History never repeats, I tell myself before I go to sleep...

I came across a blog of a person I used to be really good friends with. An enormous part of my life included her. We were inseparable for a good long time. Now? We don't speak. Not one thing was the impetus of the ending of our friendship, but many small things, and the realisation that a toxic person is toxic no matter how long you've known them. No matter how much history you've had with them. Reading her blog made me understand how important it is to remember the way things really were. Not some sort of bullshit revisionist history you create to romanticise yourself, or to make you look better to your audience. Warts and all, it's valuable to be able to look back and sort out why you did things, to ensure you don't make those same mistakes over and over. Lessons learned the hard way seem to be the ones that we should try to hold on to. To really implement into our lives. It made me a little bit sad to read her blog, but it also was a fabulous reminder of why she isn't in my life anymore. I'm better for it. Her, I don't so much care either way.

I used to be all about the Halloween. Dressing up, going out, decorating. It was my Christmas. Now, I'm ambivalent. I see things in the shops I would have gone mad for, gross awful things which I still squeeeeee about, but no longer want to buy it all and hang it up in my living room. Since when did the appropriation of all the horror movie stuff that shocked the normies get normal? Hmmm.....

 

Pickles went and hurt himself this week. we figure he went into the long dead grass in the backyard and got something in his eye. It never got bad enough to get him to the vet (but I did make an appointment for him next week that I canceled), but enough to worry the Dog-Mom in me. Jake and I were chatting about it, and I remarked that Max had never had to hit the vet for anything more than shots. Jake said "Max may be stupid*, but he sure is careful!" How true.

Happy Halloween little monsters!




*he is. he doesn't care. he really really is. we love him more for it.

A few of my favourite things...

A friend* introduced me to this ice cream. The best ice cream in the world she said. You won't believe how good it is, how amazing. Everyone who eats this ice cream becomes smarter, funnier, better looking and loses 15 pounds. Ok,, maybe I made some of that last bit up. But it may have well as been that superfluous when she extolled the virtues of it.

She was right.

So damn right.

It really is the best ice cream I have ever eaten. Chris agrees. Even Jake liked it, and he isn't one for the sweets. So um, yeah. I love you ice cream. LOVE YOU.

 
Poster in my kitchen. I love this poster, this movie, this time of year, all of it. But mostly the poster and the movie.

Jake and my Dad. The picture is a year or 2 old (and my Mom took it) but they are such cheeky buggers the pair of them.

Pills! Yay!

Lolcats! Everyday. Yup, cats on the internets is one of my fave things.

I wish I had a pic of my knitting bitches but I don't. They are definitely 2 of my favourite things. Love my gals.

happy weekend!


*or is she a friend? DEVIL WOMAN!

Why do I smile at people I'd much rather kick in the eye?

Welcome to October!!!! Time for lovely walks through the drifting, crunching leaves. The smell of decay and cool winds. Hallowe'en (that's for you Christine) and candy, costumes, spooky pumpkins. Or there's this...

I would be lying if I said I hate this. I don't. I kinda like snow. Maybe not in the dead of winter when we get 30 cm in a day, but now? It's nice. It makes me want to cook soup and knit more frantically. With heaps of horror movies to watch, what more can a gal want? It lets me put off the haircut that Pickles needs, it encourages snuggling. All good things.

Also it hides dog turds in the back yard. Pickles is entranced with it, Every year it's like he forgets and has to rediscover it. Usually it scares him a little bit at first.

He keeps standing in it, pushing it with his nose a bit to see if it will move, stick or melt. Max? He sees it and looks at me like "really? ugh. ok, let's get this over with. help me down the stairs." Poor doggie.

I've been making some rings* in my frenzy to appear fashionable. They are easy peasy and very glam I must say. See?

Swanky huh? I've given a few away, and have been thinking of re-opening my etsy shop. We'll have to see. It's a little sick that I'm matching my polish to them. Wow.

Other things I love about fall? All the Halloween decor! Behold the mug of DOOM.

Every morning this makes me just that much happier. Which is a good thing as we are tinkering with my Fibro meds right now. I'm in some weird place that is somewhat unsettling (and I've had some shitty things happening that has nothing to do with anything but plumbing. Of the real kind in the house, not MY plumbing! Those in know, know how awful this has been. :/) but I have faith that I'll get these meds sorted eventually. I'm not sure if I'm sleepy or in pain or just restless sometimes and it does come out in a blather. But I have good friends and an amazing family to help me through this. I'm seriously the luckiest girl I know.

