My awesome friend Kenia over at Diarios de Filosofia often inspires me. Recently, she has started a Wordless Wednesday, where she simply posts a single photo without a word of explanation. I really love her idea, and (hoping she doesn’t mind!) I’m going to try it out myself.
Last week I decided I needed a new, fast knitting project to knock out before motivating myself to work on my Central Park Hoodie again. After much deliberation, I decided Felicity fit the bill perfectly - a super quick, mindless tv-watching knit. Unfortunately, only after committing to the pattern did I realize it calls for casting on a surprisingly small amount of stitches on worsted weight yarn - on size FIVE needles.
This is how it went:
Hat FAIL!
This morning I decided that I am not going to give Felicity another chance. Instead, I’m going to knit something warm and somewhat simple in Malabrigo. I didn’t currently have any Mal in my small yarn stash - I’m not much of a stasher; more of a buy-yarn-as-I-need-it type - so I flew to Twisted on my lunch break (and by “flew” I mean I broke at least 325 traffic laws) and happily adopted 2 skeins of luscious purple Malabrigo Chunky specifically for Bella’s Mittens.
Yes, an exact replica of the mittens worn by Kristen Stewart as Bella in the movie Twilight. Call me a nerd, but I think they’re fitting, as I’m currently enveloped in the third book of the series, Eclipse.
These nearly-elbow length mittens will be warm, smooshy, butter soft, and best of all - MINE ALL MINE. I can’t wait to fondle wind my yarn tonight after Sam and I’s make-up sushi dinner date. =)
You demanded it, and I’m happily providing.
Click here to view the music video taking the internet by storm, made by the talented (and obviously very bored) guys at Weebl.
Without further ado, I give you the lyrics:
Look at my horse; my horse is amazing.
Give it a lick.
“MMMmm! It tastes just like raisins!”
Have a stroke of it’s mane,
it turns into a plane,
and then it turns back again when you tug on it’s winky.
“Oooo that’s dirty!”
Do you think so?
Well I better not show you where the lemonade is made -
Sweet lemonade, mmmm sweet lemonade.
Sweet lemonade, yeah sweet lemonade.
Get on my horse I’ll take you ’round the universe -
and all the other places, too.
“I think you’ll find that the universe pretty much covers everything.”
Shut up woman, get on my horse.
Today is not a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Yesterday was awful. Last night was miserable. This morning was rough, and now I’m headed to work for the day. I have, however, found something that very successfully (albeit temporarily) relieves the pain of such a bad day.
A coworker turned me on to a certain song that, listened to for varying amounts of time, forces me to feel completely better while listening to it. Usually, it takes less than 10 seconds before I’m smiling and singing along. It’s just that awesome of a song.
With lyrics like
“Look at my horse, my horse is amazing.”
and
“I think you’ll find that the universe pretty much covers everything”,
you really can’t go wrong.
If you aren’t familiar with Shut Up Woman Get On My Horse, allow me to introduce you.
*Fair warning: This may be NSFW, depending on who you work for. There may be a 2-second clip of animated horse genitalia. If that offends you or would get you fired, please enjoy this video from home instead. This also *will* be stuck in your head. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Without further ado, click here to watch the music video. And you’re welcome.
Since becoming parents to little Wednesday in 2008, and then a month later to baby Gir, things have been relatively easy and mostly stress-free. We fell in love with both of them, and love and care for them as if they were our own children. We had two happy, healthy kittens who quickly became a part of our family.
When we first brought them home, they both had awful kitteh colds from their short stay in the Humane Society, but after two rounds of antibiotics they were healthy and back to normal. Since then, we haven’t had a single problem. Not even after the millions of vaccines required by Multnomah County. That all changed yesterday morning.
Some back story - over the summer, we harness-trained both kitties so we could walk them around our back yard to play in the grass. They LOVED their time outside, and we felt like we were giving them a safe way to enjoy the outdoors without the fear of having them run over by cars on the street. In doing so, we realized around the middle of the summer that both kitties had fleas BAD. They were covered. They were everywhere, even in our carpet.
