in a while. Who needs stuff that doesn't fit anyway?

Lost in Fiber Space

We went to SAFF this weekend. I'm still having trouble remembering what happened. The yarn fumes overwhelmed the four of us as soon as we walked in the door. The first thing we saw when we walked in Friday morning was this:And this:

That, my friends, is an entire rodeo arena full of fiber-related wonderment. There was all manner of fiber porn everywhere you looked. It became impossible to avert your eyes. The four of us were in shock for the first 4 hours. And to top it all off, there was more outside. Can you believe it? It was like Christmas, but better.

Then we gathered our wits about us and the buying commenced.

Among other things too wonderful to contemplate, Amy and I bought 5 pounds(that's not a typo) of yarn. We plan to dye it and make something magical out of it, but that has yet to be determined. It will need a bit of work though.
I also bought cashmere from Miss Babs, alpaca yarn to make a sweater, fiber to spin and of course, sock yarn. Because there isn't enough in the stash already and what would happen if they just stopped manufacturing the stuff?

We also saw disapproving Llamas
And curious Alpacas:
And we spun , and Bob came to the party!
And we bought
And Katey inspired us all to bigger things by winning first place, second place, and Best in Show for her handspun fiber.In general, a good time and many things were learned by all. The most important thing I learned is not to let a stupid piece of wood get the best of you. And that it's important to have really good friends without which I would laugh a lot less and take myself way too seriously.

Got Fish?

For many years (yes, years, something like maybe 3ish) my fishtank sat neglected. It was the source of much ridicule for me. My poor husband tried when he was home, but finally gave up. And as the years went by, it kinda became something of a science experiment. It didn't stink, it was all natural, and it was obviously low maintenance. What's not to like? See for yourself:
Ok, so it's kindof an eyesore. Well, I finally thought so too. And so came the day that I got a wild hair and decided to clean it up a bit. I took the filter apart (which was surprisingly unclogged), changed the water and scrubbed the sides. Lo! There were 2 fish living. They looked lonely, so I added friends today. See how pretty?

Holy crapmuffins, Batman! If I do say so myself, it looks right pretty. There are now 7 fishies in there, and they seem to be happy and content. We'll see if I can keep this up. But it sure looks better, don't you agree? And I have an angelfish. I love those.

In other news, Zoe wants to say thank you to mommiesfriendamy who made her this sweater. She said to tell mommiesfriendamy that she feels like a pretty, pretty princess and that she likes it especially since it keeps her tummy warm now that it's cold out, yes she does.


'Cause it's important to be warm when you are such a small dog with no hair whatsoever on her tummy. True that.

Today's post: Car Stereo Repair

This morning on the way home, I noticed that my subwoofer in the back of the Exploder was buzzing like someone had stuffed it full of marshmallows or maybe violently ill pixies (I checked. Sadly there were no marshmallows. Or pixies.). The thing sounded terrible. It had to die.

A little online research convinced me that this could cost a little or a lot. So instead of going somewhere and paying out my dupa(Polish for "bottom." Stop looking at me that way) with money I don't have(because SAFF is coming up and there must be money for fiber), I decided that I can work a screwdriver(as well as read a knitting pattern, and make a mean beef stroganoff) and that it would be an adventure to fix it myself.

Off I went to my local stereo store where there were a bunch of tattooed guys discussing speakers and sound quality and whatnot with each other. One of the tattooed guys was very nice and gave me just the right speaker for the car. He very nicely explained that since my old subwoofer had two male (use your imagination) connectors and that the new one has 4 male connectors, I would have to wire it up differently to install it. I needed to go to Radio Shack to get my female (you can do it) connectors. No problem, right?

Well. I walked in and the guy at radio shack took one look at the old and new speakers in my hand and said "No". "No what?" I asked. "We don't do car stereo here" he said. Wow. Like it hadn't occurred to me that Radio Shack WASN'T a car stereo place. How stupid of me. I politely explained that I needed female connectors to connect the wires. He proceeded to tell me that he does a LOT of car stereo and what I wanted to do wasn't possible because he'd never seen a subwoofer with 4 male connectors before. It took a lot of explaining and visual aids before he was on board with the project. I bought a soldering iron instead of female connectors (his one good suggestion) and left. He told me to have fun on my way out. Thanks dude, rock on.

