Kiss My Knits!

I’m tired this morning, but happy. I joined a play-by-chat-room D&D campaign and our first session started at 9pm last night. About midnight, I was fading, but the DM encouraged me to stay 25 more minutes, so I did. Unfortunately, as always happens in these games, 25 minutes stretched and I didn’t log off until about 1am. D’oh!

It’s a very good DM. If I didn’t know that he was so scrupulous, though, I’d suspect that perhaps me getting attacked so often last night was some kind of revenge, what with me accidentally getting our entire party, including him, killed by mind flayers last time we played. Hey, these things happen. However, he is scrupulous, and entertaining, and as I say, a very good DM.

It’s a good group, too. Sample dialogue from last night: we were entering a mine and came to a lift that could take us down into the depths. My Dwarf, Palin (what, it’s a good Dwarven name!), was concerned that it might be too loud and alert any creatures that we were coming.

Palin: I hope the winch is oiled up.
Val, our rogue: That’s what she said.

This is the level of discourse, my friends. Just the way I like it. However, from now on, I can’t stay up until 1am. I feel fine now, but I have a feeling that around 2pm I’m going to be hurtin’. Hopefully I’ll still be bright eyed for the Pushing Daisies premiere tonight.

In spite of the late night, I WILL go running this morning, once it warms up a little. Until then, I’m stamping boxes and getting Jayne hats ready to ship out. I’m also doing some laundry, which seems to call for this little gem from the Oct 1943 Better Homes and Gardens. If, like me, your eyes are going, you can click on “all sizes” and “original” on the flickr page to read the text the most clearly.

Okay, time to put some drops in the cat’s ears, hang out some clothes, and stamp some boxes!

Got a headache, am a little stressed out, and this month’s unexpected expense (there’s always an unexpected expense) was a double ear infection for the cat. So I get to pour drops in the cat’s ears twice daily. I hate that cat.

Obviously I need a little kick start to get myself back to my usual sunny demeanor. I wonder if I could sub pureed frozen raspberries for some of the butter in my favorite brownie recipe. Hmmm…

Emily wants to sew her own dress, like Giselle did when she cut up Robert’s curtains and made a beautiful gown in Enchanted. Picture is at right. She’s mentioned it several times over several days, so I don’t think it’s entirely a whim, so I’m willing to pursue this.

We’re not cutting up my curtains, and I’m not capable of making a dress that doesn’t look like it was stitched by a drunken seal. Therefore, I’m looking for very basic patterns suitable for a child’s first sewing project. Clothing would be preferable, but that’s not critical. I have a sewing machine, fabric, thread, pins, needles, scissors, chalk, and assorted other tools already. Anything she can learn a little about sewing from would be good. Ideas for projects, anyone?

After staying up too late Sunday night, I decided not to run on Monday. I figured I’d get back on the horse this morning, but I forgot that today is a teacher workday. So no running this morning. And tonight’s the night Mr. Tvini does his regular 30 mile ride on the bike, so if I do go tonight, it’ll be late. I guess it won’t kill me to wait until tomorrow morning.
The rest is a LONG post about Em’s schoolwork.

I’m old enough to remember the fuel shortages of the 70’s. Not as a driver, just as a kid. That must have been mucho fun for Mom – having to sit and wait in a very long line with an antsy kid in the backseat. Actually, I might not have been in the backseat, since this was the 70’s. I don’t recall. But from time to time, as we waited in line, she’d let me out to play at the park that was right next door to where we were waiting. When the car would start moving again, she’d call to me and I’d run back to sit in it. That was unusual, though. Usually, I just sat. (Truthfully, I may just be remembering seeing other kids out there playing and imagining I was too. Mom might be able to tell me when she reads this.)

I was reminded of that as I saw cars jockeying for position today. People were generally fairly well-behaved, but apparently that wasn’t the case in some places. There were reports of fender benders, shouting matches, and fistfights.

People. People, people, people. Please. It’s not like there will never be any gas ever again. It’s just a little slow getting to us. If you don’t get in line with 3/4 of a tank full and top off your gas guzzling SUV, then there’ll be enough for everybody to go where they need to go.

I was also reminded of some oldies but goodies lying around my house – my beloved wartime Better Homes and Gardens. Let’s take a look at the ads in the October 1943 issue, shall we?

There were heating fuel shortages. This is the October issue, so winter was coming on, and there are quite a few ads for things you can do to help reduce your fuel use. If you’re going green, a lot of these still apply today. The Eagle Insulation ad, incidentally, was sponsored by the Eagle Paint Lead company. I hope the insulation business worked better for them than the lead paint business did. Yow.



