Anarchy, that I run!

This Sunday we will be expanding our family again.

People with more than two children have said to me that they suppose multiple animals are like multiple kids: the jump from one to two is a huge change, but after that, it's a relatively small one. When you've already got four cats and a dog, what's one more kitty?

The last time we did this, about a year ago, Roo, an elderly Shepherd-Husky cross moved in with us. The time before that, just over two years ago, we brought home Zoe, a little black girl kitty, who turned out to be a boy.

On Sunday we will be bringing Theo home. She is an 8-year old, front-declawed, grey and white kitty, with a boy's name. This balances out the boy cat with a girl name thing quite nicely. Since she is about the same age as Sabre and Callie, I am hoping that they will get along. The hierarchy in our house has been out of whack since we go Zoe, so really, it's anyone's game.

We do know for certain that neither Fred nor I are actually in charge of anything. You know what they say: Dogs have owners, cats have staff. Of course, our dog thinks she's a cat.

I'll have photos of the new member of management once she arrives and has a couple of days to settle in.

Monday, yes?

Here is what happens when you aren't used to taking work home on the weekend.

You forget until Sunday night that you had meant to do work, and decide to just leave it and go in a little early Monday. You also feel like 4 kinds of hell, so decide to put off laundry, cleaning the kitchen and making husband's food for the week until Monday night, and instead start knitting a scarf for your mom while watching five episodes of True Blood.

You forget to take your work back to work with you Monday morning, and you have a 9 am meeting, so you can't make the hour long round trip home to get your work until after the meeting, meaning that you won't get to start on your work until about 11 am.

You will have to stay late at work to get everything in for the Tuesday morning deadline, meaning that the housework is going to keep you up until well past eleven, and that tomorrow you will feel like 4 kinds of hell again.

Who needs sleep?

Since Daylight Savings Time ended a couple of weeks ago, I have been totally out of whack.

The other night I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 6:15 the next morning, and was still tired when I got up.

Today, I woke up at 5:30, ready to go, after going to bed at midnight.

I would just like to say, "Body? WTF?"

Knitting Meme

Leone didn't tag me, but I stole it anyway (way back in March). And I "fixed" it to be the way I like it, so if you're a knitter who wants to do the meme, I suggest you go steal it from Leone too, so you get the unadulterated form.


Have you knit....

Afghan - No
I-cord - Yep. I used it to top off baby hats. I also knit i-cord around my i-Pod headphones.
Garter stitch - That would be the very first thing I knit
Knitting with metal wire - I've considered this, but I'm afraid of damaging my needles or myself. Ok, mostly myself.
Shawl - I've got two on the needles now. One is languishing because I need to muck with the gauge otherwise I'll run out of yarn. The other is a circular shawl, and I am having challenges with it.
Stockinette stitch - Yup!
Socks: top-down - all of them so far
Socks: toe-up - tried it twice, but haven't gotten comfortable enough with it to actually finish a pair this way
Knitting with camel yarn - No, my mother is keeping it all for herself. She won't share her quiviut, or her vicuna either. *pout*
Mittens: Cuff-up - Nope
Mittens: Tip-down - Nope
Hat - a bajillion baby hats, only one for adults so far
Knitting with silk a fine strand with wool for socks - Nope. Wool, bamboo, tencel/merino, mohair/merino, but no silk.
Moebius band knitting - not yet
Participating in a KAL - I've signed up for them, but haven't actually managed to knit along at the same time as other people
Sweater - Two on the needles right now
Drop stitch patterns - Not yet
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn - Yes
Slip stitch patterns - Not entire patterns, but always on the heels of my socks.
Knitting with banana fiber yarn - No
Twisted stitch patterns - again, not entire patterns, but I've used them in sock cuffs.
Knitting with bamboo yarn - Yes
Charity knitting - Not yet
Knitting with soy yarn - No
Cardigan - Both sweaters currently on the needles are cardigans; one for me, one for Fred
Toy/doll clothing - Toy, yes, clothing for toys, no
Baby items - Yeppers
Knitting with your own handspun yarn - Still working on learning that spinning thing, but someday I will
Slippers - No
Designing knitted garments - Not yet. I made up the design for Fred's never-ending purple scarf from a stitch dictionary, made-up the design for a pair of socks based on a fingerless glove pattern, and made up a baby blanket based on mitred squares, but I wouldn't call any of it designing.
Cable stitch patterns - Yes, love cables
Lace patterns - Yes, love lace
Publishing a knitting book - Bah hahahaha!
Scarf - Yes
Teaching a child to knit - No, but I have promised to teach my neighbour. She's 38. Does that count?
Knitting to make money - Pfft.
Buttonholes - Not official ones.
Knitting with alpaca - Yes
Fair Isle knitting - No.
Dying with plant colours - When I was a tiny person I used to help my mom, but nothing as a grown up.
Knitting items for a wedding - No
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…) - No
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) - Yes
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn - I have some of my mom's waiting for a project to jumpt out at me.
Holiday related knitting - Yup
Teaching a male how to knit - No
Bobbles - Yes, but possibly never again.
Knitting for a living - Again, I say pfft.
Knitting with cotton - Cotten blend
Knitting smocking - No idea what this is.
Dying yarn - With Kool Aid only so far.
Knitting art - No, but I'm considering doing some freeform
Fulling/felting - Yes, although I'm not very good at it
Knitting with wool - Yes
Kitchener stitch - Sock toes!
Purses/bags - No
Knitting with beads - Need to learn this.
Swatching - Mostly
Long Tail CO - Pretty much the only one I use.
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn - Socks
Stuffed toys - Yes
Knitting with cashmere (mmm, cashmere!) - No
Darning - No.
Jewelry - Not knitted stuff.
Knitting with synthetic yarn - Yes.
Writing a pattern - No.
Gloves - only fingerless
Intarsia - Yes
Knitting with linen - No
Knitting for preemies - Just the one my friend had
Short rows - Yes
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers - yes
Pillows - No
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine - All the frickin' time
Rug - No.
Knitting on a loom - No
Knitting a gift - yes
Knitting for a pet? - yes
Shrug/bolero/poncho - Yes, although it didn't work out well and is destined to become a cat bed
Knitting with dog/cat hair accidentally or on purpose? - Accidently. Four cats, one dog.
Knitting in public - As often as possible.
Knitting with buffalo yarn - No.
Dyeing with food dye/drink mixes - Yes. You know, this would have been shorter without all the redundant questions.
Dyeing with chemical dyes (acid, etc) - No.

