snow????

4.28.06 6:30a.m.

Why was I up so early you ask? Why is there snow outside my window?

WELL.

Because I want my mother.

I decided yesterday night to fly red-eye Friday night/sat (today) to see my mother. Surely for a grownup this should not be an overwelming reason for suddenly using airline mileage and skipping town, but in my angst-filled, sleep-deprived mind - it is a PERFECT reason. So naturally as soon as I made reservations the snow that was flying sideways in front of my window started to stick, and it continued to stick all through the night.

Thankfully it has stopped, so leaving might not be the insurmountable problem I was imagining at 3:00am this morning. Everything is insurmountable at 3:00am as I can verify from hard earned experience in the last two weeks. Hence - my wanting my mother -

The mean reds....

Somehow the week is not going well. So I am going to list my acheivements to bolster my self confidence.

1. It's Thursday and my TV is still firmly shut-off, so I'm pleased with my progress in that regard.
2. I finished sewing on my elbow patches last night
3. My oven element got replaced so I have a stove again, A VERY GOOD THING
4. I haven't ripped anyones head off today.
5. I made plane reservations for a Weekend away and restrained myself from going MUCH, MUCH further than Anchorage.

So, all in all, a good start. for. now.

Whiplash

My rebellious coasters....

First I took a leftover board of bamboo tongue and groove flooring and cut it into four pieces, each 4" wide. Then I used the palm sander and remove the old finish, distressing the pieces. I thought I'd embellish them with paint but it wasn't quite right so I resanded and left paint remnants to add interest. A calligraphy pen dipped in ancient almost dried up ink was used for the words and a little buffing with sandpaper and oiling with old english smoothed things out before I sprayed the tops with clear lacquer.

Books, Books and more Books....

This is a meme stolen from Ysolda
copy and paste, bold the ones you've read, add 4 last read

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) - J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) - J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) - J.K. Rowling
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5) - J.K. Rowling
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) - J.K. Rowling
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) - J.K. Rowling
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Ender's Game (The Ender Saga) - Orson Scott Card
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - already in the list. I loved it.
2. The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes - I usually love this series (Richard Jury mysteries) but this one lacked oomph
3. Authur & George by Julian Barnes - Was quite good
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - Gently Melancholy


On a different note: Have started my entry for Whipup Whiplash competition.

This is week #2 theme : Your Surly Side
It is going to be brilliant

Patching

Well I read the knit repair article in the latest issue of Knitty. This inspired me to re-examine the worn elbows problem in one of my favorite sweaters.

Purchased from jcrew back when they still had good internet sales (yes, I do hold onto my clothes that long.) The elbows were so worn that patching was the only option, it is impossible to repair yarn that is meltling into nothingness.

This is my elbow patch solution - pinned in place for contemplation of worthiness. This patch shape has been the recipient of long hours of consideration, test knitting, frogging and reknitting. Oval was deemed too normal, rectanguler was slightly odd and circular didn't look right. Now I just have to attach and match up the other side so I don't look crooked from the back.

SPT

SPT has a new site as of May 1st

In other news: next week, April 24th through 30th is TV Turnoff Week.

They say the TV is switched on for 7 hours, 40 minutes PER DAY in an average American home with 4 hours of actual viewing. How can people stand all that background noise? 40% of families watch TV while eating dinner. I don't even have reception (netflix I worship you) so who is watching my percentage of all this TV? My other question is how much electricity does the average TV use? Which was somewhat answered . If I stopped watching altogether (but is this based on 7 hrs & 40 mins per day?) I could potentially save $82.00 per year. I got my utility bill today, ,maybe I should consider canceling everything. Rather shocking.

I am still alive despite a hectic week involving late nights, early mornings, not sleeping well, new employee interview during company lunch, my car not running as it should and having go to & fro the shop, the most important day of the year for Jehovah's Witnesses and construction picking up again at my hopefully completed by May 15th because school is out and bosses girlfriend's three kids will be running around the house NEW OFFICE.

Let me just say for the record, even if you are in a small back water town applying for the job of journeyman electrician and are living in your van because you haven't found a rental that will accept your dog: TAKE A SHOWER BEFORE COMING TO LUNCH INTERVIEW AND REMOVE STOCKING CAP. We hired him anyway, it's amazing what you'll do when things are desperate. Also another no-no: A 36 year old man should not come to interview in a Chronicles of Narnia T-Shirt. Just an observation. My Boss went outside to take a call and the guy started telling me about his desire to get married, settle down and have kids. This was a job interview that somehow started feeling slightly date-like IN A BAD WAY. I have never had problems with employees feeling amorous, usually they are quite a bit older than I am and even more usually married. I am more than okay with this non-amorous workplace. Why Oh why does it have to be the geek in love with his dog that starts confiding in me?

