Knitting update: I finished my second scarf last night. I had intended to finish it last week so I could use the pair of them as gifts for my dad and stemother, but ran out of time. So I guess I'll have to mail them this week. Better late than never, I guess.

Sat and Sun were spent at home, mostly sitting in front of the television with my knitting. The knitting goes on apace. I finally put together the catnip wonton, for which the kitties were extremely grateful. And I completed a scarf and started on another one. If I can get the second one done this week, I'll give them both as gifts, one for dad and one for the WOS (that's wicked old stepmother, in case you were wondering). I'll take some pictures and post them so you can all ooh and aaah over how crafty I am. Or not. Whatever. In any case, I am enjoying the knitting very much and hope to move beyond scarves soon. I'd like to make a pair of socks or a hat with kitty ears (because I tried some on a few weeks ago and they were adorable).

This is what happens when you try to make a cat look like a dog:

And I apologize for the fuzziness of the photo, but my camera batteries were on their last legs and would not support the flash. This was my homework for this evening: to paint a cat shaped piggy bank to look like a dog. Anyone for a chorus of "My job is fucking weird sometimes"? Big thanks to gossamer_gull for making this look way better than it did when I painted it. I promise to share my $25 with you. Oh, and another thing: I got an e-mail at work today with a photo attachment called "Assy line". This was a legitimate work-related e-mail, from what I lovingly call our "sweat shop" in Thailand showing an assembly line of girls making some cards. I almost deleted the e-mail at first because I didn't recognize the sender. Gotta love it.

I learned how to knit tonight. Yay! And because I am perhaps inordinately proud of my first efforts, here's a picture: 

 For some reason, I am having difficulty getting my other picture to upload anywhere, but you get the idea. Thanks to hippygoth for being a good teacher, and for feeding me and providing good company (ladygwyn and geekpixie also hung out and knitted and stuff). The real trick, of course, is whether I will remember any of the lesson by tomorrow.

Wow. Finished reading The Dark Tower on Monday. Although, I am glad to see the story reach a conclusion, I have mixed feelings about it. In some ways, I found it to be very satisfying. Just to reach the end of something, to have closure, whatever it might be, is a good thing. There's always a concern when reading something like that, that it will never be finished...and like so many people, I just want to know what happens to everyone. I have, after all, been waiting for this moment for a long time (though not so long as some). I received the first 3 books in the series as a Christmas present in 1991(?). I read them over the course of my Christmas vacation. I spent those couple of weeks babysitting my nephew, and actually read most of the books out loud to him, since he found the sound of my voice soothing, regardless of what I was saying. I have some distinct memories of bizarre contrasts between the text I was reading, and the sing-songy voice I was using to read it. In any case, I was pretty much hooked from the first book, and have anxiously awaited each subsequent addition to the series. Speaking in the vaguest of terms, so as not to have too many spoilers, I have to say that in my opinion, although the ending was not the one I would have wished for...it seems to be the right one. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a happy ending....but I hate it when you get a happy ending just for the sake of the happiness. Better to have my guts wrenched, than to feel nothing...and the wrong happy ending can leave you feeling so empty. Something that I have said before, in relationship to death in books or films, is that often times, we become attached to the characters, and sometimes authors or filmmakers are afraid to let them die...to "kill" them. And yet, death is a part of life, and something we all have to deal with...why should the characters in our books or movies be any different? Why should they get all the happy endings, while we're down here in the trenches? It's been a long journey, one that I enjoyed...and will probably take again as soon as I manage to get myself copies of the new hardcover editions of the first four books (I gave away my originals, due to the horrible magenta cover of Wizard and Glass and have been meaning to replace them, but somehow haven't). It seems sad that it is done, that I don't have another book to look forward to, but I guess that everything has to have an ending, and I am glad that I got to see this one.

Managed about 100 pages of The Dark Tower last night before I had to go to sleep. It's good so far. That's all I really wanted to say.

