*Mleah

I just did NOT have the spinning groove yesterday.

Today I will be trying to dye yarn, but I don't have all the supplies I'll need so more than likely I will just be observing. Oh well, I can learn lots that way too.

*the sound of me sticking out my tongue

PS. using a spinning wheel has improved my skill on the drop spindle oh about a thousand percent. That's a nice feeling.

Look What I Did Today!

Wow! I desperately need a new brassiere. ICK!!

I spun and plied 189 yards of brown corriedale. Okay well I didn't spin ALL of it today. This is my third Sunday I've spent spinning. And I learned how to ply today as well. This is so much better than using the drop spindle! I have decided that all my bonus money from work will be going into a spinning wheel fund. I've already sold 40 NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions. Each one of those adds $3 to a Visa gift card I'll get after the promotion is over in October. No idea what wheel I'll buy. I've spun on three different ones now. I am not going to be a wheel snob and only consider one kind. If it's a saxony or a castle or a fold-up, none of that matters. I just want one!

Upcoming trip

I am going to Chicago, probably in less than 3 weeks. MCM is having longer periods between lucidities, and I need to go and see him. I have spoken with his friend there, and she has graciously offered to collect me from O'Hare, and let me stay at her place while I am there. I am so grateful to her. I am really at a loss for words, I can barely string coherent thoughts together. I have so much planning to do, so I cannot allow myself to lose control much. I am so afraid of having a seizure in the middle of all this planning and so I am keeping a Very Tight Rein on my emotions. How can I live without my best friend?

Deja Moo

Same bullsh*t, different day. I hate, loathe, and despise technical troubleshooting. I would seriously much rather fight with people about the state of their past-due accounts than re-program somebody's remote control. I would rather be *GRBH than attempt to tell someone the most effective way to hook up their entertainment system. But having said that, I am still getting up early to go to my third day (of six) of tech training. However, I will be going tomorrow with hella chocolate stuffed into my recycled-wool handbag, and as many Diet Cokes as still reside in my fridge. I think I am down to my last one though, and I don't think I have any change for the vending machine either. Wheaties, nothing! The true Breakfast of Champions is hella chocolate and Diet Coke.

Yesterday while I was in the middle of having a panic attack about coaxial cable and RCA cables, and S-Video cables and who-knows-what-all, my pocket started ringing. It was RP, asking what time I would be home. I said I reckoned about 4pm. He told me he would be by at 4:30 and we were going up to Porcupine Dam. Well, a trip in the pickup, I am All Over That! Got home, found some water bottles, found a hair elastic, went potty, and at 4:30 we were off on adventure! It involved falling down a hill, washing off in a river, dinner at McDonald's (I got Jack Sparrow in my Happy Meal) and a road turning into a river. This last sight so astonished me I couldn't even take a photo. I want to be with when he tackles that with a buddy. Four hours after we left, we were home. I just love going in the pickup.

Totally bedtime. I have to be somewhat awake for training tomorrow. So much info is being crammed into my head, I know I have leakage as soon as I leave. Oh, and if you haven't been able to guess my acronym, GRBH stands for gang-raped by Huns. Have a great day!

Sunday Again

I love to read the blogs who post almost every day, but I know that I'll never be that committed to doing it. I am currently working at least 45 hours a week and trying to keep a somewhat clean house and normal relationship with my DD. But if I have the goal of posting once a week, and I can meet that goal 75% of the time, I will think well of myself.

