sleepy sleepy

but not really.  i took a nap after work (give me a break! i'd had five days off, working a whole day was a shock to my system!) and now i'm awake!

listening to X songs on the youtube's.  man, i have a huge crush on john doe.  he's dreamy, he's got a lovely voice, and in this video you can see his bare chest.  squee!  um, i'm also going to say something that is going to get me into punk rock hot water; i like exene, but i don't like her voice with john's.  don't get me wrong, she's awesome, X is awesome, but i kind of wish she didn't sound so atonal.  ahem.

i know, you know, everyone knows that "cyber monday" is BULLSHIT.  black friday, all the holiday shopping trends, also bullshit.  but...i found a pattern for this gorgeous afghan and the yarn was on sale...and dammit.  i consoled myself by thinking about how i'll use the yarn to make a family heirloom.  or something for the cat to nap on.  either is okay with me!

L4 can go to hell!

maybe L5 too...

my back has definitely been feeling out of sorts lately.  that's not big news, it bothers me on and off from time to time.  as a kid i sprained it pretty badly and have the tiniest case of scoliosis known to doctors.  it's enough to get me checked out every time one of them feels me up, but not enough to really trouble me or do anything about (but exercise the damn thing).  i thought a nice long walk today would help work my current kinks out, like it usually does, but i hardly went half a mile before my back started in.  it's not just the pain my lower back, it's the sciatica that gets me.  my left thigh likes to go numb, and sometimes it feels like my hip socket might be lined with shards of glass.  awesome!  i did go a whole mile before i gave up, which felt ridiculous.  a mile?!  that was too short a walk.  i know better than to push it, though; i came home and had some ibuprofen and a warm shower, did some more stretches, and will try again tomorrow.  sometimes my back just needs an afternoon to act like a jackass and then it's fine. 

i will admit, though, i would like to move some of that turkey and gravy out of my system!  thanksgiving lasts a long time in this family, and i might be comprised right now of 25% gravy and pie. 

i love my family

but i'm kind of sick of seeing them.  this holiday extravaganza has lasted about three days too long.  yesterday was the girlchild's birthday, which was fun (she got two pairs of boots!  which made the kid super happy).  we had dinner out with my mom and niece, spent the day goofing off and making a tiny layer cake.  today we have thanksgiving over at D's folks house.  i really want to call out sick to it, not because i don't like them (i love them!) but because OMG how much turkey can a family eat? 

i also miss my pop.  i have a sneaky suspicion that holidays might make me slightly grumpy for a few years, especially if they are nice and drawn-out and give me more opportunities to think about him. 

the only thing keeping me perky and smiling out in public is a little pee-wee herman.  go watch the christmas special and feel the holiday spirit suffuse you with goodness.  or something.   it might help to have a cocktail as well.

i'm kinda busy

i admit, i was curious about the band in the hyundai commercial.  they're cute.  looking them up on the internets, i discovered this little cover they did of lady gaga's telephone.  it made me giggle.  you're welcome!

proof that i really am english

i've discovered that i love monty python.  like, a lot.  i could watch it all day long.  lucky for me, they've been playing it a lot on IFC.  there's nothing better than knitting a hat and watching monty python for hours.  trust me. 

happy thanksgiving!

kind of late, but still.  when i went to bed last night, we had quite the guest list.  woke up this morning to snow still falling and a few inches on the ground, and a short time later our list was considerably smaller.  i admit i was bummed out that my mom, sister and aunt weren't coming over, but we had an awesome day anyway.  D's parents came over, the kids were both in happy moods, we made way too much food, and then took naps in the living room after eating our way through it.  it was nice.  i was sad mom was stuck at home, but she was happy to be cozy with her dog and knitting, and not trying to navigate icy roads and ridiculous washington drivers.  she might still come up this weekend to eat leftovers with us! 

we just nibbled a bit on leftovers as we cleaned up, watched some ridiculous tv (ancient astronauts, anyone?!) and now the boys are in the living room watching something called "prank" and cracking up.  i hope you all had a great day.  i know once i stopped being disappointed about everyone getting snowed in, i ended up really enjoying the snow and getting ready with my little family.  it was a small, intimate thanksgiving dinner, which was different for us.  we still have one more thanksgiving celebrations to attend this weekend, and maybe an impromptu party or two this weekend, and enough food to eat leftovers for weeks.  i have a long weekend ahead of me (i don't go back to work until next tuesday!) so i plan on getting my lounge on and doing some serious knitting and cleaning.  or just knitting.  we'll see! 