I've been busy re-reading some favorite books. Some discussion of Moscow to the End of the Line prompted me to dig it out and take another look at it. It's one of those books that I bought on a whim because it seemed interesting, but I had never heard of it or its author before. I'd give you a synopsis of the book, except nothing really happens. I don't think I could sum it up in a way that would make any sense. It's more like an extended monologue. In any case, it was just as good on a second reading, though I am more curious now about the translation, and how much I am missing by reading it in English. Note to self: learn Russian. "Everything should take place slowly and incorrectly so that a man doesn't get a chance to start feeling proud, so that a man is sad and perplexed." "Minute by minute I am getting happier, and if I start to get foul-mouthed, it's only because I'm happy." Last week, I was really sick, and so, embarked on a reading of Watership Down. This is my comfort book, and I read it every couple of years. In case you don't know, this book is about bunnies. =) Actually it's about quite a lot of things. Life, death, politics, love, friendship, loyalty, fear....and bunnies. My copy is battered and torn, and starting to smell moldy, but in the good way that only old books can achieve. At one point, I owned 3 copies, but have given the others away, keeping the oldest and most battered for myself. Why, when I had a perfectly good brand-new copy, would I give that away, and keep the one that is probably going to fall apart in another couple of years? In this case, the physical book is just as important as the story it contains, a link to my past...reading it again brings back happy memories. "There is nothing that cuts you down to size like coming to some strange and marvelous place where no one even stops to notice that you stare about you." "Not all strange things are bad." Also started on a re-reading of The Master and Margarita, but I bought The Dark Tower today and all other reading is going to have to go on hold until I finish it...in fact, most of my life is probably going to have to go on hold until I finish it.

Halloween Dresden Dolls concert = fun

"'No more shooting from anyone. Or I am going to get seriously cranky with everyone. Suddenly, and violently and all over the place.'" -John Taylor Simon R. Green's Something from the Nightside "When I started out I had a dream, a dream of helping people who had nowhere else to turn; but dreams don't last. They can't compete with reality." Simon R. Green's Something from the Nightside

I've been feeling like reading some adolescent lit lately. Maybe it has to do with my upcoming birthday and feeling like I am old. Right now, I'm reading Simon R. Green's Something from the Nightside. It's fun, the kind of thing I would have been totally enthralled with as a pre-teen. The main character is John Taylor, a private investigator with a special gift for finding things...even things that don 't want to be found. He takes on a case to find a runaway teen that leads him to the Nightside, a sort of parallel dimension full of horrible, and yet enticing things. The horror is not too scary, at least not what I've read so far, strictly PG stuff. Noticing a trend though, the mix of horror and comedy. There are a lot of witticisms, one liners and sarcasm which I find entertaining. Very similar in that way to the vampire books I was reading recently, and to shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and even most horror movies these days have those laugh moments. Used to be a time when if you were laughing at your horror movie or show, it was a bad thing...now it's sort of expected, that blending...like we're afraid to make things too scary. We inject humor into our nightmares. Weird, huh?

In what has to be one of my more spectacular crafting accidents, I dropped a newly opened bottle of mod podge onto the floor, splattering glue all over my legs, the floor in the hallway, and last, but certainly not least, my bookcase. Cleaning glue from book covers is not a fun activity. I also broke the project I was trying to set on top of the bookcase to dry, because trying to catch both falling objects, I, of course, failed to catch either. Go me. Also, you do not want to walk barefoot in my house right now.

Got to see The Crüxshadows tonight, and it was a lot of fun. 

Finished reading The Laughing Corpse and Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton. Ultimately, it was a nice piece of fluff to occupy my time when my brain was too tired to concentrate on anything more serious. I like the idea and some of the writing was decent, but I just can't get over my dislike of Anita Blake. She never ceased to annoy me, so I doubt that I will be picking up any of the other books in this series anytime soon. I feel kind of inspired to do some writing of my own. One of these days, I really will get some of the stories that live in my brain out onto paper...or at least into the computer.

