The knitting crazies
So I had to take a break from the Doomsday Cardi. I was working on the sleeve for the … 3rd time?
I ended up with a weird hole in a spot that was gonna bug me, and then had another mistake so I just decided to frog the entire thing again.
I decided to take a break because I just couldn’t stand the thought of doing the sleeve again, and then start all over with the right sleeve. So I was going to attempt Two at a Time.
Now, I haven’t actually attempted this previously as I’ve been avoiding socks. I have no idea how this will be. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
To add to my craziness during the break I decided to pick up my Ishbel again. Not to jinx myself, but this time it’s going well. *knock on wood*
I’ve got 21 rows left till it’s done. Pictures to come soon hopefully.
I guess thats all for now. Trying to get back into the habit of blogging more often.
As Frankie Said…
I did it my way.
Today was not a good day for the most part. Kept waking up in the middle of the night because my lower back locked up thanks to the joys of having a uterus. So I had weird dreams and thus was cranky in the morning.
I couldn’t even form coherent thoughts until well into the mid part of the day.
I have half a wedding dress.
It started so simply. I needed to go to the post office to mail out a yarn order (woot). While at the post office, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I prayed that it was simply in my jacket at home, and not some where in the street between Whole Foods and home for the last 24 hours.
Then I needed to go to the library. So, Mother of Mine tagged along as she had a package to send as well.
As we were leaving the library (and me still not coherent yet), Mother of Mine says we are going to go to Mill Outlet. We were going to buy the fabric for my wedding dress as they were having their 45th anniversary sale.
40% off one item, or one cut piece of fabric up to 3 yards. And 5% off the entire order.
Sadly, I needed 6 yards, but for some reason I still got 20% off the other 3 yards of fabric, and then even still got the extra 5% off of that.
We paid 176$ for the fabric, when normally it would be 250$
Last week I bought the under fabric for the dress, and spent…. I wanna say around 45$. So, just over 220$ spent for my wedding dress.
This doesn’t bother me, as yes… I’m sure I could go to one of those 99$ sales…But…
Would I find anything that fit? No.
Would I find anything that looked good? No.
Would I find anything that I could actually wear for more than just my wedding? No.
Would I actually end up paying 99$ No.
I’m not built like most girls. I have very broad shoulders. I also do have an Hourglass figure (though, thats been slightly hidden over the years thanks to working in call centers… it’s still there though.. still an hourglass) So if a dress has any kind of fit in the top, it won’t fit my shoulders, and if it fits my shoulders, it’s generally to big in the waist, or my hips etc etc.
This is why I am having a dress made for me. (Notice I didn’t say “making my own dress”, I’m being honest here.)
I will not look like a giant meringue, I will not look like a bell (and that is not to be confused with “belle”).
I know what shapes work with my body.
I know what length and flow works.
This dress will look good. I hope.
Found my wallet. Had it with us the entire time in the car. Must have fallen out after Whole Foods yesterday. Crisis averted once again.
After that, I was finally awake enough to do what I didn’t do yesterday.
Make homemade ranch dressing.
Which… is mighty tasty if I do say so myself. I didn’t have all the herbs I wanted, so I improvised. It’s not bad. Mine is not your classic Ranch, simply because of the herb change up. But it’s good. Next time, I’ll make sure I have the correct herbs that I want. I’ll keep experimenting till I get it just how I want it.
I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe for it. You can find it here.
I also made The Best Lasagna … Ever.
Which is also one of PW’s. Here.
Of course this is me… I change things around.
I was short 1 cup of cottage cheese, but I do not feel that took away from the yummy factor.
I used 1 pound 95% lean ground beef and half a pound ground buffalo instead of hot breakfast sausage. What can I say… I’m not fond of spicy hot sausage.
I used the fresh parsley instead of dried, as I conveniently had a bunch of it left over from the ranch dressing.
I also added another layer into the mix.
Artichoke and spinach. Oh yes, I went there. I went there and damn it was good. Wanna know something else? 2 cans. Yes, you heard me. 2 cans of artichoke hearts. Damn I’m good. Damn it was good. You know you love it. Succumb to the the power of the artichoke heart.
Fast forward ohh… about an hour now, and I have a full belly.
