Busy Weekend

I made it out to the Renaissance Faire yesterday. I stocked up on incense, bought a new pair of scissors, saw the Moonie Show:and generally had a good time. I saw the (new) queen in her court and out on walkies, Spun some yarn in the guildyard, ate a potato and got amazingly dusty. However, I was cute as a button and sunburn-free. I took the walking stick that I use as a distaff and got lots of attention. Few re-enactors use a distaff nowadays, so it creates interest with participants as well as the public. I also managed to get some spinning done while "on the move".

Friday I visited with some faire friends and discovered that I love dachshunds. They are in the running for the next dog I get (if any) after mine kick their buckets. That night I saw "As You Like It" at the Redlands bowl. It is enacted with a Wild West theme, and was loooooong. It made "Titus Andronicus" look much better in comparison. Next week "Leading Ladies" opens at Redlands Footlighters and I think I will waddle by and check it out.

Today I wound some warp to make a huck lace sampler and had the cockatiels out for walkies. Mustardseed really is just the sweetest thing ever. She has the sweet temper of her granddam Dante (my first cockatiel). The newest babies (3 months old now) are very much still in the sassy-pants stage, although clipping their wings last week has begun to change their outlook. Back to the weaving - I want to make a set of huck lace distowels, but think I will do the smart thing and work up a sampler of the different patterns to get accustomed to the concept. I am using "The Best of Weaver's: Huck Lace" as my guide. It has been in the library for a year and needs to earn its keep at some point! The warp is wound and the loom is in the other room calling to me. Now, if only I remember how to warp!

A Faire Day

I am off to the Renaissance Faire this morning with Anne and Celeste. I have my clothes, my spinning, a pass, money for parking and my tankard. Go team. It is a little overcast, but that should help keep the heat down. If it can keep the dust down too, more's the better, as I just had th car washed yesterday after its oil change.

This week has been full of friends & visiting - Thursday I went to yoga, then out to dinner & a play with friends. Yesterday was more friends visiting and another play. Today is faire all day and tomorrow is gardening. I am going to need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

Cinco de Birthday

I am a little surprised that I am still awake! But I am fading fast, so only a quick post tonight. It was a wonderful day to turn 36 - friends, well wishes, cake, presents, confetti, more cake, sitting in the car at lunch reading LOTR with my feet out the window, dinner, beer and cat fur. OK the car fur in the mouth from the cat walking on the compuer desk was not that great.

It was just as much fun as the party at the knitting store last year. How I long for the knitting store to return! Sigh.

Suddenly Soaping

I rose early today *cough4:30cough* and it is finally cool enough to start some soap. Between the hundred degree weather and the wave of depression earlier in the week, I have not been able to get much accomplished. But I am feeling better today and things are looking up. The birds are chirping, the dogs are dogging, the cats are being aloof. All is normal.

Not much new knitting progress but I am still reading voraciously; _The Fellowship of the Ring_ is right here next to me.

Today is Cinco de Birthday at the Pickyknitter household and I have been considering new goals for the upcoming year. More weaving? Preparing an item to go to the fair? Joining a gym? Committing to more soap and fiber festivals and moving back toward full time soap? Washing the dog? So many options. For today I will go to work and be cheerful, then come home and have a birthday beer with friends (and soap delivery, if the weather holds).

Mayday

Sorry I missed posting on Beltane! It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed it thoroughly. There was gardening time in the morning, returning the bird time & stuffing myself with loquats in the afternoon and watching "LOtR" in the evening. The cat was rescued from the garage, I cooked some dinner, did some cat food / people food / bird food / gasoline shopping and washed up a bunch of laundry. I even cleaned out all the drawers of my bureau and freshened them with lavender and cleaned off grandma's dressing table. Now it looks lovely with just a lamp and a picture.

Today it was back to work and as usual the afternoon stressed me out. I feel particularly bad for one notary whose signing took up most of 3 days by the time it was over... so much that I cried on the way home. I think I needed more coffee. Or even some coffee, as the office is out and I forgot mine at home.

Tonight the cockatiels are all on walkabout / flapabout and the dogs are barking at everything that moves. Now Harlequin is on my shoulder begging for head scritches and nibbling my ear. How can such little birds be so sweet?

Sitting Pretty

I have been parrot sitting this week and it has been wonderful. The 5:30 am "Hell-ohhhhh" is adorable and she even called out "Hey, hon" when I was in another room. I see now why greys are so popular.

I finished _Dracula_ at long, long last and it moved pretty fast - for the last three pages at least. I also finished listening to an audio book lecture series called "History of Fantasy" and that was good fun for a week of commuting. My 'to read' list is much longer now! Many of his observations had me saying, yes, yes, that is obvious, but there were a few very good points I had not considered before. I am still reading The Last Samurai (not related to the movie) and finished a quick teen novel that was a free download. A brain-expanding week!

Also keeping me entertained during parrot snuggling time were some movies - "The King's Speech", "Jeeves & Wooster, season 4" and "The Last Samurai" (yes, that one). "TKS" was particularly excellent - I think it will earn a place in my drawer of movies next to "Gosford Park".

Not much to report in the home garden. A weeding / pruning / harvesting / deadheading day needs to be arranged post-haste. The tomato is growing, the lavender is blooming, the sunflowers are opening, the lettuces are bolting... spring has sprung.

Knit a few rows on a simple scarf while listening to the audio book before work / at luch, but still no serious knitting progress to report. The knitting mojo is still gone; it's going on two years now. I have thought about pulling out a cross stitch project of an evening, but haven't made any actual progress. Same for weaving - I stare at cones of yarn but do not approach the warping board. The cats are pleased with my increased petting schedule, however.

Slogging...

I am still reading _Dracula_. How anyone ever finished this book, much less encouraged enough other people to read it to make it a "classic", is beyond me.

Speedy Sunday

Where did the day go?! It seems I was just zipping over to gardening day at Martha's. I brought home a tomato for my garden, but did not get as far as planting it today. There will be time before work tomorrow.

Groceries, tv, nap, free flight time for the cockatiels and suddenly it was 7pm. Whew! I took some excedrin for a massive headache and now it is 10pm and I am wide awake and ready to go. Fabulous.

This evening I am making a little progress on a handwoven pouch and flipping through my book on huck lace with an eye to weaving up some dishowels for sale. There has to be a way to rig up my swift (which is missing its clamp) so that I can wind off some warp tomorrow. I am also pondering a way to make a single (huge) cone of 1ply into a useable 3 or 4 ply... I see a lot of re-winding in my future. Aha! I just looked to my right and found the two cones of white cotton 8/2 that I was missing. Someday I will get all the weaving yarns in the same place.

A nice hot day today - which serves as an incentive to get the windows & screens in good order so I can get some breezes in the evenings.

Just in Time

I am still awake from Saturday, so I am counting this as a Saturday post. So there! Another quiet day today... work from 6am to 3pm, home, read, nap, computer time. I didn't get any chores tackled but will apply myself tomorrow.

Might even go wild and pick up my sock knitting for a change!

Week in Review

Taxes done? Check! Refund coming my way, even.

Chores tackled? Check! Well, I am putting more energy into them at least. It seems that the more I do, the more I see that needs to be done. But the trash and the recycling went out this morning, I did some weeding in the yard today and I didn't run out of gas once all week.

Knitting done? Not so much.

Cats snuggled? Check!

Inquiry made about the path to home ownership? Check! The path is long but I have a savings goal. Now, to save that amount before house prices triple. Again.

Spring is for Weaving

I added a new weaving blog to the sidebar - Blossom Merz - for your enjoyment. His work is quite lovely and his posts about the process of starting a viable commercial weaving business from the ground up are enlightenting and encouraging. It is a lot of work, but he has vision, a plan and persistence. It is paying off! You may have seen him and his work last year at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire or run across his Etsy store. Do click over and visit!

Wednesday Update

I have really been slacking in the "post every day" department.