For a full month, we doused everything in the house with pet-safe flea killer over and over and gave both cats flea baths every other day. They were so used to getting baths that Wednesday even stopped scratching us and Gir seemed to have given up on fighting the water. What we didn’t realize was that our bathtub drain was slowly accumulating POUNDS of cat hair. By the end of the summer, it was so plugged that even regular Drano wasn’t dissolving the hairy mess in the drain pipe. That’s when we simply stopped using that bathroom.
We started showering in the front bathroom, despite it’s significantly smaller tub. Call us lazy, but it was the easiest solution. Finally, after weeks of putting up with the less comfortable shower, I decided I couldn’t stand it any longer. On a trip to Home Depot for a new kitchen faucet (that’s a story for another time), Sam and I stood in front of the drain cleaner aisle for ten minutes debating which would work the best to eat through the massive amount of cat hair plugging our drain.
We picked the one with the skull and crossbones symbol of CERTAIN DEATH all over it. The one that screamed “DISSOLVES HAIR AND GREASE ON CONTACT” and “GAURANTEED TO WORK”. It had the word “ACID” at least three times on the bottle, and was the only bottle that came inside it’s own protective bag. We were determined to fix our drain, and we agreed that this was obviously the most hardcore drain cleaner available. Satisfied with our choice, we bought it.
Tuesday afternoon, I put two rubber gloves on each hand, carefully opened the re-sealable safety bag, pulled out the bottle of acid and opened it. Per the clearly labeled instructions, I poured about 2 cups of drain cleaner directly into the plugged drain. To my surprise, it didn’t go anywhere. It just pooled up and stayed there.
“Damn!”, I thought, “That must be one hell of a hairball!”
I put a paper plate over the pool of acid, also per the bottle’s instructions as it warns the main ingredient has a tendency to “erupt”, and made sure to close the bathroom door so NO KITTIES COULD POSSIBLY GET TO THE TUB. I found Sam, and warned him of the CERTAIN DEATH looming in the tub, and stressed how important it was that NO KITTIES ARE ALLOWED IN THAT BATHROOM.
Yesterday morning, we got up and showered for work like normal. As I step out of the shower, I hear Sam in our back bedroom going,
“SHIT. Shit. SHIT!”
I yelled back to him asking what was wrong and he frantically admits that Wednesday had gotten into the tub in our back bathroom. As in THE TUB. THE TUB OF CERTAIN DEATH. THE TUB I SPECIFICALLY TOLD HIM TO NOT ALLOW KITTIES ANYWHERE NEAR. He had gone into the toxic bathroom for q-tips and hadn’t noticed that Wednesday had pushed her way through the door and jumped right into the tub.
I immediately start panicking. I run to the bedroom to see him huddled over a frantic Wednesday who is obviously in pain, sticking her tongue out and then back in over and over. I can already see the bright red spot forming on her tongue. I run to the Bathroom Of Death and pull the Bottle Of Death out of the kitty-safe cabinet to read the warning label:
“WARNING: CAUSES SEVERE BURNS ON CONTACT. Do not induce vomitting. If ingested, immediately rinse affected area with water and call poison control.”
At this point I’m in tears. We just killed our precious Wednesday. Little Wednesday, our tiny 7 pound cuddle monster, has been poisoned.
Fast foward 2 hours and I’m sitting anxiously inside the vet exam room waiting for the doctor to assess her situation. She hasn’t stopped licking and keeps punching herself in the mouth, I’m sure from the pain. The vet staff didn’t waste any time and carefully examined her mouth, throat, face, and paws. The front half of her tongue is red and raw, but not yet blistered. Thankfully, neither her face nor her paws appear to have come in contact with the acid. The vet gets on the phone with poison control to discuss a plan of action. $135 later, I’ve got 3 prescription medications to both heal her and lessen the pain, and an antibiotic to battle the kitty cold she came down with that same day.
The vet assured me that she is going to be okay. We caught it early enough that it hasn’t poisoned her, and they couldn’t find any indication that she actually swallowed any of the acid; just touched her tongue to it and then spit it out. They encouraged a 12-hour watch on her, just to be sure it wouldn’t swell and close her airway. And to monitor for any changes or an increase in pain. I took the rest of the day off without pay, as I used my remaining 3 days of PTO on our Vegas vacation.
