In which I had a great title, but I forgot it.

As I was falling asleep tonight, before my evening nap, I thought of a great title for this journal entry, and I thought I would remember it when I woke up, but no, I forgot it. Darn.

So I woke up at 2 this afternoon, like I had planned, because RA and I were going to pick up some Papa Murphys pizza to take to someone who was supposed to have a minor outpatient surgery today, but as soon as I woke up, I had a call from RA to say that the surgery was cancelled. We didn't need to take the pizza to our friend, but we went to get pizza anyway, because I wanted the chicken, bacon and artichoke pizza for myself for dinner!

Diana and Laura were coming over to do the Chapter 16 homework and quiz, and Laura brought some great brownies, so with the pizza (and the desert pizza!) and her brownies, we had plenty of food to keep us going while we slaved over chemistry! We actually managed to get it all done in three hours, and had a wonderful feeling of accomplishment at the end.

I didn't do anything else today, just got up and went to get a big pop and the pizzas, then home to do chemistry. I came to work a few minutes early tonight and took some leftovers up to Rachel's floor for her to snack on tonight.

In which I slept all day.

I worked last night and when I went home this morning I went to bed just a little after 8, and then I slept all day! I usually get up about 2 so I can go out with RA to get a big pop and do some shopping or errands, but today I didn't go out at all.

What I cooked today:

Because I didn't go out, I had a little lunch at home and then did some laundry and made supper for Rich and I. It was fast and easy with almost no preparation - I put frozen tilapia fillets in a baking pan that I sprayed with cooking spray and baked them for a half hour, and cooked two sweet potatoes in the microwave for 10 minutes. I thought about steaming some broccoli but that didn't happen.

What I am knitting today:

Still working on the Wallaby for Maddy in size 4. The baby Wallaby is done, it just needs some ends woven in. That always takes longer than the actual knitting because of my dread of finishing. What usually happens is that a finished object will wait until I have two or three other things to finish and then I'll do tham all at once, usually at the last minute when someone needs one of them. Or when there is something boring and long on TV and I need something to do with my hands while I ignore it watch (like if Rich is watching golf or 2001, A Space Odyssey).

What I am reading today:

I'm almost done with Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, and then I'll have to look through my Kindle archive and see what else I've got. I bought a book written by someone I know, and RA insists that it's good, so I will probably force myself to read that next, and then I can read the murder mystery I got as a free book today.

What Maddy did at Nan's house today:

Maddy came over for an hour tonight, and here is what she did. First, she had to go upstairs because she loves to go up the stairs! Sonny was so excited to see her, and he has to stay near her in case she drops something edible, even if she isn't carrying any food at all, because you just never know!

So Maddy and Sonny went upstairs. She went into Kim's room, which is a treasure trove, but we have put everything she can't touch up too high for her to reach, so she just walks around and looks at everything and checks the bed to see if the cat is sleeping there.

Maddy left Kim's room and went into the bathroom, where she looked in the cupboard, looked in the toilet (then I closed the lid), and headed for the dog's upstairs water bowl. I hastily moved that because last time she was in the bathroom, she spilled the dog's water all over the floor and my socks got wet! Ick!

Then she went into my room, where I threw her onto the bed, thinking she would like that, but she found it too scary, so we just slapped the surface of the bed and yelled Boom! Well, I yelled Boom, and she laughed, over and over, until I got tired of it. Then she looked at everything on the headboard while I made the bed with both Maddy and Sonny on it. That's right, I changed the sheets on my bed with a baby and a dog ON the bed! I am amazing like that.

After the bedmaking, Maddy was ready to go back downstairs, and Rich had some toys out to entertain her with. She watched her ZhuZhu hamster run around, and then she carried a toy cell phone off to the kitchen (probably to make a private call). I followed her to the kitchen to move the dog's food and water bowls up out of her reach before she could make dog soup with them, because dogs? They don't like dog soup.

I filled a coffee cup with Sugar Pops and we went back to the living room, where Maddy sat on my lap and ate cereal, one piece at a time, and watched some Sesame Street music videos for a while. This is why I can never get the Wubba Wubba song out of my head!

Rich enticed her back to the toys then, and they played with a fun toy that has a plunger in the top and when you push it down the insides turn around and around. It was a present for Maddy from Rich's parents when she was about 6 months old, and she has always liked it, but she couldn't push down the plunger by herself until recently, so we had to sit with her to plunge it for her entertainment. She can almost do it herself now, so I made a little video of her and Rich playing with it. I was planning to send it to his parents, and I will when I figure out how to send it from my phone! The best part is that you can hear Rich in the background, singing a little song about the dog's dirty butt.