Things are okay but not very exciting this week. I have a surprise day off of work tomorrow and about 345 things I would like to do with it. Options include doing my taxes, going to the beach, washing the dogs, scrubbing the house, cashing in some cans, weaving like a maniac, sleeping all day or being glued to the computer.

I have been spending more time each day in the "bird room" (I moved the computer in here several months ago so I can interact with them more), and have noticed a reduction in my lung capacity / increase in my fits of coughing in the morning. It may be time to look into getting an air filter / HEPA unit. Cockatiels are dusty birds, all right!

I am still reading _Dracula_ and watching "Jeeves and Wooster" in spare moments. Fry & Laurie are comedy gold.

Treading Water

Budget worries are still uppermost in my mind, I am sorry to say. It's all I think about all day, so it is hard to avoid talking or posting about it. When I don't have money I feel ashamed and worthless because I don't earn enough to get by, and when I do have money I feel embarrassed and that I don't deserve it. Let's not even venture into the land of asking for help. People keep telling me I am not a bad person because I earn a low wage, but having things and eating food are a huge part of our identity as Americans. Hours are being cut at work and it seems like every day I find out that someone else is not absent, they got laid off. It is scary and worrisome and I can't put it out of my mind that if the company does not do well, we might literally be out of a job. Naturally worrying makes my performance suffer, which makes me worry more ... you can see where that is going to lead. I will have to take some nice, distracting pictures of the garden to substitute as blog posts for a while.

Move Along

... nothing to see here. Depressed today.

Little Steps

Today has been a day for this-and-that. A little coffee, a little gardening, a little weaving, a little web surfing, a little cleaning, a little TV, a little laundry, a little reading... you get the idea. Saw the snuggliest house for sale down the street from me. 3 bdr / 1 ba, built in 1925, 1K sq feet on a corner lot. There is even a walled in porch / mudroom / birdroom / catio! I am obsessed and yet it is pretty much a hopeless dream. The baby cockatiels are just about weaned and Valentine(a)(0) is just about ready for his new home. I have hit maximum cockatiel density. The ringneck is on my shoulder supervising this post and one of the budgies is still on walkabout after cage cleaning day. Hopefully she will just fly back in later... catching her is a real bear. I am still reading. I finished _The Moonstone_ and it was pretty satisfying by the end. Right now I am reading a very odd book called _Bone Rattler_ that is set in the Colonies about 10 years after Culloden. Martha recommended a book called _For The Win_ which is about video games - that is next on the list.

Whoopsie

I seem to have fallen asleep at prime blogging time every day this weekend. It was not my intention to leave you alone this long! Saturday I had work in the morning, Sunday was a day for gardening and Monday was a day for washing the dog and ripping out weeds from my own garden. Whee.

I managed a little knitting:

And am getting to "the good part" of _The Moonstone_. Who, how and why have been revealed... I am looking forward to where!

The baby cockatiels are feathered and the bigger one is starting to take some flying lessons. Soon he will be ready to move on!

Friday Night Post

Just a quickie today - I have an early bedtime & an early wakeup call. Read some more of my book, knit some more of the sock, snuggled some more wee birdies.

There was a terrible earthquake & tsunami in Japan today (yesterday, their time) which had a watery effect all the way out here. I am watching news videos of the event and Beaker is laughing hysterically. It is very odd. The owner of the company I work for had a 3am wake up call in Hawaii (where he is on vacation) this morning - to evacuate. That's a memory.

I Love My Rut!

I knit a few rows on the Ostara socks at lunch today while reading _The Moonstone_, and tonight came home and snuggled the birdies. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Three weeks!

The new baby cockatiels are three weeks old this week, and want to crow about it. The bigger one looks like he is yodelling while his sister watches. I don't actually know if the grey is a male or female, but the cinnamon is a female, as it is a sex-linked gene. Her name is all picked out - Primrose. Teasing and tail pulling - siblings are the same in all species, I guess. I can hardly believe how big his wings have gotten in the past week. Once the feathers start to come in, watch out! In this picture, you can just barely see the very dark spot under the wings - that is the "breast meat" or flying muscles (pectorals, I assume). The stripe of white feathers on his side (not on the wing) is down. My favorite thing about the babies is their stubby little tail.

They are both perching, flapping, stretching, standing on their feet (instead of balancing on their bellies), preening and tottering around. The grey will be up for adoption / sale in a month or so (when they are weaned). I handle them every day and they are sweet, calm and outgoing. The gray (if a male) is split for pied, cinnamon, pearl and whiteface. If it is a female, she is split for pied and whiteface. He is really, really dark gray and very well feathered (unlike his sister who has quite the bald spot!).

No sock knitting today, but I did knit a little on a pair of wristwarmers and tackled a few more pages of _The Moonstone_ at lunch. Long days at work for the remainder of the week, but that is means more overtime so I will roll with it. Tonight's entertainments included cleaning the rabbit cage & clipping nails. And parrot snuggling, of course!

On Being a Knitter

You know you are finally a Knitter when you see that the sock is far too wide when it is only 4 inches long and rip it all the way back to the toe, instead of trying to convince yourself it is fine, and that you are just out of practice gauging how big they should be compared to store bought socks.

The spring sock was far too wide and now it is a little less wide... I hope. I ripped it back before work and started it back up again at lunch. I even managed to get in a few pages of _The Moonstone_ today. I had actually forgotten I was reading it and had moved on to _Anna Karenina_.

There is just time for a few more rows before bed if I sign off now!

Ding!

Well I had a nice happy post planned and then was reminded that I forgot to go to knitting night tonight. Darn it! I will make myself a reminder for next week.

Otherwise I had a quiet day. There was some computer time, some birdy snuggling and the cat wars over the prime sleeping spot. I woke up at 5:30 am with a massive headache, made some coffee to try to stem it, then gave up and walked the dog to the pharmacy at 7 in the morning to get some Excedrin. After an hour or so I felt much better, and the early morning air was brisk and refreshing. It rained during the night and all was clean and shiny.

Hit level 85 on my main in WoW today and was reminded who my real (on line) friends are. I think I have finally landed in a nice guild. I haven't had a lot of time in game lately and it felt nice to chat and joke around and make some progress.

Progress in real life included cooking and pet care and doing dishes. Yippee. Back to work tomorrow, rested and cheerful.

Socks for Ostara

I started some new socks last night with the remainder of the purple bamboo / nylon yarn from the purple fingerless mitts and a ball (or "cake") of a pink / purple / green sugar cane yarn that has been marinating in the stash. The colors are not a perfect match, but I think that purple for the toes and heels and springy stripey for the main part of the sock will be very nice. I was blog surfing the other day and this post from Franklin gave me the idea to use a solid color to make the special yarn go further. I can hardly believe I have never tried it before. After the ribbed & cabled mitts and the broken rib scarf I have as my emergency knitting, it feels good to be knitting stockinette again!

Spent some time today gardening at Martha's and then gardening at home. I declared it "death to dandelions" day and had quite a tidy stack by the end. There are still quite a few left in my yard, but I was out of steam. Long hours at work, darkness when I leave and come home and a staggering amount of rain this season has really given them a head start on me. The coreopsis has started blooming and that is always a cheery sight to return home to. I need to get some white yarn spun so that I can use last year's flower heads as a yellow dye. I can't think of any yellow garments I need, but that really isn't the point.

Afterthought

I promise to return to your regularly scheduled knitting blog tomorrow. Really!!

Stocked Up

Well... I had a bad night after I looked at my direct deposit, then at my budget spreadsheet, then back, then back again... you get the idea. It is going to be another skimpy month.

However, I have:

• paid the rent
• put gas in the car
• bought pet food
• bought groceries

in that order, and am feeling a little better. I moved over every last penny from savings, and I will still need gas money for next week, but I don't feel like bursting into tears every moment now. I am thinking about putting all the groceries on dart board and playing mix & match meals for the next two weeks :)

Things should start to get sunnier if it stays busy at work and we get some overtime. And if gas goes back down under $3.90 / gal. For a woman who drives 250 miles / week or more, that adds up fast, no matter how conservatively I drive.