First of all, I would like to thank my Kirks Folly Faery Swap Sister Believer2. I love Kirks Folly jewelry, and I have quite a large collection of it. The photo of me in the crown? That's a KF crown. Not the one I bought (but now I'm wishing that I had). A few weeks ago, one of the ladies on the Kirks Folly Forum (whichywomn) suggested that we have a Faery Swap. I signed up, and I have been having so much fun looking for little items to send to my Swap Sister (who shall remain nameless until she receives her package). I will admit that some of the things being lovingly packaged into her box were gleaned from the dollar store, but just because they didn't cost a lot of money doesn't mean they weren't chosen with care. Besides, where else are you going to find Fairly OddParents bandaids?
Isn't that just lovely? My Swap Sister Believer2 had this sent to me. It totally looks fresh, but it isn't! It's preserved somehow, and I hung it up in my living room, right over my Kirks Folly display I have there. It fits in so well, and I just love it, so thank you very much Believer2.
And this is my DD, modeling RM's DD's poncho. I finally got it and his socks mailed off last week, they should have been received by Saturday. I told him to take photos. He may not want to post his DD's photo, which is why I had my own DD model it. If he gives permission, then I'll post the photo that he takes. Again, this is NoBo brand yarn, bought at evil wally-world. As much as it pains me to shop there, we do not yet have a Target. And besides, Target doesn't have a crafts/fabrics department. *mleah*
And this is the display rack that my friend DF made for me to put my recycled-wool handbags on, down at Sweet Peas Natural Market. I approached the proprietess several weeks (months) ago about having a consignment corner of items that are locally-made that would appeal to those who would shop in an organic market. She seemed amenable, and I asked DF to make this for me. He brought it over last week Wednesday, and DD and I took it right over and filled it up. I am so excited about this, but we still need a sign, and some decent hang-tags. I am also going to be putting in my hand-crocheted cotton bags too. Not string-bags exactly, as these are made with Sugar n Cream cotton yarn, and quite small. Photo later, but these little bags have been quite popular with the girls at work. I've sold several to them, and also SheWhoWillNotBeNamed bought some off me last year. I wonder if she's destroyed them now?

"What Goes Up . . . .

. . . . must come down. Spinning wheel, got to go 'round."

I did my first spinning on a wheel tonight! Okay, I will be excruciatingly truthful and tell you that this is NOT my very first time on a wheel. About 2 years ago (maybe 3, I don't remember) my mom took me to visit her friend KS who is a spinner. She let me try, and I have a golf-ball-sized ball of lumpy-bumpy yarn. It's awful, but I will keep it forever, because I made it, and I was determined to finish that wad of wool she stuck in my lap when I first sat down.

Cut to Snake River Fiber Festival. Remember I bought a drop spindle and a half-pound of Corriedale roving? I have been trying to spin yarn on that thing since. Not a whole lot, but some. When I went to Spinners' Night on Thursday, one of the ladies there took pity on me and said I could come out to her house and she would teach me on a real wheel. So today after church I called her and we went out. At first, she ran the wheel and I just drafted and spun. But after a few minutes I was running the wheel too. I probably spun for 2 hours, but I finally had to stop because my knee was getting sore and I could tell I was getting tired. My right knee has some pain/stiffness in it. I am too young for arthritis, and I really have no idea what it is. But I am thinking that the gentle exercise of spinning might help it. We shall see. My yarn is over-twisted, but I like it much better than using the drop spindle, that's for sure. Next week I'll spin on another bobbin, and the week after I will ply. I am sure I can think up a good felting craft for this first spinning. I am feeling so proud of myself!

Knitting news: I finished the second 75/25 sock today. I bought more wool of the same brand but a different colour Friday night. I am still trying to perfect my own personal sock pattern, and so I keep on buying wool. I have some awesome Trekking XXL I want to use for a pair for myself, but I want to wait until I've figured out the Perfect Sock Pattern. And I need to cast on for Poncho #4, this one for my friend. I think I've figured out the too-tight cast-on issue. I am going to cast on double the amount of stitches, then k2tog after 2 regular rows to get to the correct number. I am going to practice one more time on some scrap yarn with smaller needles just to make sure first though.

Well, it's time to go home . . . .

I really do not have the words to describe the stupidity we witnessed tonight. So let me start from earlier in the day:

It was dead at work (as I knew it would be) and a team had already been sent home by the time MW and I went to lunch. When we came back, our team had been given opportunity to go home as well, and we took it! I called an old friend (RP) on my way home, and he asked if DD and I were going to come over and bug him later that afternoon. I said we might, it depended on how things looked at home when I got there. Well, DD had trashed the kitchen, so I made her clean it up. She also had to do the chores I had asked her to do that morning. I spent a good 2 hours sewing, getting a project almost finished and a couple of items mended. I called RP and said we were on our way. We got there about 7pm (it's 22 miles from door to door) and hung out, watching Trading Places. I had never seen it before so I wasn't familiar with the story. He loves movies but hates explaining them to me so I didn't get much out of it. I sat on the couch and knitted on my sock.