Well, if you read the whole thing, you're either a knitter, or you really, really like me.

Money, money, money

Warning: this is a getting it off my chest post. I'm not looking for advice, just needing to get this out there.

I feel like we have been having money problems for, well, forever.

We've borrowed from friends and family, last year I got a second job for six months, husband has done some overtime (although not as much as I wish he would), I've cut back my personal spending just about as much as I can and we're still sinking like the Titanic.

The thing is, we both have a job. We both make good money (although I did take a substantial pay cut to not have to travel into Toronto to work). I very much don't want to have to go to work at Wendy's but it's looking like that's going to be my next step.

We have debt. Two cars, my student loan, a personal loan and some back taxes. It's not an incredible amount of money, but it's enough that every month is a struggle to make rent, or to pay hydro. A while ago we had our home phone cut off. I've spun it to some friends, and especially to family, that we decided to just switch over to cell phones, like it was some hip-with-the-era decision. Really, it filled me with shame, and terror, that at the age of 35, I still don't have it together.

Lack of brain...

...means that today I revert to the meme. From Allison and Jenn. Also, I'm terrible at following directions.

Use one word to describe or answer the following list. (In the comments is fine - or on your blog if you like and then let us know to go look!)

1.Your house?
Rented 3-bedroom townhouse

2.Your significant other?
Fred, my husband of about 15 months

3. Your hair?
Blondey-reddy, from a box, and the longest it's been in years.

4. Your family?
This is harder than you'd think.
Blood: mom and Frank (although he's not technically blood, I suppose), dad, myriad aunts, uncles and cousins, Fred's parents and sister, etc.
Choice: Fred, Mom and Frank, my ladies from tea plus Lesley, Leslie and Calli, Dad, Aunt Betty and Uncle Jimmy, my cousin Irene, and the furballs.

5. Favorite place to eat?
Yoshi's

6. Your favorite thing you can see right now?
Photos of kitties on my desk.

7. Where is your cell phone?
On my desk.

8. Your favorite drink?
Cold: milk
Hot: tea

9.Your dream/goal?
To be a midwife, and sell jewellery.

10. What Room you are in?
Cubicle

11. Your hobby?
Knitting, beading, cross-stitching

12. Your fear?
Falling.

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
I'd like to be a mom, working as a doula, maybe working on owning a home in the country, instead of renting one in the city.