I have all day Sunday and Monday to relax and do some weeding in the garden. I am thinking of taking my $4 in cash and buying a tomato and a 6 pack of strawberries for the garden tomorrow at the nursery. Let's hear it for home grown food!

Stressed

I am really tired of running out of money 10 days before the end of the month! I am sick of oatmeal, of spaghetti, p b & j sandwiches and more oatmeal. Economizing is one thing, but this is ridiculous!

On the other hand, the lights are on, the car runs, the house is snug and dry, the pets are fed and the bathwater runs hot. And I have all the stash yarn a woman could want.

The baby birdies came out for some playtime tonight - the little one looks far smaller than she should, for only being 2 days younger. They are getting feathers, the eyes are open and they are starting to be sassy. They can walk and squawk and stand up and flap their little naked wings. They are both very sweet and handleable.

Work has been alternately dead and busy... there are more changes coming down the pike but as long as I have a cubicle of my own i will be happy.

Harlequin

Little Harlequin was baby 4 of the clutch hatched last July. Here he is just about one month old, with no name and barely able to perch on my hand. I thought he was a female until he was 6 months old. I also thought he was quiet, shy and retiring! Here he is in early February of this year. His baby feathers (light gray brown and striped) are being replaced rather haphazardly with adult feathers (charcoal gray and solid). His stripey baby tailfeathers are also growing in a solid light gray and his face is molting into the male cockatiel mask of yellow feathers. It is harder to see in this photo (about 2 weeks later), but he is about 80% done molting into his adult plumage and is starting to lose the "harlequin" look that finally ended up being the perfect name! I will have to figure out how to make a video of him talking; it is amazing and hilarious. Right now he is swinging on his swing, fighting with a toy and thinking about clambering back over to play with the towel on his cage. A week's worth of handling and out of cage time has improved his friendlines and now we even have quality shoulder time and practice step ups and head scratches. A good little bird!

Marching On...

Today I finished the purple wristwarmers and gave them to my coworker. Tomorrow I will get a picture of them "in action" for the blog. I started a new pair and am totally in love with the yarn... it will be hard to give this set away. I love the new yarn from the Loopy Ewe that came last week, but have not started knitting it up yet. Partly I need to get these wristwarmers done and partly I want to really savor it. And mabye I haven't sat down with the instructions for the new toe-up method yet.

Read a few pages in _Anna Karenina_ at lunch today, but am not really feeling it. I have a half dozen books open to about page 20, but none are really keeping my attention.

The baby cockatiels are huge; well, one is huge and one is normal sized. I still have my fingers crossed she will be a cinnamon. I finally got the legband on her tonght - for good I hope! A squirmy baby cockatiel is a delicate thing. They are preening their pinfeathers, standing, stretching, blinking and screaming like banshees when it is dinner time. The yearling cockatiels (hoggetts if they were sheep) disavow any knowledge that they were once small pink & yellow balls of fluff with attitude. They think of themselves as big birds!

The parakeets are acting silly and lovey dovey, alternating with squabbling and bickering. By and large they enjoy each other's company.

The kitties are still vying for my attention.. one was sleeping under my chair earlier and another was trying to fit on my lap.

I walked the dog yesterday but couldn't summon the energy tonight. I miss my ankles and really need to start walking more.

Zombified

I finished _Bertie Wooster & the Lizard King_ today and it was a wonderful little ebook. I regret to say that I cannot link it for you as the estate of Mr Wodehouse has apparently squashed Mr. Rowe's little pastiche.

If you enjoy the trials and tribulations of Bertie Wooster and his inimitable valet Jeeves, this is a very enjoyable work of fan fiction in the master's style. I hate to give too much away in case you are able to find a bootleg copy somewhere... let's just say the action starts on page 46.

Short & Sweet

Today has gone by very quickly. Slept in (oops), did some gardening, played on the computer, snuggled the baby cockaties (CB1293 opened his eyes today!), and now am thinking about doing a little light reading and maybe some laundry. Tried to eat everything in the house instead of rationing it out so I can eat all week; perhaps not my best plan. No knitting yet, which is bad because I could have had the wristwarmers done days ago. Maybe in a little bit. But just now I hear my zombie book calling.

Satisfaction

I managed to get done with my work a little early today. I can use the hours, but needed to get the errands done too.

Cockatiel leg bands have been procured and installed on the cockatiel chicks' legs. They were angry. I was not tempted by any birds at the bird farm... although the newest Bird Talk has a cockatiel theme and looked interesting. They had a baby blue headed pionus, buy my Beaker (a maximillian's pionus) is cuter by far. Why people think that subtly-colored birds are "boring" or "plain" I do not understand.

The post office STILL had not redelivered my yarn when I got home, but by some miracle, the postal station holding my box hostage was still open and I scurried over there to give them a piece of my mind. My before-lunch mind. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't be happier with The Loopy Ewe. Sheri even put a little note about my kitty on my invoice! The colors are perfect and I get all teary-eyed patting the skein.

I sucked it up and put gas in the car. It was expensive. I have some mistaken theory that, if I put 1/2 tank in the car, it will magically last for a whole week. I will deal with the refill somewhere around Thursday.

I procured some cider and some cheese from TJ's, made burritos for lunch, fed the birds and am happily relaxing at home now. The rain ended and the sun is out. I sort of hope it rains again... I have a fantasy of sitting on the porch on my comfy chair, bundled up in a blanket, with my Nook and some tea, enjoying the weather. I *should* be out pulling weeds, but that is not as romantic a vision

Postal

2/22 10pm - yarn ordered.
2/24 12:30pm - yarn has traveled 2,500 miles from Missouri to California
2/24 12:31pm - yarn has randomly traveled 1/2 mile back to the post office.
2/24 8:30 pm - fill out redelivery info online.
2/25 8:00 pm - Yarn is still sitting at post office. One-half mile from my house.
2/25 8:01 pm - head explodes.

Lavender Thursday

The end is in sight for the fingerless mitts. I started the top ribbing of #2 today (this picture is from yesterday). Just an inch more, bind off, 10 rows on the thumb, bind off, work in the ends, wash, set out to dry and they can go to Jennifer tomorrow. It is hard to get a good in-progress picture; when I am working a cable row I have up to seven needles in my hands.

The lavender plant I planted this summer (after someone stole my plumeria) is finally showing some signs of growth. It has several flower stalks shooting up and they actually smell both tangy and sweet. I thought I disliked the scent of lavender, but this one is a nice addition to the garden. I buried Firsa with an armful of rosemary, now I wish the lavender had been in bloom to add with it.

The baby cockatiels are still growing. The yearling babies are out and getting some exercise; Harlequin was begging me for head scratches (he is molting like crazy), Mustardseed is flying around the room and Peaseblossom is being demure as always. Mustard set Beaker off and he actually just flew all the way from his cage to my shoulder - his longest flight yet! Now he is getting pistachio dust all over my sweater and laughing at me, "AH HA HA" he says.

Progress

I am nearly done with the lavender fingerless mitts. Another night of hard knitting should see them finished, and then a day for finishing work and washing. I had a long day at work today, but put in a few rows at lunch and am turning patterns over in my head for the next pair. There are pictures on the camera, but I can't summonthe energy to link them tonight. Tomorrow for sure. It feels good to be a Knitter again, after such a long time off last year. I wore my Wallaby sweater to work again today and I am just so darn proud of it! It nieds to be washed and blocked and maybe then I can finally post some pictures.

The baby chicks are still growing. The elder is showing nascent gray feathers under the skin and I expect the eyes to open any day now. The younger is still pink and a little too small for my liking. I have a feeling she will be a lutino (no gray pigment peeping through the skin and pink eyes), which will be a lovely addition to the flock. Still trying to find the time to get some leg bands before they get much bigger.

