... Taught 5 Girls How to Knit

Five girls between the ages of 7 and 12 attended my knitting program tonight (one of them was left-handed) all of them left with some idea of how to knit (I won't say that they are, in fact, knitting, but they get the gist of it).  I am really really tired.  We were in there for over an hour and a half and I had to knit left-handed.  Half an hour then home to sleep. 


Tomorrow?  Finished crocheted things.  Promise!

...Came Home to My Boys

Ryan's back is out and he can barely walk...

and Remmy is not feeling well from his vaccinations...

It's still good to be home.

... Was the Son My Dad Never Had.

I made the 3 hour trek home today.  It's one of those things I do every so often to recharge.  I love my job and I'm happy with where we live for the most part (it's the Hicksville of the suburbs), but sometimes some wide open space is in order.

Look!  Beans!

When I get home my dad always asks about the state of my car, so I told him that it needed an oil change in the hopes that he would volunteer to come hang out with me at the Walmart while I got it done.  I hate doing it at home because I never have anyone to go with me and I don't know any one at the Walmart here to chat up... 

We did run to Walmart.

And within 3 hours of me arriving we had the car up and were ready to change the oil ourselves.  Because we are self-sufficient like that. 

There are a lot of things about doing your own car work that make me nervous.  The getting it up on the ramps for one is terrifying.  You have to sort of gun it and then stop... You know what else is terrifying about home car repair?  "Hey, can you run into the garage and get me a rubber mallet?"  That's pretty terrifying.  They aren't really precision tools, are they?

It worked out though... and then just for kicks we changed the oil in 2 other cars:

Afterwards we stood in the driveway and drank a beer.  

It was satisfying.

... explored Twitter

Twitter it turns out is a terrible place if you want to see what people you actually know are up to, at least for me.   None of my real life friends use it routinely and only a handful of my internet friends do.  What I did find was that a lot of the internet people that I follow on various platforms also tweet.  And a lot of behind the scenes type things end up on Twitter.

My top 3 things I found on Twitter today:

This webcomic: I haven't gotten too far, but what I've read is amusing.  The art is fantastic.

This Picture: From they guys who make all the youtube videos that I waste my life watching...

NPH: Performs a tweeted play about the dangers of Friday the 13th.

Tomorrow: I do stuff.  I.R.L. For reals!

Memoirs of a Loud Dog Owner

I just met the woman who lives in the apartment across from us while I was out walking my dog...

Her: Is that the dog I hear barking all the time?

Me: (oh, god, do I lie... crap... what if he starts barking right now... then she'll catch me in the lie... Is there a  rock I can crawl under and die?  No.  Drats... ) Yep, that's him.

Her: I live in the apartment across the way.

Me: I'm sorry.

I love my dog, but he isn't making any friends.

Nerd Wars T4

So, Nerd Wars started on February first. These are my battle plans as presented in the team forums:

Battle Plans:
Intellectual: Husband has a memory tool for figured bass… I’d like to translate it into a stripe pattern of some sort using knit and purl to represent triads and 7ths… I think this will end up being a hat in the round to allow for the knits and purls to be easier to read… and prevent me losing my mind… Tie-in’s anyone?
Scientific:Single skein hat… going to be dusty blue probably pretty plain. Again, I don’t have a tie-in.
Technical:Does chunky yarn count as a specialty? I have been on a bit of a jag lately… I’ve knit almost nothing but chunky yarn… if not I might to cables… no pattern idea yet.
Geek Pride: IloMilo socks, they won’t be a matching pair, but rather have corresponding colors heel/toe on one will be main color on other… I think these will be quite fun to make, but might only accomplish one in a month.
Nerd Culture: I am at a complete loss on this one…
Giving Geeks: Give away the hat I knit for Scientific…

and done.

What I ACTUALLY have on the needles:

1 light blue hat

1 Shawlette/scarf

The hat fits. The "sharf" doesn't. It is also the most addicting thing I've ever knit. Partially, I think, because I have no idea if I actually have enough yarn to come anywhere close to finishing it. I will try to post pics tomorrow. It is night time and artificial light is terrible.

Remmy's Big Day

We got a new puppy. He came to us out of the cornfields of central Illinois. He seems to adjusting well to suburban life, however. This is the story of the big day he had today...

Remmy started his day the same way he always does:

Behind two baby gates because the cheap wooden one he can climb over and the not so cheap metal one leaves gaps on the sides that he gets his head stuck in... and of course if you're head is stuck and you're a small puppy the only remedy is to flail about until either a human happens by to pull you out or you snap your neck... so yeah, two baby gates for one tiny dog...

Next Remmy engaged in one of his favorite pass times (besides rubbing his under carriage on the carpet, I don't have a pic of this... sorry):

Total

Beaver

Annihilation!!!! (Thanks Auntie Coke and Uncle Adam... also, Daddy bought him a big bag of the treats you got him... he likes them very much.)

Then Daddy tickled him for awhile....

All in all a good day... until...

Mommy made Remmy get in the dog carrier...

"Uh-oh," thought Remmy. "The dog carrier sometimes leads to nice places, but sometimes it leads to being dumped in cornfields... or the Vet."

Today was no exception. Today the dog carrier led poor Remmy directly to the Vet. Where he had to spend a whole day. In the end, he lost his manhood...

And his dignity.

Poor Remington!