I recently finished reading Laurell K Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures. Although the writing style was not anything spectacular, there was a nice blend of humor and horror. The concept was interesting, and the story was fast-paced and entertaining, which was all I was really looking for. I have to say that I think I like my vampires a little more evil. It's been a long time since I have found a scary vampire story. I have this problem with this type of novel, and with movies too...not enough people die. I know that sounds bad, but really, it's just that I expect horror in my horror novels. People have to get killed, and they can't just be side characters that you don't care about. Otherwise, your typical bad guy isn't much of a threat. I'm not sure how I feel about the main character. She is annoying at times, but then...I think Buffy is annoying, too, and I still love the show. I want to root for her; it's nice to see strong female characters. The hardcover edition of the book, which a friend lent to me, has two more novels in it, so I guess I will read those next, and see if the character grows on me at all. Anyway, this made for a nice little break from my ongoing reading of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop.

Feeling very frustrated with all of my projects at the moment. I have a lot of stuff that I started a long time ago and part of me is just not that interested in finishing them, but then I hate that they are sitting there, undone. I did a bad thing and started a new project because I was bored with all of the stuff that I was working on...only the project I chose to do is also driving me crazy. Here is an item that I have come to the conclusion that I am never going to finish. I have no interest in working on it. But I hate to throw it away. The finished item would look like this: 

I have done this much: 

Any suggestions? I started this piece forever ago as a present for my niece...who is now 17 and no longer really into this sort of thing. Oops. I'll probably finish this one anyway. It's sparkly.

And here is my damned fall cat, which has way too many colors. And they're all orange. Sigh. 

What I have so far:

 Okay, I'm done ranting now. Thanks for listening. I think I am going to go wind floss, or something equally mindless.

When you dream that all of your teeth fall out, it is time to make an appointment with the dentist.

Celtic knot in green variegated floss - trying to get the shading to line up when starting a new thread turned out to be a pain, but I am happy with the results.

Today's fortune cookie:

The best times of your life have not yet been lived.

Well, thank the gods for that, 'cause that'd be pretty sad.

Blah blah blah blah blah blahblahblah blahblah blah. Blah. Blahblah blahblah blah blah blah blah blahblah. Blah blah blah. Blah blah blahblah blahblahblahblah blah. Blah! Blah blahblah blah blahblah blah. Life. 'Nuff said.

Why am I awake this early on a Saturday? Is it because I don't want to miss a minute of this glorious day? No. It's because a cat jumped on my head and then stood on my chest, purring and demanding affection. This happens fairly often at home, but one of the perks of not being at home is that the cats are supposed to want affection from someone else. It's a good thing she's so cute.

 Things that made me smile today: Gwydion being so affectionate that he fell off the table. The person who answered the phone at 8:34 am by saying, "Good afternoon..I mean, uh...Hi." The co-worker conga line. Eating lunch in the sun. Driving with the windows down.

Can't sleep. Got to a point in my stitching last night where for some reason nothing was lining up the way it should. My counting is off somewhere, but though I counted and counted, I couldn't figure out where. I hate to throw it out after I've put so much work into it already. So I woke up, and started thinking about it, and now, here I am, counting again. Grrr.

Quote of the Day

"So, what have you been up to?" "Nothing. It's too cold to get in trouble."

Craft fair today. Yay! I am looking forward to seeing everyone (and their crafts). And then a little bit of partying planned for later on. Should be fun. At some point this weekend, I really need to do my laundry. I am very tempted to bring it to my dad's house when I go tomorrow for Easter. This will be the first time in years that I'm not working and can go eat dinner with the family. That should be interesting. I worked more on my celtic knot, so that is coming along pretty well. Speaking of my cross stitch, here are the two little projects I've finished:

   

 I am thinking of altering this pattern to create additional images for the other seasons and then framing them together.

   

Hee hee. A dragon in a teacup.

Haven't written in a while, so I thought I'd make a quick entry. Have managed to be busy, mostly with work, and watching X-files and crafting with gossamer_gull. I completed 2 small projects now, and will probably take pictures of them soon to show everyone. I made a dragon cross stitch from a pattern ladygwyn lent to me, and it is really little and cute. Now I am attempting to do a Celtic knotwork pattern bookmark with green variegated floss...I've already screwed it up once, so we'll see how it comes out.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the day, some dieting advice: 

"I need to lose weight; my pants are too tight."

