KnittyOtter

The Mystery Poo: I hate my neighbors (on that one side)

Recently here at the Otter Homestead we've had a problem with some pests from the house of the former slutty next door neighbors. Cookie has heard me complain about various people who live in this house for years now. I'm starting to think the house itself is cursed. o.0

The first group of assholes who lived in it had a propensity for drinking heavily and leaving HUGE fires unattended in their backyard. They also had visitors who drank and drove and parked badly in front of our house. Fuckers. Now this group of assholes was some Rich Ass Daddy's Boy who's poppa purchased him TWO homes, one to live in and one to rent out to get an income from. But seeing as ill prepared for life party skank boy didn't know how to take care of his shit Mommy came by and made him move. She hired some people to clean up his crap and deal with ALL the weeds and pests that lived a carefree life in the nasty ass backyard. When the undocumented workers she hired to clean up the backyard threw their trash over the fence into our backyard rather than disposing of it properly she came by an apologized. (after we complained)

Then they rented out the house to some friends of good for nothing poor little rich boy. Oy. This idiot was a skanky piece of shit who had her mother taking care of her illegitimate child while she spent her time coming and going all hours of the day and night with various men. Not sure if she was selling or giving it away. Either way great example for your kid. It'd be one thing if it was when the kid was at school or something or even if it was the same guy every month or so. But no, we're talking a few different ones each week. Drunk, parking badly and spending the night. She also played loud music outside while doing Faux Yoga in her underpants.It kinda sucked when I was outside in the backyard tending to my now frost bitten tomatoes and skank face would glare at me for being outside. Um it's outside if you want privacy that's what the inside is for and if I happen to laugh when you fart doing downward dog that is NOT my fault. *gag* Note to self: 6 foot high fences are not tall enough. Now that wouldn't bother me so much, if she wants to live her life as a petri dish that is fine with me, but the bitch didn't do her yard work. The grandma mowed a tiny bit for the child to play in and the front yard, but around the outer edges of the backyard the shit got out of control. And since that effects me I give a damn.

A month ago or so she finally moved. I think she was asked to leave because she was all fucking weird when she left. GoodBye you disease carrying wombat. No offense to wombats.

Now before she left we thought it was strange as hell that birds of prey would sit on the fence looking into the yard. You'd see them swoop down and grab some small rodent and fly off with a plump lunch. It would have been kinda cool to watch, except for the fact that surely all those rodents can't be a good thing so close to my house. Now remember the rodents later, it will be important to the mystery poo part of our story. o.0

Then we started seeing strange cats running through the overgrown mess and jumping over the fence. JUMPING OVER A SIX FOOT TALL FENCE!?! o.0 Fucking Huge Bionic Cats. A few have collars on and some are obviously strays. It's  sad and if I didn't have my little TKK to consider I wouldn't begrudge them a thing being here. But who knows if they have parasites, fleas or disease. I can't have that possibly contaminate affecting my fuzz butt. Plus considering how freaking huge they are they could hurt her in a fight. She is very protective of HER backyard and yells at birds who land here.

Now by this point it's alarming enough as far as I'm concerned, the honey was highly curious.  He got a ladder and  looked over the fence.

Then he made me look. Have you ever seen that movie Kingdom of the Spiders? It was like that. Freaky ass spider webs covering all the weeds & trees. o.0

I hate spiders. I do not care for them sam I am. I do not like them on a train, I do not like them on a plane. I do not like them alive, I do not like them dead...

Hate.

The honey had enough and called a few agencies regarding the fire & pest hazards these were causing. (All those dried out weeks were like kindling waiting to go up.) The fire department came by had a looksie and contacted the owners with an order to clean the shit up. The guy about jumped a foot when he saw the dead rodent carcases and spiders. If the kid had still been there I'd have called child protection. o.0

Within a week new people were living there. No real big complaints yet, though the Male of the household listens to bad talk radio loudly during the day. Not a problem now that it's cooled off enough for the windows to be closed. Still hard to respect a person when they listen to crazy shit from the wrong side of the political tracks. That side being the ones who want to fuck all Americans in favor of big business. I can't get behind that!

Seems like a Father with a grown daughter living with him. He's been spending his days cleaning up the mess and fixing stuff up. This has stirred up alllllllllllll those spiders.

I hate spiders.

A few weeks ago I had some girlies over after a day of yarn browsing and lunch out. No yarn purchased on my part! I made a dinner of enchaladas and we knit, watched a movie and by the end of the night it was just Monkey Socks and I watching a few episodes of that show Life. Love that show now. I watched the whole first season thanks to her. She left around 5:30 am and all was well. Later that morning around 11:30am I went out into the living room and immidiatly spotted hanging off the spider candelabra a freaking BLACK WIDOW SPIDER. I did what any sane person would do, I called my honey into the room to kill it while I hid behind a door with a baseball bat. :P

Last year there was one by the front door, from the same spider infested yard. Hate those people. I hope she gets a rash, or more likely the one she has never goes away. (Why yes I can be very mean when prompted.)

It was scary to think one of those bastards was just feet from where we were all hanging out knitting n' stuff. *icky shivers*

Right around that time the honey found a mystery poo out in our yard. We carefully removed it so TKK wouldn't be exposed to anything that might make her sick. TKK is a box only kitty and would be offended at the idea of doing her box business outside on the grass. Plus since all the weird stuff, the huge birds of prey and huge weird cats she has only been allowed outside if the honey and I are with her.  Now after the mystery poo she can't go out until we do a yard check to make sure there's nothing we don't want her exposed to. She is PISSED. Plus when she smells the weird cat out there she gets upset.

Yesterday morning I was outside looking at the tomatoes, green peppers and basil that were killed by the frost and snow last week and saw another mystery poo. o.0 After the honey got it cleared away he found another one in another part of the yard. TKK was sad.

OH! I forgot to mention that the mystery cat KILLED her catnip. :( She is so mad about that. She wouldn't go near that area for a few days. Thankfully we harvested and dried a bunch of it for her before that, but it's not the same. 