Anyhoo, here's what my old subwoofer looked like once I ripped it's guts out:


And the new subwoofer all soldered up and ready to install:
And the finished product:

Ok, so it's not perfect. In taking out the panel, I broke it a little bit, but hey, it's an 11-year-old car. It has a few dings. Given how most of my cracked-up, post-call plans I usually hatch explode in my face, this one went surprisingly well. And it sounds pretty good too.

I'm gonna go celebrate and eat some marshmallows. And if I find any pixies, I'll let you know.

Frog Thursday!

I woke up this morning and what to my wondering eyes did I see?

A frog! I guess he took his sticky little feet and climbed up until he found a safe place. He did make the tiniest of beeps when I took his picture, tho.

Just so you know!

We interrupt this Ravelry session to bring you an actual blog post...

I have been on ravelry just a bit lately and neglected all other activities including, but not limited to, blog posting, house cleaning, eating, and actual work. What can I say? It's such a cool site and so attractive to someone like me who likes to see things all in one place and neatly organized. It just makes my inner organizers heart go flippity-flop. For those of you who have seen my house, keep your mouth shut. I know what's in all the paper piles, so there. Not surprisingly, Ravelry's invasion of my world has resulted in my back porch looking like a yarn store barfed on it.

Maybe that will change this weekend, when I figure out where I'll put it all back. Don't hold your breath.

I would love to bring you pictures of our Yarn Harlot outing, but I forgot my camera. Also would like to tell you about the Snarky's big night out at an actual restaurant that serves dinner on real plates, but I also forgot my camera. Seems I'm always showing up to something half-dressed, figuratively speaking.

So, I give to you a random bunneh picture. Here's Oliver! He was too tired to disapprove.

I am Superchicken-hear me roar!

I got my Ravelry invite!!!!!

I am beside myself. I've only been on a few minutes and already see what an enormous time suck this is going to be. There is so much to do and see and smell and and and...

I don't know how I'm going to get any sleep tonight!

Wait! I can do this from work! Except that my nurse just put someone in a room! NOOOO!!!

Hop! Hop! Hop!

I am hopping up and down with anticipation!

From Ravelry:
You signed up on July 5, 2007
You are #14077 on the list.
510 people are ahead of you in line.
19172 people are behind you in line.
40% of the list has been invited so far

That's, like, only a few days, right?!?

And Yarn Harlot this week! Wheee!

Turds are Trash, not Toys

That's right, everyone. I'm babysitting AmyDe's babycats and they sure are being kittens. Sneaking up on old dogs, antagonizing young dogs:Tangling the blind cords. Again.
And getting in to places we shouldn't. I knew it was too quiet while I was on the computer...

Too bad kittens move too fast to photograph well. I've worn myself out tonight chasing them around to get just the right shot. We even got older, fatter Peeves to play!
And don't forget-the mostest, favoritest game of all-TURD HOCKEY! Bunny turds seem to be the scat of choice. They are small, round and hard. They whizz around at alarming speeds when smacked. They are little enough to be picked up and stuffed in your brother's ears when you have him in a headlock (don't worry Amy, I made them pick them out). In addition, they can't be that gross because bunnies are vegetarian, right?

I know what you guys are all thinking. Holy Toledo-she actually put pictures up here! Well, I did, didn't I? That's because I finally found the software to sync my camera. And here's one more, from my trip to SF last fall. Just because, that's why. Isn't SF pretty? This was taken the evening before we were rudely whisked back home by a very demanding thing called work. Too bad, that. We were just getting started.

Anyhoo, my husband is on his way from work, should take a few hours to get home. And it's getting hungarian out there. Time to scrounge in the fridge for something to eat. But before I go Heather, this one's for you:

Flippity!

Won't be long now...

I'll NEVER get on Ravelry at this rate:
You signed up on July 5, 2007
You are #14077 on the list.
2695 people are ahead of you in line.
17266 people are behind you in line.
36% of the list has been invited so far

*sigh*

Well it's been a really trying week, but at least I have really, really clean sheets.

Allow me to explain. I have an old dog, Flip, who creeps out all my friends with his wierd tongue. As I said, he's old. As in-the vet won't even guess how old. He's also getting a bit demented, so I shouldn't be surprised when he peed on the bed just after going out last week. This was washing number 1.

This week, Flip woke me up at 6 am to go out. As I snuggled back in to bed with everybody for 30 more minutes of sleep, Pooh, my 16-year-old cat crawled under the covers to cuddle. This is his usual custom and fine with me except that he PEED ON ME! Not cool. Wash Number 2.