Wednesday wouldn’t eat ANYTHING yesterday, which was a big concern. I even bought 3 cans of tuna - TUNA, her FAVORITE! - and she wanted nothing to do with it. I imagine her tongue was just too sore. She kept walking over to the dry food dish as if she wanted to eat, but walked away when she realized it was just too painful. I was really worried that she was going to starve herself and we’d have to have bring her back in for an IV drip. (I can’t imagine how expensive that would be.)
Last night, she didn’t sleep in bed with us like she normally does. Gir happily slept the entire night right next to me as usual, but Wednesday was nowhere to be found. We’re assuming she slept under the couch, which has become her safe haven when she’s hurt or sick. When our alarm went off to wake us for work, she ran to our room and jumped on Sam’s side of the bed, purring and snuggling for cuddles. That was the first sign that she really was going to be okay.
When I get up from bed, the first thing I do is fill the kitty food dish and Wednesday’s routine is to run with me and wait for the food. She did this, just as she always does. Another good sign! I took the time to give them some tuna before hitting the shower, and I was relieved to see she was actually eating hers this time. She was eating food! Actually EATING it! All very good signs!
The rest of the morning, except the few minutes it took to administer the medicine, she was back to her normal Wednesday behavior. She was even playing with a fuzz ball on the kitchen floor. I can’t express how thankful I am that she’s going to be okay. We nearly killed her, but she’s a trooper.
Wednesday, slowly getting better!
A very hard lesson learned, especially for poor little Wednesday, but she’s going to recover. And soon, we’ll once again have a happy, healthy kitty. Thank God for that. (And I don’t even believe in God.)
Both knitting and reading have fallen to the wayside since getting sick on our return from Las Vegas. Sam and I spent the majority of the weekend curled up on the couch, only leaving once on Saturday for an emergency Home Depot run for a new kitchen faucet and once on Sunday to pick up Chinese takeout for dinner.
Over the course of our two day weekend, I watched an entire disc (4 episodes) of Ugly Betty season 3, Wall-E for the second time (if you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for?! RENT IT! It’s fantastic!), Blood Diamond, and the entire 8th cycle of America’s Next Top Model (for the record, Sam and I both feel strongly that Natasha should have won). I’m back at work today, but still feeling crummy. Both ears are completely plugged resulting in the feeling of being inside a fishbowl, and the glands on my neck are so swollen it’s painful to move my head.
I settled into a comfy position next to both sleeping kitties yesterday afternoon, determined to read another chapter or two of Eclipse as I haven’t picked it up since the flight home from Vegas last Wednesday. All snuggled in under the covers on the couch, I opened the book only to drop it right on my face. The bookmark went flying and I lost my place. I then spent the next 15 minutes trying to find where I’d left off, to no avail. Eventually, with a few bad words yelled in frustration, I gave up and put the book down. I can’t even remember what was happening when I stopped reading the last time, so I’m not sure I’ll ever find my exact page. I guess I’ll have to re-read for a while until I figure out where I left off.
I really should be working on my Central Park Hoodie, but I’m just not feeling it lately. I knit a few cable repeats in the Portland airport before our trip, but didn’t touch it the rest of the vacation. It has sat untouched since our return home. It certainly isn’t going to knit itself, as much as I’d love that, but it just isn’t calling my name. Instead, I have an insatiable desire to bust out a winter hat using some of my stash yarn. And I may just indulge myself by doing so. So far, I’ve narrowed it down to 5 potential patterns:
So now begins the battle of the beanies. So far, I’m leaning towards Felicity despite it’s simplicity.
Saturday, October 3, 2009 - Day 1 of 5
It’s 10:30 pm of our very first night in Vegas and I must admit, we’re already lounging in bed in our pj’s. I’m exhausted from the stress of having flown, something that makes me both sick to my stomach and nervous for my safety. All in all, I did better than I thought I would, with only mildly wild nerves and not a single panic attack.
breakfast at PDX
PLANE bagel!
We flew in around 1:25 pm this afternoon after what was the bumpiest and downright scariest landing either of us have ever experienced. The pilot did an awesome job and was able to get us safely to the ground in the torrential cross winds, but not without panicking quite a few passengers who were loudly vocalizing their displeasure.
View from the 24th row of the plane
After the landing, the entire cabin literally broke into applause of appreciation for the pilot. It would have been an incredibly moving experience if I hadn’t been desperately trying not to humiliate myself by being air sick in front of everyone on the plane. Thankfully I was able to keep it together long enough to disembark the plane and felt a thousand times better once in the airport and back on solid ground.
