Rainbow Chills

I have made the jump to Typepad. Thanks to Rachael, Greta, Stella and anyone else who has applauded how great it is. Michelle and I are paying $8.95 a month (after the free trial, that is) for Typepad Plus which allows us both to have a blog, plus photo albums which Michelle is making use of by displaying her knitting projects and her paintings. I am not quite so far along in my design but bear with me.

Come on over and visit: Our new home

I feel like an eating machine. I want to eat everything in sight. I have had a granola bar, a banana, and about 40 ounces of water today. I should not feel like I want to chew off my arm!

Less than an hour until lunch- we have set lunch times in my office so that there is always coverage for students in need of an advisor. It is sometimes inconvenient but it does help me structure my day.

Michelle called a little while ago. Her test is over and she is home to rest. It sounds like it was a doozy- much more physically tough than any other she has had. We are hoping to know something by tomorrow at the latest. A diagnosis would be so amazing after 5 months of not knowing what is causing her crazy symptoms.

Knitting, knitting:
I am working on Michelle's socks and really liking working with this yarn which is Lang Jawoll Cotton- superwash in th 50 colorway. Let me tell you what a dummy I am. There is a spool of reinforcing thread in the middle of the ball. I had no idea what the heck that was. I just pulled a thread from the middle and knitted away. Duh! I didn't know why that was there until just now when I went looking for a link. Sometimes, I really have no common sense!

I am also working on two baby sweaters, ironically, both for baby boys named John, although one is called Jack and the other Johnny. I need to concentrate on the one for Jack as I will be seeing him on Friday- looks like I will need to make another yarn run, although I don't know when. It is freezing here and is supposed to be snowing by the end of the work day.

Maybe I'll have a snow day tomorrow...

I swore off lunch time trips to the yarn store over the summer. I get sidetracked. I get distracted. I get back to the office late.

Not so today!

I am feeling kind of blue today- residual sadness and anxiety from Sunday's events and stress about how poorly Michelle has been feeling. My tummy has been feeling the effects of this stress and I just generally don't feel well. I knew if I went home for lunch, as I had planned, it would be very difficult for me to return to the office.

So I went shopping! Just a little trip to Sophie's which produced two balls of sock yarn ( to be made for my sweetie), some size 2 dpns- I have been using size 1s but I thought things would go a smidge quicker with the 2s. And...the new issue of Vogue Knitting.

Ever since I began knitting last Spring, I have read about how the knitting mags are going down hill, how there are no good patterns, how poor the editing is, blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine. Not knowing what the magazines were like "in the good old days" they seemed okay to me and I have been purchasing new issues of IK, Vogue and FCEK since Spring/ Summer. I have made a handful of projects- Michelle's DNA scarf, the froggy mittens, and am currently working on a baby sweater.

There are two patterns in the Winter Vogue that I absolutely LOVE! 1- the turtleneck poncho (click on Table of Contents) and 2- the Oscar de la Renta sweater and cape (click on preview this issue and scroll to the last row of patterns).

I am so in love with the cape and sweater that I actually priced the yarn in hopes of saving up and making this later this winter- it is going to cost in the ball park of $200. We'll have to see about that.

I grabbed a quick bite at the Taco House- I was less then thrilled yet again. I don't know why I went there. I even made it back to the office in plenty of time to get working again.

I am doing my best to have a positive outlook on this day. My tummy is feeling a little better than it did this morning. And my boss just sent out a little "thought of the day" type of email, which she rarely does- which echoed Flylady's mantra- you are not behind. Jump in whereever you are! It really helped energize me for an afternoon of advising paperwork and student appointments.

May you too hear the words you need to hear today!

At 4:30 this morning, my parents' neighbors (we'll call them P and F) got a call that F's 18 year old son, P's step-son was killed in a car accident over night. The boy who was killed was a classmate of my sister Angie's from pre-school through 8th grade. By 8:30 this morning, P was on her way to the hospital, in labor with their new baby boy. He was born this evening, about three weeks early, at a healthy 9 and a half lbs. Can you imagine losing and getting a son all in one day? I saw F in between his trips to the hospital. My Mom and I were at the neighbors' keeping their 4 year old twin girls occupied.

I don't know if I have ever experienced a stranger day.

I can't blog about knitting, or reading, or last night's episode of SNL. All I can do is wonder about God's plan. Wish and pray that I might keep faith and realize that maybe it is not for us to understand. I thank God for the safe delivery of baby Johnny. But I know that each year on his birthday, his mom and dad will also be remembering that this is the day they lost his big brother.

I am itching. Why, you ask? Rash? Scatchy sweater?

No silly! Not that kind of itching! I am itching to buy yarn!

Blame it on the knitting blogs. I want to buy yarn. I want to make myself a multidirectional scarf and a bucket-o-chic. I want to make a whole sweater- for a grown-up. I want to buy lots of sock yarn so that Michelle can wear hand knit socks every day!

