You know what I don’t get? Highlighters.

Rather, what I mean is that I don’t understand the way that a lot of people use highlighters. I started classes last week and bought my books, some of them were used. I am stupid and forgot (hey, I have been out of school for a while!) to look through my books for excessive highlighter usage and am now trying to read without tearing my eyes out of my head.

Bottom line, when you highlight the whole damn page, the only words you see are the ones that are not highlighted. For the love of GOD.

Also, as yet another example of the stupid shit that happens to me on a daily basis, I was doing laundry and carrying way too many things in one laundry basket, and tried to avoid the electric meters on one side of the narrow hallway, and banged the crap out of my head on a BIG METAL THING on the other side. Head. still. pounding.

Example number 2 for today is when I was walking back from class tonight and there was this ridiculously cute gay couple holding hands… I was distracted by how cute they were that I didn’t notice that there was an uneven part of the sidewalk and my ankle gave out a little and it sorta looked like I was trying to avoid walking near them. I am still obsessing about that one. gah!

I had finished my grocery shopping this afternoon and pushed my cart into the center of the aisle of parked cars. There was a pretty normal looking man loitering around there, waiting for me to finish with it.

He grabbed the cart and looked at me for a minute and then said, “Looking at you, I realized that I really need a haircut.”

What the HELL does that mean?

I walked into my kitchen today to refill my mac and cheese from a pot on the stove and I was greeted by the sight of a wriggling mouse butt squeezing into one of the burners. (cheap gas stove)

We have been having mouse problems in our building… a little while ago we got a note from the management company telling us that they would be “treating” our apartments. (Casey wrote a post about how successful that was…. argh.)

Now every time I go into the kitchen, I clap my hands and announce my presence because I don’t want any more of the little buggers sneaking up on me.

My new strategy consists of a plan to seal up the gaping hole in the wall behind our stove… not sure how I will do that but I will use a lot of duct tape. I was going to use cardboard but after a bit of reflection, that doesn’t seem very smart since we have a gas stove, as I mentioned.

The stupid exterminators keep putting sticky traps on the hole but I cannot stand those things- they are horribly cruel and I am still having nightmares about our experience with them last time. I am going to try to find some humane traps- what I am going to do with the thing once it gets trapped in there, I have no idea. Probably squeal and give the box to Casey.

Ah, nature…

Happy day to my sweet husband…

I am so lucky to have you in my life.

I am knitting, watching Sideways and drinking wine too quickly. Tipsy!

sheesh.

I am, at this very moment, watching the new Martha Stewart show on TLC.

It is impossible for me to turn it off- it is so absurd! During the intro, they showed her getting out of jail and posing with pictures of herself. Wowee.

Everyone in the audience is wearing ponchos- even the poor men.. they are really horribly ugly. (sorry to crocheted poncho lovers!)

Lily Chin is on at the beginning of the show, showing off how fast she can crochet and talk. Is she scary or is it just me? It was stressing me out just watching her!

Martha is now showing David Spade the recipes she developed in prison, using plastic knives and a microwave.

bwahahahaha!!

Here are some pictures from the shower that I threw my friend, Julie, on Saturday. (click to make them bigger)

I am pretty happy with the way it went… especially proud of the favors I put together. There is a candle, some pumpkin cookies (with recipe) and these little hand/ pocket warmers that Maya helped me make. It is so great to have her in town now! (Not just because she saves the day with my sewing projects!)

Aren’t they cute? I got the idea from Martha’s “good things” site, here.

Casey was such a huge help. I really couldn’t have done it without him. He was the bartender, waiter, cook, dj, photographer…

Julie was happy with the shower, which is the important thing. (despite being disappointed that some people were not able to attend…)

I am off to New Hampshire to go to her dress fitting appointment. It is great to have her nearby, at least for a little while! [She lives in Germany now, for newcomers ]

I am so much happier with this pattern… what do you think?

I’ve been trying to knit one pattern repeat every day (there 24 rows in the chart) but today I have fallen behind since I only knit 4 rows. ooooops.



(click to make pictures bigger)

This pic was slightly blurry:

and this one seems too sharp:

hmmm…. blogging too late makes Jess a unable to make decisions. So you get both pictures.

Here is a close-up. Yeah, baby.

Sweet little day today with my baby.

We drove out to Stow and went to this little place that we usually visit in the fall, Nancy’s Airfield Cafe. (I think I have mentioned it here before…) We haven’t ever been out there when it was sunny and warm and I enjoyed the experience. Had a yummy, relaxing, very late lunch.

Enter the turkey, vegetable reuben. (and very crunchy kettle chips… my fav. There were tons that were all stuck together- swoon! haha)

What I really like about that place is that it is so unexpected- it is in the middle of nowhere. You drive through small New England towns, rural-ish countryside and there is this small airfield. And this really great cafe. It is awesome too because they try to use local, seasonal produce and everything always tastes really fresh. Great soup too.

We stopped on the way home and got some ice cream and also got some veggies at an organic farm stand. We got bags of tomatoes- yummy! Even green striped ones, which are so cool.

Sigh. Dessert and drinks at West Side Lounge tonight too.

Happy girl.

Have you ever had a project that you really wanted to go well? You were making it for a special person, you planned it out for ages, bought the necessary materials and started with plenty of time… but then after you have invested many, many hours into it, you realize that you just cannot make it work?

For me, that project has been the stole I have been knitting for my best friend, Julie’s wedding.

I bought this gorgeous yarn, Karabella Aurora 8 (color 705). LOTS of it.

The plan was to knit a large rectangle in stockinette stitch (complete!)

Then pick up stitches around the edge for a beautiful leaf border. Sounds simple, huh?

Aww… isn’t it pretty?

The problem is that I was stupid when I knit the rectangle and I only put about half the yarn ball transitions on the side of the piece… which was driving me nuts because you could see that the fabric got all wonky every 5 inches or so. (anal, I know.)

Like this:

Then I could not figure out how to get the pretty border to turn the corner. My only option was to just knit it straight up and then join the border to itself at each corner… which was not making me happy. AT ALL.

So, after having several good cries and mild panic attacks, I have given up. I am throwing in the towel. The wedding is 24 days away and I am starting over.

I found this pretty scarf patter (Lead or Follow Lace Scarf) from Heartstrings Fiber Arts in the middle of the night last night and assumed that I would have to wait a week… drive to my vet’s office… pay too much… Oh wait, well, you know what I mean. (I have obviously been watching waaaay too much tv while knitting lately.)

Did you know that there are these sites out there that are so efficient! You find a pattern you like, do the paypal thing, and then they send you a link right away where you can download a pdf file of the pattern. It is the awesomest. Especially when you decide to make drastic knitting decisions in the middle of the night.

Also, if you are up at 2 in the morning and can’t remember for the life of you how to slip, slip, purl (ssp), this site kicks ass. They have video! For both continental and regular knitting! It is super!

Here is what she looks like so far… I am doing a seed stitch border, instead of the lace ribbing from the pattern. (Julie wanted a warm, cozy shawl.)

Somehow I don’t feel panicked anymore now that I have made a decision… at least not yet. I am just so happy to be ripping out 10’s of hours of my work! weee!!

See… one last look! (okay, it hurts a little)

Yes, I do know I am a crazy, crazy person. Thanks for listening.