The only thing I think I would change would be to reduce the salt. But thats just my own choice, I don’t tend to use much salt in my cooking, and Mother of Mine can’t do the salt. As I was holding measuring the salt out the second time, I actually debated reducing it. But no… I decided to go with Ree on this one this time… that way I would know my own opinion for next time. I think I would reduce it by half through out the entire recipe (if you read the recipe, you’ll see what I mean).
I don’t think that I had a full pound of mozzarella cheese. They were out of the shredded packs at WF, and so I just grabbed a brick and the nice cheese man who had gone to look for the shredded packs, sliced it for me. I think it was closer to just over half a pound of cheese. I did not find the recipe lacking for this fact.
I did not use any tomato paste. Didn’t need it either. Take that lasagna, I made you how I wanted.
For the amount of food this lasagna made… I’d say it was well worth the effort.
The knitting is going well. I’m up to row 61, so I’m very close to where I had to stop on the previous attempt. The cables are going the correct ways, and the only thing that I’m not happy about, will tighten up when I wet block it later. Woot! Only 56 rows to go till I put the body down and start making the sleeves.
The writing is also going well. I’m about to change up my routine so that I get myself to do more writing each day. I’ll tell you about it when I get it to actually work. Might not happen this week though because of the exhaustion factor.
I am debating making some pernicious s’mores for dessert. We’ll see if I’m up to it or not.
Now we know what happened to the Smurfs…
On a drear and wintry day we dragged ourselves into the bitter cold and slowly crept our way to the cinema.
We arrived in the parking lot at exactly 12pm when the show was to start. We decided that we wouldn’t get our seats properly etc, so instead we went over to Whole Foods and got some lunch and groceries and snacks for the next showing.
We bought some cookies from New Moon Kitchen. Ginger Snappers specifically.
I will not be giving these people a second chance on their cookies. Mother of Mine says she’ll give them another chance with another flavor as her friend is friends with the company… but she only ate a small bite out of my cookie, just barely 25% of it. I ate 75% of the single cookie, and hell no. Not again.
For one thing, they were like 6.99 a box. That meant it was 2 something a cookie. In my mind, those cookies needed to taste fan-freaking-tastic.
Did they?
No.
They tasted weird. Gave a soapish after taste.
After the movie we went back to WF and returned them. Yes, they were that bad.
Since we still had 2 hours to kill before the movie, we went over to Joann fabrics. I ended up spending money I didn’t want to spend, but it was necessary. The proper fabric for my under dress and mock up dress for the wedding was on sale. The sale was also ending yesterday, and 2$ off a yard is not something to sneeze at.
As for the movie… it of course was Avatar.
Avatar in 3d.
It was good.
My back surprisingly didn’t hurt during the long movie. And it did not feel nearly as long as I thought it would, and I did not get bored.
The glasses still pinched towards the end of the movie, so I still need to make myself a pair of comfy 3d glasses.
The music was very good.
The special effects were amazing.
The plot… was Pocahontas meets the Smurfs. (Smurfs on steroids according to my mum)
Sam Worthington was once again totally hot. And well… I’d totally sign myself up for a 5 year space sleep if it meant I got to play in those Avatar bodies.
On the writing front, it’s amusing… I’ve been going to bed far too late recently, and I keep saying “Oh… I’m just going to write a sentence… Just a sentence. That way I’ve written something and don’t feel guilty for not writing.”
Then I end up writing sometimes up to two pages.
The Doomsday Cardi is going well, I’m up to like row 27, and I’m at a spot that previously was giving me troubles… the decreases. But this time they appear to be working… I’m just trusting Ysolda. I’ve not been thinking about it.. Just doing it.
Well, time to fetch some dinner.
Bugs and Hisses.
Doomsday Cardi!
Normally today would again be Wordless Wednesday, but that’s not happening today so bare with me. No gym either because it was a hassle with the car situation, and my hips were better but not 100%.
Right now I’m watching An American Werewolf in London, and dreading what is about to come. Just keep reading… you’ll see what I mean.
Now, on to Doomsday. Isn’t it pretty?
Now lets see what I saw last night…
Oops.
Yes, those are mistakes.
