I am on FIRE!

I finished another pair of socks last night; woo! I'm also finishing another pair of Andrew's South Dakota socks, Regia Ringel Color #5072. It's pretty old, so no link for the color.

Andrew finished untangling the mess that Elphie made of my next pair of Regia Jubillee sock yarn, so those will go on the needles tonight. I feel very accomplished. I'm not quite through all of the Jubliee that I bought, but at this rate, I will be soon! (Remember, faithful readers, that I bought every color in the line.)

In other news

Last week we had to put Macy to sleep. She was very old, and when Sam woke up Thursday morning, he found her having difficulty breathing and walking. Mom decided after taking her to the vet that Macy wouldn't linger, and Mom preferred that she pass naturally at home with those who loved her. When I arrived after work, at 5:15, Macy was struggling and unhappy, so we elected to put her to sleep to alleviate her suffering. Macy was almost four years old, the oldest rat we've ever had.

Macy's Story

We adopted Macy on August 6th, 2004 from The Silicon Valley Humane Society. We had gone earlier in the week to meet a dog, and Mom saw Macy in her little cage. Finally, on Friday, Mom insisted that I go back, meet, and adopt Macy if she was social and friendly.

She totally was. She was snuggly, and cute, and super affectionate, from the beginning. I was against adopting such an old rat (she was roughly 2 1/2 years old when we adopted her- at the end of a normal rat life span), since we had decided as a family that we were no longer going to have rats, since they don't live very long and leave holes in our hearts with every death. But Mom insisted, so Macy came home with us.

Macy wasn't social with the other rats, but she loved us. She loved to be cuddled, explore, and eat people food. Macy liked going to the vet, and at the vet's, everyone loved her. Macy's charm and adorable looks helped her scam lunches off of the vet staff- who would keep her longer so they could play.

Macy was arguably the cutest rat we've ever had; she was a blue-hooded rat with dumbo ears and a cateract in her right eye. She was indiscriminately affectionate, and so loved. We celebrate having been able to cherish her for the time that we had her.

Better baby dreams

The other night I had a dream that I had a baby. And that I was an actress. And that I was living in the dorm at Mills again. Strange stuff.

It was a handsome little boy, no name. Blue-green eyes, chubby arms and legs. He was very good natured, liked to be held. Good thing: I had no inclination to kill this child.

Went to Yoshi's last night, Arturo Sandoval was supposed to be there, but the hurricane kept him stranded in Miami until tonight's 10PM show. I had tekka maki and tempura last night. And this morning, I had food poisoning. Sonofabitch.

I had to send Andrew to work to pick up my notes so that I could continue working on the website between running to the bathroom to greet last night's dinner. Hopefully working on the website at home will count as telecommuting and they won't try to hose me out of one of my five sick days per year. Because I certainly DID work on the website.

It was a yucky day. I didn't get around to brushing my teeth until 3PM. Sat around in my pjs all day, working on the website until I got tired, then went and laid down again.

I enjoy commentary by the writers of television shows. Andrew and I started watching the CSI's with the commentary on after we watched the episodes for the first time. Unfortunately, the actors aren't nearly as smart as the characters they play, which is disappointing on a number of levels. I know they're actors but it's easier to think that people are somewhat like the characters they play. At least for me.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, Halloween in my Christmas. I have two costumes, pictures to be posted once they're, you know, taken.

Nightmares

I had some really bad nightmares the other night, one of which was that I was being chased by the Reevers (sp?) from Serenity. The other was that I had an infant that was scary looking.

Not just scary, but downright evil. Like Chucky. Nobody else seemed to notice that the baby was scary looking or evil. The whole time I thought, "I can't raise this child. I'm scared of it." And the overwhelming desire to just kill it quietly.

Scary. It's probably an omen of being a bad mother in the future. Just thought I would share.

Red Lipstick

For those of you who know what Red Lipstick is, I finished it, and now it's in the polishing stages.

I haven't been doing much knitting, but I've been making beaded stitch markers wildly. Beads are fun. So far I've done a set of pearl/garnet ones (that are GORGEOUS), and bought beads for some other ones. They are soooo pretty, and fun to make. Soothing for the brain.

In other fun stuff, Ally is going to be home for the weekend!!!

I'm currently reading The Inner Circle which is a fictitious (or semi-fictitious) account of one of the guys involved in the Kinsey experiments. Good writing. Not sure if I like it.

Woo! Yarn!

So, I got home for lunch yesterday, and there were two small packages waiting for me. One was the Watermelon Yarn as well as her Gryffindor colorway, AND my Yarn of the Month for October. I had to cast on my Watermelon immediately, and it is SOOOO cool.

I'm excited; Ally is coming home next weekend, and it's going to be freaking great!

Gil Grissom from CSI is hot. *lecherous laugh* Just so you know. Three cheers for crushes on fictitious characters. I love nerds. Woo!

Woo for responsibility (and Blogging)

I was recently handed a project that requires some coding. Well, I don't know any code, but it seems that the website for work uses the same style of coding that Blogdrive does.

Well, the point is that I looked really smart when the tech guy showed me how to do it the first time and I said, "Oh! I've done this before."

We'll see how this project goes. Look out internet, I'm official now!

Cashmere... ooooh

On Thursday, Mom went to Costco to purchase Diana Gabaldon's new book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, which they had for $15.

While she was there, Mom found cashmere turtleneck sweaters for $60 each. She called me and asked what colors I wanted, so she listed off what they had, and I got all of them. These are great sweaters, all in colors that look great on me. There is slight shaping, but they are super awesome.

In the UFO bin was Katie's scarf. Katie is the greatest real estate agent EVER. Seriously. So that's live and going now, after it's brief hiatus in the UFO bin while we moved. Teal cashmere.... ooooh.

CORRUPTING THE YOUTH OF AMERICA

Last night I taught my niece Hannah how to knit. She had gone to a birthday party, and the goodie bag had needles and yarn, and she was DYING to learn to knit. She called our house at 8AM on Saturday morning and expressed her interest in starting right away, so we established that she had fuzzy yarn and regular needles. We decided that Sunday was a better day to learn, since she had soccer during the day and we had Grace's birthday dinner.

I get there, only to realize that they had given her size 4 (US) needles and fuzzy yarn (which I had brought some nice, plain, Cascade 220 for her to get started on.

What kind of idiot starts beginners on size 4 needles? Even moreso- what kind of idiot starts a child on needles that won't show ANY progress?! Needless to say, I put Hannah on a set of my circulars, and we learned. Next week, she gets her very own grown-up needles and can fly on her own.

More TV on DVD to knit by

Carnivale- a show for people who enjoy the battle between good and evil- even when you're not sure who is on which side. There are tons of literary allusions, and the writing is above mainstream audiences. There are only 2 or 3 seasons, but the first one was very strong, and I'm eagerly awaiting the second.

I delivered one of my finishing projects yesterday (I don't list those b/c I'm not doing the hard part- the knitting), and she was thrilled. Woo!