14. Where were you last night?
At tea.

15. Something that you aren’t?
Skinny.

16. Pie?
Yes, please!

17. Wish list item?
Just one? Hm. A winter driving kit for my car.

18. TV show?
Current: Bones
Forever: Buffy

19. Last thing you did?
Played in Excel.

20. What are you wearing?
Sweater, black pants, hand-knit sokcs, black shoes.

21. Vacation spot?
Cottage in the woods, near water.

22. Your pets?
Four cats: Sabre, Callie, Nova and Zoe
One dog: Roo

23. A best friend?
See that chosen family list above.

24. Your life?
Pretty damn good.

25. Your mood?
Tired today, but happy.

26. Missing someone?
My Jimmy Dean cast.

27. Your car?
2002 Chevy Cavalier, red.

28. Something you’re not wearing.
Earrings.

29. Your favorite store?
Much as it shames me to admit it, I love the Disney Store. I also love the farm store at my crop share farm in an equal amount.

30.Best memory?
August 3, 2007, doing photos after we got married. So much fun, even though it was stupid hot.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Weekend Round-up

Friday night I went out dancing for a girlfriend's birthday (I was driving, so didn't drink). We closed the bar and had a great time. Saturday I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. It turns out that I don't bounce back from being out that late quite the way I used to.

Fred was gone most of the weekend. It was the closing weekend of the controlled deer hunt, so he was out at my Mom's farm, sitting outside in the wind/rain/hail/cold. Not my idea of a fun time, but he enjoyed himself. One of the members of his party brought down a buck, so now I get to learn how to cook venison. Any suggestions?

Yesterday afternoon one of my friends hosted a Mary Kay facial class. We had a very good time, and booked three more classes with the consultant over the next few months. We're going to do a beach party theme at the end of January (focuses on total body skin care and no-sun tanning alternatives), a before and after glamour make-over mid-December, and another make-over session in a couple of weeks in which the consultant has agreed to figure out what kind of goth pin-up looks we can come up with. I'm betting Mary Kay never envisaged that use for her make-up!

Finally, I picked up a new yoga dvd, produced by Ali McGraw. Wowee! There are some bendy bits in there that I didn't know my body was supposed to be able to do! It's a 53 minute long dvd, but I didn't feel like it took that long. It's going to be a while (like, years) before I'm at the level where I can complete many of the poses, but I liked it enough that I'll keep trying.

I like food.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise, or as news.

I usually prefer healthy food: fresh veggies, lean meats, whole grain breads. I take pleasure in the taste and texture, and I love to spend a day in the kitchen making soups and breads and pies.

I prefer that food be food. Organic and local, if possible. Not from a box, or having ingredients that I have to sound out by syllable. No sugar in things that don't need sugar, and if it does have sugar added, I like real sugar, not HFCS or something similar.

But...

There are some "foods" that call to me, that fall completely outside of what I consider to be food (hence the quotation marks back there). Kraft Dinner, Cool Ranch Doritos and street meat are the top three offenders. You're all likely familiar with the first two, but the latter needs some explanation.

In Toronto (and I expect, in other large cities as well, but Toronto is where my experience lies) there are vendors who dot the downtown street throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn. They sell hot dogs, freshly barbequed, right there in front of you. They have all beef, all chicken, sausages and veggie dogs. They crisp the buns on the grill. They offer a wide range of condiments from ketchup to sauerkraut. The scent of grilling meat wafts up the street, and it was a weekly treat to get a hot dog for all of $2. Who knows what's actually in the hot dogs, or how often they change the mayonnaise? When was the last time that guy behind the grill washed his hands? It's a gamble, a crapshoot, totally against the way I try to eat.

And yet...

Yesterday, while walking back to my desk from a meeting, I smelled something familiar. I looked around, and there on the side of the road, was a street meat cart. It's been over a year since I stopped working in Toronto, and therefore have had the chance to partake. Yesterday I had my usual lunch: healthy sammich, homemade soup, veggies, organic yoghurt, an apple. Today, I left out the sammich while packing my lunch. I have my $4 (just in case it costs more in Waterloo than in Toronto). I am about to go for a walk across the road. Wish me luck with the mayonnaise.

Pretties!

Last night I spent a few hours making a bracelet for my friend for her birthday tomorrow:

I really enjoy doing this and would like to try selling some of my work on etsy, but I'm having a hard time figuring how to do the pricing. I know that it should be materials + labour, and take into consideration what the market will bear, but I just can't seem to get that down to an actual number. Anyone out there who runs a business (Laurie, Meg, Annika, you all spring to mind) have any pointers on how to figure this out?

Making a brighter day

I've been thinking all morning about what I should write about today. Do I write about Barack Obama? Do I write about my disappointment that Prop 8 in California passed? Do I write about my feelings about politics, and the state of the world?



Do I write about the fact that my weigh-in yesterday didn't show me the numbers I wanted, or that I've stepped up my exercise, or that I need to remember to find my tape measure so that I can track my quest for a healthier body that way? Do I write about my struggle with not labeling my food choices as good or bad, and working on not being ashamed of the food choices I make?