Have I told you about this girl and her knitted socks? After I took a sock knitting class this summer, I made Michelle a pair of Regia socks in a rainbow-ish colorway. I think she must be doing laundry when I am not looking because, I swear, she wears them three times a week! It makes me feel so happy! I am glad that she loves them. But it makes me want to put down all other knitting and just knit socks to keep her warm- sock knitting, all day, every day!

By the way, TGIF. I am so glad that it is the end of the week. I have some plans but none so pressing that it will be a busy or stressful weekend. A little time with the families, lunch with a friend, some food shopping.

Try to keep warm if it is cold where you are. If you live somewhere warm, can you send some of that to Philly because we are freezing here!

More Indigo Girls! Today the song of choice is Watershed from Nomads, Indians, and Saints. I am in love! Every few months I go through a renewed love of the Girls. They remind me of my freshman year in college when I rarely listened to anything other than the Indigo Girls. Every time I hear Virginia Woolf I think about sitting on my bed, amid books and notes, classmates lounging on the floor with their books and notes, studying for Mediterranean World!

Knitting news: I finished the DNA scarf last night. It just needs a little blocking- I think I will go to Target this weekend and get the steamer that Bonne Marie recommended.

I am now in pursuit of a mittens pattern for worsted weight yarn. I think I could probably make up a mittens pattern based on the one I used for the strawberry mittens and the froggy mittens. But if you know of a good one, let me know. I originally was thinking of making Michelle the Broad Street mittens from Knitty- how appropriate being the Philly girls we are. I am on Broad Street every blessed day- and let me tell you, when I have to walk on a street that runs North-South in Center City- as I do every day on my way to work- I avoid Broad like the plague. Because it is so much wider than other streets, the wind is that much more vicious and it feels that much colder. So I sympathize with this Philly designer. You need mittens on Broad Street. Anyway, back to the pattern- that one is made for fingering weight yarn.

TV:
Ed and West Wing were new last night. I hope you all watched like good little couch potatoes!

I have to say, I don't think anything actually happened on the Wing. It was boring. That show is a mess.

I liked Ed in all its wackiness. I think Michelle was a tad frustrated with it, or more specifically with one Miss Carol Vessey. I think she is endearing and sweet. I have a tendancy to find indecisive, passive-aggressive, and whiny to be endearing and sweet.

Speaking of...

The former Josephine Potter- the gorgeous Katie Holmes- is engaged to Chris Klein. Katie has been close to the top of my crush list for years- well since January 1998 to be precise. I heart her. She drives Michelle crazy. More specifically, the whining of her Joey-persona on Dawson's Creek made Michelle want to injure herself. I heart her anyway. Katie comes only second (in celebrity loves) to Julia Roberts who I have loved since 1991. Ask my sister Cathy. She'll tell you of my Julia love. Cathy bought me Pretty Woman on video in 1992 for my 8th grade graduation because she was tired of hearing me talk about how great it was and hoped that if I was watching it, I would stop talking her ear off about how great the movie was, and how great Julia is. Ah, the love of a 14 year old girl who does not yet realize that she is as gay as the day is long!

Other celebrity crushes:
Gwyneth, Kate Winslet, Kate Beckinsale, Julie Bowen- who I have to say is looking radiant, Catherine Z-J, Keira Knightly- she's a new one but I can't talk enough about how beautiful she was in Love Actually.
Anyway, there they are, in case you were wondering.

I am listening to the Indigo Girls' Rites of Passage- Virginia Woolf. This is my all time favorite IGs CD, followed closely by Swamp Ophelia and Become You. And Nomads, Indians, and Saints. Oh, forget it. Rites of Passage is my favorite but I can't order the rest!

Today is the slowest day of my life. It is positively dragging.

Knitting news:
I finished the triangular Eros shawl last night. Pictures to come. It is smaller than I expected. I probably should have kept knitting. It will be cute in the summer with a black dress.

I have about a foot of Michelle's DNA scarf to go. It just was not ready for Christmas. I have been working on that over the past few days and should have it done this week including blocking and fringe. It is my first project with cables and my first time following a chart. Considering these growing pains, I am fairly happy with the progress. Michelle wants mittens to match. I'd like to make a Bucket-o-Chic as well but I don't know if she will wear it. Her hair is really short right now and she is a little picky about the kind of hat she wears. Maybe if I show her the picture of Rachael's?

Books:
I finished The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger on Monday. I can't say enough good things about this book. The structure of the narrative was winding but she managed it beautifully! Not your average love story, Henry and Clare's relationship progresses from one between a middle-aged Henry and a 6 year old Clare, to a middle aged Henry and a late-thirties Clare. The development of their relationship is beautiful! Read this book if you have a chance!

I am currently reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and I love it so far. I am about halfway into Chapter 2 but I feel like I don't want to put the book down. It is beautifully written, with gorgeous, lyrical descriptions.