As soon as that was over, we got in the pickup and drove down to Brigham City, where there was supposed to be a decent-sized fireworks show. He stopped at WalMart first to do some shopping, then he decided he was hungry and we went to Winger's. I wasn't hungry, I just had a Diet Coke and knitted on my sock. After that, we wanted to find a good place to watch the fireworks. We didn't want to be actually in town, because we knew the traffic would be insane to try to maneuver. So we started up Sardine Canyon, looking for a side road or a driveway, or something where we could pull in and park to watch. We found a good road (good is a relative term when you're talking about off-roading) and started up it, going higher and higher to get away from all the other outfits up there. We found a good spot and pulled in, but then both RP and DD noticed what looked like a small campfire, getting out of control quickly. RP is as prepared as any Boy Scout, and he started the truck back up and we didn't have time to find our seat belts before he was on his way up the trail. We met a car coming down it, and if we'd had enough presence-of-mind, we'd have blocked its way from going further. There was no tag on the front, and they were going too fast down the hill for me to make out a tag number on the back. Besides, we were also moving quickly up the hill to get to the fire.

We pulled in and I swear he was out of the truck before it was completely stopped, unlocking the tool box in the back to get his shovel. DD and I sat inside, collecting all the bottled water we could find. I had no idea if anyone already on the scene had called it in, so I did. Dispatch informed me there was a truck on the way. As soon as we could see it coming, RP came back and moved the pickup back and away so that the firetruck could get into place and the firemen could do their job. While he was out there, I'd heard a loud bang and saw him jump. I thought it was some sort of firework that had been out in the brush and had been lit by the brush fire. He said no, he was pretty sure it was an unfired bullet that had gone off. "Come to a fire and get shot at!"

The BoxElder County firemen jumped off their truck and pulled their hoses out. RP went and got one of their big shovels and proceeded to put out spots that was further than the hose could reach. A few minutes later a truck from Mantua pulled up (officially making this a two-alarm fire). In the middle of all this, the fireworks show started, and as I wasn't wearing the right kind of shoes I wasn't going to go traipsing around in burning sagebrush. I stood in the bed of the pickup and watched the fireworks. DD decided she wanted to help, so she trotted out after RP. He set her to looking for embers and stomping them out or alerting the firemen if they were too big. She has good eyes, she did a good job. I got out of the pickup and went over to where another family was standing and watching. They said they witnessed the fire start. A guy had lit a small firework and thrown it. It went into the brush instead of the dirt, and started a fire. They said at first he did try to put it out with some bottled water, but then realized it was bigger than that and he got into his car and drove off down the hill as fast as he could. That would be the car that we met on the road.

We hung around awhile longer, talking with the other family there, and watching the rest of the fireworks show. The firetrucks had gone back down to town to get another tankful of water. As soon as they were on their way back up we got into the pickup and left the scene. It was exciting, we had fun! We usually do have fun whenever we're with RP. When we got back to his house, I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, for being a hero. So much I could say here, but I will not, to protect his privacy. However, he knows he is a hero to me for much more than just helping put out a fire tonight.

And for those of you wondering about the title of this post, it's the punchline to a story my dad tells about his father. About 70 years ago, he took all his children out to light off fireworks outside of town. The very last pyrotechnic started a field on fire, and according to my dad, his dad said "well, it's time to go home". It has basically become a family tagline for any situation that requires a hasty exit.

Happy Birthday America!

I get to work today, but I am okay with that because we get paid double time, and it will be very quiet today. Tomorrow is my regularly scheduled day off, and it will be C R A Z Y so I am glad I don't have to be there. Of course, they are offering $5 overtime, so I will go for a couple of hours probably. Working one hour of overtime per day is not that bad, and it sure does make a difference in the paycheck.

Last night was Logan's Independence Day celebration. The DD and I went out to Hyde Park to spend the evening with some friends. We had grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, some great guacamole, and wonderful homemade peppermint ice cream. I was so stuffed! Then we parked ourselves in the driveway and waited for dark. We could see the fireworks show going on at the stadium from where we were, and it was very nice. Then the kids had all their fountains and sparklers that they lit off as well. It was a fun evening and I am glad we went.

Knitting news: I have finished RM's DD's poncho. It is very pretty. I still need to get a photo taken of it. I want to spend part of my day tomorrow getting that package all wrapped up and sent. I am ready to turn the heel on a second sock, and I am halfway down the foot on another first sock (the 75% merino/25% alpaca). As it will be quiet at work today, I'll bet I can get quite a bit done.