options

i had two options for today: go to the dentist to have some old fillings pulled and re-filled (which feels the same as just getting a damn cavity filled), or go to the girlchild's parent-teacher conference.  normally i'd do anything to get out of going to the dentist, including crying, faking my death, barfing, etc,  but today that actually sounded like the better option.  so now i have a face full of numb, and D had to deal with the teachers all by his lonesome.

i love the girlchild.  i think she's funny and interesting and sweet, but her grades this year have been abhorrent.  the kind of stuff she brought home at the last progress report would have gotten me grounded for YEARS.  i know i've mentioned it before, but there are times when my parenting style differs from D's, and this proved to be one of those times.  he didn't want to make her feel bad, and i never wanted her to be able to leave the house again.  we've been working together to figure out what's going on, why her grades are this bad (it's not because she's dumb, i'll give her that), and what we can do, all together, to make them better.  it is exhausting work, and i have to say it's disheartening to work all day at my actual job and then spend hours arguing with an 11 year old who KNOWS EVERYTHING ALREADY (GOD!), and trying to help her get her work done.  it's been a trying few weeks, and i'm still figuring out a good way to help her, without doing the work for her (or getting conned into doing more than i should be).  teaching self-reliance and responsibility while trying to help is tougher than i thought it would be.

i know going to the dentist instead of going to the school probably isn't the best thing i could have done (if i had been on top of stuff i would have just moved my appointment), but i am sick of talking/thinking/working on this subject.  there have also been a few times that i've clearly stepped on D's toes, and i want to give him some space to work on this by himself as well.  i'm also a little tired of being the Hammer Of Consequences (i.e. the Wicked Stepmother), and if i put off this dental appointment, i'd never go.

things are slowly righting themselves, and i think our girl understands that we really aren't trying to be assholes, but it's hard work.  i hope the meeting went well today, and that D comes home with nothing but good news, and that my mouth co-operates while i try to drink a cup of tea.  we also got snow today, and i am freezing.

p.s.  if you live in the skagit valley and are looking for a dentist, i highly recommend dr. matterand.  i always call him dr. matterhorn in my head, but trust me, he's awesome.  i am nervous and sketchy and usually require medication to visit the dentist, but this guy makes everything easy and painless.  i have yet to feel a needle going into my gums.  good times.  his staff is also awesome, and the kids see dr. forsythe and love him too.

working!

this year thanksgiving is at our house.  i did this for a few reasons, one of which being that even though my mom lives only an hour or so away, i'm a bit sick of driving out to the island.  there's also something kind of exciting about being grown-up enough to host a holiday.  to get ready, today we did a whole lot of work around the house.  things were vacuumed, bleach spray was used liberally in the bathroom, the carport was cleaned out, and i bought a slipcover for the couch.  whew.  then i took a long ass nap.  i'm really not so domestic, it took a lot out of me.

i'm also working on a lap-afghan that no one loves but me.  see it up there!  it's loud and ridiculous and soft and cozy.  i maybe knit a bit too much this weekend, my mean pea is acting up and my left wrist is unhappy with me.  tomorrow i get to go to the dentist and maybe the girlchild's parent-teacher conference.  i say maybe because D might have to go without me, depending on how long the dentist takes.  honestly, i could do without both, but what are you going to do?  i need to have a filling replaced, and we need to get a handle on why getting homework done is such an issue for the girl.  good times!  we'll also get to do a little more shipping for thanksgiving day supplies, and i might bust out the new tablecloth.  ooh, la la. 

did i mention i have the weekend off?

because although i know i did, i don't think i told you why that was at all important and/or interesting.  the thing is, since earlier this summer i've been working with a co-worker's daughter two mornings a weekend.  not such a huge deal, as i have three day weekends i always had a day to myself.  however, it's been about six months, and i'm now trying to honestly get married, and i was spending upward of six hours a weekend being responsible and having a standard appointment set up.  it meant needing to make arrangements when i wanted to go somewhere overnight or have a weekend "off," and it cut my weekend days into weird little chunks.  i'm not complaining; what i was doing was awesome and i felt like i was helping out a family i truly like.  at the same time, i'd forgotten what three whole days full of fuck-all were like, and you know what?  three whole days to myself, to do what i want, when i want to do it, are pretty fucking awesome.  yesterday i spent the whole day with the girlchild, shopping and goofing and going to a fall festival at her school.  we bought expensive lip balms and ate out for dinner.  we rented penelope (which was charming) and stayed up late waiting for her father to come home.  this morning i slept in and am now having a cup of coffee with both half & half and sugar in it.  i'm not trying to convince you i'm a badass when i say i usually take my coffee black, it's just i grew up drinking it that way and am lazy in the morning.  i just need it in my cup, and hot, and that's enough.  however, cream and sugar are delightful, and i think i'm going to spend all day drinking coffee and wandering around the house working on crafty shit.  there is a good chance my pj's will be on all day, and that makes me impossibly happy.