Blog news:
I am working on moving over to TypePad. If I can figure out the directions for importing my Blogger entries, maybe I can move forward. It's not going well. I think I need to download something I have not yet downloaded. Argh!

Michelle is okay. It's possible that the decongestant she was taking was affecting her blood pressure. She's not taking it anymore. Thanks for your thoughts and concerns. Still no definitive answers on this mystery illness. For today, she is at home resting, hoping to feel better soon.

I am at work and it feels like a Monday all over again!

A few quick thoughts:

Britney's wedding and annulment: This is just the kind of stupidity that gets people in the gay community all wound up. Michelle and I have been together for five years. The government does not legally recognize our relationship. The President is in favor of a constitutional amendment to codify the institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman. It baffles my mind that conservatives are worried about gay people sullying the good name of marriage. I think straight people have that well taken care of, thank you very much!

The Gauntlet: I don't know why I continue to watch these challenges between the Real World and Road Rules. In truth, these people need to get a real job and stop competing for new Saturns once or twice a year. But still I watch. And I will watch again when the new challenge, The Inferno, starts later this month. Sick.

This morning started out just how I had planned- not necessarily how I would have chosen- but exactly how I had planned. Alarm went off, snoozed for about 25 minutes, got up, showered, make-up, checked the weather, got dressed, blow dried my hair, kissed Michelle goodbye- she was still in bed, and walked to work.

Went to get coffee, caught up with co-workers, checked email and voicemail. Checked in with my boss. Was set for a day of work- mostly uninterrupted as I had no appointments.

At about 9:30 my phone rang. I answered and a very small voice at the other end said "honey?" and burst into tears. Michelle passed out this morning, home alone. Not good. I rushed home. She's okay. Sleeping for the past two hours after talking to some folks in the cardiologist's office and making an appointment for this afternoon. I'll let her sleep for another 30 minutes or so and then we are off to pick up the referral and see the heart doctor.

On the bright side, I am flying through The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It is wonderous! And I will probably take some knitting with me to the docs- I think the second strawberry hat is the perfect project.

Send us prayers and good wishes if you have some to spare.

14 hours until I am back to work. Back to reality. I have so enjoyed the last (nearly) two weeks. The festivity of it all. The laziness of watching so much tv on DVD that I can hardly sit still anymore!

I knew the end was coming yet I am still a bit let down. Michelle and I took down our decorations. I feel sad. My Mom always leaves hers up until after the 6th but we usually take ours down before going back to work so we (or more accurately, Michelle) won't have to fit it in while working, making dinner, doing laundry, etc. Michelle is working on putting the photos in the scrap book, turning the past few weeks into memories.

I am getting ready to go to Mass celebrated by God-only-knows-who and hosted by Dignity Philadelphia. I am nervous. Dignity is not affiliated with the Church. It is a reform body who believes that homosexuals should be accepted fully into the Catholic Church. I have reservations. I don't know who celebrates the Dignity Mass. We shall see. I am willing to keep my heart and mind open. I don't know if this organization will help me to reconcile my sexuality and my spiritual life but I am willing to try.

I am off to enjoy the last few hours of my vacation. Count on whining this week. It is inevitable.

I want to do more with the blog.

For starters, I guess I should start paying for some bandwith so I am not at the mercy of free services who, from time to time, need to shut down their free service. Does that mean I should be shopping for a new blog host? Typepad perhaps. Let me know if you are happy with your service and who you use.

Also, I am in the market for a designer. Theoretically that is. I have not actually done any shopping. But if anyone knows someone who can do web design, drop me a comment or an email. I'd be interested. I bet Michael could do it- and I wouldn't have to pay him, other than in chicken fingers that is.

Speaking of Michael, he and Suz moved to Atlanta a few days ago. So bizarre. For me that is. Not so bizarre for them since Suz is from Atlanta and Michael is from North Carolina. Michael will be back in a few weeks. He is doing some consulting work for the program we both used to work for. They are flying him up overnight. He's such a smartie!

Michelle is still indisposed. She's just getting out of bed, probably to come into the living room and fall asleep on the couch. Poor baby. We have spent the past week watching tv on DVD- only three episodes of West Wing season 1 to go. You know what? That show used to be so much better! Funny, witty, smart, quick. Not so much now. Anyway, all this tv time has given me some good knitting time.

I'd love to show you what I have been working on but the batteries in the digital are dead. I have to buy some rechargables for the darn thing! Anyway, I am about 60 rows into a triangle shawl in Eros ribbon yarn- for me! And I have finished the back of a baby sweater from Family Circle Easy Knitting- the holiday issue- for my parents' next-door-neighbor. It's the second sweater under "Smart Starts." Their baby boy is due at the end of the month. I have also finished one strawberry hat of two as big sister presents for their four year old twins, Megan and Jessica.

More knitting and West Wing today!

Happy Friday!