That night, Pooh, as is his usual custom, hopped up on the bed to sleep on my pillow and cut loose again. On the pillow. Which of course sprinkled down to the newly washed and just made bed. Wash number 3.

Well, at least if things come in threes then it's all over, right? Good. Because my bed is now, as I said before, really, really clean. Thanks. No more peeing in the bed-for anybody. Not like it's been allowed there in the past.

I'm just sayin'.

Be warned

It's been that kind of weekend. You know the one, as soon as you are by yourself, loads of things happen that you could really use help with. Good times.

For instance, Friday night a favorite tree came down in my front yard, conveniently landing such that it blocks the neighbors driveway. Apparently, it had rotted inside and looked perfectly healthy outside. Now, birds employ a survival method where when one of them is sick they act normal until they drop dead. This is a survival method which insures the flock won't desert it, thus offering it the protection and comfort of numbers. Does this happen in trees? Was my this tree afraid all the others were going to come lumbering across the yard, Ent-like, and murder it in it's sleep? Who can say?

Now for the fun part. And this one's a little scary, folks. Last night I was sitting at my computer, minding my own business when my faithful dog (well, not really a dog-she's a 6 pound chihuahua) started growling at the door. Moments later, I thought I heard someone try the door and she went crazy barking her head off. I guess they took off when they heard her ferocious bark. Good dog, that bug.

Naturally, I grabbed the phone and quietly retreated to the other room, calling the cops as I went. The po-po came, had a look around around and seemed to think I was some kind of alarmist. Whatever. All good, right?

Well no. I am pissed. How dare some jackass come on to my property and freak me out like that? I live in a subdivision in a very low-crime area. I will not live my life in fear and trepidation. And trust me, if someone does get in here, I'm not going down without a fight.

Oh screw. I'm tired of waiting for the tree guy. I'm going to go get a pedicure and buy a shotgun.

Hey look, I'm a real blogger!

I haven't posted in over a week! I'm just like the rest of you!

Well, we're back. For those who don't know, my husband started his new job today. In Charleston. Yep, for the forseeable future, he's down there and I'm stuck up here. Send good thoughts his way, he's pretty anxious to do well at this new place. Go Bean!

Charleston is beautiful, however, and not such a bad place. Being near the ocean, they actually get rain almost daily. Not so much here.

We looked at a few places to live, and ate lots of http://www.freshcupcakes.com/. Yes'm, there's a store that only makes cupcakes. And they're good ones too. I got a recipe card and will try my hand at making a few in my spare time. Yeah.

Of course, I flew back last night and I noticed a few differences between the ATL and CHS airports. For one, the people are nicer in Charleston. It took me all of 2 minutes to get through security, and that's with scanning my bag twice for dangerous knitting implements like stitch markers. Long story short, I got to sit for about 1.5 hours and discovered I had brought the WRONG yarn with which to start BFF Jill's present. Crumbs.

So I read Harry Potter #4 instead. I'm catching up people, soon you'll be able to discuss the end with me, I promise.

The puppies were thrilled to see me back at least. Zoe recognized me immediately and poor old Flip just kinda stood there until I petted him, then he went into paroxisms of joy. Poor dude, he's just old. Like, Noah old. I bet he dosen't move from the bed where I left him until I get home this evening.

Anyone wanna trade?

I check on the Seattle Space Needle site fairly frequently. Today it's rainy and 59 degrees. Let's compare that with Atlanta which has a code red air quality alert and a projected high of 99. Very nice. If you happen to like living in the devil's armpit.

I think I'd like to trade.

In other news, I took advantage of the tax free weekend to purchase a new computer. Once I get it (today?!?), I'll be able to post pictures and such. Am hopping up and down in anticipation, must stop. It gets the dogs wound up and the last thing I need is Zoe peeing on the floor from overexcitation.

Pictures soon, I promise.

The joys of homeownership are legion

We've just spent the morning putting in new windows upstairs. Let me assure you that it is plenty tired out there right now. Also hot.

The fun had to stop when we ran out of caulk. Bummer. Now we're off to take advantage of the tax-free weekend which is what I really wanted to do in the first place.

Why now? Why not?

Reasons I've had not to blog until now:

It's time-consuming and I'm busy.
I don't need another hobby.
I have nothing positive to put out there.
I'm not a techie. (I am, however, a geek.)

Enough of that. I'll give it a stab. Especially since my snarky friends came up with a name I like. Name sound familiar? http://youtube.com/watch?v=7wMHcpMmV9g.

Manah manah to you too.