And then Ash came back to get Maddy, and I went upstairs and took a nap on my clean bed.

In which I watch a lot of tv.

I spent most of today sitting in my big chair, knitting another Wallaby while I watched TV on my laptop. One of the blogs I read mentioned a show called Becoming Human that can be seen here. It's about kids who are a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost. You know how I love teenage angst, and their accents only made it more entertaining!

Then I watched an episode of the BBC show called Being Human, which is a show about adults who are a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost. Again, their accents were lovely, and they are all very attractive, and filled with angst! What's not to like?

In the evening Diane needed to work on chemistry, and Laura came to help, because she had gotten more of it done and was able to help us finish the chapter and the quiz. We aren't done, but we got a little further.

I made a pan of chocolate chip bar cookies, because Rachel thinks we work better with food, and the cookies came out great. I added a little more flour than the recipe calls for, like Diana told me to do, and it does give the cookies a cakier texture that I really like. I boxed up most of what we didn't eat for Diane to take to work with her for Rachel, who is also at work tonight, and some for Diane to share with Sue in the lab. Whew! Got all those cookies out of the house so they won't be calling my name all night! (I saved a couple for Rich, too!)

After Diane left, Laura stayed for a while and watched all of Ash's videos that we could find to watch online. I love his short films, and I never get tired of watching them.

In which there were a few flakes of snow.

It's been raining all week, but today it got a little colder and there were a few flakes of snow, and of course I had to hear everyone complaining about it, because even though the seasons change slowly and it happens this way every year, many people are unfailingly surprised! What? It's snowing! Oh this rotten winter, when will it end?

It ends when it ends people, and just be grateful that you don't have to scrape ice off of your car window at 7 a.m. when you stagger out of your workplace and stumble into your car, eager to go home to bed, but first you have to wait for the car to warm up and melt the ice off of the windshield because you have a terrible cracked scraper and your husband has the new good one in his car that he never even uses...okay, breathe, relax, it's almost here, Spring is here, and it's only going to keep getting better, even with the occasional hiccup of cold and a little snow. The window is not iced over in the mornings now! It's all downhill from here!

What I'm knitting today:

Working on the body of the Wallaby for Maddy. I'm making it with some Vanna's Choice acrylic, so it will be washable, and the color is wonderful! It's a variegated bluey-lavendery color. I'm going to start the pouch tonight.

Finished the green Wallaby yesterday and I just need to weave in the ends and mail it to the parents.

What I'm cooking today:

I started something, but then I went to Rachel's to work on chemistry, which ended up being a brain-frying experience with Maddy in a crabby mood and annoying repetitive video game music playing, and the new online homework system that I'm not quite used to, so yeah, very frustrating. I'm so tired of chemistry class...

Uh, where was I?

Oh right, I started cooking and I will finish making it tomorrow, but for tonight we had pizza from Papa Murphys, and what I learned was that I don't like their red sauce and there is too much of it. I don't like red sauce at all, really, and if there is going to be some, what I like is for them to just pass the sauce ladle over my pizza and not actually get any on it! Rachel wanted another Smores desert pizza like the one Rich bought last time, and that was really good. Maddy likes it, too!

What I'm reading today:

I finished a book about a vampire private investigator, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped, so I won't bother to tell you the name of it. It was a free Kindle book and I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever read, how about I just say that?

When I finished that, I looked in my Kindle archives for something that I have read before that I could relax and enjoy reading again. I'm going to reread Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marion Keyes. I love her books because the dialogue is natural, the characters are real, and they are upbeat stories with happy endings, even when sad things happen. I especially love the stories about any of the Walsh sisters.

How I exersized today:

Hahahahaha! Yeah, that didn't happen. Hey, it was snowing!

In which I did not make chili.

I meant to get that chili into the crockpot this morning, but that didn't happen. I went from work to church and then home to bed, so there was no cooking at all. I'll make the chili tomorrow. Really!

When I finally woke up at 5 in the afternoon (evening?), I heated up the rest of the curried chicken and ate that while I watched episodes of Psych on Netflix. When I was done with the chicken, I pulled out the hunter green Wallaby, and worked on that.

That's all I did until it was time to go to work - I talked on the phone to Scott, and watched Psych, and knitted the whole time. The Wallaby is all on one needle now, and I'm starting the raglan decreases! Woot!

I finished that trianglular shawl this morning, and bound it off, but I need to weave in a couple of ends before I give it away. It's done though!