"You should buy some jogging pants." (points to guy passing by with very loose sweatpants on) "See, like that."

"You buy jogging pants, you grow into jogging pants. That's how I got in this mess."

I had Chinese food at work today. Strangely enough, I had the exact same message in my fortune cookie as the last time:

Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.

I'm still not sure what that means, but I guess it must be true, since the cookies have told me twice now.

Today is a quiet day. I had planned on working on some craft stuff, but I was doing one of my little Christmas ornaments, and after having to pick out and redo about half of the design twice, I figured that maybe my head is just not in it. I obviously have counting issues today; maybe I'm still a little tired.

Today's horoscope: You are sociable and entertaining.

Who? Me? Nah...you must mean someone else. Sociable, entertaining...right.

From my fortune advice cookie:

"Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you."

Someone was singing this at work today, and it got stuck in my head.

"Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people..."

Anybody else working in the customer service field will be able to testify to this fact.

Motto for customer service professionals:

When in doubt, make stuff up.

Quote of the Day

"I have a voice like a dying cat."

This job
is a test

It is only a test

If this were an actual job,
there would be
bonuses, raises and promotions.

This is only a test.

I had a nice, chill day yesterday. Hung out at home all day, did some reading, some vegetating, etc. ladygwyn joined gossamer_gull and I at The Crackhouse for some quality crafting time. It was definitely nice to have company and I actually felt a little motivated to both start new projects, and work on old ones. I started work on a new mask, which I am happy with, so far. But I need to make a trip to the craft store for the kind of ribbon I want to use around the edges. So that will have to wait until I get paid. On the plus side, by the end of this week, I should no longer be completely poor. Since I couldn't do anything else with the mask, I pulled out my cross stitch and worked on that until my wrists got sore. So that was a fun evening.

Quote of the day

Things overheard at work: 

"Oh. I mispronounced that? Sorry. The only thing I know about California is the Beach Boys."

Why is it that Brynna has the whole bed to sprawl out on, and she just has to sleep in the square foot of space occupied by my newly cleaned and folded laundry? And finally, here is my finished cross stitch project:

   

 Now I just need to figure out where to get it framed.

Well. I did it. I finished my cross stitch. After only 6 years or so. A new record. Yay! I will take a picture of it tomorrow when I have better light so that those of you who care can see the finished product. To celebrate the successful completion of this project, I began on another partially completed cross stitch which has been mocking me from the craft drawer for a number of years. Go me.

I am marinating chicken to cook for dinner tonight. Go me, with the cooking. We'll see how this comes out. Did some dishes and am waiting for them to dry so I can put them away. I don't believe in the whole using a towel to dry the dishes thing. They can air dry and like it. So, not too much on the agenda for today. More bad TV and cross stitching, I suspect. I am moving right along with the backstitching and it looks really cool. All of the castle is done, and bits and pieces of the dragon are also finished. I have a lot more work to do...but assuming that I just spend the next couple of days hanging out at home...and at the moment I have no other plans...I should finish it fairly soon. Yay!

The weekend went pretty well, I think. Our group got along well, we had plenty of food and drinks, and way too much Buffy and Angel, as evidenced by the fact that I dreamt about fighting demons last night. I finished the cross stitch part of my cross stitch on Sat night, and started the tedious process of backstitching on Sunday, so I am feeling very accomplished. It looks cool. That's the nice thing about the backstitching, it makes such a dramatic difference right away; I really feel like I am getting somewhere. Need to take a break for a couple of days though as my neck, back and wrists are a little out of whack from spending the weekend hunched over my canvas.

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on my crafting. =) Still, I made good progress and have finished one project and am nearing completion of another (if only it didn't keep needing extra stuff - glitter, paint, etc.) Also worked on the dragon cross stitch, which is coming along nicely. At this rate, the cross stitching should be done by the end of the month, and then begins the tedious process of backstitching all the outlines. *sigh*