So obviously you see that mystery poo cat is pretty much dead if the honey gets a hold of it. It's one thing to poo in our yard, but it's messing with TKK's overall happiness and possibly causing a health threat since we don't know if it has something. The honey has said if it comes to that he won't tell me about it. We've had many long talks about this. I would prefer no one die, but he's beyond pissed at this point.

So this morning we were in the kitchen making breakfast and he suddenly throws his shoes on and grabs a baseball bat and goes outside. o.0 The cat was out there. I didn't see it.

The cat got away. There was a mystery poo to clean up.

I hope that scared it away so that it never comes back.

On one hand I don't want some poor innocent animal to bite the dust... but this is TKK's yard and she should be able to go out into whenever she wants without us being worried that some big cat will attack her or give her some disease or parasite. Our vet told us not to let her outside until the situation was resolved, so resolved it will have to be.

When the honey was outside looking over the yard he killed two more black widows. We've sprayed animal friendly spider killer so that TKK doesn't get hurt being near it, but if she can't go outside anyway I'm thinking it's time for the heavy duty shit.

So that's what's been going on over here. o.0

(and when the hell did typepad change the layout stuffs?)

I wish the humans were dead so we didn't have to deal with this stuff. Or at least those people. Nah, make it all. ;)

Prize #3: 200th Post Contest

The Third prize for my 200th post contest is a limited edition sock yarn from SWTC and a print off of the pattern that was made for this sock yarn. It was on a CD with other patterns for their limited edition sock yarn but I am not giving you the CD. :P (I have a few of the yarns for the patterns on the CD. Sweet!)

50% Superwash Wool
25% SOYSILK brand fiber
22.5% Cotton
2.5% Chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells!)
8 sts  = 1"
needles:       US 2 (2.75mm)
425m / 100g ball
machine wash and dry

Pattern: Pedal Pusher

This yarn reminds me a lot of the Russian Sage we have growing in our yard.

Clickety Biggety!

I love this stuff. It smells sooooo good. It's weird though. Most people around here think it's Lavender. I guess I can see that, but some of them are total asses about insisting that it is Lavender. Trust me, I know lavender. This is not it, though lovely it is.

I like this yarn a lot, but I have several skeins of the Tofutsies and I just can't have that much stash right now. It's become a burden. A weight on my shoulders to be knit up. In fact today I returned $270 worth of yarn to a local yarn store today. Granted they gave me store credit so it's still out there in the void, dollars waiting to be knit up. But at least I can use it for specific projects... or Winter Holiday Presents. Not for me to knit up mind you, but to buy my knitter friends their. ;^)

That's what this week is about to me, Stash Reduction. All the yarns in this giveaway are from my stash of yarn. After this I will have a few yarns that if anyone is interested in a swap, so long as you aren't some kind of socially and interactively challenged nut job that is, that would be cool.

Speaking of the socially and interactively challenged nut jobs of the world, if you come to my blog and post rude and completely clueless remarks or even say something to the effect that my blog makes you want to vomit I can pretty much guarantee you will not be winning any prizes here. Random generator true, but I don't have to include you in the mix.

I would also like to address the issue of some other blog out there announcing my contest as their own and then changing the rules of my little contest here to suit whatever delusional fantasy they have in their head about how this works. I never said I would be choosing a favorite for the second place prize thingy or that I was doing a co-blog contest. (WTF?!) Whatever y'all do on someone else's blog will not effect the outcome of what I do here. The second smaller prize will be randomly generated as well. It's not that hard to see what I'm doing here and if you want to reread what I said I would do, please see this post.

This was supposed to be fun and easy. I hope it's still fun for y'all.

In order to play along you'll need to go read this post and answer that questionnaire. Post the answers to the questions on your blog and then link your post into the comments of Saturdays post or leave your answers on Saturdays post in the comments.

In other news Cookie is right again. She is ALWAYS right. It fucking boggles my mind. I must never forget this. Ever.

(Isn't Zarzuela's roving that Cookie posted today just gorgeous! I need to learn to spin...)

Also Dave is a true fucking sweet heart.

And in Monday Loves, I love the rain that fell here a bit ago. That was a nice change.

I still hate stupid people though.

See Otter's can be cranky too. I'm feel'n down right smackety to be honest.

The Happenings: Now with more Wednesday WTF.

Hi. No I'm not dead. Well I kinda was in the worst state of Zombie ever last week, but not actually dead.

Lemme tell you what's been happening with me since last I blogged. Hang on tight. It's a long and wordy road. Stick around for "The Ugly" I got something I gotta say and I'm not gonna bite my tongue anymore.

The Good: I have the worlds bestest honey. A few weeks ago I was doing some social type stuff at the house in addition to all the organizing and getting rid of stuff. He really went above and beyond helping me get things done & staying out of my way without complaint so I could have fun and hang out with my friends. One of the things I did was throw Rachel and A their Baby Shower. It was sooooooooooooo much fun!!! Not just the shower itself, although that was a blast, but the planning and prep as well. :D I got to design a menu and prepare a lunch for 14 people. That may not sound like fun to some people but I found it really cool and just challenging enough to make it exciting. The drinks were all the basics water, soda, yatta, but I also made a special tropical hibiscus flower ice tea and champagne mimosas. Mmmm! For lunch I made a melon and mint salad (using the watermelon as the serving bowl - always wanted to do that!), a green veggie salad, potato and fennel gratin and what should have been kabobs turned out to be a tray of roasted veggies and a tray of roast chicken and roast Italian sausage. (Ran out of time) That worked out great as it was though. :D There was also an ice cream cake with the showers theme phrase written on the top, Two Moms, Four Hearts. I think the lunch portion of the meal went over okay. No one died. *L*

The games I set out seemed to go over well too. We started off with a drawing game. I had everyone draw a picture of what they thought Rachel and A would look like in the first 48 hours after the babies were born. *GRIN* That was awesomely funny. Then we had the traditional Jelly Bean in a Bottle count game. Many thanks to Florrie for providing that for the party. :D That was followed with a purse/knit bag scavenger hunt. Lastly and perhaps the most anticipated game was the Baby Catapult Game. I picked up a catapult  gun that shot babies at a target. How the heck cool is that. *snicker* It was hilarious to see who could get closest to the target. There were of course many fabulous knit prizes given away for all of these games. Everyone got a little something to take home though. A few weeks before Vikkie and I made some cute blue and green baby themed stitch markers as party favors. I put them in these cute little "take out" boxes I got at Micheal's along with chocolate truffles. Those were a lot of fun to make. :D