I watched some episodes of "Firefly" last night and cuddled the kitties. Galen and Carrie (aka Momma Cat) are smothering me, trying to outdo each other for the title of new snuggliest feline. I finally had to kick Galen off the laptop in order to make my blog post!

I am still reading (slowly) _Bertie Wooster and the Lizard King_ and _The Moonstone_. I alternate depending on my attention span. They are each quite interesting in their own way.

I am happily in denial about my poor kitty. I brought her picture to work and could almost pretend she was at home (just hiding) until I actually came home and she didn't run to meet me. I am a little less sad each day... but it has been a difficult week. Today I watched a video on my camera that I took of the kittens playing when they were just a couple months old, and Firsa kept walking through the frame. That was a pleasant surprise.

Short & Sweet

I left a candle burning in the next room, so only a quickie post today. It is month-end at work (read: long hours) so I have to get my buns in bed early tonight. I have put in the thumb on the 2nd purple cabled fingerless mitt and might get it done in the next day or so. Then I can start the next request pair! They look well on everyone who tries them on... I may have hit upon the perfect gift.

I get the "dead kitty blues" strating at about 3pm each day and have a little cry on the way home. Today I was remembering her cute little "speed walk" when she was coming home from carousing the neighborhood and the times she would meet me at the car door when I came home. I put in lots of time petting the other cats tonight and appreciating them for who they are, instead of wishing they were more like her.

Yarn shipped today - comfort yarn solves most sad feelings.

Baby cockatiels are growing well. The older chick is starting to show gray under the skin where the feathers will be coming in and also has gray toes. The younger chick is not showing any gray and seems to have red eyes. I wonder if she will be a lutino? As long as they are healthy and strong I will take them however they are. I have to make a run to the bird farm for legbands before they get much bigger. After 10 days or so their feet are too big to fit in the band. The older chicks from last year are all adults now. Mustardseed will be a year old in a few weeks and Harlequin and Peaseblossom are a couple months behind her. Quin is still molting into his adult plumage (hence the name) and looks a right ragamuffin. I will have to take more pictures before he gets all sleek and sassy.

Moving Forward

I am still feeling blue, but have reasons to be happy. Right now I can hear the Hamlet & Violet feeding the chicks (in stereo!), Harlequin is telling me "herro" and that he is a pretty bird and swinging on his perch. The parakeets are trying to nap and are looking daggers at him. There is a dog at my feet and a kitty sleeping in the second drawer of the yarn caddy. He fits in there so well I have abandoned all hope of putting the top drawer back in.

Knitting is my go-to comfort and I have been daydreaming about yarn in shades of Firsa gray. I found the perfect skein at the Loopy Ewe today and a lacy sock pattern to coordinate, and spent some of my Christmas gift certificate (thank you Aunt Karen!). A little knitting to work through my grief is just what the knitting fairy ordered.

It has been slow at work and I got to leave a little early tonight. The sky was still light and it was lovely to drive home as darkness fell instead of "in the dark". I haven't been home by 6:30 in a long time. Not quite light enough to do any weeding in the garden, but I will get up early and spend a few minutes on it in the morning. I took out the trash, changed all the catboxes and am about ready for some dinner.

Sad

Rainy again today. I miss my cat. The others have been trying to console me. The parrots made me laugh today. I should turn this into a Haiku. Played some World of Warcraft. Ate too many girlscout cookies and also risotto and fish sticks. Read some more of _The Moonstone_; enough to get to the next narrator.

Goodnight, Firsa

My very first pet cat was a 12 week old gray tabby kitten. I had gone out to see "Chasing Amy" one night with my then-boyfriend, and we saw kittens in the window of the pet shop across the way (both the theater and the shop are gone now; the times they are a'changin'). I fell in love with a lilac siamese and went back the next day "just to look" some more. The siamese was gone by the next afternoon, but I was started down a path and went back to consider the other kittens. A likely looking gray fluff ball was sleeping ... until they brought her out for me to hold. We walked around the store together for a good long while. There was some wriggling at first, but soon enough she was draped over my shoulder or belly up and purring in the cradle of my arms. Food? Check. Litterbox? Check. Litter? At the grocery store. Kitten? Safely in a cardboard box for the trip back to San Bernardino.

One of my favorite books as a teen was _Tailchaser's Song_ by Tad Williams. One assistant to the hero was a graceful gray fela named Firsa Roofshadow. It was perfect for this dusty colored creature. Within two days she was answering to her name, Firsa, from several rooms away. She always came running at the call and loved to be with me, playing, talking, sleeping or being carried around. Within a month, a ginger kitten joined our family from the strays next door. Here was her Fritti, and they were inseperable for years. Lately their friendship had cooled, but they were great companions when they were small and I was at work most of the day.

I got Firsa when I was 22 years old. She was by my side long after that boyfriend, by my side for tears and pain, for happy times too. Before I was a spinner, before I was a knitter, before I joined renaissance faire, before I ever had a dog, Firsa was there. She was in the garden rolling in the dirt, she was out catching mice and rats and starlings. She caught a baby hummingbird once, and I hand fed it for weeks. After a stern lecture, she stopped wounding birds in my sight and moved on to killing them in the neighbor's shrubbery, where I never caught her. We had fourteen years of adventures and quiet times both, and I can't imagine my life without her in it.

Her beautiful gray and white coat added shades of brown after the first year or so. Every inch of her was a wonder. Her ticked coat, her purple toes & nose, that raccoon tail. I petted every last bit of her tonight when she passed away. I felt her heart race, watched her breathing slow, held her paw almost until the end. I accidently tickled her ear and laughed & cried together when she flicked it. I had forgotten that endearing trait (not as much fun for her, perhaps) and tickled her over and over. I stroked her chin and played with her toes and counted the seconds in between breaths. In meditation one day, the teacher told about a monk who held that the exhale is the most important thing. Ten seconds, fifteen, twenty... each inhale was startling until there were no more.
I have other cats in my life now, but at the moment I would give them all up for another hour with that gray kitten in the pet store... another hour of her jumping on my lap when I am trying to type, another hour of laying on my knitting, another hour of lying near me when I am sad, another hour of chasing her around the garden when I am already late for work, another hour of listening to her "mreh mreh" at me in her sweet little voice.

Topsy Turvy

Spring is coming up and I had a lovely lunch hour in the sun and wind knitting in the car, but it is pouring rain this afternoon and into the evening. I have month-end Saturday off tomorrow, although I am the Saturday gal (I do appreciate the break!). Said rain is washing out my plans to clean up the garden and the impending headache & accompanying nasuea are washing out my plans to do anything other than moan in the dark. The parent cockatiels have abandoned their home for the Ringneck's cage and he is eating their leftover vegetables. He is vicious to the cockatiels, though, so I am typing with my head turned around to look behind me.

But I have two days off, a mitten to finish, two baby cockatiels to snorgle and some Monty Python to watch. There might even be tea in the house!

Cheep-per... again

I heard one of my all-time favorite noises in the bird room today when I went to feed the feathered kids... the "chip-chip-chip-chip-chip" sound of a baby bird being parent fed (... and there they go again). I had just about given up hope on this last batch of eggs. I will let you imagine the contortions it took to get a picture of my own hand, that wasn't blurry, while holding a day old chick in such a way that it was not simply a puffy yellow blob.

I can't tell if they other eggs are going to make it (I pulled out 3 I am sure are bad). I think I heard one tapping on the inside of the shell. They tap and "pip" to talk to the parents the day or so before they hatch. In the topmost photo, you can just barely see the little white egg tooth at the tip of the beak.

Like all the babies, it is a wonder of delicacy and miniaturization. Every tiny scale of the feet can be seen, each perfect toenail, the line for the eye slit, and even a tiny dark spot where the crest will be. Yellow fluff means another "normal" colored bird (as opposed to whiteface); I will have to wait another generation to see if any of the babies have a recessive whiteface gene.