Now, I’m sure I’m the only one would 1)would notice and 2) would care.
But I care. I care a lot. This is the cardigan I am supposed to get married in. If I don’t fix it, I’ll know. I’ll think about it. I’ll hate it.
Yes, there is also the problem that if I keep having to redo this, I’ll end up hating it by the time it is finished. But that, is a chance I’m willing to take.
I’ve got enough time that I’m not freaking out. I’m also getting pretty good at knitting it quickly. I just need to make sure I remember to pay attention and not accidentally cross my cables the wrong way.
It’s off the needles and on a strand of yarn, I’ll frog that when I finally need that yarn.
Today I’m going to cast on again.
But right now… I’m going to make pizza for lunch and eat the custard I made this morning.
No, I’m not actually upset about this. Frustrated and disappointed… But not upset. I’ll get it right eventually.
Pumpkin pancakes. NOM
Today I’ve not done much.
Mostly because for now the second day in a row, my hips feel like they’ve got a corset strapped on too tightly.
Not nearly as bad as yesterday, but still… every time I move it’s painful, and just sitting, or laying down, or standing hurts.
The reason for this, is yesterday at the gym… I ducked out of Aqua class early.
For a few reasons. I didn’t like the substitute trainer we had. She had us doing everything in circles. Which totally threw off my rhythm. And she kept jumping in and out of the pool, and the 3rd time she doused water in my direction, I was just kinda done. Jes had already left as she had forgotten her wallet at home and there was no way she could go to class without having eaten something after a gym workout.
So I went out to the gym area and basically redid my entire morning workout again.
6 minutes on the elliptical machine the first time, and then another 6 minutes. It didn’t kill me!
I think doing the hip abductor machines (both inside and outside) for the second go round is what did me in.
I also focused on my arms in the second half of the days workout, which left my arms feeling quite like jelly yesterday. Today they are better.
If my hips aren’t better in the morning, I’m going to skip out on gym, only because I don’t want to do further damage. Instead I might go on Thursday. (just gym, not aqua class… I’m still not wanting to do aqua at 630 at night)
All of this means I’ve been getting a lot of knitting done. Woot. I am kicking this cardi in the bum.
Why is it that when you make a pledge saying “No other projects till this one is done” you start getting itchy fingers to start something new?
That is quite frustrating when it happens, and yes… I am suffering from that right now. But I’m holding fast. Knitting is not like writing where if you don’t write down the idea, it might vanish in the recesses of your mind.
I’ve been getting some good writing done. This is making me happy. Lotsa action.
No, I am not watching the Olympics. Which is a good thing, as what I have seen… NBC is screwing it all to hell. Instead I’m watching McLeod’s Daughters season 5.
I guess that’s all I’ve got for now. Pancakes for supper tonight.
Pumpkin pancakes. NOM.
Twitch.
It’s Sweaterday and I do not have photos of my Doomsday to post. That’s alright. Soon hopefully.
I’ve made lotsa progress on it. I’m up to row 47, so I’ve got about 70 rows of the body left to go before I set it aside to do the sleeves.
Drove to Denver today. That was not fun. My back was twinging the entire time, heck it even kept me up throughout the night. So a 3 hour round trip car ride was unpleasant to say the least.
The company was… strained. I was not in a bad mood, but I was hurting, and people were being… well there were dumb drivers on the road, and I had to deal with some people who drive me absolutely batty. (And when I say that, I do not mean Batty in the awesome way.)
Didn’t get any knitting done while at the SnB, because I forgot to bring another skein of yarn, and I was at the end of the current one.
I didn’t get any writing done last night or while at the SnB because last night it was after midnight when I went to bed and I was tired, and today… well it was a chaotic environment which wasn’t good for that.
Tonight when I crawl into bed, I will hopefully get my two pages done.
Reading: I put down “Must love Hellhounds” which has a Charlaine Harris short story. It was… meh. And it’s due back at the library so it’s been put down. I might read it again after the move, but I’m not rushing out to do so.
Picked up “Dying for Chocolate” by Diana Mott Davidson. But truth be told, I’m really looking forward to the next book in my pile more. “Cross Bones” by Kathy Reichs.
I guess I’m done for the night. The opening ceremonies last night rocked.
