Post 206-Sooner Than

Pretty soon my dearies I will be back to blogging, really I will. Currently my issue with blogging is that it's not something I dare do at work even though it is very slow now due to the holidays. The real problem is at home and basically my trusty ole' faithful laptop, is dying a slow death. I believe in getting my money's worth out of things or at least as much as possible which is why I am only now on my second bedroom tv since high school. Technically this was the first computer I bought myself and I've had it for over 5? years now and before that was a couple of years of internet cafes and before that, my old desktop from back when I was the only person I knew with a computer. In the back of my mind I'm have this feeling that my old green backup monitor might still be on the top shelf of the room I had in my aunt and uncles house, need to ask about that. So, I'm hoping to score a new computer soon and after much research I have decided that as cute as a netbook is it's not really what I need. So lets hope I survive Black Friday.
PS-Knitting continues non-stop as does cooking and scooter riding.

That Old Saying

I am once again reminded of that saying "You can choose your friends but you can't choose you family". You hear it every once in awhile but you only really listen when it hits home. I spent the long weekend visiting my sisters and their family deep in the heart of Texas, I go every couple or so years. O.K, I admit it, I'm bad, it's been at least 4-5 years I think since the last time I went there. There is a reason, I value my vacation time, I work hard all year for the two measly weeks I get and I'll be damn if I'm going to waste 3 days of it reminded of that saying from above.

I am sadden from my trek and the hardest part is knowing that there is nothing I could have done to make the visit better. I find it interesting how us three sisters have taken different roads, the choices we made and how we deal with what life has given us. In that old Nature Vs. Nurture debate I think it's 50/50. We all lived the same lives, sort of, we had the same childhood experiences at least. There are some reasons for how and where we ended up but I will not allow it to dictate our lives. One sister is defensive and always has been, you cannot have a conversation with her and if you try to pick a topic she sees that as criticizing. While she seems to have a loving husband she has a couple kids with some issues and are a handful, I think a gentle hand and soft voice would go along way in that household. The other sister has a medical illness that makes her life somewhat hard, throw in a husband that never says much and has no compassion and you get depression. Her two kids are great, the son is still quiet lovable but idolizes his father and runs the chance of learning no compassion from him, and so far the little girl, well she looks like the spitting image of her mother at that age and knows nothing is askew.

I wish I could fix them, I wish I could win the lottery and make their lives easier. Nothing will help them if they don't see that something is broken.

We choose the lives we live to a certain degree and the rest is all perspective, is the glass half full or half empty?

Back to the knitting another day. I forgot that one of the reasons I had this blog was so that I no longer had to talk to myself in my head and that writing things down releases them and allows for contemplation and solutions.

Thank You Facebook

It's the weather, what can I say. I think Chicago must be the new Seattle. I find my myself at the end of July and in years past I would have the A/C cranking, but nope, I turned it off. Except for the odd day, I haven't had the air on in my apartment for 3 weeks, wow! Right now I'm laying in bed, just got out of the shower, listening to some classical music, contemplating why my bedroom is always a mess and I'm suffering from a headache. I had a most excellent dinner, popped two tylenol a couple of hours ago and it's still pounding, next I'll try a nightcap.

I've never had a period like this where I've not blogged for months on end, I'll blame Facebook. Finally I've caught up to the hype and I find I like making quick little notes about what I'm doing, life in general and little observations. Perhaps since I'm finding my voice there I've not blogged?

It's been a busy summer. Work is going well. The weather is pleasant. The dog and cat are a hoot. I've been knitting up a storm, sort-of. So far since April I've been to Arkansas twice, Galena and in just over a month I'm going to Houston. 5 lbs of blueberries have been hand picked, I've gone down an Alpine Slide 6 times, been biking a little bit more, gone to several festivals and discovered a new bar, The Matchbox and new bar/lounge/restaurant, The Paramount Room. Every weekend I've been busy and one of these days I would rather sleep in really REALLY late like I used to and not be social. Tomorrow I might bike to work for the first time (if I get to bed early) and if she's not busy, when I get out of work at 3 I'll stop of and see my cousin for a round or two of cards at a coffeeshop.

Don't feel blog, not only have I abandoned you for a while, I'm really behind in post new projects and yarn to Ravelry.

Post 203-Tomorrow

Tomorrow, or shall I say today being that it's 2 past midnight, I will write a real post. I also promise to update my ravelry page with recently acquired yarns, finished projects and general maintenance. Perhaps I will clean my room a little, do laundry and roasted a chicken....