Wow... that got real serious there. Now to completely change the subject, here's Pickles with his stupid raccoon (racon for Jake) Rocky. He ripped a huge hole in his head and won't let me fix it. Such a true character.Or jerk. Take your pick.

Knit fast, Die Warm!



*not for you Sauron, Bugger off.

Sanitarium.. just leave me alone...

I need to buy some winter type foot wear. All I wear are sneakers. No heels, no sandals, no boots. Sneakers. Oh and I have one pair of ballet flats I am crazy mad, mental insane in love with. Not practical for winter right? I used to wear all different kinds of shoes, clogs, heels, platforms, boots you name it. I have gotten so super lazy with my fashion sense, I guess it doesn't help that I dress like a 14 year old skater. I get so excited when I find something that is remotely *fashionable that I wear the shit out of it. And it is usually a fluke, like finding a sweater in the lingerie dept that I don't even know where to start looking for *normal* clothes. I'd love to find something to cover my feet that aren't sneakers, but everything feels so not sneaker like that I get frustrated. The joys of being a perpetual skater kid.

I haven't been acting like normal lately. I was a monogamous knitter for the longest time. It set me apart from other knitters as I would be finishing stuff all the time. Since I have discovered the joy of multiple projects it's like a whole new world opened up. BUT, I had nothing to post for ages. The bonus? When I finish stuff it seems to be all at once now!

This was a test knit for a gal on Ravelry. Gorgeous pattern (be. leaf.) and scrumptious yarn. Can you ask for anything more?

I love that this shawl was used by a group on Ravelry as a Supernatural KAL. One of my favourite shows EVER. The pattern is Gabriel's Wings, so I can see how it was close enough to Castiel for them to pick it. Great pattern and I love these shawlettes for fall. Winding them about my neck makes everything instantly warmer.

This took me FOREVER to finish and was the reason I started to cheat on my knitting in the first place. It is a gorgeous pattern called Laodice that I bought. It's gorgeous and soft and easy but DAMN. Did it ever take ages to finish! Totally worth it in the end.

I have been knitting all these shawlette/scarves and actually wearing them. This is the most productive, actively used knitting I have ever done. Selfish knitting mostly. I did knit one of these and sent it off to a pal in LA. I don't know if ever gets cold enough there for them, but I love her dearly and thought she should see it done out into something tangible. Besos Rhian.


The dogs have been practicing their sychronised sleeping! Aren't they getting good? Poor Max is back into his sweaters for the season. I shaved him down, but he really need it. He was smelly and shaggy. poor old goat.

Listening to Metallica in the morning is awesome. Great vacuuming music!


*not a t-shirt/jeans/hoodie.

Ain't that some shit?

I hate plumbing problems. HATE THEM. I have no idea how it works, and they are always so damn expensive! I keep telling Jake to learn to be a plumber, it's a license to print money I say! So when our hot water in the kitchen shut off for good* we were borked! Blergh. Chris pokes around at the faucet for a few minutes and tells me to phone the plumber in the morning.

So I phone the plumber in the morning. The same guys who did our dishwasher rough in and install. Some Russian/Eastern Block dude comes over turns the faucet on and proclaims it's the cartridge and he can't repair it because it's an IKEA faucet and their parts aren't standard, and the faucet is a piece of garbage and we really should get a new one as IKEA blows goats yadda yadda. He tries to sell me a 700$ (I blurted out HOLY SHIT NO WAY when he told me the price. then I started laughing) super fancy faucet. When I politely declined he said we could get a pretty good one at say Home Depot and get them to install it. I'm pretty pissed off at this point (I like having hot water in the kitchen. call me weird) so I tell him I'll talk to my husband about it. He left and to be fair, didn't charge me anything for coming out so yay for that.

I call IKEA to see if I can buy a replacement part. The dude tells me they don't carry them, and has no idea where I can get one. I was REALLY pissed of at this point and I cussed out the dude and hung up. I called Chris at work to tell him the bad news. He came home and we were getting ready to go buy a new faucet when he said "Lemme try something first!" Alrighty then! So he pulls some stuff apart, gets a big pot out and puts it behind the faucet (ok, writing faucet out so many times makes it look like a non word now!) fiddles around, pulls out some stuff and turns on some water, uses come compressed air and BAM! The faucet is FIXED. Turns out there was a blockage in the tube from the shut off to the tap. HURRAY!!!! A hearty thanks to the (now almost) handy man, and a big poke in the eye with a sharp stick to the SO CALLED professional.