Bugs and Hisses!
A cover that shall never be… (most likely)
I feel as though I’ve gotten nothing done.
Which is entirely not true.
Up and at the gym in the time I’d like.
The strangest thing happened to me today. I was on the elliptical machine up to 5 minutes, and I realized I was in my final minute. I looked up and the next time I looked down, I was in the post workout 5 minute cool down and wondered why my timer had reset it’s self. I then realized I was in the cool down (which I never do, as when you are only doing 4.5 minutes, it’s stupid to do another 5 minutes). I had done 6 minutes! I hadn’t even realized it. This shocked me a bit.
After gym and aqua class, I scooted home. I had invited Jes over to help me eat the crab and artichoke.
Had a good lunch with her. There was much laughing. I miss laughing with friends. I’m also slightly sad that when/if I come back to Colorado after the move, she will not be here. Instead she will be on the West Coast in the Seattle area.
Unloaded and loaded the dishwasher.
Then quickly ran out to do some errands. Post office, library, gas station.
The library was not fun.
Some idiot decided that even though I was backing out, he was going to back out of the spot immediately across from me. I stop as soon as I see him (And yes, I was there first) I honk, a woman witnessing this in her car honks, the man… remains oblivious. As quickly as I can I put my car into drive to go back into the parking spot I had just (only have way) vacated. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had not done this, as the woman who was witnessing this says that the man actually hit me. I did not feel it, so I don’t know if that’s true (my car is slightly a tank), but if it is true then my god he would have really hit me if I hadn’t been in the process of moving in the opposite direction. Now, he also nearly hit the woman who witnessed’s car as he decided that there was enough room for him to zoom past her. (Which, really… there wasn’t that much room.)
I’m fine obviously as I didn’t feel the tap if there was one, and of course my back hurts, but it always hurts, and I had a pretty major workout week when it comes down to it. The problem with chronic back pain is that you never know if the reason your back hurts is because of something specific, or just the normal pain you deal with every day.
I guess the reason I feel like I’ve got nothing done this afternoon, is that I spent he majority of it tinkering in Pixlr.
I’ve kind of got an idea for a cover of my novella. Yes, I said novella. Which most likely won’t get it’s own cover. And no… it still doesn’t have a name yet.
But if I don’t post my tinkering, I really will feel like the afternoon has been a waste.
All I can say is damn I really want a computer with Adobe Photoshop on it again, and also a computer that can handle running photoshop.
This image was a very rough image, but like I said, it’s mostly just to give myself an idea of what I would want for the cover. (The cover that most likely won’t ever happen since it’s a novella)
So, even though it’s a rough image… I’d love feedback.
Would this cover draw you in whilst in the bookshop?
Well, I’ve realized I’ve not had dinner, and I’m watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics (which… I must be pmsing, as I keep getting overly sentimental and emotional over things while watching it).
Well, Donald Sutherland’s soothing voice just came on the telly, and I’m going to possibly knit a few rows and just spend the rest of the evening relaxing. (even though it’s already past my bed time now)
I am not taking place in the Ravelympics, nor The Yarn Harlot’s Knitolympics or whatever she calls it. No, I am just knitting for me, and shall work on my Doomsday. No new projects till it’s done, and I’m sticking to that.
Oh, and these Opening Ceremonies are frakking AWESOME.
Green Arrow, be still my heart.
Today has been spent mostly giving my laptop some much needed TLC. For the past couple of weeks it’s been crashing, or showing me that ugly Blue Screen of death far too often. This past week alone, I couldn’t boot it up without going into F8 “Last known good configuration” mode otherwise it would crash on me.
Hopefully all the work I’ve done on it today will keep it from Blue Screening on me tomorrow when I boot it up.
While working on my computer, I was also knitting. Yes, I am a tech support person who can fix my computer while knitting. Look at me go.
I got somewhere around 10 rows completed on my Doomsday Cardi. Woot.
The thumb/wrist issue is feeling slightly better. Not 100% yet, but getting better… I think.
I kept waking up in the middle of the night whenever I wanted to shift sides, consciously not rolling onto my left side. I don’t know if this helped or not, or if it just was leaving me sleep deprived. And no, I did not consciously choose to do the right side sleeping only.
