Fluff and Lint balls

A whole bunch of unrelated, non-critical, fluffy stuff from the lint trap of my life ...

My sister got my boys Lite Brite and Hullabaloo for Christmas. These ROCK! We've been playing with the Lite Brite for days (and thus far have not lost any pegs.) Pretty groovy. If you're dying to get some of that Retro Lite Brite feel yourself, or if you're just bored to death at work, check this out. Hullabaloo is great fun - the kids get moving and hoping and making great animal sounds. If you work it just right and play along, it can be a great work out for everyone!

Along those same lines, we've been playing Uno like mad around here. Every day we play at least 2 games and I love it. Duck always wants to change colors without rhyme or reason and Stealth always wants to use the Draw Two card as a regular two, but they just laugh and laugh when you tell them the deal. I love playing games with them - I think every family should play games together. It's amazing how much you can learn.

Kids are going to the In-laws tonight. I'm thinking that B and I will go see a movie. I've been wanting to see The Pursuit of Happyness. It might make me cry so freaking hard that I blow snot on the head in front of me or it might make me want to get my kids early, I'm not sure, but I love a story of triumph over adversity. I've been told that they don't go into much detail about Chris Gardner and his meteoric rise to multi-millionaire status after getting out of the cycle of homelessness, but I've seen him on TV and it's amazing. The thing he's most proud of is not his riches, but the fact that he broke the cycle of childhood abandonment. I know that B will be crying, I know that I'll be sobbing, and I'm positive that we'll be a lot more grateful for the abundance of things we do have and a lot less obsessed on the frivolous things that we don't.

I'm knitting a sweater for myself. A cardigan, in fact. This is a big deal - I've never made a full sweater for myself and thought it was about time. JM Bill gave me a slew of gorgeous gorgeous yarn from Ireland last year for Christmas and it's been sitting in my closet begging to be used for a full year. Yesterday, I decided to whip that stuff out and turn it into something fabulous. We'll see. It's a challenge finding a good sweater pattern - especially a cardigan. I'm only 30 and don't want a sweater that screams out, "Hi, I'm 68 years old and want to crochet a cozy for my cat." We shall see how it turns out. I've got one sleeve done, close to being done with the second sleeve. I'm thinking I'll have it done sometime early next week - my hands have been busy.

Speaking of busy hands, I'm itching like made for more wool to spin. I've been out for several weeks now as the folks at OH prepare for the upcoming trade show in San Diego. Hey, T & D, if you're reading this, I'm ready for a ton of fluff whenever you get it. I'm getting antsy. My wheel is looking at me as if I've taken on another lover. It is turning it's back on me and huffing. I swear I saw it checking my laundry the other day for signs of foreign wool.

I have several clients lined up for this year which is kind of surprising because I was on the verge of deciding to not take any at all. They just kept calling and I just kept being unable to say no - they all touched my heart for one reason or another. One is a repeat and let me just say, I LOVE repeats. I've been through it once with them before, so it's easy to make plans for the next one (what they liked, what they didn't like, what was a surprise, what do they want this time?) And, frankly, it's easier because there is no interview process. Just send them the paperwork and they send me a check. LOVE that.

My brother and his wife got me 2 Bob Dylan box sets for Christmas. I'm thrilled that they thought of it - it really shows that they know my tastes. Unfortunately, they know what I like so well that 3 of the 6 cds in the sets are ones that I already have. Eh well, I'm always losing cds or wearing them out, so now I have back ups. NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE.

B and I got the MailMate shredder the other day. I never thought I'd spend that much money on a freaking shredder, but I did and we LOVE it. It will shred anything. I mean it, ANYTHING. Staples, paper clips, up to 20 sheets at a time. We get about 10 credit card offers a week (no joke) and we never open them, we never apply, but it takes forever to cut that crap up into tiny pieces. Not anymore. Just run it through the shredder and I swear to Elvis, it puts it into tiny pieces of paper instantly and we dump it right into the recycling. I love office equipment.

Bill is in Botswana now and cannot wear her boots. I hear your heart breaking from here, JM Bill. I can hear it. In honor of your pain, I'm gonna go out and buy myself some new boots this weekend or next week, I think. I know I know, I just got a pair, but I want some taller ones. I mean, I broke down and bought some skinny jeans and I need lots of things to tuck them into, dammit. I'll tell you what - I'll send you photos of boots, you send me photos of tank tops. It'll be like Seasonal Porn or something.

DDFF, if we don't get sushi soon, I'm going to kidnap one of the sushi dudes and kidnap you and we'll lock ourselves in a yarn shop, taking hostages if we have to, until we get our full fix of sushi and fibers. Since I will have spent all my bail money on boots (see above,) I'm not sure this is the best plan, so let's schedule something ASAP!!!

There is a girl on the cover of one of my knitting books who might very well be the most beautiful 13 year old girl I've ever seen. DAMN. That's some good genetics. Looking at my kids, I think they're going to be fine. My father still has a full thick head of hair in his 60's, so that gives me hope for the boys beautiful locks. All in all, B and I are not hideously homely people and we don't have any family members that are all that ghastly, either. While I'd love them no matter what they look like, let's be honest - life is easier if you're not the ugly duckling every day of your entire existence. Having said that, how would one tell if their child was ugly? I mean, doesn't love make you blind? Hell, for that matter, I could be an ogre. B could be a Quasimodo type figure and my kids might look like total trolls, but I'd never know, I'd never see it. Ain't love grand? We spend so much time focusing on our appearance and, when it really counts, our looks don't even factor into the equation. Heh. Life is funny that way.

Gummy worms are disgusting. My kids were eating them yesterday (thanks, B, for that little treat, gah!) and they made me agree to eat one. I swear, I don't think there was one natural ingredient in them. I'm nearly positive that even the water was artificial. BLAH.

I have monster trucks upstairs. If I hear the Big Foot Presents Meteor theme song one more time, I'm going to vomit. I suppose it could be worse. I could be stepping on Barbie shoes. And that bitch always has better shoes than me. Who needs her?

Have a good weekend, folks. I'm out of here because, apparently, "Monster trucks are on the go!!"