I really should have called in sick

March 2nd should have been a sick day.
I never call in sick.
Sounds like hyperbole, but it's true.
I was raised to believe that if you're sick you go to work; if you're too sick to go to work, you go anyway and prove that you can't continue.
Silly, I know, but who wants to be a sick bay commando?
But on March 2nd I was tempted to call in and stay home because I had bought a new book.
Stop the presses - breaking news, right, I know.
But this wasn't just any book - this was Rachael Herron's just-published book, How to Knit a Love Song.
Anyone who reads Rachael's blog, Yarn-A-Go-Go knows what this means - another blogger has struck gold.
She is now officially a published author.
Draft a new CV please.
On March 2nd, however, I was interested to see how well she did, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.
The book engaged me from the start; the writing is fresh and natural, and the characters are real.
Some knitting books are so focused on showing how cool they are that they conspicuously drop the names of knitting celebs and their blogs into the narrative, but Rachael doesn't have that problem.
Abigail, the protagonist, is likeable without being overly cloying, and Cade, well, if he comes to life please give him my number.
Not only is her writing refreshing, but even though she could name drop, Rachael really doesn't do that. She pays subtle homage to important knitting figures, but really just writes a damn good story.
Do you get now why I wanted to stay home and read?
I ordered the book for my Kindle (why yes, I have a Kindle) at 5:00 in the morning and started reading.
I read up until I had to get ready for work, and then I read a chapter while sitting in my car just before going into work.
I was hooked.
And when I finished I almost sent Rachael an email and DEMANDED a sequel.
I highly recommend this book, and it is worth a second read, especially to get the advice from EC headlining the intro to each chapter.
Who is EC?
I'm not going to give anything away.
Read the book yourself and find out.
Many congrats to Rachael!

Blogiversaries and dreams of lives past

So yesterday was my three year blogiversary.
Did I post?
No.
Did I plan to?
Yes.
Did I also plan on falling asleep on the floor while watching NCIS?
Um, the answer to that would be no.
The answer would also be a question: when will this iron supplement finally kick in and keep me from feeling so drained all the time.
Of course I was able to fall asleep again later, never a problem, and I had the strangest dream.
I talked about it with one of my co-workers today, Lou, who happens to be Jewish.
In my dream I had to find some kind of leg braces so people could wear them while sitting shiva, and the braces would force them to sit up straight.
Lou and I talked about what happens when people mourn and sit shiva, and that was good info and all, but it still didn't explain why I had a dream about it.
He said, "Well, it must be coming from one of your past lives when you were a Jew."
I think he's right, and this is coming from a guy who enjoys accounting and budgets, so you do the math about what his sense of humor might be.
I've always thought that I was Jewish in one of my previous lives, or it's possible that I'm experiencing repressed memories from one of my converso ancestors, but with regards to this life, here I am, three years later, still blogging, and with not much to say.
Thanks to all who have been hanging around, and for accepting, and appreciating, my quirkiness.

A Little Cleaning Up

You may notice things look a bit different here at Chez JewelTomes.
This is how I spent my Saturday night.
Trust me, I had plenty of other things to do, but this update just kind of happened.
What do you think?
I've been working on another project as well.
You may notice I've added a link to another blog I'm hosting.
Curious?
Head on over and check it out.
Here's the link.
Go ahead!
I'll wait here for you to get back.
(tuneless humming progresses...)
Oh, Hey - You're back!
Did you like it?
Yes, I've signed up to be a Longaberger consultant.
Again.
I've done it before, and I do like the product, so I decided, why not.
What is different this time around, beside the fact that I don't have an infant in my house, is that there is so many more internet opportunities.
What a difference.
This should be fun, don't you think?
I have to support my yarn and book buying habits somehow.