So as I was spending the entire day working on the laptop, I did not actually get to transcribe any of my novel. Oh well, tomorrow I guess. I did get a page and a half written last night, which makes me quite happy. Page and a half to 2 pages is about what I’m averaging this week.
Today was also spent enjoying Smallville season 8 and Top Gear.
I am such a fan girl. I spend most of my time watching Smallville giggling like a school girl. Not just at the hawt men, but at the little inside jokes and homages that only true fans get. My kids will most likely think I’m crazy that I’m a Superman fan, as it truly is an American Superhero. But… I’m crazy that way. I like my man of steel.
Just don’t let Batman hear me say that. Good old Bruce thinks that all my loyalty belongs to him.
*shifty eyes* We won’t talk about any of those X-Men. *Whistles innocently*
But mostly I’ve been giggling like a school girl because of Oliver Queen… Aka The Green Arrow.
I’ve talked before about how I used to do archery. And I shall do archery again. (Hunny is aware of this, so he won’t be surprised when I start drooling over bows again)
So images like this… make me happy:
And this:
Oooh look at those muscles:
I mean… such a hottie… yum.
Yes… he kept me quite happy while I was dealing with the frustrations of my laptop.
He’s also the closest I’m going to get to getting a visit from Cupid this Valentines day… but I’m geeky enough to be alright with him being cupid lol.
Ironically, while knitting on my Doomsday Cardi, the main bad guy in season 8 of Smallville is in fact… DOOMSDAY! I only just caught that, and my god I’m giggling about it.
I guess that’s all I’ve got for now. Tomorrow will be the gym.
Waiting on my mailman to deliver yarn so that I can do some more dyeing. It’ll be fun.
Well, time for more Top Gear. Night all.
Books, Nine, and here fishy fishy..
So today I was actually up and out of bed when I wanted, and I was at the gym at like… 7:03… roughly.
Now as I’ve said before, I’ve never been one for exercise. I’ve never found that elation that comes with it. I still haven’t. But today something happened that I had never thought would happen.
I got on that hellish elliptical machine, set my timer for 4 minutes (remember I’ve been building up in 30 second increments) and before I knew it the 4 minutes were over! How the hell did that happen? I wasn’t dying, I wasn’t coughing, there was no burning sensation in my lungs. Sure, my legs felt it, they had since I stepped on it, but I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse.
Shocked is certainly an understatement.
Feeling good, and still having plenty of time I did a few of the machines. Not much on those, then I moved over to the rowing machine. I did a whole 30 minutes on that. Oooh boy. It didn’t kill me.
After that it was time for the bike, and I did my 20 minutes.
Aqua class time, this time it was a killer. You know those 30 minutes I just spent on the rowing machine? Well, our (sweet) instructor decided to have us do quite a few movements that were mimics of that action.
After class I headed across the street to Barnes and Nobel. Now this was completely a research trip. I had originally no plans on buying anything. Damn it just happened to be payday as well. And I have no willpower.
The trip was to look at Moleskine journals so that I could go online later and know exactly what size etc that I wanted.
There I was drooling over the leather bound copies of Wicked, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and a few others… I was a good girl though and did not get any of those.
Though, there was one thing I did end up buying. I couldn’t resist it.
It’s called “A Sorcerer’s Cookbook” and it is something that made my inner Foodie, and not so inner Witch go “Buy. Now.”
When the move happens, I won’t be taking my 5 Anne Rice books (4 paperbacks, and 1 hardback), I won’t be taking any of the LKH books, I won’t need most of the paperbacks I have upstairs, so having 1 more book that I will actually read again and enjoy shall have space in my moving boxes. (Speaking of Anne Rice, if I do ever replace my Vampire Chronicles that I mentioned above, it shall be the nice leather bound all in one set that yes… is also from Barnes and Noble)
I skipped down the parking lot to Whole Foods, and once again spent too much money, but in my defense I bought flour and honey, and those two items took up a third of my bill and won’t run out for a good long while. (Well… the flour I can use up rather quickly with my bagel making.. but the honey… Will last)
Another third was taken up by my apparent need for fish. Perhaps it is because I’ve stopped taking Fish Oil and my body is finally protesting that… But this week I have been absolutely craving fish. Monday I found myself contemplating buying some crab meat (real not imitation) as it was just on my mind. I resisted. I was a good girl (it also helped that Monday I was absolutely broke waiting for my paycheck). But then today as I was in Whole Foods, they taunted me. Jones’ Crab Claws for 5.99 a pound. Now these claws are the big ones with lots a meat.