Well, at some point, I'll likely write about all of it (and I was worried I wouldn't have anything to say! Ha!), but today didn't feel like the right day for an in depth look at any of it, as I'm suffering from a bit of an emotional hang-over. So I wondered, what the heck would I write about?



Then, around about 10:30 this morning I wandered into the kitchen at work to rinse out my yoghurt cup and I saw the woman who does the cleaning in my office building. I am ashamed to say that I don't know her name, but we have been exchanging pleasantries every weekday for the past six months. When she was gone for two weeks a couple of months ago, I worried that I wouldn't see her again, that she had been transferred to a different building. When she came back, I told her that I had missed her, and found that I meant it. She had been on vacation to South America, her place of birth, to see her family. It was the first time she'd been home in fifteen years, and she told me how much she enjoyed seeing her mother and siblings, and her daughter who had stayed behind when she came to Canada.

This morning, she said to me "You weren't here last week, and I missed you." It brightened my day to know that I am a part of her world, in the same way that she is a part of mine. I think that tomorrow I will introduce myself properly.

ETA on Friday: her name is Marta.

Ooops!

My friend tigerleo challenged me to NaBloPoMo, and then I double-dared her.

Well, she wins because despite moving, she managed to post on November 2, while I am only getting to my first post on the 4th.

Anyhoodle, I have my reservations about this, because I'm not certain I can come up with something to talk about every single day, and because I'm not usually on the computer on weekends (I have to wrestle it away from my husband, or get up early...), but I am going to give it a shot.

I have a couple of memes saved up, and some posts that I never got around to writing, and if all else fails, I can take pictures of the animals.

In other, much more important news, today is election day in the US. If you're in the US, go vote. If you're not in the US, and wish you could still have a say go to If the World Could Vote and cast yours (thanks to Johanna B for the link).

One thing I find interesting about the American election is that they get a chance to vote on policy. In Canada, you vote for your local representative, and that's it aside from the very occasional referendum that gets called, but those don't happen at the same time as our federal elections do. Here's a short list of some of the propositions/acts/amendments/questions that US citizens can vote on in their regions. That list is by no means comprehensive, and comes from a viewpoint of feminist leaning, but it gives people outside the US an idea of the kinds of things they have the chance to directly affect.

I'll be checking the results tonight, and hoping that the promised change really comes.

Personal Vending Machine

One of the perqs at work is that we have subsidized vending machines (yes, this is actually listed as a perq in our benifits rundown). This means that instead of paying $1.10 for a bag of chips or a chocolate bar that takes me 1.5 seconds to inhale, we only have to pay fifty cents. Which is great...except that I have been spending up to $1.50 a day on junk, resulting in me feeling bad about myself (food issues, yay!), and also throwing away my spending money.

My friend suggested I set up a personal vending machine instead. I have stocked my desk with some small cans of tuna, 100 calorie granola bars and chippy things, weight watchers cakes, and some cheese and crackers thingers. I also brought in a coffee can, and put a photo of the Slayer Scythe on it. Every time I want a snack, I pay myself the fifty cents, and hopefully by next year I will have collected enough to buy the replica to hang on my wall.

The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd

Last night we began the second of three weekend-long runs of "Come Back to the 5 & dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean".

Although I have been performing steadily since graduation from university, it was mostly in outdoor venues, save for one very negative experience, and I had forgotten what it is like to be under lights. I had forgotten that you have to work differently to reach your audience when you can't make eye contact with them. I had forgotten just how much I love doing this.

Edna Louise has been such a wonderful challenge for me. She is sweet, but doesn't get the joke (any joke, ever) and is a doormat (for the most part). I spend a lot of time on stage not saying much, instead reacting to the stuff that is going on, the stories that the other characters are telling. I have re-learned how to listen on stage, to both the dialogue and the subtext, and how to use my body to convey emotions, as I also spend a fair amount of time not directly facing the audience. I have had to learn not to get the joke, and how to see the world out of someone else's eyes. So many of the characters I've played in the last ten years have been a reflection or inflation of who I am, so playing some one not-me has given me a stretch that I needed, and has made me so happy. I also find that I'm listening better when I'm not on stage, which is making me happy too, as I think I was losing that skill a little, especially the listening to subtext part.

I have had the opportunity to work with a fabulous cast and crew, who showed me that my fears about returning to community theatre were totally unfounded. Best of all I got to work with Trevor, a director who knows and loves this show even better than I do. He's fun, and fabulous, and has done wonderful things for my ego. He also takes a damn fine photo.