Sharing Secrets

I'm up late tonight because I just got back from an event on campus.
We went to see Frank Warren give a discussion about Post Secret.
It was everything I expected it to be, and more.
First let me tell you, Frank is a truly wonderful, humble, and deeply sensitive man.
He endeared himself to the audience by being self-effacing, and making everyone feel that sharing a secret is a treasured opportunity to connect with another human being.
As I watched him discuss secrets that didn't make it into his first book, he stood in front of the projected image and I was struck by the tall shadow he cast onto the screen.
It occurred to me that Frank is the priest to whom we confess our secrets, and that tall shadow, showing no face, is the almighty amorphous being, a god-like creature.
Well, it sounded better when I shared it with my friend Wendy, but I think you know what I mean.
Anyway, I see the post card, I see the man, but I also see that he is so much more than that. Frank stumbled upon his meaning in life and now he is someone intent on performing a service to the world.
(Frank Warren the deus ex machina.)
He is very much into making people aware that there are alternatives to suicide too.
As part of the event, he opens up the microphone and invites people to share their secrets.
Honestly, some of them were too painful to share here, and some had scary specifics about exactly what secret that person carried around with them.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, even the biggest naysayer who didn't want this to happen (he's a faculty member), left affected.
He told me he has a lot to think about.
Good.
That's a start.
We hung around afterward and got to meet Frank.
DN1 was the coordinator for this event - she pushed to get him on campus - so she was determined to meet him.
Here she is with Frank:


I was glad to have the opportunity to let him know I love what he is doing.
If you haven't discovered Post Secret yet (and if you've been reading my blog, I've told you several times to head over there), perhaps now is the time you'll stop and take a look.
And who knows, maybe he'll show up in your neck of the woods someday.

31 and counting

So I blogged everyday in the month of January.
Can you believe that?
I can't.
Fortunately I haven't really identified this as a strictly knitting blog, because sometimes not a lot of knitting gets done in my house.
And fortunately I haven't identified this as a strictly book blog, because....well, do I have to repeat it?
You get the idea.
Sometimes I just GO (yes, capital G-O) through life and don't have time for much other than that.
One of the reasons I think I'm able to blog, or allot my time better, is because I'm not involved in a class.
In the early days of the semester it's not so hectic, but the manic feeling of trying to accomplish everything by the end of the semester usually kicks in about 4 weeks before class is done.
Regardless, I'm not there this time.
Plus it's been quite peaceful at work for the first month, and I am enjoying that to the max.
You can't even imagine what a difference that has made for me.
I'm even planning an overnight vacation to Niagara Falls for mid-month.
We're heading to this place on the Canadian side.
DN2 is so excited she just likes to sit and look at the map - she has everything memorized already.
We're taking one of her friends along so that she can really have a good time.
Truth be told, I'm kind of excited too.
And I'm already wondering what knitting and books I'll take with me.
Does anyone know of any good yarn stores in the Niagara Falls area?
I think there's one on Grand Island, but I don't know if we'd stop there.
I might have to look at the knitmap to see.
Honestly, though, I have enough yarn to see me through.
We are in a recession after all.
So, that's my story of 31 days of blogging - 32 actually if you count today.
Think I can make it through February as well?

Really? No Follow Through?

I found this over at the blog of someone who is more of a deep thinker than I will ever be (but I already knew that without reading her analysis).
It is always interesting to have my blog analyzed, and you know how much I love self-analysis (check out my Thursday quizzes if you doubt that -- I guess I'm always waiting to be told that I'm something different yet it's the same me, week after week). According to Typealyzer, my blog reflects my writing/personality as this:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

And it came with this cool picture:


"Action-filled work" that requires my full attention?
Yup, whatever movie is on TCM.
"Problem sitting still or remaining inactive"?
Only in class when I start getting restless legs syndrome, otherwise I can be sitting still so well that I become inert and eventually fall asleep.
Other than those blaring inconsistencies, the impulsiveness, joking nature, and lack of follow-through really define me.
Gosh, don't you want to be my friend?
Perhaps hire me for a job?
Yup, I think I'll head upstairs and start a project I'll never finish!

Old Time Country

Are you a big fan of Ann and Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting?
I definitely admire their work, and I read their blog, but to be truthful I do not own either of their books.
After seeing this hilarious YouTube video I may just have to go out buy both of them.