It rained all day, but I was sleeping, so it didn't bother me. When I woke up Rich told me that he walked the dog in the afternoon, and when they were about a half-mile from home, the rain, that had been coming down lightly, suddenly got worse and began to hail! Instead of hurrying home, the dog kind of hunched over and walked slowly and miserably, and finally Rich picked up Sonny and carried him home!

Okay, I'm going to start knitting see if I can finish this Wallaby tonight! I

In which it looks like Spring.

It was so beautiful and sunny out today that RA and I went to McDs to get a big soda, and then just drove around in the sunshine, drinking our pop and looking out the windows! Tonight was the night of the biggest full moon in 20 years, and I was looking for it as I drove to work, but it was covered with clouds, so it may have been huge, or hey, it might not!

I've been walking indoors with Leslie Sansome DVDs all Winter, and today I used the five-mile one for the first time. It turned out to be quite a walk, and I was dripping sweat by the time it ended. Rachel and Ash dropped by with Maddy when I was about halfway through it - they wanted to get the stroller and take Maddy for a walk to get something Rachel left at work at the hospital last night, and then they were going to the park. I told them I would meet them at the park when I was done.

That five-mile walk is all 12-minute miles, so it takes an hour, and it is work! I was so sweaty when I got done, that I had to change clothes before I could go to the park. Rich was ready to go out to walk the dog, so we all walked to the park together.

It was sunny out, but the breeze was cool. I wore a light sweater but I didn't wear a t-shirt under it because I was still very warm from the walking workout, and I was comfortable until we started to walk back home. I was feeling a little cold, so Rachel gave me her sweatshirt to wear. She was warm enough and had just been carrying the sweatshirt.

Maddy enjoyed the park, and Sonny thought it was all very interesting. He sniffed around, but we couldn't let him off the leash at all because he is an idiot and chases squirrels, and we're afraid he would chase one right into the road.

What I'm reading today:

The Edith Wharton Murders by Lev Raphael. I had to order it from Amazon, because it isn't available for the Kindle and my library didn't have it either, so I bought it used.

What I'm cooking today:

Made curried chicken for the first time in weeks, and I love it. I could eat that every day! I don't know why I haven't made it recently. Tomorrow I'm going to make chili in the crockpot in the morning so we can eat it when I wake up in the afternoon.

What I'm knitting today:

I'm almost done with the triangular scarf I'm knitting as a thankyou gift for the person who gave me that big box of yarn last week. Just a couple more rows and it will be done.

I brought the hunter green Wallaby to work tonight, and I'd like to get that done this week.

Almost done with sock number one of a pair of plain beige socks. They were going to be My Vampire Boyfriend socks for Kim, but that pattern was just too labor intensive!

Still working on the gray hoodie for Kelly, Karin's sister. She has been giving me her textbooks for the classes I'm taking, and I wanted to make her a sweater to thank her. When I'm done with this sweater, I'm going to make another one for Carolyn because it's cute and easy.

In which I acquired more yarn. Like I need that.

I got a call from someone I know last week, who said she had a box of yarn at her house that was from the house of an elderly lady who had died. I assumed it would be some crap acrylic, but I was assured that it was good stuff, so I went to take a look.

Ahem. It was, indeed, good stuff, but there was only one or two skeins of each yarn, and most of it was novelty yarn. Expensive novelty yarn, yes, but still, not my favorite thing to knit with.

The person who offered it to me had sorted all the skeins and bagged them up together, and she had obviously enjoyed doing it. I thought that was cute. She's not a knitter, but she had fun with fiber! I asked her which yarn was her favorite and promised to knit something for her with the one she chose, as a thankyou.

She chose a very pretty boucle yarn with a subtle multicolor running through it. Ugh! Boucle! I hate that stuff! But, I told her she could choose what she liked (that is always a mistake, why do I never learn?), so I wound the first skein into a ball, and cast on 3 stitches to start the corner of a triangular scarf.

There is not enough yarn here to make a shoulder shawl, but she will get a nice drapey triangular scarf to toss around her neck in an arty way, and I think she'll like that. I knitted about 2/3 of the first ball, but it wasn't quite right. It was too thick. It was pretty, but it wasn't draping the way I wanted it to.

I ripped that back and tried again. And again, and finally today, I have found the right needle to knit this thing the way I want it! As an added benefit, the needle that I'm using now is a Susan Bates needle with that gray coating, and a slightly more rounded tip than the Addis that I started with, and the needle slips nicely past the horrid little snaggy boucle loops! Woot!

