I'm so excited! I finally got my invite to Ravelry!

For those of you not in the know, it's like facebook, but for knitters/crocheters. Because it's still in beta mode, you have to sign up to be invited. It took about a week or so for me to get my invite but boy am I excited! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

So in spite of the fact that I once posted 100 damn things about myself,, I'll humor the recent thing that's going around and do only 8. I don't know that there's anything more I can really say about myself but I'll give it the ol' college try.

The rules: Each player lists 8 random facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


Here goes:

1. I really love it when in winter, it's a clear day and everything is still, and all you can hear is your own gasping breaths. And there is nothing around for miles to break that calm and the whole world is blanketed in white. The air smells and feels cleaner than it normally does, and every breath you take reminds you that you are alive.

2. In spite of the fact that my father once ran a sock factory, and my uncle runs his own business making them, I almost never wear the damn things. I do in winter, out of duty to them, but I hate it. And you know what? My son is the exact same way.

3. If you betray my trust it takes a very, very long time for me to give it back. Decades, if necessary. I'll forgive you but I won't trust you again.

4. I keep telling myself that one day I should rent all those classic movies that everyone goes on about, just to say I've seen them all, but I never really put that into action because I figure if I really wanted to see them, I would have by now.

5. I have very vivid dreams. The kind where you wake up and you are just exhausted because you did so much in your dream and it felt so real, like you were living a second life for a while. And I always dream in color.

6. I used to take the change from my father's dresser all the time when I was little. It was just sitting there and would sit there for weeks and I'd want penny candy so I'd just take it. He never seemed to mind because I wasn't sneaky about it or anything - I'd walk up in front of him even.

7. My favorite thing to snack on? Buns. No word of a lie.

8. I used to love the sun when I was a kid but now if I'm in it too long I actually feel kind of sick. I hate that because I do love the outdoors and I don't know why I've become so sensitive to heat.

SO there you have it, a bunch of completely useless information about me. I tag whoever happens to be reading this. The end.

BREAK-INS - Sat. November 10
Police are investigating three residential break and enters that occured on Friday. The break-ins occured on Romeo St, Gregory Cres, and Glendon Rd, while the residents were away during the afternoon and evening hours. Stolen from the houses were various pieces of jewelry, a laptop, and a digital camera. Entry was made through open windows and doors. City residents are encouraged to lock their homes at all times including daytime hours, and are asked to report suspicious activity immediately to Police. Anyone with information regarding these crimes are asked to call Police.

Ok, let's forget about all the damn typos (I've already ranted before about the unprofessional editing of the radio site), and get on with the bolded part. I bolded that one part because it's been a point of discussion before among friends who think I'm crazy for locking my doors & windows at all times (well maybe not the windows part but I tend to have a rather draconian habit of making sure every last bit of the house is locked up before leaving or bedtime). People here need to learn that no matter how "small" this city may seem to them, it's still a city and it's a place where hello, half the homes on Ontario street have at some point run a drug house or meth lab; a lady got attacked in a CHURCH for crying out loud; murder occurs here just as it would anywhere else. Theft and getting your place broken into is not out of bounds here people. Hell half the time depending on what area of town I'm in I even lock up my car, in spite of the fact that sometimes I wish someone would steal it so we could replace it. Hah.

Ok rant off, time to get K to school (C is not feeling well - upset tummy all weekend, still feeling off-kilter and she has a bit of a fever and head aches). I have today off, hurrah hurrah hurrah!

I stumbled upon this site, and went through the photos themselves, then waded through them this time hitting the "caption" button at the bottom of the screen so I could read about these incredibly heart-breaking photos of a mother's journey helping her son battle cancer.

So because I'm crazy and also still not feeling well, watched V for Vendetta last night. After the brief power outage, that is.

Lights went off, the kids went a bit squirrely, and insisted we all camp out in my bedroom (I got a new bedroom set, by the by, and it is ten different kinds of awesome. S & I painted the room as well and now it feels like a refuge, which is incredibly important to me in ways you cannot imagine).

It's fucking SNOWING. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. I am so not prepared for this crap already. Sent the kids to school in winter jackets, hats & mitts, but lo and behold their boots simply do NOT fit. So guess who's shopping for boots this week? Not an easy feat when your daughter fits into a ladies' size 7 boot. Thank god flats seem to be in this season, I could not imagine spending a zillion dollars on flat boots simply because the only kind available are the super expensive sporty kind (which is almost what happened last year).

I want to go knitting shopping this weekend, although my darling S would say that it is crazy talk, and why do I have to have all this damn yarn, etc. Except that this mission is actually a mission to help Hammer learn to knit fair isle style, and therefore this is a purchase for the greater good. Is it my fault that in the process I will end up with a kick-ass skirt at the end of it? The greater good.