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Today is my blogoversary!
How exciting!
It has been 2 years since I began.
Hard to believe.
And here are Fred, Barney and some of Bedrock's finest to sing along for me:

An Anniversary on the Horizon

I have a blogiversary coming up.
Can you believe it?
I can't.
It will be 2 years since my inauspicious attempts at blogging began.
I'm still screwing up the HTML code, but I'm a firm believer that it is the random crap I throw into posts that counts and not how pretty it looks.
It's the maxim on how I live my life, so I sure hope it's true.
I should buy myself a cake from Phillips European for my blogiversary, eat more than one piece, go into a sugar high, and write even more bizarre stuff.
Because trust me, I keep it toned down for my blog.
In the meantime I have successfully navigated past the heel on my second sock and am knitting the gusset as we speak. Well, it's not that successful of a navigation, but it's a go.
I'll wear my wonky socks with pride, I just won't invite people in for a closer look.
And trust me, no one wants to look closely at my feet anyway.
I'll leave you with today's wonderful Ballard Street:


Look at those smiles. They are obviously not reading Edmund Spenser.

Silent Poetry

February 2nd is the day for the Bloggers Annual Silent Poetry reading. I have never participated in this before, but since it is the third year I think it's time I did.
The poem listed below is one which I have always felt symbolizes the autumn of our lives and it evokes beautifully the idea that death is not that scary of a time but just another long sleep that takes place after the life-long harvest. Being from New York (by way of Virginia) I also love the apples - they used to be everywhere up here, and they still are in some places, but now many of the orchards have been ripped out for housing and other unnecessary building (kind of the autumn of our earth as well, perhaps).

"After Apple-Picking"
Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing dear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

32 days of blogging

Today is Friday, February 1st.
I have officially blogged everyday in the month of January.
That, my friends, is nothing short of a miracle.
That I completed two outstanding (as in "not finished", not as in "excellent") projects is also a miracle.
My class started last night and I have to admit that I spent the entire time feeling like not only an idiot but like I've made the biggest mistake of my life.
What hubris to think I have the G2 (trans. intelligence) to succeed in higher education.
Well I was able to put things in better perspective today after thinking things through (trans. rationalizing). And then my friend at work, Claire, said to me, "Well you don't have to say anything in class. Stay quiet and you'll learn something. Good for you."
I like Claire and I like her advice.
Essentially in a room of 12 students with everyone trying to be the shining star there is always room for a snarky bitch who sits there and keeps her mouth shut.
I have found my role.
I will continue to march, I will continue to read The Metamorphoses of Ovid, and I will continue to consider knitting Shifting Sands along with Angelika.
She intimidates me as much as the other graduate students, but that's cool.
I trust her more.

You are the apple of my eye

Angelika passed this award on to me.
And now of course I will pass it on as well.The rules are as follows:

"Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

Well I don't really expect to get this award too many times, mostly because I'm a moody bitch and a bit too eclectic for any one group. I live to be a paradox.
And that's okay.
In no particular order here's my list of the 10 people whose blogs I read regularly.
No, that's too simplistic.
These are some of the people who inspire me through their blogs:

1. Major Knitter - she taught me to knit and she's just an all-around fantastic, caring person - what's not to like
2. Kathleen - the one who encouraged me to blog in the first place - blame her if you don't like what I'm doing
3. Angelika - because I am so inspired and in awe of her knitting - and she's a military wife and understands many things
4. Caroline - I've never felt such a connection with someone I've never met - you rock, girlfriend
5. Purl - we met through a Knit Tea Swap and found out that we have so much in common - that is awesome and amazing - and so is she
6. Laurie Halse Anderson - because she's a fantastically talented writer, a down to earth person, and lives in Central NY (and she knits too)
7. Rachael - she makes her life fun
8. Wendy - she's the queen of knitting blogs and an inspiration to all
9. The Little Professor - I am just in awe - I write about fried ravioli, she critiques a book - if I only had half of her intellect
10. PostSecret - Frank Warren rules - and he's coming to campus in March - now that is inspirational

Go forth and bestow good wishes on someone.

