Headless Bears And Shrieking Sheep

I was going to do an entire post today describing the horrific scene that greeted me this morning as I awoke. Like something out of a horror movie, really... Let's face it. Any day that your beloved teddy bear suffers a grievous injury is going to be noteworthy. When it is the bear that has been keeping watch over you through the night for over twenty years in order that you might sleep without fear of zombies or over-zealous tax collectors, then the air is rife with the heady scent of ripe blog fodder.

I'm not really sure just what happened. All I know is that I woke up this morning next to a headless bear and that this is not a good thing. I like to think that the injury was incurred while he bravely battled the forces of darkness last night, protecting me with all he had to give.

It is more likely that Oliver was the victim of my having rolled over onto him sometime during my slumber. He's an old bear and not meant to take the weight of a full grown Sheep. But, I like the first version of the story better. Either way, he is in surgery and, while he will never be as handsome as he was in his younger days, he will live to fight another day. Sort of like The Sheep, really.

But that's not where we are going with this today...

There is this blogging trend going around right now on which I am only just getting something of a handle. I'm sure that it has been out there since before time began, but I am not always so quick with the uptake. Basically, it boils down to a wonderfully evocative means of expressing happiness, surprise, joy and even a little of the rapture. Now, let's see if I can get this right...ahem. It goes a little something like this:





SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!





You can put it in all caps. You can bold it. You can underline it. It is the text of freedom. It is meant to be loud. I just love it! I've seen it used a great deal lately and it never fails to just tickle me! You know that when you see a SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE that good things have befallen the one who penned those letters.

There has been a bit of the SQUEEEEEEEEEEEing here today. More than is really good for my standing with the condo association, I fear. But when a Sheep's gotta SQUEEEEEEEEEE then a Sheep's gotta SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!

And besides, I couldn't really maintain it for very long. I SQUEEEEEEEed pretty heartily for a minute there after I picked up the mail this morning. However I was soon reduced to gasping and babbling and it got a little harder to SQUEEEEEEE!



Omigod, omigod!!! Lookit, lookit, lookit!!

Squ.... Wait!! Looooooook!!!!!

Hee-hee-hee, all for me-me-me!!

(insert short squeeeeee here)

Sheepie loves the softies, Sheepie loves the softies!!! Does the softies love The Sheepie? Mmmmmm...

(Attempts to squeeee, but has lost her breath. Is reduced to a sort of wheezy noise)






After that things got a bit fuzzy. I seem to recall thinking that I should be breathing into a paper bag or something. But it is harder to come by paper bags these days. The grocery store only uses those cheap plastic ones and it seemed rather silly to be breathing into one of those. And, perhaps a little dangerous.

I was able to settle down enough to get the camera, though. Here's what came for Sheepie today...you will certainly understand my reaction once you've clapped your eyes to the beauty of it all.

First, I opened a package from Beth:

It's a Bag 'O Bunny!!! (and other scrumptious fibers)

Not long ago, Beth asked if I would do an on-line interview with her on the subject of creativity and inspiration. I was quite flattered that she would ask and happily agreed to answer any questions she might have for me. Being just about the sweetest person in the whole world, she decided to send off a little Thank You for my doing this with her. As if the gift of on-line immortality and the chance to talk about myself weren't' enough of a reward! This is just about the softest fiber blend you can imagine and will be like heaven to spin. Thanks so much, Beth! This will become a very lovely yarn and I will think of my very lovely friend when I work with it and every time I wear whatever it is destined to become. Which will be often...this is very soft stuff, people!

But wait...there's more! It seems I won a comment contest! I didn't even know I was entering a contest! CJ Knits On is a blog I frequent and on which I leave comments regularly. Unbeknownst to me, Jane has been diligently watching for her 500th commenter. Guess what you get for playing by the numbers, even when you don't mean to:

Yeah, baby!!! That's the stuff!!

I do love me the Lorna's Laces! The fiber (which I believe is some yummy merino) and the beautiful blue sock yarn just round the whole thing out perfectly, don't you think? This is one incredibly generous prize package and would have been worth a full-on SQUEEEEEE had I not been hyperventilating at the time from the sheer beauty of it all. It is my pleasure to be one of your regular readers, Jane. And many, many thanks for this lovely box of goodies!

So, despite having started the day with a headless bear in my bed and continued heat with humidity in my corner of the world, we are calling this a darned near perfect day! I have now rested up a bit from all the excitement and am now fully prepared to end this post in the manner that most befits the subject:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SA