It rained during the night and on & off during the day (trying to drench me when I went to put gas in the car, of course) which is a nice change from dry and sunny. When I left work the clouds were mostly broken up and there was a shockingly bright full moon that stopped me in my tracks. It was amazing, and lit up the clouds around it with a lovely blue glow. This birdy will be named "Luna" if she is a hen ... no idea what the male equivalent would be. I will turn it over in my mind.

Post-posting

Whew, I am still all worn out from the mitten post on Saturday. Not much going on today other than World of Warcraft and napping. And eating. I made simple syrup today and it has improved my homemade lemonade somewhat. I knit a few rows on mitten #2 while the game was loading and during a very interesting documentary on the Himalayas and the high plains of Tibet. Saw several animals I had never seen (or heard of) before... a silly looking bear and a very handsome fox being the most memorable. They also covered the Takin and the Kiang, handsome beasts indeed.
Read a little in my current book _The Moonstone_ by Wilkie Collins. A laugh riot, it is not. But it is more fun that _Barnaby Rudge_, so I will keep on reading.

Mitten Accomplished!

...a fingerless mitt, anyway

The cables go on the top of the hand....And there is ribbing all the way around. Since these are for a woman at work, I figured I couldn't go wrong with a snug fit for typing & such.

You can see the beginnings of the left hand mitt on the computer there. I knit through two entire movies tonight and made excellent progress. The thumb came out a little roomy, but since it is the first time I have "winged it", I am pretty proud.

Now I just have to remember to make the other mitt a LEFT handed one.

More Knitting

Last night I did not let myself get distracted by the internet; I came home, put in a movie and knit on the wristwarmers / fingerless mitts. Cleverly, I did not bring them home since I am supposed to be in bed early, not staying up late knitting. The drawback to the clever plan is that I can't post a progress photo. Rest assured, a thumb has been placed and I am nearly finished with the right hand mitt.

Working all day tomorrow and then will hit the garden for some weeding and the laundry for some... launderizing. There was a shakeup at work this week and I am grateful to have made "the cut" and still have a job (that I love).

Focused

Tonight I must knit. I will not be afraid of the thumb gussets (note to self - research "thumb gusset placement"). I will complete this fingerless mitts. I will make my co-worker warm and happy.

That Knittin' Feeling

I have been quietly adding rows to the two active knitting projects. I started an alpaca scarf the day before Dickens festival. I wanted a nice, easy pattern in a lively color as some "comfort knitting". This is some millspun alpaca yarn dyed in my "twisted spinster" colorway. It is a "broken rib" pattern; simple and textured. It is a very narrow little scarf, but the ribbing has "take up" about 1/3 of the width. I only have 200 yards to work with, so I am putting length ahead of width in the finished object. It took a long time to get a handle on how the colors pool in this skein, but I am pretty happy with it now. It will coordinate with, um, nothing I wear, so I figure I can wear it all the time. The pattern is: cast on any number divisible by 4, plus one. On every row: K2, P2 to 1 before end, P1. Offsetting the alternate rows gives great dimension to the fabric. I will try to play with the zoom on my camera some day when I have natural light.

The next project is actually for someone else. There was quite a kerfluffle around the office after I finished my wristwarmers and I have a waiting list for them now (in exchange for cans of cat food, of course).

The yarn tag is in the other room, but this is some bamboo / nylon sock yarn in a nice light lavender. The softness is nice, the stitch definition is nice, and the grist is nice. This is on size 1 needles. There are 3 cables running up the back of the hand and the rest is ribbing. I think the second set will be fraternal twins to these; maybe narrower cables, maybe an eyelet pattern. I don't think I can eke out 2 sets of mitts and socks from one ball, but I bet i can get at least 3 sets of mitts out of it. And after 6, I will be Mistress of Thumb Gussets.

Restless

Free day today but no clear plan for getting anything done. I puttered for a bit, washed 8 dishes, cooked a yummy batch of scrambled eggs, pulled up 4 buckets of weeds (yet the garden looks the same), played on the computer, watched a little Monty Python. I couldn't even take a satisfactory nap, and I think I lost a couple hours to you tube videos of parrots. I should still put in a load of laundry before work tomorrow and make a cat food run so I don't wake up missing a couple toes. I did put a few rows on the lavender mitts fingerless mittens), but the only big decision there was that I wanted more plain rows before the next cable. Maybe a nice mile long walk will settle me.

Recharging

Played a little WoW last night, went to gardening today, and now waiting for coffee to be ready, putting in some laundry and saying howdy to the blog. Today is so nice that I am really longing for vegetable season. In two weeks I will go plant shopping. Tomatoes, strawberries and cantaloupe for sure!

Finished _Little Women_ this week and am now sinking my teeth into a book from 1911 on Fairy-folk of Celtic lands. You don't get much further up my alley than that!

I have Monday off (at last) and plan to do some housework, some yardwork and wash the car. Today is for sloth! ... And maybe some knitting.

Still Hangin'

I am still hanging on with everything I can muster. I got up at o'dark:30 before work to pay the rent and drop off a check for the electric bill, I made it to work crazy early and had some quiet time. There were some soap sales at work today and a potluck lunch that was a welcome break from oatmeal. The purple wristlets were begun and I love the yarn. It is a ball of bamboo / nylon sock yarn, but I think it will have a good home as wristlets, as the recipients were not that crazy about wool. I made it home from work, walked the dog to the bank, and am posting before an early bedtime and 4:45 wake up call.

I meant to post about something charming - I found a package of new, purple, sheets in the closet (from a sale at Tar-jhay years ago) and put them on the bed. The yellow beadstead looks well with them and I feel like I am sleeping inside a crocus flower!

Hanging On...

Missed another day in the life of the blog. But I am giving it a go now! I actually saw a glow in the sky when I left work last night at 6pm and a glow in the sky when I went out to pay rent and electric bill at 6am so I think the light may actually be coming back at last. I am worried about money, but hanging on. Made a mental check list of things that might be "saleable" curbside this weekend.

Ok time to log out and get ready for work

Back on Track.

Oh, I suck. Two missed posts in a row, when I had been congratulating myself on my progress. I went home both Monday and Tuesday nights to do "a little" reading and fell asleep with the Nook on ("Little Women" is the book of the week).

On the upside, nothing thrilling has happened here. Pets, reading, work, knitting - the usual. I finished the mini scarf for my boss' desk sloth, I am chipping away at the alpaca scarf during lunch breaks and am about to start the wristlet commissions (price - one can of cat food per wrist).

This is a NoAA photo of the snowstorms in the east & midwest. It makes work thrilling when so many of our appointments cancel due to weather.

Finished

Weekly Wrap Up

A good week ended on a good note! I went to see "Alone Together Again" by the Redlands Footlighters this evening. As usual, I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by a light and witty comedy about empty nesters whose parents come to "visit". Cheerful audience, pleasant temperture, beautiful set and fabulous acting made a perfect storm of entertainment. I even did a little knitting while the lights were up.

Time enough for a blog post and a little "Law & Order" before bed. Tomorrow, gardening!

Well Balanced

Another short post, I fear. Had a good day at work, an easy drive home, a nice warm bath and am now snuggling some cockatiels before my early bedtime. There is one on each shoulder at the moment (which is good for my posture). I work again tomorrow and wake up call is 5am or so. I also seem to have lost my phone / alarm clock. Rats.

The "keep calm and make tea" plan is still working well. I am more even tempered and productive at work and have been able to do just about everything that I said I would away from work. I finished a knitting project and started a new one, and also started a waitlist for wristwarmers (in exchange for tins of cat food).

The weather has been good this week but I haven't seen much of it; next week I should have some short days and will get out and wash the car and tidy up the garden and maybe even clean out part of the garage. We'll see.

Tuckered

I finished knitting the second blue wristwarmer today. I just need to weave in the ends and they will be done.

Whew. Back to bed now.

Plugging Away

Making small but steady progress today....

