Man, when I decide to forget about something, I manage to forget about it.

In other news, I recently spent some $3,000.00 on a three year old cat.  The correlation between the two numbers has not been lost on me, and I fear what his old age will cost me.  However, he's rather cute and lovable and snuggly and I suppose I can forgive him for his stupidity.

(This is not the injured party, though she would like to get some share of his reward for pain and suffering for her life was also disrupted and that is Clearly Not Allowed.)

For, you see, he injured himself jumping off the kitchen counter.  Well, falling off, if I am to be honest.  He made a mad scramble to jump off because he knew he was about to be scolded for being where he KNOWS he does not belong, and chose a piece of paper on the corner of the counter as his launching pad.  It failed to provide the support he required and evidently cats need at least four feet vertical distance to get their feet back under them.

The more you know, I guess?



In other news, I have finished my father's Christmas Socks.  I still need to weave the ends in, but that shouldn't take too long.  I've also purchased my mother's yearly calendar (www.despair.com - love their stuff, as does my mother.) and a welcome mat for their new home.  Three Christmas gifts done, way too many to go.

I have, however, started figuring out my Christmas Knitting.  In theory, it would be a good idea to do that a bit earlier in the year, but I work best under pressure.  Or something.

I have to say, the iPhone 4 takes some very nice pictures.  I'm very interested in what the iPhone 5 will be capable of managing.

Other random observations:
- Beer is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
- My mind continues to be as weird and random as ever.

Gotta Stay Postive

I evidently very much fail at this whole "keeping a blog" thing. I think I'm supposed to actually post on a regular basis. Much like I'm supposed to actually water my plants. Instead, I seem to carrying out a not-very-well-regulated experiment on how many times one can bring basil back from the brink of death.

Life ... continues. I work, I eat, I shower, I knit, I read, I waste hours online, I go to bed way too late. Lather, rinse, repeat. (How many people actually do repeat?)

I have two scratches caused by a cat chasing another cat.

I am evidently a grown-up in that I want a vacuum cleaner attachment for my birthday.

I have now played laser tag while wearing a suit twice. Some of my friends are crazy enough to not only indulge me with such hair-brained ideas, but to do so twice. And to eat dinner at strange places such as a pub located inside a grocery store. In suits.

My family spends way too much time at IKEA. I realized this when a few of us randomly decided to go tonight ... and ran into two more. Either that, or we're all part of a hive mind and should start to wear tin-foil hats.

My best friend is getting married in October. I am maid of honor. This means that one: YAY! Wedding! and that two: I have to plan a bridal shower and a bachelorette party. I think I have a better handle on the bachelorette party. Alcohol, a penis-shaped object or five, make t-shirts before heading out. Bridal shower, however, will require invitations and a location and a date and and and. Blargh. I'd say good thing I love her, but she's helped me move many, many times. Even helped me get a couch stuck halfway in and halfway out of my apartment. (And thankfully, unstuck once we sawed off 1/2" of a corner...) I guess I owe her. And hey, excuse to wear a awesome dress! And maybe even some pearls.

I need to start taking pictures again.

Don't Rain On My Parade

Dear horses, Why do you all seem to drink more water when it is raining out? Does the sound of rain makes you thirsty? in wonderment, the bringer of noms, wrangler of hoses, and shoveler of poop. Dear CCLS, Requiring my full name, library card number, AND a PIN just pisses me off. Mostly because the odds of me actually remembering the entirety of my library card number are slim-to-none and since you require three fields, my web browser doesn't recognize the info as a password and thus, won't save it. Also, renting out DVDs disc by disc and NOT specifying VERY CLEARLY in the online catalog which disc is which is just cruel. And I used to wonder why I never make time to go to the library... a MLS graduate who greatly dislikes your system. Dear body, Get with the program. These random aches and pains? I'm going to ignore them until I can't, and then I just throw ibuprofen at them anyway. Don't you like your daily vitamin? And all the water I've been managing to drink? Oh, you just want warm weather again. I'll see what I can do about that. the person who has no say in this matter, evidently. Dear cats, When you jump up on the bathroom sink and yell at me, I assume you want a drink. If you want something else, such as attention or love, don't demand it on the bathroom sink. You and I speak different languages and I'm doing my best here. Oh, and kitten? Stop sneaking into my purse to fish out the ball of yarn. the person who knows full well that she's not actually in charge. Dear weather, I'm tired of having to change my underwear and pants multiple times a day. Please to be stopping with the multiple-day rain storms, mkay? Also, isn't it spring? Shouldn't there be a few awesome days of great weather? the person who is tired of wearing a load of laundry a day. 

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

really cool plants in the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens

On Thursday, my father and I drove to Virgina to help my mother clear 15' of 'road' in the middle of her 12 wooded acres.

We left at 9:30pm for a five hour drive.

I did, however, discover that I have very good aim with an ax. And that it is very weird to look in your review mirror and see a severed tree trunk floating in midair ... and that it is chained to the back of your pick-up truck.

for some reason, the shadows from the other side of this window caught my eye

I also learned how to change the alternator in a 1999 F-350 Diesel truck, should anyone ever need any assistance in that way. And that if your headlights slowly dim while driving, odds are good that your alternator is going and that you won't make it very far before the vehicle will shut down all on its own. And that such an event can cause your departure time to shift from 8pm on Saturday to 2pm on Sunday.

star lights that looked a little less cool in person.

Also, they make me think of Ikea.

All in all, I would call it a successful weekend as we got a lot of work done with the trees and no one was killed. In this family, spending 48+ hours with each other and no fighting is a major accomplishment.

The Christmas knitting continues - I will need to write another FO post for the pair of fingerless mitts, and I also need to finish up the second pair of socks. I'm on the toe of the first sock, so there is hope. Something won't be finished in time, but I think that shall be my father's hat and he'll just have to deal.

Magically lit berries.  It was beautiful out that night, if cold.

A few random observations:
1. Cats always Know when you are making the bed, and appear out of no where. I swear that I had checked the room for kitties and shut the door, certain that there were none present. Somehow, they made it through the closed door to jump up on the bed and "help."

2. It doesn't feel like Christmas without finals and papers and school. Nothing to really look forward to, other than Christmas in and of itself. And while I like the holiday, it isn't my favorite.

3. Winter sucks. Somehow, I forget every year that I get the Blahs around this time, thanks to the whole day-light savings, shorter days and longer nights, wet winter weather, and the stress of the holidays. Having remembered that this is actually normal for me, I'm finally starting to shake it off, but you'd think I could figure that part out as it happens every year.

4. The smell of a kitteh who has been outside for a while is wonderful when you're curled up and drifting off to sleep.

5. The kitten's paws still smell like popcorn.