Orange Friday

Orange bowl with potatoes starts
I planted today in black tub in the sun.....

Thursday - White, Brown, Black

I took my ecological footprint referred by little birds green post of Wednesday. This was one of the most depressing tests I have ever willingly participated in. Apparently I am evil. Given that I have never used public transport (there is none here) and I live alone in a largish house (making me not only a freak but a wasteful one at that) I am a drone of the evil empire. I really am trying, people. I use Liquor bottles as vases (since recycling service here is sketchy at best),causing me to appear alcoholic yet thrifty. I compost not only my kitchen waste but the junk mail from the office shredder. I grow my own vegetables in the summer. I have given up slug bait for more natural beer bottle entrapment that causes my yard to have that "was so drunk I lost my bottle in the yard" look. I am going to use fishmeal fertilizer from the local fish plant instead of miracle-grow, causing my yard to probally become the most putrid smelling in the neighborhood. I buy my coffee from my locally owned coffee shop instead of the massively generic conglomerate Starbucks. I have a very fuel efficient car.

All I can say is if I am struck and killed while trudging to work in the dark & rain or murdered by SWF psycho roommate, it is all the earth day people's fault.

Green Wednesday

wednesday-greens

Green is so much easier to find than blue. My eyes are drawn to every new green shoot......

I wanted to post as well about the latest book I finished. This would be so much more impressive if only I wasn't so internetly-challenged (I think this in a valid condition) and could have a photo/link in the actual post instead of just the sidebar. Anyway kestrel asked how I enjoyed the book Arthur & George by Julian Barnes. I stumbled upon this along with Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (who is so brilliant: I read Remains of the Day finally this year; loved When We Were Orphans) because they were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The BBC had several lucky candidates attempt to read all the Shortlisted books before the prize was announced, 17 books in 21 days. This of course captured my fancy (no big surprise there) and I contemplated trying - until I saw most of the books were still in hardback, not available yet at my local library and I totaled up my Amazon Shopping cart. New plan. I will attempt to rent from Library as they come available and read throughout the year - as part of my entirely attainable (I hope) 50 books in 2006 challenge. But I digress, back to the book.......I think what I found especially insightful was the dawning realization Sir Arthur Conan Doyle comes to with regard to his platonic relationship with Jean Leckie. Without revealing to much, lets just say he starts to understand it doesn't always matter how things are but sometimes it's how they appear to others. I was also fascinated by the two mens view of racial prejudice. Sir Arthur was completely convinced racial prejudice was the motive behind George's conviction and jail sentence, yet George is puzzled if not slightly offended by this assumption. Now I have begun American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It is excellent so far, if sometimes a bit too descriptive.

Blue (SPT) Tuesday

This was a lovely present I received over the weekend from some dear friends. The artist is Antoinette Walker - I haven't found a website yet. She is a local artist who does amazing work.

Luckily I wore a blue sweater today so blue tuesday met up pleasantly and nodded (as an slight aquaintance, not an intimate) to self portrait tuesday and than they continued each in their own direction. I am watering the broccolli just started inside the greenhouse (more of an aphid santuary actually) today, much too early since it's still quite cold, but it IS april and the theme for this month SPT is April Fool.

I had quite a hard time finding blue, not a usual color for me at all. I was glad that the seagull was stolling by, he looks like he should be carrying an umbrella though.

monday-yellows

tuesday-blues, turquoises
wednesday-greens
thursday-whites or browns or blacks
friday-oranges
saturday-reds or purples or pinks

For more color schemers go here and here and here

Yellow Monday

Yellow MondayI know I should be living in perfect environmental balance, but you have never seen my slugs
These contain beautiful bottles of Homebrew. Yes, recycling at it's finest.

These lovely branches were purloined from the neighbors tree last week and are very happy inside.

Not quite Monday, I ran out of time (yes and thankfully time is no longer the SPT theme, still haven't finished that either)

I got a bit of a shock yesterday. An old friend, very dear to me, found me on an internet site I recently signed into for new music. I haven't heard from Buddha in many, many years. After receiving his message, I spent all morning in my car driving. There was plenty of time for me to obsess over my reply, and I obsess so well. In the end a short email but time consuming was sent, expressing that which is close to my heart, which for me always requires over-thinking since I am out of practice at divulging anything. As you may notice, personal issues are rarely, if ever, spoken of here. In a blog, go figure.
So yellow monday is brought to you by the Letter M for Micah and the Number 2 for the hours of Pasagshak driving time.