Post 202-Threes and a Five

It's hard to write a blog when you cat insists on giving your arm a bath, just in case you wanted to know.
I have been very busy, work is going fine and the day zooms by so fast. My four week class on knitting I've been teaching at Northwestern University is over now so no more 15 hours mondays of non stop go-go-go. Everyone seems to be in motion these days, wanting to get out, do stuff, hang-out and enjoy life, and as busy as we all are, I think we will be enjoying this hectic summer. They say things happen in threes, well my threes involve high school. I didn't bring my lunch to work in friday so I decided to explore the eating choices in the river west area I work and remembered Lou Mitchells was only a couple of blocks away. The ambiance is classic, overpriced diner food, decent, but it reminded me of my days in high school when we would take field trips into Union Station from the burbs for art or music class, eat breakfast at Lou's (they still handout Milkduds) and lunch at the Berghoff. Later on friday after I got out of work early (summer hours) I met up with my cousin Patrica at Lovely, which is literally a lovely cafe, to catch up on family gossip and play the family card game of Spite and Malice with my new Tiffany and Co playing cards. The music being played by the coffee shop, Nirvana, also from my high school days. And just today I was friended on facebook by an old friend from high school's younger sister, who I also knew. See, things come in threes.
Now I'm busy planning a quickie in and out trip to Arkansas again, and by in and out I mean in on saturday and out on sunday. A bit pricey for one night, but it's the Grandmothers' 85th and she was so happy to hear I was coming. I might have to deal with some relatives I do not like (using good language here and keeping the cusswords that are more descriptive in check)but as long as I get my haircut, nails done and facial before, I'll be all set. Now I don't know what to wear, I have a nice arsenal of dresses to choose from, but if G-ma uses the word swanky in describing the shindig, I'll be in trouble. I need to find myself a little black (or in my case, a not so little) dress that can be dressed up or down easily and won't wrinkle to much in an overnight bag.
This weekend I'm already booked up, what happen to the lazy days when I got to sleep in??? Saturday is the Knitting Guild's Annual Lorna's Laces tour and sale, and I love me some LL sock yarn. Sunday is the alumni viewing of the new modern wing on the Art Institue, this is the first time I ever got something for free from them since I graduated, not even free admission after the first year.

I think I'm going to splurge on a purchase of some books from Amazon that have been piling up on my wishlist, in honor of what appears to be my 5th year blogiversary. I keep thinking how the hell did that happen and damn, my laptop is old.
Toodles.

Post 201-Time to Ponder

Now that I can breathe easily with the way things are going in life, what's next? Guess I got to start being social again, getting out and meeting people, that would help if I ever want to meet mr-right-for-me. If you know any eligables, let me know. I think it would be fun to fly out to Portland for the weekend and partake some of the fun of Sock Summit, any takers?? I should really look into what I'm going to do about g-ma's 85th, do I fly out friday night just to come back sunday night??? Must find doctor to give prescription, every since I finished the research study I can feel myself getting fat again, pudge is not good.


Photo of the high ceiling in Coco Rouge taken friday night during my night of excess and celebration, this is an accurate representation of how I feel after a couple of drinks.

Post 200-Whirlwind

It's been very busy over here at Casa de Yarnsnob. I started a new job last week and it was very stressful, not bad stressful, but busy being thrown lots of info and needing to retain it crazy stressful. This week is just as busy but a little easier and wow, it's already Wednesday, that was fast. To add to the whirlwind my class at Northwestern is a go this session but I'm happy that we're playing with the format and content of the knitting class and only made it 4 weeks. So for me Monday and Tuesday are very busy, go to work, come home, have just enough time to walk dog and change cloths and out again to either Evanston in which I'll get home by 10 or to coffee shop for SnB with the peeps in which I get home at 9:15. Really, it's nice to be so busy and at least it's knitting that takes me out late.



A shot of the lake shore from Northwestern's campus by the Norris Center taken with new birthday Motorola Razr2 phone.

Rachael for my b-day put together a package for consisting of a new fancy music playing-Internet capable phone and it's accessories. The battery is shit if you ask me, I don't play the music too much because I have my iPod but it always seems to need in need of a charge, argh. I splurged a bit to test my feet in the waters data capable/web accessible phones. Well, that sounds awkward, and I don't know the lingo, but what I want to do is be able to track the bus that takes me to work and back. I hate the CTA and think it would be handy to know if there is a delay in the buses and if I'll be waiting around forever, it would be nice to take planned route B of C in times of need. Would you believe it, but the day after I agreed to cough up an extra 10 bucks a month for a simple data/SMS plan and try to use it, the bus always seems to arriving at my stop shortly after I do. I'm thinking the CTA and T-mobile have it in for me. Over all, so far so good, this new technology could be a dangerous thing in my hands and it makes me crave an iPhone or Crackberry. To me there is something so cosmopolitan about sitting on the bus on your way to work wearing a khaki trench coat, cute kitten heals, carrying a stylish bag and playing with your crackberry/iPhone.