• worked on the blue wristwarmers. Only a cast - 0ff row left!
• read a couple pages of _Barnaby Rudge_. Part of the difficulty is the edition of free book that I downloaded has funny characters instead of letters in places, so I spend half my time guessing the word and half the time trying to keep track of the story.
• went to work and did my best
• fed the pets
• put a couple rows on the Twisted Alpaca Scarf
• played a little bit of WoW tonight.
• remembered to blog!

My to-do list for tomorrow starts with BUY CAT CHOW.

Short N Sweet

I tried to post from my Nook today, but it just didn't work out. Then I paged through some listings for free ebooks on the themes from the weekend (tea & Oscar Wilde), came to my senses and raced to make a blog post before bedtime.

I had to meet with my insurance agent to sign some forms and walked Dozer to the meeting location (and back) and am tuckered out now. I will have to remember to set the alarm before I pass out.

Another plain Jane day... work, knitting at lunch, coming home, going to bed. This month-end is quieter than usual which is both refreshing and worrying. Tomorrow is last day to sign so it should be good and busy. I am still getting overtime hours, just not many doubletime hours.

Lunacy

Not much to say today; a long day at work (but good) and I am wiped out. I will leave you with a picture of the moonset over my neighbor's house last week.

A Dickens of a Day

Today was another fantastic day. Martha and I tackled some pancakes *and* some gardening in the morning. All things are better after pancakes and a brisk walk. The weeds were enjoying last week's fine weather and we had a good amount to pull up today. It is almost time to start thinking about spring garden design!

Afterward it was time to go back to the Dickens Festival. The first stop was to see my friends and make sure their hands were not idle! Iwas in time to hear Mr Wilde's lecture on "Art and Handicrafts" which was quite good. Taken from his lecture series in Phildelphia while he was on his American tour, he stressed to us the importance of beauty, good design and quality craftsmanship in everyday items.

I meandered around the fair a bit more, checked out the vendors and appreciated their wares (but none came home with me this year) and admired all the lovely gentlemen, ladies and fine Victorian dress.

I was late for Mr Dickens' talk, but just in time to speak with Ms Keller who presented the history of tea lecture yesterday. We had a lovely long chat about tea, England, the silk road, spinning and how rude it is for people to try and disturb Mr Dickens' lecture. No seating after it has begun!

Of course, I stayed for the tea lecture and it was another fine frolic. Things to remember: Isabella Beeton codified proper tea procedures in her book of household management; Anna Duchess of Bedford began the tradition of "afternoon tea" in home as habit for genteel ladies; the opium wars were about tea; the movement to ease the restrictive clothing of ladies began after a serving girl in a tea room had an "incident"; and it is a good idea to warm two pots when preparing tea - one to steep the tea and another to hold the finished tea without the leaves (pour from one to the other). What a simple idea!

The last item of the day was a production of Barnaby Rudge that was really not what I expected or very good. It was not helped by the hecklers in the first row. Naughty, naughty hecklers. They started to reenact a few scenes from the book when the authors of the show all made an appearance and shared some fine banter onstage.

(Far left, Poe. Center, Barnaby Rudge. To his right, Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens)

Mr Poe gave a recitation of "The Raven" which thrilled us and Mr Wilde made a witty observation on the state of Mr Rudge's intellect. I also learned that Mr Dickens' first published work was "The Pickwick Papers". Now I know.

After that, all that was left was to run into an old knitting friend and trade email addresses and then help the No Idle Hands pack up for the night. A quick stop to the bank to deposit money and to the store for milk & cat food rounded out the night. Just enough time left for a blog post, a bath and an early bedtime. I forgot to lock up two of the cockatiels this afternoon (thank goodness I closed the door against the cats) and now Mustardseed is snuggling up against my ear, asking for head scratches. A perfect day in every way!

Sunshiny Day

Today has been just great and isn't over yet! Fine weather, fun friends, fabulous events, and a relaxed attitude are wonderful gifts.

I woke up early and paged through Anita Diamant's _The Red Tent_, and ended up re-reading the entire thing. This put me behind schedule for the morning, but I stuck to the plan and had a great day. I finished up the batch of lavender soap and started a batch of vanilla (that I need to finish up in a moment) and packed it up for delivery.

The next adventure (after quelling a panic attack over the budget) was to collect all my recycling and head over to the center. Half an hour later I had a kitchen and garage empty of cans, bottles and jars and $7 in cold hard cash. The creepy guy didn't even hit on me this time! I call that a win.

Next on the list was (finally) getting my buns down to the Dickens Festival. I found out the hard way that it had been moved to the local Convention Center and was no longer a downtown street fair. Frustration and the urge to give up were quelled and I found it at last. I located my friends, said hi, found some other friends, and then explored the Dickensian offerings. The vendor room was limited yet filled with high quality vendors (I do love the pottery guy with all my heart) and it was fun to poke around in a leisurely fashion. We found lots of ideas for Steampunk outfits. We atteneded the lecture on The History of Tea that I have been anticipating all week. It was wonderful! I could have listened to the speaker for hours. Tomorrow I will have to go again and listen for more details. I learned that the Opium Wars were over ... tea! Then I visited some more with my spinning and knitting friends (who were demonstrating as part of the fair) and put in a few rows on the second blue wristlet. It was cooed over.

Home now for some dinner and a change of clothes and then off to see a play tonight. My friend Anne is in it and had an extra comp ticket for tonight only. I had been longing to see some theater and taa-daa! she came to my rescue.

I will report back tomorrow. Stay sunny, my friends!

Peaks and Valleys

I am not the type who is built to run on an even keel. It is nice for short periods but I naturally default into "peaks and valleys" mode. Things the last few weeks have been great and I have felt comfortable and generous. It is time to pay the piper now though (literally) and the rest of the down payment on the car is due. The next month is going to be very interesting! Time to cut back on expenses and cash in the recycling. Of course I feel like I am plunging into the depths of despair. But I won't die of course. The rent is paid, the car is paid, the lights are on, life continues. This is a good lesson in both keeping some perspective and on watching the budget even when times are good. Silly human.

I knit on the blue wristlet for a bit today and tackled a few more pages of Barnaby Rudge (still, very little has happened). I made a batch of soap and snuggled the parrot and am making my daily blog post. I was all set to play some WoW, but a little wound up over the budget, so I think I will work on my knitting some more to vent the stress.

In the morning it will be time to collect the recycling to turn in for cash and collect the knitting to hang with my friends at the Dickens Festival!

Peaceful Thursday

Not much to report today. Still practicing patience, calm and keeping a sunny attitude at work and it seems to be paying off. In addition to enjoying my work and co-workers more, I noticed that tody was the first day in a long time that I didn't feel a black shadow of doubt, pressure and expectation hovering behind me. "OhmigodIamgoingtobelate" has become, 'No you won't, you are leaving in plenty of time, enjoy the trip" and so on. I like it!

No reading today, but put two or three rows on the wristlets. It was such a lovely, balmy afternoon that I just drove on the freeway with the windows down during my lunch hour.

Some chores and some WoW this evening and an early bedtime. Our month-end at work is starting up and that means lots of long days for the next week. Tee Hee there is a cat lying on my foot; perhaps I will have to stay rooted to the spot for a bit longer.

Speed Knitting

An action shot of the second blue - with - a - cable wristlet... if posing on a stuffed sloth can be called "action". You can see how vibrant, attractive and engaging our cubes are at work. My computer is right under the sloth's bum. Three cables down and 5 to go and then I will have warm and snug wrists at work. I still love the yarn, the color and the pattern, so I guess I should just enjoy the knitting while it lasts. I am eyeing this yarn in another colorway to make a sister sock / wristlet set.

Reading in _Barnaby Rudge_ continues. It makes _PNP_ look like a real page turner in comparison. So far some people have talked about talking, a man looked suspicious and then rode away, and someone else is bleeding. Whee.