The weather here has been so grey and rainy, I hate it. I don't mind that cold, but the grey? YUCK. I still don't know how you all on the Island can take it. It bums me out. I suppose getting used to these new meds I'm taking for the Fibromyalgia isn't helping either. I feel a little fuzzy, and disconnected from myself a little. I miss my Mom and I worry about my Dad. I am just a bundle of happiness, unicorns, wizards, rainbows and puppies aren't I?

I'm also doing slightly out of character things too. Nothing weird, just doing 3 knitting projects at the same time. Something most knitters do, but I've always been a fairly monogamous knitter. Not anymore. At least not now. I'm test knitting an awesome shawl for a gal on Ravelry and it is turning out GORGEOUS. I love me some red Malabrigo lace! The downside is I don't have any pictures for you. Not yet anyways.

AND... since my husband was such a good sport about his Slanket picture I reckon turnabout is fair play. This is totally what I look like most evenings. With less feigned joy. I have everything I need in my little corner. Water with a straw**? Check! Knitting? Check! Incense burning? Check! Bathrobe? Check! Small Dog? Check! Some sort of snack (usually still yogurt.. holy hell food jag much??)? Check! 

And what have you been doing?










*we've been having this problem for months and months but it has always resolved itself in 5 min or so. UNTIL NOW
**OMG I LOVE STRAWS.

We all float on

After this weekend I may need to get this app. We went to Montana's for lunch on Friday. We never go there but Chris was told by his GI Dr that he is low in iron so he wanted some RED MEAT and off we went. I order chicken finger because sometimes I roll like a toddler. The food came out and we dug in. I took one bite and it happened. I swallowed and swallowed and swallowed. It wasn't going down, in fact it wasn't going anywhere. I couldn't breathe or move and my ears started to ring. I looked at Chris across the table wordlessly and made my hands go around my neck. He laughed and then looked really weird.. he asked if I was choking and I nodded. The ringing was getting louder. He stood up and came over to my side of the booth (he is a trained first aid responder) and started to get behind me to give me the Heimlich. The ringing was getting louder and I thought "oh fuck, I don't wanna die in a Montana's! this SUCKS!" Utilising a Herculean force I managed to kinda throw up the blocking chicken piece and GASPED for air. Chris sat down and asked if I was ok. He said he knew it was trouble when I went dead silent. No noise is bad. I shook for about an hour after it was all said and done, and even managed to nibble on some chicken. I was really hungry what can I say?

I had no idea so many thoughts could race through your mind in such a short time. It was one of the scariest things that has ever happened. even if nothing did happen. Lesson learned, chew your food better. But I have to say I am a little bit scared of big solid food still. I've been eating lots of yogurt. :/

More knitting: Citron out of some colour changing cotton yarn. I'm not sure about the yarn, it's cool, but not fantastic to knit with. Very splitty and the colour change parts have knots in them. I think I am a wool girl at heart. Cotton seems lifeless in my hands. No bounce or spring. Blocking is a PITA* and um... I dunno..

But it *is* pretty! I may have gone on a little yarn bender when Chris was gone to Houston.

There's some nice wool in there I tell ya! Almost all of it was 50% off too. Shamefully I have a nail polish bender to almost rival that too.. it's the colours that get me. Every time.








*pain in the arse

Alone again.. naturally...

It's weird how many times I've done this lately. Seriously. Like 5 times in the last week! I'm blaming meds. I did start a bunch of news ones so..

The last few weeks have been not very great here. My Mom died on July 30th. She has been sick for a long time, but this was really sudden. We had expected a few more months.. but that's not how it went. None of us were ready for it to happen so quickly. We had a lovely service for her and so many people came! It was really a celebration of her life, she would have loved it, but been embarrassed by all the attention. That was my Mom. Our little English Rose.

The flowers were from my ex-In-laws. Weird right? But they are lovely people and Jake's grandparents. So very kind of them. I have to say I am impressed with the kindness people have shown me in the last few weeks. My friends have really been amazing, emailing and phoning and offering help. It is times like this that you find out who your friends really are. They are ones holding you up when you feel like falling down. Showing small kindnesses.

And now onto more uplifting things..