I had so much fun planning and putting on this baby shower. I do have one regret though, Rachel thanked me when it was all over and I brushed her thanks off and said it was nothing. I immediately wish I hadn't said that. Cause it wasn't nothing. It was something and it was for her because she is worth it. One of these days I will learn to say "You're Welcome" like a well mannered human. I guess the reason I'm kinda irked with myself for being embarrassed and brushing off her thanks is because a few days before we had to endure some crazy woman complaining about a party she planned for someone she must not have liked very much. This nut bemoaned every penny and minute she spent on the party. I just don't get it. Why do something like that unless you really want to. From her bitter complaints I take it she didn't want to or something.

But more good before we move on... last week as explained below I was rather out of it. My honey went and got me all the available Harry Potter Movies because I was too sickie to read or do much of anything else. He also took care of me and was just a through and through sweetie head. I wish I could be as nice as him sometimes. Most sick people irritate me with their whining and moaning. But he remained nice throughout all my whining and moaning... well I doubt I'd have noticed if he hadn't. I was pretty out of it. Either way through all my crazy GOTTA CLEAN NOW phase, going nuts because my computer & internet connection were wonky phase and the barfing until your eyeball explodes phase he was a total sweetie head who really showed what it is to see love in action. I love that about him. He is a man of action, baby.

The Bad: So last week I kinda feel off the planet without warning. I had some sort of tummy bug thing. At first I thought it was food poisoning from an ill fated fish sandwich, but after a few days of not being able to drink anything without getting sickie I figured it was something else. I'm not a good barfer. After a few days I lost my voice and one of my eyeballs had a funky hemorrhage. It's mostly cleared up now although the eye still burns a bit. I was down for the count from Monday to Sunday. Thankfully when I wasn't getting sickie or insisting to the honey that I really didn't ever want to try to drink anything again I slept. I slept a lot. Still feel tired though. When I didn't sleep I was too out of it to knit and it hurt my eye to read. Though I managed to get through book five in the Harry Potter series. heh. Monday my first trip out of my house in 9 or 10 days was to the movies. It was the last day the fifth Harry Potter movie was in the theater and my honey sweetly enough thought I might want to see it on the big screen. Deeply disappointed in what they left out and changed, but I get it that they can't squeeze an 850 page book into a two hour movie very well. It was still fun though. So I'm feeling MUCH better, though I'm still somewhat tired. The whereabouts of my brain still hasn't come to light, but now I'm doubting it ever existed so there ya go. :P

The Ugly: I don't much care for most people. Well a handful of people really, they are just so loud and obnoxious their numbers seem greater than they are I suppose. They are stupid you understand. They irritate me. Making it pointless for me to give a fuck one way or the other about the long term quality of their existence. To put it in a clean and simple way, I hate people.

Thankfully I don't have to interact with most people and those that I do, both online and in person are generally a quality sort. But now and then someone so icky icky poo poo slips through the cracks and causes my ire to ignite and throughly disgust me with their lame and poorly conceived efforts at being a human being.

Yes, that is right some people just suck at being alive that is how sucky they are.

And here are a few examples of recent poorly socialized behavior that has irritated me.

A few weeks ago I had some people over for drinks and Hors d’œuvre's. No big thing, very casual and in theory fun. It mostly was. Most people I choose to be around are above and beyond good humans and worth my affection & time. Now this person was by no means anyone I felt worth my attention at anytime ever. But she was there none the less.

Her crime is that she is a poorly socialized human, or perhaps very stupid. I haven't yet determined which. It's not worth my time to figure out how this person's mind works. At the best of times I pity her for being such a clueless git and other times I seethe at the blundering offensiveness of her ways.

I mentioned an offensive she dared trespass a few weeks ago when she unthinkingly or with great malice, not sure which, tried to horrify a pregnant friend with tales of mortality in twins. That is as we all know exactly the sort of thing a very worried and newly minted Mommy to be wants to hear.

Life is not a game and there are no points given for being the biggest asshole, so all the assholes of the world, please knock it off.

Now this foul woman had more to say above and beyond her normal under the breath mutterings of how much better she is than anyone in the room who might have the misfortune of being near her at that moment. She without reason or provocation asked me if my cat was dead.

o.0

You heard me, she asked if my CAT was DEAD. Not even in my home two minutes this beast of a woman and she says something like that. She insisted she was dead until I went over and woke TKK up to show her otherwise.

How utterly confounding. I told her my cat was asleep. She had just eaten her kitty dinner and was having a kitty rest. Plus for all I know my cat sensed what a miserable bitch she was and choose not to look up at her. Who knows. It was theorized that perhaps she wasn't being intentionally cruel. That she didn't mean it that way. Uh Huh. Well if not that answers the question of whether or not she is so fucked up as to be unfit to interact with other people or that she's just plain too stupid for her own good. My reasoning for that being if a decent person truly thought someones adored and much loved kitty was deceased would they not gain confirmation of such fact by attempting to "wake" the cat by some means before announcing to a room full of people loudly while the caregiver of said animal was across the room, in another room actually that she was dead. See that's just stupid. That of course still leaves the question if you really thought the pet was dead why you would not go to the owner and quietly express this concern rather than yelling it from across the room. That sounds like bad manners and an ill suited concept of how to interact with other people. Perhaps this beast of a woman is both stupid and poorly socialized.