Too Cold to Blog

Old King Cole may have been a merry old soul but he obviously didn't care about the cost of gas heat this winter.
It's too cold to blog.
And so much going on!
Swim meet over the weekend (both days), Christmas show rehearsal at church, class last night, a meeting tonight, and Girl Scouts tomorrow night.
I received my package from my KTS4 partner - and you'll love it.
And here's an idea of how busy (and cold) I've been - I got chocolate and I haven't eaten it yet because I haven't taken a picture of it! So it sits on the chair taunting me.
Wait til you see everything Peaches sent to me! It's amazing!
So I'm sorry for the gap - I'm still here and I'll get back with you hopefully tonight!
And for the record we still haven't turned our heat on yet.
It's supposed to be 39 tomorrow.
How long can we go?
If it were me we would wait until December, but my family apparently doesn't like to suffer so it may go on tonight.
Wimps.

Copy Cat! Copy Cat!

I was reading Caroline's blog and saw this quiz and decided I must try it.
Once my results came in I had to share.
So I'm being a copy cat today.
So sue me.
(Not really.)

Of course it doesn't hurt that Caroline gave us all a freebie answer for one of the questions.

Ha!

Want to find the answer?

Read her blog.

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

TGIF

And can you believe this post is number 189?
Actually at the end of the month I will have been blogging for a year.
Kind of hard to believe how quickly time passes.
Or as Patty Griffin would say in my new favorite song "Trapeze" from her new CD "Children Running Through":

Some people don't care if they live or they die
Some people want to know what it feels like to fly
Gather their courage and they give it a try
Fall under the wheels of a time goin' by

Anyway, thank goodness this week passed quickly, because I can't wait for the weekend.
Actually I can't wait for Saturday morning at about 0700, because Friday evening I have to spend at a lock-in at the high school with the Girl Scouts.
Won't that be fun, eh?
Once the lights go out, maybe it will be a good thing I finally got around to purchasing these things:
I haven't used them yet, but in a dark gym with 150 or so young girls, perhaps now is the time.
So to all, have a nice weekend, or as my French friend Danielle would say, "Passez un bon temps!"
And belated birthday wishes go out to my good friend in North Carolina!

There was a pod next to my bed this morning

We're in the middle of changing our ISP, so unfortunately my capability to blog is hindered.
The situation will be rectified tonight, so I will be back with more snarky comments, mediocre knitting, pictures of sexy men, and news about my chocolate binges.
Tschuss!

Some things are too funny not to share

I'm sorry, but this is just too funny to pass up, so I must share!
J. Harvey from A Socialite's Life is just too hilarious!
And clever!
In a post entitled "Howard K. Stern is sitting in the passenger side of his best friends ride trying to holla at me" he writes:

God, what a boll weevil this man is. Howard K. Stern admitted on the stand yesterday that Anna Nicole paid for everything.

"Under grilling from lawyers and Judge Seidlin, Stern admitted that Smith paid the $950 rent on his apartment, and that she gave him cash to buy personal items such as shoes."

But wasn't he her "lawyer"? Couldn't he have billed for that? Shoes? You let your woman buy you shoes? I mean, I've been a kept man before, but at least I got a cover job down at the Dairy Queen so no one could say anything. And I pretended that I was able to afford my Coach flip-flops because I was slaving away over the crunch coat and making bitches the perfect Blizzard. Now, you're up on the stand admitting to everyone that some high bitch kept you as a flunkie and made you her man-servant and bought you a pair of Payless once in awhile to give you the impression you were earning your keep. Good lord, you define "sniveling".

Is that not the funniest thing you've ever read?
A cover job down at the Dairy Queen...I'm still laughing...

This algorithm was obviously not developed by Charlie from "Numb3rs"

I was checking out the Little Professor's blog and she noted that this Gender Genie continued to think that, based upon her writing, she was a he.
So I decided to check it out myself.
And look at what it said:

Words: 54

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.) -- (My note -- yeah, yeah, whatever)

Female Score: 108
Male Score: 135

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Just for clarification, I used my previous post wherein I called myself a girl and discussed a threesome with two men!!
And knitting!
Hello!!!
Your algorithm sucks.
Where's Charlie?

Be sure to perform your civic duty

The 7th Annual Weblog Award nominees have been announced, so go vote!