Yeah… I got them. I mean 1 pound gave me like 7 claws. I shall be having me some yummy crab tomorrow.
The downside to today, is that all of the awesome workout I had this morning must have pinched something. My left thumb which has been giving me lotsa problems this winter, is bugging me again. Can’t tell where the pain is actually originating from, but my thumb clicks and feels tight, and depending on how I move it, I feel it in my wrist, or all the way up to my elbow.
This is horrific to a writer and a knitter.
I did work on my knitting today even with the pain. Got 4 rows knitted on the Doomsday Cardi.
This evening I amused myself by putting myself on Neil Gaiman’s website. It is his blogiversary of 9 years. He put a call out to fans to submit photos of themselves, with something to do with the number 9. My submission was not clever simply because I had a slight headache from damp hair being in a bun all afternoon and the wrist/thumb issue. (Alright, I was downright cranky from it) I was photo #361. And all the submissions can be seen here.
If you don’t want to check out the page and see all the awesome submissions, here is my image that I put up: (which, it’s very neat seeing all the different fans, from young to old)
The photos will most likely be made into a collage at some point in the future as he did with another event.
Oh, and I just realized it’s Wednesday, which means I should be doing a Wordless Wednesday… Oh well, it’s hard for me to do Wordless Wednesdays since Wednesday is one of my busy days, whereas Tuesdays and Thursdays are not.
Well it’s time for bed now. There was something I wanted to mention, but I’ve completely forgotten it.
Night!
Thursday already?!
Today started with me not wanting to get out of bed.
Slept in for nearly an hour even. Well, I did kick my ass at the gym yesterday.
20 minutes on the sit down bike.
2 minutes on the elliptical machine.
45 minute Aqua class.
5 minutes (??) on the rowing machine.
I will admit I enjoyed the rowing machine, but I am not entirely sure if I was doing it correctly. I’ll find out soon enough. If I was, I’ll keep doing it.
So all in all, it was quite a busy day at the gym and I was quite sore but sore in the good way. This meant for really not wanting to get out of bed this morning.
But out of bed I did get. Dressed and off to Einsteins did we go. Thanks to facebook, Mother of Mine and I had free shmears.
After that, the grocery store and then the library.. (Which I still managed to forget to pick up a movie… oh well, it’s not like I won’t be there soon enough)
I finished a Super Sekret Projekt today. Nope, still can’t talk about it yet. Not till I block it, photograph it, and stick it in the mail to the person it needs to go to.
I also decided that even with it being snowy and cold, I was going to take photos of my new yarn.
Unfortunately my photographer snobbish side was only happy with how one of the yarns photographed. (I’m having such problems with purples and blues right now! New camera please?!)
Now, for some time now… well.. pretty much since I started yarn dyeing people have been asking me if I were going to dye some Harry Potter yarns.
Harry Potter yarns have been done… often. So my response has always been “If I am inspired.” As I really didn’t want to do what everyone else has done.
So when I do Harry Potter yarns, it is probably not going to be the “main trio” or the very obvious ones.
Bellatrix was a request. That request was not “I want a yarn inspired by Bellatrix” no… it was “I want yarn dyed in these colors so I can finally do my Bellatrix socks”. It just turned out that the color I did reminded me of Bellatrix from Harry Potter.
There is still another Bellatrix to be shown as when I imagined her, there was just a bit more to her than what had been requested. (Her photo shall come soon)
But today I shall speak of Felix.
Felix Felicis.
Liquid Luck for those in the know.
Now, for weeks now I’ve been imagining a hat made out of yarn like this. Specifically the Snapdragon tam by Ysolda Teague.
I really do not wear yellow. Yellow is pretty much one of my least favorite colors. But I just cannot imagine the Snapdragon in any other color at the moment. Most likely I would make the hat, and then give it to someone who would actually wear the color.