Another thing that irritates me is the idea that it's us against them. Specifically the idea that calling non knitters a kitschy made up name to separate them from ourselves so that we can walk around feeling superior is obscene and absurd. Wendy you are Not alone in that. Though perhaps I might be a bit more short tempered about it. I noticed this odd and self serving behavior of calling non knitters "Muggles" last year or so. As I have only recently started reading the Harry Potter books I wasn't sure in what way that term was being used. To the world of Harry Potter a muggle is a person non magic born who cannot perform magic. To some knitters it is a person who cannot knit, or "doesn't get it". In many cases I've seen it used as a patronizing attempt to show that the non knitters are people to be tolerated as they are obviously too stupid to get it. As if we knitters have some burden to overcome. :/ I don't get that. There are many people in this world who have "stuff" to overcome. Does it really matter to me that some people don't find my hobby and fiber love as enthralling? Are we really so put upon that the burden of not having everyone on board with our past time effects us to the point of utilizing terminology to put down those who are different?

It's funny the ways and lengths people will go to in order to separate ourselves from one another. It's sad what we will do to gain that one-upmanship so that we can feel a little better about ourselves, even if it is a hollow smugness that carries us forward.

Now I'd heard this phrase for a while. Didn't really get it. Understood what was meant by it, have heard countless people mutter how stupid and immature it was, but it was not until I read the Harry Potter books that it got under my skin and irritated me so. See the bad people in the books want the muggles to suffer and die while the good people are for letting bygones be bygones. I could never fancy myself as a Death Eater, but ya know whatever floats your boat. The world is not so small that we as knitters have to show anybody anything or stick it to some non knitting man. Knitting is not something you have to prove yourself over or play martyr to. And certainly not something we should walk around trying to take offensive over. There's quite enough actual bullshit to be irritated over without making up stuff to feel indignant about.

As someone in Wendy's comment said, "Aren't we all muggles to someone, in some way or another, anyway?".

Yes. Yes we are. 

Don't we as humans have enough going on without having to worry about how we will be sliced up, weighed and measured to see how we stack up to everyone else.

Odds & Ends: Due to being sick and doing all that fun stuff along with the computer headaches and nonsense from a few weeks ago I haven't gotten much knitting done. I did finish something a while back that I need to photograph post, but for the most part I've been a slack knitter. Yesterday I did knit on my sweater a small bit. I poked one of those faboo uber sharp knit picks needles right through the skin on my finger though. Tense knitting does not do me well. *L* I think that was because I had some of that pent up anger. On top of the overall general irritation I've been feeling I have a bit of hate for someone resting uneasily on my mind as well. I don't like that feeling and I really need to get over it. Not only does it keep my knitting dangerous to myself but it has in part halted my ability to express how I am feeling or what I am doing in written form on my blog. It's like I've been stewing on this unable to express myself and in frustration stopped expressing anything. No, it's no one here. Some person no longer significant in my life who I really just need to tell off. Seeing as today is WTF Wednesday perhaps today will be that day. What a relief it would be to lift off that burden from my mind. Ah well. Who knows where today or tomorrow will bring us. Actually I do. I'm getting my hair cut later. About time too, I can't see a thing past these bangs! *L*

I hope ya'll have had a good month since last I properly checked blogs. I hope to be checking in soon.

Give Peas a Chance... and other assorted veggies

Despite the recent high temperatures the garden is doing well. We've started moving the lawn chairs in front on the veggies to give them shade from the sun during the worst of it.

Yesterday I harvested our first haul of fresh veggies even. PEAS! They are the super yummiest peas ever.

Lookie!

We ate them raw. *GRIN*

Here's the plant they came off.

It seems like we'll have fresh peas for a while, unless the heat gets them. Sorta planted them late I suppose. 

We have several other plants in the veggie garden this year.

Here's the tomato plant, no sign of any tomatoes yet though.

The Onions are looking pretty good. The little plants next to it are some of the pepper plants. They will grow up to be green and yellow bell peppers. Yum!

The Pumpkin plants are looking really good. Keep your fingers crossed. I may very well have a successful Pumpkin Patch this year after all!

Devorah, how is Your Pumpkin Patch doing? :D Mine's gotten a bit larger and greener since last I posted about it. *L*

Here's a photo of the kitty I took yesterday afternoon. She's not allowed to go outside until the smokey air clears up more. She's a delicate wittle fuzzy head and I don't want her feeling sickie from all that.

It's been so smokey we haven't been hanging outside much either. Well other than to briefly grab some peas and photos yesterday. ;)

I will admit I've been using the smokey air thing as an excuse not to weave in the ends on my honey socks. They are done. I just need to weave in the ends and wash 'em. It's not even a big deal. I dunno, it's weird over here. I'm going to have to finish them, wash them and dry them inside now though. I'd hate for them to get that nasty smell stuck in them. So maybe I'll go finish those up in a bit and wash them so I can post them tomorrow.

Finally I'll just say Many Many Hugs to Crazy Aunt Purl. That was a hard post to read as soon as I noticed that she was using past tense. :(

I'm gonna go hug on my kitty some more and cherish every moment we have. I don't really like talking about her in person much anymore. Anytime you say anything about anything it seems like people just want to go for the most negative thing they can think of. I don't know if it's stupidity or a lack of class and common sense with people these days. You mention your cat is going to the box and drinking a lot more water than normal and they immediately tell you how close to deaths door she is. Nevermind the fact she gets that way every time the weather changes and has so for years. Nope, everyone else think they know best. Even when they don't know shit. In some cases it's extremely outrageous. One dumbass woman told a friend of mine horror stories about women losing their babies after finding out she (my friend) was pregnant. The day before I had told her, knowing what a yappy ass she was, not to say anything untoward to my friend. Cause nothing is as special as some old cunt* trying to scare the fuck out of a pregnant woman. When will people learn to shut their gaping pie holes. It's ridiculous. I'm quite frankly done with not telling those types what I really think. Hmmm I sense a theme in my life right now. *L*

*the most offensive word I could think of and it still doesn't do that clueless git credit for how stupid she was

I wonder if the last part of my post counts towards a WTF Wednesday. *L*

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend...

Yesterday after the honey took me to see Transformers (LOVED IT) we encountered a dust storm on the way home. So in place of Saturday Sky photos you'll get those. It's always something these days. All three photos are clickety biggety.