I spent most of the weekend sitting in the big chair in the living room, knitting and watching episodes of Psych on Netflix. It was very pleasant.

Kim left early on Friday to drive to St. Louis to meet up with her friends at the Kawa Con. She took her Japanese schoolgirl uniform, and she told me tonight that three people asked to take a picture with her because she turned out to be dressed like Kagome and they were dressed as Inayusha. They are two characters in an anime series - I think it's called Inayusha. I would include a picture, but I'm at work and can't do it from here. If I remember, I'll put a picture of Kim-Kagome in tomorrow.

In which we see that college is a good investment.

Kim is going to Kawacon in St. Louis next weekend, so she will be cutting short her visit at home to go back to school early. She told me about this last week while she was still at school, and I asked her what she was going to wear this year.

Last year she wore her Japanese schoolgirl outfit, but this year she was planning to wear the Scarlett costume that Diana helped make. (She also has a kimono, so she is prepared for any anime convention occasion that might arise.)

She said she was thinking about wearing the Scarlett outfit, but I really think the schoolgirl skirt and sailor top are cute, so I was encouraging her to wear that one, and she reminded me that we didn't have the right socks for it last year, and when we realized it, it was already too late to buy any, because we had to order them online.

This year we were planning (slightly) ahead, so I told her if we ordered them immediately she would get them in plenty of time! I immediately started searching the internet for superlong knee socks, because the thing is, to be a stylin' Japanese schoolgirl, you need to have long, long, knee socks that you can scrunch down around your calves in a fetching way.

There were superlong kneesocks available, yes, but the first ones we found had to be ordered from the UK or Japan, both of which places take some time to arrive - it took two months to get my Pogues CD from the UK!. Then I remembered what used to be one of my favorite websites - Sock Dreams , and yay! They had the socks, although not in our first choice of color, and shipping was free!

So Kim ordered the socks (and they arrived today, thanks), but in my searchings I had also looked on Ravelry for a pattern to maybe make the socks myself, and I had found not socks, but superlong legwarmers, worn with the uniforms the same way as socks, all scrunched down around the calf.

I looked at the patterns, but either there was no pattern, or it was in Japanese, and anyway, I didn't need to make legwarmers because Kim had already ordered the socks! But what if they didn't arrive in time? Also, the thing about looking at knitting patterns is that sometimes a project catches your eye and even though you have several other projects already on the needles, filling baskets and knitting bags around your house, and listed on your whiteboard, waiting to be crossed off as you finish them, sometimes that one new thing gets in your head and you keep thinking about it and you just have to make it!

So there was the pattern for the legwarmers and I had a ball of cream-colored WoolEase up in the yarn room, and I really needed to start those legwarmers! I could wing it, I could just cast on what looked like the right amount of stitches and just start making ribbing, because that's all the pattern was, just ribbing, going on for miles, but I really like to have a pattern, all figured out and written down that I can follow! And there was such a pattern, right there on the website, but it was in Japanese! A language that I do not speak!

But wait! I have a son, a son who is a linguist, and he always laughs off his degree in linguistics, and his graduate classes, also in linguistics, as though they are of no worth to anyone, although that is how he got his job, and it's a cool job!

So I called Scott and he said sure, send him a link, and if he couldn't do anything with it, he works with other translaters who could! I sent the link to Scott, and went to bed, thinking about those legwarmers, wondering what kind of yarn they were made of, and what size needles I would need...

The next day I was sitting at Rachel's, and I don't know why, because I wasn't there to do chemistry (for once), but while I was there, Scott called, and he had been looking at the pattern and figuring it out for me!

Scott's Japanese knitting vocabulary is minimal non-existant, but he had asked me what were the essential pieces of information that I needed to make the legwarmers, and from what I told him, he had been able to make a decent translation of the pattern!

Scott says that the pattern refers to Front and Back instead of knit and purl, and instead of saying stitches, it says holes, or eyes. So it tells you to cast on a number of holes to start, and there was a little chart he gave me for the ribbing. He could tell me how many to cast on, and how long to make the legwarmer in centimeters, and you know with my amazing chemistry-related math skills, I can translate from centimeters to inches - I'm kidding, of course, because every knitter knows that 10 centimeters = 4 inches!

I cast on immediately after that phone call, and later I went to the store to pick up more of that cream WoolEase, which turned out to be the perfect yarn to get the gauge for the pattern. The only thing better than knitting your new project is buying yarn for it!

I finished the first legwarmer this morning just before my shift ended, and in case you are wondering, it takes three days to knit a 24-inch tube of ribbing. I just started the second one tonight.