There was a steel shortage, since it was going for the war effort. So good luck buying major appliances. That includes new cars. Take the bus to the laundromat and smile, willya?


To add insult to injury, I give you…

Knox’s Protein Point-Savers

This is touted as “A real man’s dish!” It’s a wonder more of our boys didn’t re-up if this is what was waiting for them at home. brrrrr…

In short: we’re low on gas, but it could be a lot worse. Suck it up, drive responsibly, be patient, don’t act like a jerk.

Rant over. Thank you.

Hey, fellow Charlotteans! Do you happen to know where there’s any gas in town? I held out for a long time, not wanting to add to the confusion and panic, but I’m finally down under a quarter of a tank. Little help on locations?

ETA: I found some, thanks! I got some in a reasonably short time at the Shell station at Tyvola and South Boulevard. The limit was $40 per person, and the attendant was going around putting up signs indicating he was out of midgrade and premium. $30 filled me up with regular, so all is well!

Somehow, I’ve gotten poison ivy on my left calf, and it itches constantly. Touching my leg anywhere near the patches produces such a blissful sense of relief that it’s very difficult not to scratch. Even going running yesterday, the air going past my legs was ticklish and unsettling. The water from the shower afterwards, though, was heavenly. There is further trouble because the weather has turned, and I have to either be cold in the morning or wear long pants. The pressure of the fabric makes me list a little to one side as I walk.

It’s so, so hard not to touch it. It’s almost irresistible. I would make a terrible heroin addict. Well, no, I would make a great heroin addict, I would make a terrible recovering heroin addict.

I had some address labels get stuck in my printer. All the bits have been picked out now, so Jayne hat shipping is back in business. Packing up kits and hats this morning, to go out to MO, HI, CA, and UT.

Often, when we take Em to a special event, it looks like she’s not having fun. She’s sitting on a pony, unsmiling. She’s riding the carousel, stonefaced. But for those who know her, there are subtle clues that she’s having a good time.

Today, a good time was had by all.

I ran this morning. It was a great day for it, nice and cool, and I was able to hang around the house until almost 11am before going. I took my Nike+ iPod thingie and did week 2 along the Greenway. Unfortunately, apparently I didn’t press some critical button at the very end, because while I thought it had recorded my workout, it didn’t.

Now, I accomplished my goal. I ran what I wanted to run, I got exercise which is good for my body, but somehow I still feel cheated. I like seeing my little bar graph on Nike+, and I feel like I didn’t get credit for today! Obviously it’s not about credit, but still. I WANT CREDIT. I ran well today, maybe I could have gotten some celebrity congratulating me on a job well done. Hmph. Stupid Nike + iPod.

It wasn’t my best run ever, but it wasn’t my worst – and it could have been. There’s a house being built along my route, and the driveway is torn up, with mud and bits of concrete sticking out. Normally I go in the road and run around that bit, especially on weekdays when there are construction trucks parked out front. Today I didn’t, because this is Festival in the Park weekend, and there were quite a few people on the sidewalks, coming to the fest from the parking places they’d found miles away. I thought it was best not to weave in and out among the strollers.

However, when I hit the broken driveway, my toe caught a bit of concrete, and I went flying. I was in kind of a controlled crash, arms flailing, stumbling at a good clip up the sidewalk. I didn’t actually fall, fortunately. I looked kind of like Daffy Duck in Robin Hood Daffy when he’s singing his “to trip it up and down” song.” As I mentioned, the normally deserted streets were quite crowded, so fest goers got some added entertainment.

You know, perhaps it’s for the best I didn’t get a congratulations. I don’t want to hear, “This is Mary Decker. Congratulations on a really good tumble!”

Anywho, that’s today’s workout story. I worked out, but don’t have a technological record of it. At least it’s burned into the memory of a dozen strangers who witnessed my unintentional comedy routine. That’s something, I guess.


For those of you poor, deprived souls who don’t know Robin Hood Daffy, here it is. The bit I’m referring to is from about :40 to 1:20.

Yoiks! And away!

Your result for The Classic Dames Test…

Rosalind Russell

You scored 29% grit, 48% wit, 19% flair, and 21% class!

Take The Classic Dames Test at HelloQuizzy

Em, by the way, did not wake us up to fix her clock. She did, however, wake up EXACTLY at six o’clock and ask what time it was. That girl’s internal chronometer is amazing.