what's your favorite thing to do when you have a weekend day with nothing on the agenda?  do you get stuff done or just laze about?  is there something special, like coffee with cream, you save for those days?      

shoppy stuff

i just got a whole ton of xmas shopping done over on etsy.  nothing feels better than looking at a list and checking stuff off!  what i love about etsy (and i'm sure i've mentioned this before) is that you can get handmade, unique stuff, at totally reasonable prices.  i love it. 

this is the first weekend in quite a while where i haven't had anything to do.  the agenda holds a whole lot of nothing, and after a ridiculous amount of sleep last night (think double digits, baby), i'm feeling all kinds of productive. 

it was also decided last night that thanksgiving this year will be at my house.  that is a first.  i was talking to D the other day when i asked him how he would feel if we just stayed home this year.  i love my family, but i do kind of hate having to drive all over on the holidays, and i thought there might be a way of just keeping to home this year.  i brought it up with my mom yesterday and was surprised to hear her say she thought that was an awesome idea, and that she would much rather come over here.  my sister said the same thing.  our house is the biggest, and while our kitchen isn't the best (that honor would go to my mother), we have been here long enough to know how to work with it.  i'm kind of excited to be grown-up enough to host a family holiday.  i think deciding on a menu and working on the meal together will also be good practice for D and i vis-a-vis wedding planning and stuff.  we think we work well together in the kitchen, because at home we do, but on a larger scale? who knows.  one of us might be a culinary dictator and not even know it. 

i think now i'll wash my hair, then venture out to get a trim.  i'm getting a bit shaggy.  although i did have a terrible dream last night that i went to get an inch cut off and they gave me a bob that made me cry.  do you think that's a sign? in that dream i also ran into my favorite babysitter as a child, who was a hot young man named jay, and tried to get him to make out with me.  even though i was a grown-up in the dream, he declined, saying he couldn't kiss a girl he'd babysat.  i was bummed. 

whoa, slow down

i just put an alchemy request up over on etsy, for help designing my save the date cards.  in like five minutes i had five bids!  crazy!  it's exciting, though.  while i'm crafty, my computer skills aren't always the best, and i don't have access to photoshop or illustrator or even any fancy microsoft stuff.  instead of beating my head against my computer and coming up with something retarded looking, i thought "i can ask for help with this."  help indeed!  it's too bad i have to go back to work, i could look at invites and bids all day. 

quiet monday

i had such plans for yesterday!  i was going to work on all sorts of crafty things, i was going to do some laundry and some cleaning, i was going to make some sort of delicious dinner.  then D and i went out to breakfast, i had the world's worst bloody mary, and all my ambition kind of slipped away.  i napped, lazed about in my track pants*, then ate what D made for dinner and passed out on the couch watching cartoons. 

so far today i've already gotten more done than yesterday, which isn't too hard since yesterday i did NOTHING.  i'm hoping to keep my productive streak going, using daylight savings time to my advantage.  i want to start working on save the dates, and get some stuff done around the house while the kids are at school.  this is why i love mondays, the house is quiet, D and i get to goof around, and if you get up early enough you have the pleasure of seeing the whole day spread out before you, waiting for you to do all sorts of things. 

*i bought them for walking, which i do use them for, but have found that when i'm not in scrubs lately, i'm in a pair of track pants and a sweatshirts.  it's like my weekend uniform.  gross.

movie talk

i just watched get him to the greek, the unrated version, with the girlchild.  i kept saying, "may! this is inappropriate!  INAPPROPRIATE.  please disregard the last scene."  as though she's a jury i can bully. ha! 

the boychik and i are getting ready to watch splice.  after that, i'll apologize for parenting while drinking wine, and fall asleep.  we all win.  or something.

hell yes!

since i've gotten the button maker, you may have noticed i've been kind of quiet about it.  to be honest, it wasn't working.  or rather, it worked one out of four or five times.  we tried everything to fix it, and finally decided to wait until we got some new parts before we thought about sending it back.  D and i ordered parts from two other companies, and a set showed up last night, just as i was taking dinner out of the oven.  HOLY SHIT.  the difference is amazing.  the machine isn't sticking, it isn't smooshing stuff, it's doing what it's supposed to do.  granted, there are still a few boo-boo buttons on occasion, but from what i've read, that's totally normal.  one out of ten or twenty is an okay number by me, and honestly, some of those were user error (like forgetting to put in a piece of mylar).