As I finished the Super Sekret Projekt, I need to get back to my Doomsday Cardi… This will require me quite literally getting my mind back in the project, it shall take much concentration on my part till I get back in the rhythm. But I get to transfer it on to my new Zephyr Needles from Knitpicks. We’ll see how they go.
Finished reading “M is for Magic” by Neil Gaiman last night. It is a collection of short stories and they were quite good. One of them in particular had me bawling like a baby as it was about the cats that have decided to call his house home, and I happened to start reading it the day that he blogged about putting one of his cats (Zoe the blind attic cat) to sleep. This is the 3rd cat he has lost in the last year. Zoe was the youngest at 14. Hermione and Pod were about 18 if my memory serves. So reading a short story involving his cats just quite literally had me bawling all over again. (This past week it had been posts about Zoe leading up to her final day.)
Tonight I start reading Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs.
On the writing front, I have had a wonderfully productive week thanks to my friend Hatter. It started with a text message at 11pm at night. He is one of the few friends that I can text that late and not worry about waking up. I sent him a text of “Need your help. Need a idea for a ____ from South America.”
I was shocked when I didn’t get a text back from him immediately.
Next day at about 11pm again I get a phone call from him going “Holy crap you texted. I’m sorry.. My phone sucks and didn’t tell me… here’s my thoughts on what you need.”
So thankfully, my fear about him not texting back immediately was simply a mechanical failure on his phones part. Phew.
For the next hour we chit chat back and forth bouncing ideas. He is a writer, but he is also someone who I can trust to bounce ideas off of. He also understands Steampunk like some of my other idea people don’t. -He is also someone who I don’t mind squeeing like a fan girl with about certain things… Like Anthony Stewart Head singing… Vampires… bloody scalpels etc… Sigh. I’m gonna miss My Hatter.
Anyway, the hour long convo he and I have totally gives me a direction to go in, something I had been lacking. Don’t get me wrong, I had the basics started, but I was hesitant. Now my direction is clear. (Well, at least this section) It allowed me to finish that chapter and start the next. Which, when it’s the first chapter of the book (or chapter equivalent), it is quite important to feel good about finishing that chapter and moving on to the next. If you are wishy washy about it, then it’s going to haunt you the rest of the book. My characters are making their personalities and presence known, and the world which I am creating is becoming much more apparent to me.
And on that note, I leave you for the night. Tomorrow is the gym once more, then apparently a busy weekend after that. The snow is still going on, and I have a feeling that tomorrow morning shall be a “oooh it’s warm in bed, I don’t wanna get up and go out!”
Oh.. last note… according to the scale at the gym on Wednesday… I lost 1/2 a pound from last week. Which doesn’t necessarily mean a thing since I was on my period last week. I guess we’ll see next week.
Super Seeeeekret Projects almost done!
Could it be yours?
It’s a possibility. After all, I have a few of these I’ve been doing.
I’ve been naughty and not working on the Doomsday Cardigan.
Instead I’ve been working on something else.
Something I can’t talk about. So 
Writing: Last night I had an awesome dream. Now mind you, this of course was an awesome dream so I do not remember much of it.
It was almost Phantom of the Opera like in the fact that there was a … theater of sorts.. and rooms, corridors and dark corners abounding.
It was steampunkish, in the aesthetic appeal of everything. There was also this cool “light bomb” of sorts. I wrote down the details of that.. But I’m not going to share it here. Ya know.. gotta protect the intellectual goods.
I think it was snowing in the dream, but I’m not sure. It really is a shame I can’t remember all of it. It was rather neat.
I categorized this as writing, as well.. go back to the middle part with the light bomb. Connect the dots.
Tomorrow is Aqua class, and possible gym time (depending on how I feel about it, as I’ll be solo after class since Jes will have to go to school) . I am just now starting to be able to walk without wincing.
Then, I shall pick up my standard dyeing supplies after class as I’ll be on that part of town.
I think rather shortly, I shall be having a contest to name one of the new yarns. If the name comes to me, I won’t bother with the poll.. so stay tuned!
And randomly related… I really am having the urge to watch Stardust right now.