S really loves it when I rationalize things like that. Our conversations like these usually ends up with him laughing at me because I say it so seriously, like our life is a sit-com and I'm just churning out the lines. And he's my personal laugh-track. I haven't taught him to go "Awwwww" at the really sweet moments yet, but I'm sure we'll get there.

My cousin Lola just called & my uncle is doing much better, though he's hardly back to par, there's a long way to go there. I miss her.

Ok time to go do... stuff...

Too fun.

Too. Funny.

In other news, I have strep throat and have been sick all week. No talk = no work, unfortunately, since like uh, 99% of my job is talking on the phone all day.

My uncle is really sick. Hospital sick. I can't really go into details because 1) I only know vague information at this point and 2) there is no 2, #1 sums it up basically.

My cousin Lola seems to be taking it ok (it's her daddy) but then she's had all week to sort of process it. I am hoping this is an eye opener for my uncle, mostly because I'm selfish and want him to keep living or some nonsense like that.

Ok I'm going back to bed or somesuch.

Some dude did a Lego stop-motion film on Izzard's "Death Star Cantina" bit that also makes me laugh.



Ok I'm going to roll around YouTube for more. I need laughter like you wouldn't believe and this is just what the doctor ordered.

After ten million hours of playing

"What do you want to eat?"
"I dunno, what do YOU want to eat?"

I stalked off into the kitchen all annoyed and hungry as hell. I'd already fed K some supper (he wanted, nay begged, for soup and sammiches) so it was just to feed S and I (C is at a sleepover birthday party for her cousin). I wanted spaghetti but S made that face people make when something smells bad when I suggested spaghetti, because sometimes he is a big baby like that. So instead of making a bunch and watching him fuss and either not eat it and be grumpy, or eat it and be grumpy (I'm sorry do I sound annoyed? Guess what, I'm annoyed. It happens) I rummaged through the fridge, freezer and cupboards and found some stuff.

Here's what I did:

Get out a big pan to put in the oven. I don't know... big, ok? I'm not good at measuring. Big and flat-ish, with at least a 1" lip around to hold in sauce.

Pull out some potato, chorizo, and garlic sausage. Wash the potatoes, and cut them up and put them into a bowl.

In the bowl, pour in some (I don't know how much ok? Just SOME) olive oil, some pepper sauce (I think we call it piro-piro? It's basically ground up pepper that has had some time to sit in a jar with olive oil, garlic and some other stuff) and toss in some paprika, garlic salt, celery salt, regular salt, pepper. A bit of hot sauce, if you are so inclined (which I am).

Ok, so mix the hell out of that so that the potatoes are covered and you are smelling the pepper and salivating because you are starving already dammit.

Toss that junk into the pan. Cut up the sausage, cut up the chorizo. Toss that on top, mix it in if you want the sauce on it.

Get some foil. Cover it up. Throw it in the (oops did I forget to mention pre-heat the oven at 400 F?) oven and let it cook. Check on it once in a while, until the potatoes are tender.

Pull it out and watch your mate look sheepish because you managed to toss together something delicious which was exactly what they felt like eating, whether they knew it or not.

Off topic: Holy cats it's my anniversary tomorrow!

S gave me my anniversary present early, in a tit-for-tat motion, since it arrived on our doorstep today. And the gift is -- all three books about Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. He knows what a massive fan of the show (confession: also find Michael C. Hall to be a total badass hottie) and I've been very curious to see if the books go in the same direction. He said he had a hell of a time trying to find hardcover versions of all three, and apologised that he had to settle for paperback for the first two. I love that he was all worried about that.

I could lie and say I've been way too busy to post, but I won't. I've just been tired in general and blase about everything. Can't shake it off. This is a hard time of year for me.

Thanksgiving weekend was hectic. The Friday night I went out with a bunch of moms from the school and my pseudo-boss showed up, she's super nice so I didn't mind her hanging out. Most of the moms went home early so it was just me, Hammer, and bossalady. Stumbled after 3 as far as Hammer's home and then she drove me the rest of the way. I'm sure I would have managed to weave my way to my door but I was thankful for the ride.

Saturday was almost a complete write-off due to Friday night's events - mostly because I had forgotten to eat both lunch AND dinner during the day so the booze hit me hard.

Sunday was thanksgiving at my mom's house which was ok but a little weird because my dad wasn't there - dad was in the states visiting his uncle who is dying from lung cancer. Monday was thanksgiving at the in-laws' - hip hop hooray. Did I mention they got another chihauhau? Ugh, I HATE those kind of dogs, I can't even tell you how much.