can i tell you how excited i am?!  i've been cutting up cute old japanese stationery and paper, magazine photos, and have a cute little assembly line set up at the kitchen table.  the plans i have!  the buttons i want to make!  i honestly think i might even need a simple version of photoshop, but i'll wait until after the holidays for that.  maybe.  i am having so much fun playing with it that there's always a chance i'll order sooner...  i might put some of the buttons up on etsy in sets, but more than anything i just want to make all the buttons i think of in my head, and put them on all my clothes, on the kids clothes, on D, on the cat, on the busdriver and postman, etc.  if you want me to send you one at random, let me know!  i want to share the button-y love.  send me an email at pinprick (at) gmail (dot) com!  

more talk of centipedes

it's awful, but i am the type of kid to tell my mother about something as gross as the human centipede.  while at her house on saturday, i told both her and my aunt about it, and while my aunt was aghast (because, duh) my mom went from being shocked to being seriously curious.  she wanted to know where she could rent it, and if i didn't know any better, i'd say there's a good chance that at some point my mother will view that movie all on her own. 

in other news, my mother is awesome.

my sinuses, however, not so awesome.  i actually took the day off work today to blow copious amounts of mucus out of my face and lay around moaning about how much my head hurts.  thanks to a handful of sudafed, my head feels better, albeit floating three feet above my neck.  i'm trying to make the house tidy (ha!), and getting ready for a walk over to the post office.  i sold some stuff on amazon this week to appease D, and to make some room.  for four people, there sure is a lot of stuff in this house, and most of it is mine.  no, that's not quite it.  about half of it is mine, and that's still too much! 

i missed the premiere of the walking dead this weekend, i'm not sure how that happened, so i'm going to try to hunt it down in re-runs or on the computer this week too.  the boychik and i need to see it.  i'm also going to play around with save-the-date ideas and using a printer with my mac.  i have an idea for a linocut too i want to mess around with.  days off are great for this sort of thing, even if it does come with snot and a headache.  

hooray for november!

rexville grange, represent

the month of october just ran on by, i'm hoping i get a chance to slow things down and enjoy november more.  so far it's off to a good start, and the end of october was pretty rad.  i had a birthday, which was fun (we went to port townsend for the day and just wandered around), there was halloween and all the candy, and we found a place to get married next year.  that's it, up there. 

i really loved the laconner flats, and getting married there in the rose garden sounded pretty fucking amazing.  however, we are going to have a lot of wedding guests.  that is something i've come to terms with: D's got a big family, and he just isn't okay with the idea of a little ceremony with hardly anyone there.  having the wedding at the flats meant we needed to rent a tent, or two, some heaters, chairs and tables and you can see where this is heading, right?  all that money for rentals was eating into our budget, and at the end of the day we'd have an awesome looking wedding with pigs in a blanket as appetizers.  i like pigs in a blanket, but was hoping for more on my wedding day.  there's also the whole issue of the two of use being kind of into food, and when we sat down and talked about what was important to us on our wedding day, we agreed that making sure our guests were fed and happy was a big thing. 

whew.  to that end, we postponed stuff.  obviously.  i started looking around at different venues, and stumbled across a website about washington state granges.  one we've driven past on many a sunday is the rexville grange.  i sent over an email to get some more information, and yesterday D and i drove our there to take a peek.  holy shit.  the place is HUGE (i mean it, it's massive), has a great old history, comes with tables and chairs aplenty, and has a beautiful outdoor area that we can also use if the weather holds.  it's also seriously reasonably priced, and you get the whole place from friday night to sunday.  the day of the wedding you get to just relax and focus on being wed, because you have the day before to set up, and the day after to tear down.   

a lot of what was stressing us both out about the wedding is now taken care of.  i don't have to rent anything, i don't have to do a lot more in the way of logistics, and can focus on fun stuff, like invites and decorations.  D is still in charge of the food (for the most part), and instead of a sit-down dinner we're thinking about going the nibbles route.  good nibbles, of course, but lots of delicious finger foods and pie and cake rather than a buffet or something more formal.  the weather in northwest washington in the month of may can also be lovely or rainy, so it's nice to know that we have indoor and outdoor options, and no matter what, people will be dry and comfortable.  we have plenty of time to work on the rest, thanks to already having a good idea of what we want, and starting work on it earlier.  having the site nailed down (again) and the date set (also, again) is a relief.  i did tell D if he tries to postpone again, i'm going to kill him, if my mom doesn't get to him first.  no wedding is ever perfect, and i think after our first try planning one, he's gotten that.  hopefully he'll relax and just enjoy setting this one up, because if he doesn't? i'm going to insist on elopement or staying shacked up forever.  it was disappointing to call off the wedding, and i don't think i can go through that again, even if it wasn't because of cold feet and was just all about the planning and timing, and even if it was nice to have more time.  one postponement is enough for this girl, thank you very much.