One of Jake's friends put this on Mr Pickles and holy shit did we laugh. Isn't he just the bomb? Poor Pickles, the indignities he suffers to make us laugh. I shaved him yesterday and after wards I was covered in picklefuzz so I took a shower. When I was done I called him in to the bathroom and brought him in the shower. That definitely sounds way pervier than it was. In fact it was hilarious as he doesn't realise he should shut his eyes when water is falling in them. He does the same thing in the rain. Anyways, he got a quick rinse and towel off. I'm sure he felt much better in yesterdays heat. Today however, I'm sure I was getting the stink eye. Summer in Alberta dude.. we have had our furnace on every month of the year. And I reckon it is going on tonight.

Chris is in Houston right now training a bunch of people to do I have no idea what.. so I have been eating badly, staying up late and shopping. In case you thought this was a knitting content free post, think again. I have been PRODUCTIVE!

 See? Lace is my crack right now. Which is better than say.. real crack.. right?

The Heart Remains a Child

Apparently I make a wicked good bean salad! Who knew? I've been trying to eat a little healthier since these stupid meds I'm on have a really awesome side effect of weight gain (which is full of suck) and really.. we could all totally eat better than we do. Right?

Awesomely bright bean salad.

1 can black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained too)
1 pepper. red/yellow/green, your choice. I used yellow. mmm..
a bunch of grape or cherry tomatoes.
1 whole lemon
salt and pepper

Make sure your beans and corn are well drained, toss 'em in a big ol' bowl.
Dice the pepper. half or quarter your tomatoes. Depending on size. toss them in the bowl too.
cut the lemon in half, and juice that sucker right over the bowl. Both sides. You can add a little zest of the lemon if you were so inclined.
Add salt and pepper. I used lots of pepper. I love pepper.
Make sure your salad is well mixed and put it in the fridge. Let it chill for a couple of hours. Eat. Go OMG! I had no idea bean salad was this good with not a stitch of added fat in it! Marvel that your husband who can be notoriously fussy eats 2 huge bowls of it and is actually excited to eat the leftovers the next day. Feel good about making yourself look like a food rockstar.

I have been doing something really out of character for me. I have been working on more than one knitting project at a time! I KNOW RIGHT!?!

This was a super fun knit. The yarn is a silk bamboo mix I got from (gasp) Michaels ages ago. Beautiful drape and so shiny and pretty! I loves it!

Pickles says HAI GUISE!

Um.. yeah. So I went and got some more ink. It is the companion piece to my sweet cupcake. I was so excited when it was done I was showing all the hardcore dudes in the shop. Hey! Dudes! Look at this sweet fucking ball of yarn! Wow, did they all laugh. And they all loved it :) I really dig going to Strange World Tattoo, and Rick is totally the man. He is funny and really awesome to work with. Clearly I like him, he's done 6 tattoos for me. This is his first yarn ball he's done. I know, I live to provide people with fresh new experiences. It's a gift.

Max doesn't care. 

life goes on BRA!

We had visitors from the west coast this last weekend. It was so good to see Chris' parents.. it's far too long between visits. we didn't do a whole lot, but we did get to Stampede. First time in 10 years for us, 50 for my MIL (please don't kill me)! It was still.. yup.. Stampede! But we did go see SUPERDOGS!! Which was super. The host mentioned he had been doing it for the last 35 (25?) years and I don't think he had purchased any new clothes since then. They were very, um, natty. Like a game show host from the 70's. And happily as gay as a Christmas tablecloth. He was hilarious. They had 3 little pugs (HEATHER!!!) that ran this little flag course.. I about died from the cute. Ate a corn dog, some mini donuts and called it a day.

The rest of the weekend was pretty rainy, and I wasn't feeling super great so we all laid low. Watched the futbol, had some Chinese (spicy hut!) and caught up. Pickles made new BFF's. He was such an attention ho, I think he completely charmed Moms and Pops.

Do you see what a good sport my husband is? I caught him wearing my robe like a slanket and forced him to capitulate to some extremely shameful photos. Yes he is reading my Fangoria magazine and having a tasty treat out of my flirt mug. Gods, he is a keeper!

 I have been knitting, knitting, knitting. One project keeps getting put aside for faster, easier, smaller ones. I never thought I'd break with my knitting monogamy!

Poor little Max got some sort of gross thing on his foot (a wart I think, he is slowly turning into a roaming lump farm) so I put a little bandage on it so he'd leave it alone. It is working. I think.

We had a wicked hail storm last week.. our car is dimpled (not from smiling too much I tell ya!) and it beat the shit out of the trees. It was CRAZY HAIL.

Thems some big balls!



PS That is me up there. I found some photos in the car (!) and scanned them. I reckon this is the last time I wore a 2 piece. I think I was about 3.