It was another beautiful day in the mid 60s F; sunny and calm. I need to pack my sneakers so that I can resume walking at lunchtime. When I left work at 6:30 I could feel the water in the air and there was a lovely bright full moon to watch over my commute.

Totally Taffy

I finished these socks a while ago and was saving them for a slow blog day. They are made of some Patons yarn (with elastic) that I bought right when I started working at my new job (about a year ago). After a few weeks, I discovered I work only three miles from Velona in Orange County. I don't go by there very often, partially because I forget and partially because I have plenty of yarn, but I bought 2 little skeins of this pretty variegated brown. According to their website, it looks like the Taffy colorway. It was a little wierd working with elasticized yarn, but the finished socks are nice and springy. I also like the short color changes. Some day I may actually wear them! They were good commuter and lunchtime knitting.

Moody Monday

A weird day today; unproductive in some ways and productive in others.

• I didn't go to the beach, but I did catch up on my sleep debt.
• I didn't overhaul the garden, but I did finish _Pride & Prejudice_ at long last.
• I didn't cook any fancy food, but I did eat at home and not "out".
• I didn't get bird cages cleaned, but I did snuggle some cockatiels and the pionus.
• I didn't go to see "The King's Speech", but I did put a couple of levels on one of my WoW characters.
• I didn't go to knitting night, but I did put a few more rows on the 2nd blue wristlet.

My level of energy to go out and do "stuff" was tempered by a dandy of a headache that started in the middle of the night and still hasn't really gone away. I left my Excedrin at work and my Advil is missing... I had to resort to coffee and Vicodin and am feeling a little better. Less nauseous anyway.

The next book in the queue is now _Barnaby Rudge_ by Charles Dickens. It is the theme book for the Dickens Festival this weekend. I doubt I can finish it by then, but it will be fun to explore.

Back to work in the morning!

Daydream Deferred

Well, I didn' t make it to the beach and didn't do any knitting. But tomorrow is coming up fast and is full of possibility!

I did make it to gardening and that was a good time, as always. Wandered by the grocery stores for some snack food and watched a little TV ("The Legend of the Guardians" and "The Royal Tenenbaums") and petted the kitties. One of the baby cockatiels went from crabby and bitey to snuggly and nibbling my ear within an hour.

Martha strongly (!) recommended "The King's Speech", so that is on my to-watch list. Also coming up is the Dickens Festival; it looks like a really strong programme this year. Some sad news on that theme - the creator of the "renaissance faire", Ron Patterson, passed away on January 14th. It is pretty incredible that such a little idea took off in such a big way.

I Said Balmy, not Barmy

Today after work I cast off the first of the blue-with-a-cable wristlets. It matches the socks I finished last week. I like it just fine! It is snug and warm and beautiful. Casting on for #2 commences tomorrow. I have a plan to go to Pt Loma after gardening in the morning if the weather is still fine. The idea of sitting, knitting and watching the ocean is the most appealing thing I can think of right now (inspired by the irrepressible Anne)It was a lovely day here today - the car says it was 84 F at 11:30 this morning. A little breezy, but not too breezy & skies of blue with a few puffy clouds. I enjoyed the drive home with all the windows down. After a little puttering at home I still had the urge to commune with nature, so I popped back into the car and just drove... around. Stopped at the local dive bar for a couple beers and a burger on the way home and it was pretty relaxing. Dinner out of the refridgerator would have been cheaper, but has less ambience.

*YAWN* ooh the lack of sleeping last night and the lateness of the hour are conspriring against me. Spending a little quality time with the birdlings and updating the blog is about all I have energy for!

Breathing

Well, I think I was a little too relaxed, since I missed the mark for posting on Friday. But I am still up (kindof) and hoping not to miss the 4:30 wake up call in the morning.

Today was much more calm thanks to the new "omigod just freaking relax already" policy. I find myself scrunched up and freaked out every 30 seconds or so. Breathe, stretch, relax. Repeat.

Knit a bit at lunch and made some progress in the dreaded _Pride & Prejudice_.

Fulfillment

I have felt this creeping up for a while, but couldn't figure out how to counteract it. Yesterday things came to a head and this morning I got to have a little "sit down" with my manager. Yes, snarky, snippy me is appearing more and more, upsetting my work group. A little hard to hear, but good to get feedback and advice and a push back in the right direction while it is a little problem.

She is right - I have a nice life. I have a great job with people I enjoy being around, I have a home and a car and family and pets. I have friends, interests, money and my health. I have talents and wit and cheer. So why do I sit at my desk and stress out? Not every thing has to be micromanaged (and certainly not by me) every minute of every day. When I started there I was the calm, relaxed, confident and easygoing me that I discovered while I was out of work for over a year. Now, somehow, being at work has made me more neurotic, more possessive and less trusting. I need to let go again.

I like that happy person that I found inside me. I liked the quiet confidence and the knowledge that my manner was charming in its own way. I am going to regain the path of mindfulness, of thankfulness, of seeing the big picture and working for the greater good. The phrase "but... what if ???" is going to be banished from my thoughts and vocabulary.

Harumph Day

I was all set to make a post about how glad I was that it is Wednesday ("hump day") when I remembered that my schedule at work changed and now I work Tuesday to Saturday... making today not-hump day. Sigh. The day went great until the last hour when every flipping file when wrong all at the same time, and at the same time as I was deluged with orders. It was crazy-pants. There may have been tears.

But I am home now, full of tacos and iced tea, communing with the beasties and having a little computer time before bed. I did work on the wristlets today - only 2 more cables on #1 to go! I also started plowing away at _Pride & Prejudice_ again at lunch. Elizabeth has finally met the Lady Catherine and she is a bossy, bossy lady.

Double Trouble

Skye the Parakeet has a cagemate again, after the unfortunate demise of Echo over Thanksgiving. She always tried to beat him up, but after a couple months alone she seems happy to have a new friend to snuggle with. There is a life lesson in there somewhere, I'm sure. Skye is a dominant pied whiteface with a light factor. Wavey is a baby yellowface with a dark factor blue (you can see how far apart the blues are above). The names Skye & Wavey come from the book _The Shipping News_ where the author points out that like girls are named Skye in regions of prairie, they can be named Wavey along the coast.

She is trying to convince him to be shy of people, but I am hoping for the opposite outcome; keeping him hand tame will encourage her to come out and play more often. Yesterday night, after two days with the cage door open, she came out and flew around for a while.

Another good day today. Put in some laundry, heated turkey loaf and made salad for dinner, knit on the wristlet at lunch and now it is time for some bird snuggling and blog posting.

Book Review - _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_

Summary: This book is about a guy with a boat. It can go underwater. His name is Captain Nemo. My favorite part was when they all nearly died under the iceberg because then it would be over sooner. But they lived. If I had a boat, I would do what they all did. But not go under the South Pole because you could get stuck.

This was a fun little read that I actually enjoyed quite a lot. Verne's style (or maybe the narrator's style?) is alternately annoying! really annoying! with far too many exclamation points! and boring, with long lists of mind numbing detail, but the actual story was interesting. There is drama within the characters, among the characters and between the characters and the environment. Ned Land = "need land" & Conseil = "consomme" becuase I wanted to make him into a clear soup by the end!

I longed to have picture book of sea life by my side while I was reading, or maybe little pop up fish icons whenever I came to the long lists of the various sea creatures they encounter. Why the author was so dead set on classifying every. single. fish. in its scientific denotation is a mystery to me. Also mysterious: where was the spinning / weaving mill that made all the sea-fiber clothing? Why didn't Ned and the boys slaughter the crew and claim the Nautilus for their own when they were vulnerable after the South Pole debacle? Why did he make such a big point about the mysterious language and origins of Captain Nemo and then drop it partway through, unresolved? Why is the ending so lame?

Next up on the reading list is _Bertie Wooster and the Lizard King_ and then I think _Around the World in 80 Days_. Pretty much anything to avoid _Pride & Prejudice_.