Recently my sweet little kitty TKK has had a string of bad luck. It started last week when she was sitting in her living room kitty bed near one of the coffee tables. While she was cutely minding her own business she had a sudden and brief storm of tea and ice cubes rain down upon her. Naturally she was startled and jumped up looking confused. My honey who happened to be sitting on that end of the couch jumped up started as well. He had a sudden and brief loss of a glass of ice tea.

Meanwhile I dropped my knitting and grabbed some towels.

Laughing and laughing and laughing all the while.

I laughed while I dried off the kitty, the cat bed and the carpet.

The honey accused me of being cruel towards the kitty. He felt very bad for giving her an ice tea bath. It's not that I'm mean it was just really funny.

After she was dry she got up on the couch and sat very close to me looking a little paranoid, but I guess she figured she was safe near me.

So you'd think it would be less funny the next night.

It was not.

This time she just lay there in the cool puddle that pooled around her.

And I laughed and laughed and laughed some more.

I dried her and the bedding off and told the honey to stop doing that. Though I laughed while I said it so I wonder how seriously he took me. She moved to sit next to me and has been sitting there whenever I'm on the couch.

She's been dry for several days now. heh.

This morning she had a different kind of shock. One that woke all of us up in a most unpleasant manner.

She fell between the bed and the night stand, about a 3 or 4 inch space. Between that space I have a narrow waste basket. Yup, she fell right into it. Her wittle head and front paws sticking up were all you could see. As you can imagine she yelped out in a very unhappy and scared way. 

I'm fairly tuned into her activities at night and the moment I heard her slip and the coaster fall off the night stand I was awake and had the light on. I scooped her up out of the waste basket quickly and made sure she was alright. Within a moment she was on my pillow purring and happy for the early morning company.

I did not laugh.

That was around 4:30 am. I tried to go back to sleep, but I was pretty much awake. The honey was awake too so we had a philosophical discussion on the principals of cat butt. If she is licking my face in what direction does her butt point and is it close to another's face. He thinks his argument proves she should not be on the bed.

Just about that time several high pitched howling sounds pierced the air and we both got up to explore the source. Well explore it was much as we can from our backyard. The Coyotes were on the other side of the fence, across the road a ways. They howled for a bit and then went on their way. After that I was pretty much up for the day.

*zombie face*

I have not been getting enough sleep. It's too hot and weird. Plus I just have too much on my mind. I'm kinda stressed and just about ready to snap.

Lemme tell ya, when I do I'm taking out all the stupid people who have been irritating me. I am so fucking sick of biting my tongue when someone says or does something stupid.

I think perhaps holding in my feelings for so long has me a bit on the edge and the irritation and frustration is seeping out in unexpected ways. I'm starting to say what I think to people who really shouldn't have to hear it and some who should. I'll give a few examples.

Recently I was at a yarn shop visiting with a friend. She pointed out some colorful and loud textured yarn someone else we know might like. Without checking my head filter I just blurted what I thought of it. Which happens to be that I thought it looked like something a cat might vomit up. Classy I know. o.0

In my defense it actually looked like a cat had gone through someone's stash and eaten a bit of this and that. Maybe some merino, fuzzy mohair, ribbon yarn and a mix of anything else you can imagine. Add in some other kitty tummy contents give it a whirl in the old blender and you had this yarn. Bloody awful.

BUT I shouldn't have said anything, certainly not in front of some lady who worked there. I apologized for blurting that out but the damage was done. But at least I didn't say HEY LADY.

The other incident took place last week when the honey took me out for dinner. I ordered a Mango Daiquiri and when it arrived at the table it tasted awful. Too bad to drink even. It was way too strong and you couldn't taste the mango at all. I didn't feel like saying anything, cause most of the time I wouldn't. Though you can be sure I made the honey taste it. *L*

A bit later the waitress asked if the drink was okay. I said it was fine and then she said how she was asking because they were trying out a new recipe. I kinda blurted out, "Oh you really wanna know, you weren't just asking." Then I told her nice as I could what I thought with some constructive criticism. She asked if I wanted something else and at that point I just wanted ice tea so I got that instead. I don't like being the lab rat to some bartender who thinks they are bing creative. *icky shivers*

But mostly I just want to tell those assholes in my life to knock it off. Who knows maybe I'll start being more direct.

I think I'll start by telling anyone who gives me unasked for advice to go suck it. Or maybe I'll tell those people who act out in attention seeking ways to knock it off. There's a bunch of other things that are currently irritating the fuck out of me.

Mostly I just want the clueless to get a clue. Life is just too short to deal with that shit.

Another thing that annoys the fuck of of me... Have you seen that damn visa commercial with the people buying flowers at a nursery or something using their stupid ass fast pay thingy? The music in the commercial is from the movie Brazil. *head 'splodes*

o.0 They are trying to make the commercial seem like if you do the "paper system", cash or checks you are slowing down the system. In the commercial the system breaks down when something very slight goes out of place for a moment, much like in the movie Brazil. When I first saw that commercial I was stunned for a moment and my honey asked what was up. I pointed out that they were using the music from Brazil in the commercial and then he was stunned too.

Did they not see how fucking Ironic that is. Not in a good way that favors them, but that proves how the system should be more flexible. If you have this rigid one way only system that punishes people for doing one little thing different then we're all fucked. Feh. The world is irritating me on so many levels right now. I love that song, how dare they sully it. Fuckers. (yes, yes I know...)

Well I've been a bit long winded here this morning so perhaps I should end this and be on my way.

But before I go I'll just say this, the next time someone asks me what I really think I may very well fucking tell them.

Adventures with Ann & Other Things in My Head

Where the hell did the week go? Seriously. o.0

It's apparently Thursday. My Office is a mess. My cat has two less teeth today than yesterday. My brain may or may not explode... and that may or may not be a bad thing. *L*

First of all I'll just say I'm okay, in case there was any doubt. Just trying to catch up. As for my office I trashed it myself in the process of getting organized again. I still haven't recovered from traveling. But I'm okay.