Shameless Self Promotion

If you're planning to be in Southwest Ontario in October, come see me in this play!

I've been having a wonderful time so far, and we're only at the part of the rehearsal process where we figure out where we're standing on the stage, and when we move. The cast is full of very talented people, and I'm loving the director to bits. It's been about 3 years since the last time I did theatre, and it feels fabulous to be walking the boards again.

Lunch!

Today's lunch is a variation of my perennial favourite.

Sammich:
Oatmeal bread from a local bakery, with cheese and ham and some green tomato pickle and a bit of mayo

Salad:
Two kinds of lettuce, green pepper, snap peas (that I picked myself), tomato, a bit of herbed goat cheese and Apple Mustard Delight dressing, all from a local farm.

I really, really love summer time.

The Pratchgan is Done!

In this post from February I talked about The Pratchgan, and showed you my humble square.

If you click on the title of this post, you can get to Ramblings of a Yarn Junkie, the blog of the wonderful woman who was the heart and soul of this operation.

Here's her photo of the Pratchgan, in all it's glory:

Hopefully, she will be able to hand it to the man himself later this month.

There's been talk of doing a Pratchgan knit along (where as a group, we would knit squares designed by each other, so that we all wind up with our own afghans at the end of it). Given my group of friends' love for Pratchett, I may wind up knitting squares for years!

From left to right, that's Tiffany Aching, Magrat, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg. Other attendees at that particular party included Lord Vetinari, The Cheerfulness Fairy, Death (with his guest, the Death of Rats) and the Luggage. Yes, we have a lot of fun. *grin*

Bitter Music

I am making a mixed cd for a recently single friend. She's into hard rock, skulls and leather, and is waffling out of the "righteous anger" phase into the "I sent him an email" phase and we're hoping to get past this part and into the "what did I see in him anyways?" phase sooner rather than later.

While noodling around on the intertoobs for song ideas, I came across this: Cold and Bitter, which ends with this paragraph:

"Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
No matter how badly your relationship turned out, it's unlikely that your lover lost his soul, became a vicious killer, tried to send the world spinning into hell, then regained his soul moments before you had to impale him on a sword to save the universe. Lost and broken, Buffy wanders away from her hometown of Sunnydale at the end of Season Two, taking a bus to Los Angeles as this tearjerking song plays - "I know I can love you much better than this..." Yeah, I think you probably could. Just don't stab him this time."

Made me giggle.

So, here's the tentative song list:
Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde
Who Knew - Pink
Not a Pretty Girl - Ani DiFranco
Thorn in my Side - Eurythmics
I Don't Care - Apocalyptica feat. Adam Gontier
Pain - Four Star Mary
Laid - James
Ballad for Dead Friends - Dashboard Prophets
Hate Me - Blue October
Juke-Joint Jezebel - KMFDM
Wearing Me Down - Dashboard Prophets
Bullet with Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins
Machinehead - Bush
Everybody Knows - Concrete Blonde
What I Did For Love - Me First and the Gimme Gimme's
Time of Your Life - Green Day

I deliberately left out stuff like "You Oughta Know" because she's already got that one and similar songs on a different "Bitter" compilation I made for another friend a couple of years back, and I'm aiming for this to be on the harder side of things, Eurythmics and Ani DiFranco notwithstanding.

So, any suggestions?

Weekend Update

My weekend started (sort-of) 12:15 am Friday morning, when the husband and I went to see The Dark Knight. Woo! Definitely worth the lack of sleep! I napped before and after the movie, and then went into work on Friday, where I mainlined coffee all day. The movie was dark and wonderful and creepy and exciting, and I'm so glad I went.

Saturday we went into the Big City to visit friends and eat sushi (yum!) then we got together back at home with friends to watch UFC. How I went from someone who hated sushi and wresting, to someone who will drive 1.5 hours to eat sushi and will spend 4 hours watching men pummel each other until they bleed/pass out is beyond me.

The very most exciting part of the weekend was yesterday when I spent the afternoon making cheese with my friend semicrunchymom.

We started with milk (and a couple of other things from the cheesemaking kit she bought):



And ended up with mozzarella:



Then we started out with milk again (see previous picture; it looked exactly the same), and ended up with ricotta:



It was very exciting to see the change from milk to curds and whey. It was one of those things that happens in moment, much like the moment when whipping cream turns into butter and butter milk. It was a lovely afternoon, and a fantastic reminder that cooking is really just math and chemistry.

Happy Dance

One of the best things I've seen in a very long time:
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Take a tissue, 'cause you'll cry while you're laughing. You might just get up and dance yourself.

Either way, it's truly joyful.