S is very upset with his brother, over the fact that his brother asked someone else to be best man - this wouldn't upset S so much were it not for the fact that 1) family is EVERYTHING to S - you just don't choose over and above them. S chose his brother for our wedding, even though he had a friend he was much closer to at the time, because his brother is his brother! 2) the dude his brother chose is an idiot and won't do half the stuff he's meant to, so S will probably end up doing it anyway 3) S has been there time and again for his brother, helping him move to his one ex's place, helping him move out of said ex's place when she royally screwed him over, in general helping his brother get a job at his workplace, helping his brother buy the god damned engagement ring because his brother is a nob with no credit thanks to buying a stupid necklace for the ex and then not paying for it for over a year. You know, little things like that. S has never asked for anything in return - in fact has never asked his brother for help before at all, but is always there in a blink of an eye when needed. So why his brother would choose someone is just incomprehensible.

S's brother has been pissing off a lot of people lately actually - my sisterinlaw is also upset with him, mostly for not asking S to be best man (doesn't make sense to her either, nor anyone else for that matter) but also because brotherinlaw has stated he won't be inviting ANY of motherinlaw's family - and sisterinlaw has been trying to point out to him that he simply can't choose like that, family is family and if he knows what's good for him he will suck it up and invite them. Brotherinlaw hates being told what to do, and he's stubborn, and has NO common sense, and in general very much takes after his mother. So it's been grand, let me tell you. Just grand.

I myself am trying very hard to keep out of all of this because there has been enough drama in this little circle of late, but unfortunately I am too close to the bone not to get chewed on this one.

In further adventures of "My In-Laws Are Driving Me To Drink", brotherinlaw has planned paintball for this Saturday, and invited S, but S isn't too keen on going because of this whole wedding business. Saturday night apparently motherinlaw planned brotherinlaw's birthday dinner (even though his birthday is Friday) so that "everyone can come". Sunday they planned a surprise birthday dinner for S's grandmother, even though her birthday is the weekend following, and even knowing that Sunday is S's and my anniversary. Considering S works afternoons this week, we can't even try to plan something for Friday night, something else that motherinlaw also knew. She also knew that S and I had planned to go to St. Catherine's with our kids to visit my friend Mickey & his wife, to visit their babies and in general hang out, go out for anniversary dinner with them. Now of course it is all for naught and I had to cancel plans with them, again, because last time we made plans with them there was some other sort of family event that was planned last minute. "Oh oops, you had plans? So sorry." This is her passive-aggressive way of messing with my head, because she knows I can't say anything, since these are family events she is planning, and I've iterated more than once that family is very important. Nonetheless. Fuck. Off. And then she calls me up last night and has the audacity to ask me to help her write her god damed book report (aka write it for her)

Blah blah blah. Let's stop talking about that. In other news, K is going to be Harry Potter for Halloween and C wants to be a witch. Easiest. Costumes. EVER.


Time to go make some tea and eat a biscotti and watch Judge Joe Brown or somesuch rot. Cheers.

booze. urrah!

so drunking trunk.

thx to hammer for taking me home. hop ei wans't tooo much truch.ble. shows hat i should really eat befoe trinkning.

so sorry. thanks for wonderful time though!@

xo
g

Please please please tell me that they are just hiring 5th graders or something to update the "news" section of the local radio station's website. Please. Because this... I have no words.

Here's what is getting my goat. See if you can spot the errors:

MARIHUANA HARVEST - Thu. October 4
Police have concluded this years marihuana eridication - destroying nearly 18-hundred plants. The biggest outdoor grow-ops were discovered September 14th in (removed location because that is just how I roll, so ignore this stuff that isn't italics.) - with 973 marihuana plants being seized. In total plants having an estimated street value of 1.8 million dollars were seized during the summer. None of the property owners are believed to be involved in the production of marihuana. In most cases, people trespass onto the property to plant the marihuana, damaging farmer's fields in the process.

I have half a mind to write a letter to the editor on this, since this isn't the first time I've noticed glaring errors that make my eyes just want to pull themselves out of my skull. Maybe I'm being a pedantic bitch, but my God people. Someone out there is getting good money to publish news - the least they could do is edit the damn thing before posting.

(I realize I may sound like a hypocrite nit-picking about this, what with my run-on sentence structures here and forgetting to use the basic points of grammar (forgetting to capitalize things, etc), but the only thing you are missing is that this, my blog, is my words just being spewed out willy-nilly half the time. When I'm writing things for really real, I'm pretty damn picky.)

/rant off.