I had a GREAT time seeing Ann last week. She is so crazy easy to talk to / listen to / interact with. It was not scary at all, even if she did threaten to kill me and say she was a serial killer on the phone. *snicker*

We talked for hours and it seemed like minutes. I'm not sure how she managed to do that. For all I know she spiked my coffee and then drinkie and while I thought we were talking gave me some kind of brain probe. o.0 That's right Ann may or may not be an Alien from outer space. If she is then Aliens are far cuter than Hollywood gives them credit for. :D

Just to be safe though if I suddenly mail her all of my Cabin Cove yarn or something crazy then you know it was the brain probe and she needs to be stopped before she does it again. :P

I had a great time with her. Definitely the highlight of my trip. The trip didn't go so well otherwise and knowing I was going to get to see her really kept me going and positive. Thank you, Sweetie!! :D We'll have to do it again. Here's her post on the matter.

Check out the picture Ann took of our socks together. (Clickety Biggety)

My Socks were drinking a Grey Goose Vodka Martini, Up, No Vermouth and Extra Dirty. Her Socks had a Salt Rimmed Margarita. *grin*

Both of our Shut Up And Knit Your Cabin Cove socks are done now. I've yet to wear mine. I think I need some cute shoes to show them off better. Hey it's a valid reason to buy shoes so hush up. :P Oh and to anyone new to the wonder that is Ann. She leaves for her Ireland trip tomorrow night. I bet she has all kinds of kickass tales of her adventures for us when she gets back, so stay tuned! :D

The same night I saw Ann for 5 hours I went to my brothers house. We ended up talking and drinking all manner of Belgium Beer for another 5 hours. That's like a record for me to interact and have a good time with people for 10 hours. It was good to see my brother. (Cookie: All is well.) I kinda wish I had planned more time off for being in that part of the woods, but it was a harsh trip and I was glad to get home. The bestest part is that I don't have to travel for business again for a whole 3 months. YAY!!!

Btw, does it feel like this year is flying by crazy fast to anyone else or is it just me. Cause I swear it seems like time is going too fast. Then they go and throw the time change on us early. WTF?! (Note: If you use Microsoft and don't have the auto updates set you'll have to go download the time change patch thingy by Saturday so you're time will be correct. Unless you use Vista and then you're just fucked no matter what. *L*)

Ann also sent me home with a sweet goodie bag and I'll take a picture of my goodies when I get my office more sane and can see where I am. Well most of the stuff, she sent me home with some really yummy medicinal chocolates. I needed them today I tell ya. Thank you, Ann!! *HUGS*

Today I took my sweet wittle fuzzy face kitty to the vet. They were going to check out her teeth, clean them and  look at her ear.

They were supposed to call us if anything went wrong or they needed to do anything else.

They didn't. They removed TWO teeth and didn't call us to talk about it. As soon as the crazy bitch on the phone said that I told her to wait and got the honey. I could not calmly handle that. We signed all this shit that said they HAD to call us. She only had four back teeth left. Now she's down to two. (She has some front teeth left, but they don't crunch food.) The honey talked to them. Yeah it's final we are SO finding a new vet. I can't handle this shit. The last time we kenneled her they forgot to give her the special treats we left for her and some asshat put a sign on her door that said you had to wash your hands after touching her. SO NO ONE BOTHERED TO PET HER OR TAKE HER OUT! o.0 The nice Vet Lady said a Tech person made a mistake and thought she had a contagious kitty cold. She didn't. In fact it's not even the Vets there I dislike. They just have some of the stupidest techs. It was a Tech that told the Vet we had given the okay for the extractions. We did not. It was in writing. She apologized, but this is not going to cut it. I can't take the chance of TKK not getting the best possible care. Oh and the last time they lost her nice kitty carrier. They eventually found it, but what the hell. Not Cool.

The poor kitty was happy to see us to take her home. She hadn't eaten all day so she got a can of wet food as soon as we got back. Then she's been sleeping and snuggling.

The shitty thing is that we would have agreed to have the teeth removed. They were getting sensitive and she'll likely be a lot more conformable now. But we had all agreed to discuss any of the options before action was taken. Grrr. I hate stupid people.

I'm hoping things calm down with the kitty soon. I haven't been sleeping too well being worried about this. I keep checking to see if she's okay and breathing. She normally snores, so when she's quiet it kinda startles me. I woke up a lot last night to make sure she was okay. *falls over* She is okay. I'm okay. We are all okay.

She has medicine, pain and antibiotic to take. The honey is the medicine giver. I'm too worried I'll be too rough or she won't actually take it. He's good with it though.

I haven't knit at all this week, well a bit on Monday. Just been busy and worried. I've been snuggling the kitty a lot so my hands haven't been free. I need to get one of those baby contraptions that holds the kid onto the mom. I'm sure my cat would love that and then I'd be able to knit. :P

In addition to the worrying about the kitty I've been going back and forth in my mind about which yarn I want to use. Too many choices. *L* Not a bad problem to have. I think I've narrowed it down. I may just start two pairs. One with a yarn I love and a Pattern I'll need my brain on and another with yarn in a color I want to knit with in a basic no brain pattern. I really need a no brain fast knit right now. Duckie Hat is still here. I just have sock fever. I'm blaming Cookie, Dave, Ann and a whole bunch of other people. You know who you are. :P

So in conclusion. We're all okay. Life is good. Too much yarn isn't a bad thing if you are organized and having a honey who can give cat medicine is priceless, as is having a best friend who gets how worrisome a trip to the Vet can be.

 

Somebody Lick Me...

'Caus I think I might be a sucker.

You know a stupid lollipop. That's what people who allow themselves to be taken or coerced are right?

Not that I was so much taken. Or even coerced.

Well kind of coerced.

*sigh* Oh well it's not that big a deal.

But it better not happen again!

I even had my BitchPants on. I was firm. I said NO.

But then I said yes. It was more of an Okay than a yes really.

And it's not a huge commitment.

Just 6 sessions so I can get a clue.

I bet you're wondering what the hell I'm going on about over here.