After checking in and dumping our bags in the room, we hit the casino floor. This is both our first time in Vegas, and our first time stepping foot in a casino. I must admit it was loud, bright, and intimidating at first, but we quickly got the hang of the penny and quarter slots and even won $20.
Instead of driving to the Stratosphere with a small group of Sam’s coworkers, we decided to hit the strip. We didn’t realize just how huge city blocks are in Las Vegas until we started hoofing it, but somehow we ended up walking all the way from our hotel, the Sahara, at one end of the strip, to Treasure Island which is somewhere around the middle of the strip and simply referred to as TI. I’m not sure exactly how far it was, but it felt like miles. After waiting 20 minutes or so for the 7:30 showing of the Sirens of TI, they announced that due to high winds (you know, the kind that nearly crash your plane while landing), the show couldn’t possibly go on. We’d waited for 20 minutes for nothing. We went inside the TI casino and ordered a drink instead. 10 minutes later we were trudging our way back towards the Sahara, already exhausted with blistering feet.
We ended the night with dinner at the NASCAR café just off the casino floor where I had the best cheesesteak I’ve ever had since leaving Alaska. It wasn’t quite the delicious heaven that is a Food Factory cheesesteak, but it was damn close. Back in our room for the night, we quickly realized just how many amenities we would be lacking for the next four days - no mini fridge, no microwave, no cable TV, and worst of all no free wifi for the laptops we‘d been so excited to bring. We settled for a relaxing evening enjoying the sights and sounds of our open 16th floor window facing towards the Stratosphere, and eventually drifted off to sleep.
The Stratosphere from the 16th floor of the Sahara
Very, very, very tired.
*Days 2-5 to come in the following days. Stay tuned!
I’ve slowly but surely been writing my Vegas Vacation post (get ready, it’s going to be a long one) over the past couple of days, but haven’t yet found the time and motivation to go through and edit the 219 pictures on my digital camera. I’ve decided to include just a few of my favorite shots throughout the upcoming post, but I’m also making a photo gallery to display all of the photos with one easy click. When it’s ready, you’ll find a link at the top of my website, aptly labeled “Sin City”. There, you will be able to view all the the photos from our Vegas vacation. Stay tuned.
Despite my best efforts to stay healthy, I awoke this morning to a pounding headache and an aching throat, both of which are still going strong. I feel like my head is underwater and I’m struggling to concentrate and stay motivated to finish my work day. I imagine this weekend will be a long one, full of bed rest and cold medicine. Sam seems to be feeling significantly better now that he’s on his fourth day of being sick; I suppose my immune system could only defend itself from his toxic germs for so long before giving in. Here’s hoping I don’t get as sick as he did, and for a swift recovery.
By the way, have you heard that Marge Simpson will be on the cover of next month’s issue of Playboy?! I can’t decide if that’s totally awesome or totally creepy. You be the judge.
We’re back from our Vegas vacay after 5 days of fun and excitement and I must admit being back in Portland is both super relaxing and honestly a little boring in comparison. Sam is sick as a dog with an awful head cold and I’m back at work for the day. I’ll write more tonight when I’ve gone through our 219 pictures taken over the course of our trip.
It’s great to be back!
This morning I woke from a horribly stressful dream. It went like this:
I’m on a plane full of people. Sam is nowhere to be found, his seat sits empty next to me. Just as I’m considering getting up to look for him, the plane takes a steep dive downward. We’re heading nose first straight into the ground. Somehow, I can see the sky to the sides of me and the ground in front of me getting closer and closer, as if the plane had a huge window at it’s nose that everyone could see out of. And then, just as suddenly as the death spiral started, we were flying normal again.
The sense of relief was huge but only temporary. This sequence of death spiral and then suddenly flying normal happened over and over and over throughout the entire dream. Finally, when my brain must have convinced itself that it couldn’t possibly put me through even one more death spiral, the ground was directly in front of us and the pilot landed the plane – perfectly safe and sound – on a beautiful country road.
The unnerving part of having had this dream is that Sam and I are getting on a plane tomorrow headed for Vegas. Let’s hope the dream wasnt’t a premonition. But hey, at least everyone survived, right?
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