Sunday Sensibilities

What do I do on Sundays? I think it is the day with the best routine. M-F I just get up, go to work, work, and come home. Saturdays are erratic; sometimes there are activities, sometimes I need to work and sometimes I have a free day to relax. But Sundays are a throwback to the days of being unemployed - the whole day stretching out, full of possibility.

First up is gardening with Martha. Now that it is winter, we have been focusing on pruning back the bushes & roses and thinning the trees. After the rains there were quite a lot of little weeds that sprouted in the garden; I think we have conquered the worst of those now. The oranges came in and were eaten and my homework this week is to find a recipe for lemon curd, as the lemon tree is laden with yummy yellow fruit.

Next stop is usually some lunch / breakfast, a stop at a pet store for supplies & browsing, or a trip to the grocery store. Today it was a visit to Bracken Bird Farm for seed and toys. It was looking a little empty in there and they have quite a lot of things marked down (food, toys, birds) or on sale. I recommend all the bird owners swing by and do their part! The quality of bird, food and service is far superior to Magnolia Bird Farm (although the selection is smaller). Grahamie was a purchase there, and Kiwi and BillyBird were owner turn ins.

Then it was back home for coffee, some cleaning and some computer time. Sunday is a good day for baking / cooking at Chez Picky. This afternoon I am planning on some World of Warcraft, some more chores and a little light reading. No work tomorrow, but I suppose I should still plan on an early evening. I am chilling out with the birds right now - they are torn between enjoying out-of-cage time and taking a nice afternoon nap. At least one is napping outside his cage; the best of both worlds.

And that concludes the Sunday recap!

Overcast

A gray day outside and a gray day in my heart. I lost my sweet Cinnamon Graham Cracker today.
Smart, funny, chatty, soft and a real hit with the ladies (bird ladies, that is), Graham was everything you could want in a man - errr, pet. Luckily he will live on in his son (Hamlet) and the grand-birds (Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, #3 & #4).

I brought in some pretty paperwhite narcissus and blooming rosemary from the garden and they make a very fine bouquet. They smell like ant spray... or maybe ant spray is narcissus scented? But they are very pretty and are a welcome midwinter addition to the garden.

Extra snuggles going out to all the birdies tonight.

Regular

All the staff at Trader Joe's recognized me today and said hello. I think that is a good thing. I certainly spend enough time there! No beer purchase tonight, but I have a date after work tomorrow with a stick of cranberry chevre and some wheat crackers.

Worked on the blue wristlettes at lunch again. It feels good to knit again. I am struck equally with the urge to finish all my projects that are in progress and to cast on for all the things on my wish list. I am pretty happy as a process knitter, but my head is still cold.

Hot Wheels

I signed what I think are the last of the loan documents on the new car today. For someone who doesn't even like buying pants, this has been a very stressful process. Lesson learned: if you are going to be an American, it does not pay to have no credit card balances. So now I have debt again.

I will admit that it is pretty nice to drive around and not worry about asphyxiating the people behind me because the exhaust system in the car is shot, or to worry about expired registration, or to drive only in the far right lane because the car could stall at any moment.

In other news, I knit on the blue-with-a - cable wristwarmers at lunch and am going to play some WoW for the first time in recent memory. Last night I got distracted watching season 4 of "The Guild" and never even logged on. I hope my friends remember me!

Cable-love

Picture day!! The blue - with -a - cable socks are finally done and in the sock rotation. I am pleased to report that they make for a very thin-walled sock that was comfortable to wear in my strappy office shoes. The yarn is Schoppel Wolle in Stonewashed , purchased last year at Knit N Stitch. Construction is toe up with a short row heel and a centered panel of Staghorn Cable 1 from my perpetual knitting calendar (it is May 18).

I may never take them off.

The Guild - Do You Wanna Date My Avatar

I can die a happy woman. A very, very happy woman. If you need me, I'll be in my bunk.

New Socks and More

Today at lunch I finished the blue - with - a - cable socks (no picture, of course). I am diving straight into the matching blue - with -a - cable wristlets, although I managed to twist the cast on row and had to rip them back. I hope for better progress tomorrow. Two socks used only 2/3 of the yarn, so I should have some very respectable wristlets out of the last 30 gr. I wandered through a drawer of half forgotten remainder sock yarn balls and have the urge to mend the socks and then make more wristlets to match.

There was some lovely rain yesterday and today - thankfully it started well after gardening morning was over. It was nice to knit and watch cooking shows at Ruth's and listen to it pour down outside, though! We have had quite a wet fall and now winter, but I am still charmed by the smell, the sound, the feel of the rain coming down. I also appreciate how it waters the lettuces in the garden. I have been trying to eat a little more responsibly this last couple of weeks; more salad, more healthy snacks, less fast food and more home cooked food. This week's big project is stuffed peppers. I am also cutting out pork and beef & focusing more on poultry, fish and vegetarian alternatives. Watching those cooking shows was entertaining and inspiring!

I am back to reading _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ by Jules Verne (tr. by F P Walter) and it is still intriguing. Yesterday we watched a documentary on colossal squid (bigger than the giant ones) and Saturday I saw the Redlands Bowl production of "The Little Mermaid" ballet - so it has been a very aquatic week here. I am still bothered by the fact that the characters is 2oK LUtS wear clothes spun and woven from the filaments of undersea creatures, but there does not seem to be a spinning / weaving mill anywhere on board. Martha said to suspend my disbelief, but it is difficult!

Time to sign off - a cat is using my nylon-clad leg as a scratch post and that is just not as much fun as you would think.

Knitting 2010, part 1

Some knitting did actually occur last year. Or was it the year before? Back in 2008, I acquired some lovely sugar cane yarn from Knit N Stitch. I picked the blue / grey colorway as it looks quite a lot like my parakeet, Skye. The yarn is silky and smooth, but with no elasticity. I knit and I knit and I knit, then some kittens happened and they ate my needles. So the socks languished for, well, let's just say "a while" before I found the emery board and filed down the needles (#0 bamboo). Some time during last year I got motivated - or my feet got cold - and now I have a finished pair of ankle socks. The cuffs are supposed to be short so I can fold them over and be adorable. Of course I forgot to do that during the photo session.
I used up every inch of the yarn; I knit them from opposite ends of the ball and there were moments of extreme entanglement, for sure! But they met in the middle when it came time to cast off and I think they are very respectable socklettes.

Day 1

I'm starting the new year off right - some sock knitting and a blog post! The idea is to keep it up. I worked on the blue - with - a - cable sock #2 this afternoon and it is getting pretty close to done. I will have plenty of yarn left over, so I will make matching wristlets in the same pattern. I have been freezing pretty much the entire day today, so the more knitted articles, the better. The yarn is too fine for a hat but matching socks and wristlets is a stroke of pure genius.

No reading this weekend (I overdid it over Christmas), but I put a few levels on WoW characters and enjoyed some pleasant diversions.

Tomorrow? Gardening with Martha and then craft day with Ruth. I just hope the weather is not courtesy of Noah. A little Biblical humor, there. A very little.

A Blog a Day...

Time to thrill you with another post featuring... no knitting pictures! I have been doing some knitting, however. I managed to finish the heel, join the leg, and start the pattern of the second blue cabled sock. I am only managing a couple rows per day, but it is better than nothing and the pattern is easily memorized. From here I just do 13 repeats of the cable pattern, add some ribbing and bind off. Then I can switch to the rainbow-sherbet colored yarn and finish the 2nd sock of that pair.

Had a good day today - worked in the late morning, drove to meet a friend for "tea" and pie, then fondled some wool and drove home. I nearly got my hands on the runaway kitty tonight... but not quite. She meows like she wants to come home but still runs away! I left her some chow on the porch. Downloaded a couple free (FREE) books to my e reader and now it is time for some (more) tea and a lttle World of Warcraft. I wish beer came in a hot version... or that I knew how to heat up some mulled wine. I wonder where my little crock pot is?

Next week starts the month-end portion of my work schedule... yay for craziness and for overtime pay!