See last week I ... wait, was it last week? This week? Time is lost again. *sigh*

Lemme start over... Recently I switched Gyms. Mainly because I so very muchly hated the people at my old gym. They were gossipy old nags who should have been put down ages ago. Seriously. (women only) So I wanted to play with the grownups on real workout equipment and have people shut the fuck up and leave me alone so I could work out. I honestly do not care what school you teach at, but if you insist on badmouthing the kids by their full names it's gonna piss me off, so leave me alone so I can do what I'm paying my dough to be there to do! Feh. Anyhoo so after what's it been Cookie, 6 months, a year? I finally switched Gyms. This in the long run will be a good thing. After I get away from people that is.

I do not like people. Not a damn bit. Too bad I can't walk around duct taping peoples mouths shut eh? Cause I really really want to.

So anyway I joined up. Paid a boat load of money to be at the new place and now the people there are talking at me to buy more shit.

But wait. The price of admission is quite enough.

They wanted me to pay for Personal Trainer services. It's a LOT of money. It's way more money than the gym membership. o.0

When I said no today I got this big awful speech about how I was setting myself up for failure and that I wasn't really committed to getting fit. *dies*

Fuck Off PLEASE!.

So after getting pissy with the people and explaining what I wanted, which was just for somebody to show me how to use the new shiny equipment for a few sessions they finally let it go. Kind of.

I say kind of because the mouths shut up, mostly, but they said to have someone show me the stuff I'd still need to pay a personal trainer. Even though the rules say a club person will show you how to use the stuff. I just wanted to get out of there at that point though. It was like a bad date and you eventually kiss the guy goodnight just so you can end it. Not that I would recommend that or anything.

*sigh*

So I got 6 sessions. After arguing with me about how I needed the Personal Trainer to talk me through nutrition and goals and whatever else, when all I wanted was someone to show me the proper way to use the damn equipment that's what he finally agreed to let me do. He said the person would do whatever I wanted.

That's just what I'll do. They can show me how to use the stuff for 6 sessions and then they can go fuck off and die. Trust me, for $65 a pop I bet they'd do it. o.0

This has nothing to do with knitting. But I needed to vent. Ya know. *sigh*

So I'm kind of a sucker and kind of not since they SAID I can get what I wanted in the first place, although it is way more money than I thought it be.

Now I'm going to go work on Resolution #10. It's been a long day and while that is highly annoying it's seriously the least of the stupid shit I've dealt with today.

*falls over*

Saturday Sky: Now with more Sky & Stupid People Oh My!

Short post as I've been up since AAAAAAACK O' Clock this morning and had a long day out with the honey.

The first picture was taken this morning when we ran to the store to get pie crusts to make another pecan pie. Yes another one. The honey fell in love and lost all control it would seem. o.0 I had one piece and told him I better get two out of the next one. Maybe I'll make it tomorrow.

ANYWAY, the sky was beautiful and so was Mt. Rose. :D

Clickety Biggety!

I love living in Reno. Especially the part of town I live in. Everyday is a post card made real.

A little later after daring to venture into a bookstore and some other places we went for a little adventure. Took a nice walk in a park and enjoyed some lovely views.

This is a view of Downtown Reno.

After that a bunch of other stuff happened. If you are an idiot with some kids who got their asses busted today for drinking and screwing around with cans of spray paint/graffiti punk ass bitches, then you have me and my honey to blame. You're welcome, now stop being such a piece of shit and raise your kids to not be stupid. We'd all thank you if you did. Assholes. Feh. I'm just glad I have my camera on me at all times.  Seriously. It's not art. It's just vandalism. Go express yourself on a canvas if that's your point. Badly spelling out FUCK on someone else's property doesn't make you an artist or a big man. Grr. Stupids.

In happier news I frogged that hat yesterday and started over. Almost done and it's SO CUTE! It's Red and White. Looks like peppermint candy. :D

Eye Candy Friday: SunSet, Kitty & a rant apparently...

It's Friday.  How we got here I have no bloody idea. *blink* It's like someone keeps moving the space time continuum around on me. Just to screw with me, ya know. o.0

Life, it be weird.

So Wednesday I went winter holiday shopping. Winter Depression Inducing commercialization so stores can get in a final bang before their year end gross profit numbers are announced. Winter Christian stealing of pagan traditions and stories so you can feel like a good person for the rest of the year holiday bullshit.

What? Did I say too much? Nah.

I don't go in for all that, although I will be forced to deal with it. Oh Joy.

Now I don't mind giving gifts. I like it actually, as many of you have seen in my swap giftings or maybe even in a gift you got from me yourself. Those are fine. Wonderful in fact. My Choice.

My Choice and the fact no suffocating belief system is attached to the gifts is what makes them a joy to give. I get the pleasure of giving to someone I like or am forced into a situation with in a swap.

I say these things not to be offensive to anyone who does go in for that sort of thing, but to speak my mind as I feel I need to do. Cause in a few weeks there will be very little mind speaking. :/ Just holiday taking it and being quite so as not to be a pain in my family or whoevers' ass.

Actually in a few weeks I'll be avoiding the overplayed game of, When ya gonna get married. It's a pretty shitty game. My Fav answer is , how's the sex life with you and your wife/hubby? Tends to freak them out. Heh.  Often these same assholes are the ones checking out people they aren't married to.

I used to think that being married meant you became a lecherous darting eyed idiot. Now I see that married has little to do with it. Most people just suck. Lots even go in for more than a glance if you know what I mean.

There's nothing sadder and often sicker than a Christian man trying to talk like a player to get in the sack with a person who is not their spouse. Really they make marriage and Christians look bad. Repubs too as those types often lean that way. Have you seen a paper lately? Yeah, my point is made for me.

But back to the intention of my post. I have pictures. Friday Eye Candy Pictures.

Here is the Sunset from the night I went Holiday shopping. It's in the parking lot. Yes, I'm the freak who whips out her camera whenever wherever. *L*

Seeing a bunch of those phony assholes out in the stores is what made me get off target, btw. I'm not normally so filled with disgust, but tis the season.

Oh and before anyone gets their panties in a bind, not any of ya regulars as you know I just speak my mind as I see fit, but anyone who might stumble upon this, please know that I don't think all Xtians are lying sacks of shit. Nope. I have many friends who believe in various things. But they aren't out there shoving their crap down my throat. Many people believe things and go on to live normal healthy lives.

I'm also friends with people who don't knit, so you see I can be friends with just about anyone. *L*

In other Eye Candy News here is my kitty TKK. She's in her favorite cat bed. This is the most difficult to wash cat bed as it has lots of fluff that comes off and gets stuck in the washing machine. I'd gladly get her a different one. She has many beds in fact, but she just loves this one so much. I can't take away her fav bed even though it's a pain in the ass to wash.

She is just such a cutiehead kitty. :D

Alright one last night of knitting for myself. Tomorrow marks the start of Knit Unto Others. I have a Red Scarf and a DK Dulaan hat to finish up for my Charity Knits. Plus I'm waiting on some yarn to get here so I can start my first sweater. It's a child's sweater for Dulaan. I've got plenty more yarn to knit hats and scarves or whatever during KUO which is from 11/18 to 12/2.

Ya know, my honey has been really supportive of my charity knitting. He thinks it's cool that I'm actually doing something unlike many people we know (Xtians back east) who are all a twitter with "how awfuls" and no action to do anything about anything. I feel really good about these projects. Especially Dulaan. Once I really looked into what all it was and who all it helped it was clear I could and should do what I can. Plus I like Camels and they are Camel peoples. *grin*

For some inspirational movie watching while you do some knitting give the Docudrama, The Story of the Weeping Camel a try. It's the story of a Mongolian Family who live by way of the camel. Very Touching. Those people struggle everyday and they are doing WAY the hell better off than the people who will get the Dulaan knits. Plus it has camels and camels are always nice. My honey took me to see that when it was in theaters however many years ago. See I told ya we have a thing about camels. ;)

Here's the Lace Type scarf I'm doing for myself now. The pattern is from the box set of The little box of scarves. It's the Double Eyelet Rib Scarf. I added an extra set of the pattern repeat to make it a little wider. I spread it out over my carpet for this photo. The edges curl under a bit right now.

I'm not sure how it will look once blocked. The scarf on the card is made with cotton and I'm using Alpaca and Silk. The yarn they used was worsted and I'm using sport weight. I hope to finish this up so I can wear it to a holiday event next month. It would seem I'm a bit of my own kind of hypocrite wouldn't it. Oh well, better to be my own kind I guess. *L*

Still feeling very stressed and out of it. Last night I went to a knitting thing. Nearly broke my iPod on the way over. One of the girls finally got it to turn off for me. I downloaded some new software for it today. I hope it lives. I really freaked myself out. Plus I was still mighty freaked out from the last week or so. *sigh* I'm really starting to think I should never leave my house. It's one thing to speak your mind on your own blog where you are allowed such things, but in public with people who may or may not think you are a dork is another thing entirely.

If anyone needs me I'll be hiding under my rock over here. I've got Pepsi and Yarn so I should be okay for awhile. Oy. 

Home Alone & Hat Swatching

I am home alone. It's dark outside. It's been ages, years maybe even since I've been home alone at night.

o.0

Every little noise is kinda freaky. Plus it got dark around 5:00 or so. That's just messed up. 

The honey is off at a work training thing. It's the whole week long, which means I'll be handing out candy to brats kids all by myself tomorrow night.

If and ax murder comes to my door and kills me please know it was likely my neighbors. They are going to burn the neighborhood down one of these nights. They keep drinking and starting huge bonfires in their backyard. Then they go inside and don't watch the damn fire. We of course have had to call the authorities several times as they do this just a few feet from the wooden fence that separates our property. I think they hate us, but that's okay as I dislike them a great deal thanks to their unsafe stupidity.  (These are also the idiots who had the drinking and driving BS going on last winter during a deep snow. Because nothing is stupider than trying to drive in deep snow while drunk!) Considering how little rain we've had and all the crazy fires this year they might be more cautious. Nope. So yeah if I'm stabbed to death that's the first lead. Those people are NUTS.

Speaking of nuts a red-tailed hawk dropped a dead mouse carcass into the backyard today. This is the third time this has happened. I think it has a crush on the kitty. Why else would it bring by gifts of love and devotion. I'm hoping she'll tell the birdie she doesn't return the affection so he'll stop. It's kinda freaking me out. o.0

Speaking of the kitty I have to tell ya, she can't tell time. This time change hasn't meant ANYTHING to her in fact. o.0 She is now waking me up an hour earlier than the clock says she should. She is also meowing for dinner an hour earlier than she should. Doesn't the government know my cat can't tell time? Why would they screw with us twice a year like this? It'll be at least a week or two before she gets on the new time change. *sigh* Until then I'm getting meowed at and walked all over much too early. Fall back and gain and hour my butt. I just lost an hour to a hungry cat who wants her treats and morning huggles.

Okay now for happier news. I'm swatching for my very first hat this evening. I'll go get started on the actual hat cast on in a bit. I'm making a Child's hat for Dulaan. It's Pinks, Greys and whites in an Acrylic/Wool blend from Plymouth yarn. I can't wait to see how it knits up in the round. :D

Here's my guage swatch:

That's on a size 9US needle. It's freaky going from a size 2 to a 9. Like knitting with telephone poles or something. I'm going to go down to an 8 to make a tighter guage. It should be warmer I'd think. I'm just going to make a basic ribbed edge hat. I'm using The Knitters handy book of patterns by Ann Budd for my pattern construction.

In addition to working on my first hat I'm also going to knit on my sock a bit. I was almost done with it last night. I got to the point where I could just graft the toes to finish it up, but after trying it on I felt it wasn't long enough so I ripped back. It'll be great when it's done. Very comfy so far. :D Then I get to start on the second sock. Wheeeeeeeee!!

I'll leave y'all with this picture I took at the park a few weeks ago. I love this park. You can hike through the woods or walk by a bubbly creek or whatever you want. :D There are always lots of birds, squirrels and pine cones for amusement.

If you don't think pine cones are amusing then you've never been in a pine cone fight. It's like a snow ball fight, only just more pokey. :P

Pine Coned!!

Happy Halloween Eve. :D