Sunday, April 27, 2008

Spring Break Wrap-Up:

Isn't it always the way?  You get a whole week off, make oodles of plans for how you are going to spend it, take an advance on the pride you will be feeling after you complete all the tasks on your to-do list...and then end up having to do it all on the very last day before you got back to work. 

Or as much as you can, anyway.  Maybe I should stop saying, "you."  This is all me.  

With mere hours to take care of things I thought I'd be doing over days, I stumbled out of bed, tried to make some sort of sense out of the rather amazing cut that The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach gave me yesterday, fueled myself with some extra strong coffee and tried to do what I could.  And here it is.  The Sunday and very last minute edition of How I Spent The Last Day Of My Spring Break:

1.  With the hair almost completely controlled except for that one piece that is never going to behave no matter what I do anyway, I headed out to the grocery store.  Sheepie needs supplies.  Sheepie has been living on brownies for a week.  Sheepie needs to consider eating things made of vegetable matter.  Those were at the store, not here.  I made a list, remembered to bring it with me and almost managed to stick to it.  But I couldn't resist one little impulse purchase.  Sue me.  I'm weak.  Anne will like it, though!




Whoops.  My feline fotography assistant had some concerns about the light balance...


Here we go!  I do love a new Pez dispenser!  


2.  With the groceries safely put away and all those nice, new vegetables ready for consumption, I referred to the list I made in the weeks before spring vacation.  It seemed to have far more on it than I remembered.  Lots more.  I quickly decided that crossing off everything on lists is overrated and annoying to others.  Who needs to be all over-achieving?  It's not fair to everyone else on the planet. All that achievement on my part will make them feel sad and they will develop issues with their self-esteem.  Instead, I did one thing on the list.  That seemed like plenty.  Since I've been wanting to card up the last of that Shetland Lamb fleece that Cathy sent me last summer, I thought that this would be a good choice.  I hadn't seen it in a while.  But, I seemed to recall there being something like two million pounds of it.  Finishing that one thing would certainly make up for my not having done anything else all week.


I am mortified and chagrined to report that there wasn't really all that much left to do.  I can't quite recall just why it was I stopped carding while so close to the finish line on this one.  I have decided to believe that the Notorious Fleece Thief broke into my home and stole the rest of it.  That is preferable to admitting that my memory is starting to crumble like cheap cement.   I can only hope that he/she is treating it well.  


3.  I ate some more brownies.  I've got that whole vegetable thing with which to contend this week and figured I'd better get my chocolate levels up before I embark on this most dangerous of paths.  It's not like my jeans fit anyway at this point.  One more day with my face in the brownie pan isn't going to make a difference.

4.  I spent some quality time screwing up the Invisibility Shawl.  Sadly, this project did not make the knitting deadline.  An unplanned (but perhaps predictable) round of riotous ripping on Wednesday pretty much killed any chances of it being finished and blocked within the stated time frame.  Had I chosen to go with the pattern's thoughts on length, I might have made it.  But, I really wanted it longer.  So I forged ahead into the Error Zone and that was all she wrote.  Sorry, Mom.  Maybe I shall have screwed it up at a length I find satisfactory in time for Mother's Day.  Or Christmas...

5.  I watched Night Of The Living Dead 3D (but as a 2D version...) because being on vacation does not mean that I can rest from my endless preparation for the coming Invasion.  I link because it's better than you think.  There is the prerequisite amount of "stupid" that one will find in any Hollywood interpretation of the genre.  And there needed to be a number of shots crafted to take advantage of the whole 3D thing.  But still....it's better than you think.  If you like that sort of thing, anyway.

6.  Then I re-watched Evil Dead.  I know I just viewed this one.  But I'm thinking of writing a paper entitled Never, Ever Lean Against The Door You Just Slammed In The Face Of The Oncoming Evil Whilst Clutching Your Weapon And Breathing Heavily, Thinking That You Have Bought Yourself Some Time To Rest Because, Within Seconds, A Pair Of Hands/Claws/Talons Will Burst Through The Door On Either Side Of Your Head And Things Will Go Downhill From There.  Research papers take a great deal of time and, well....research.  I think I may have enough data from my recent study of various films to write something that will earn me a Nobel Prize.

And, for anyone who may be thinking that this isn't exactly the sort of stuff that makes for good knit blogging, I beg to differ.  There are any number of knitterly things to be found.  Seriously!  What about poor Shelly?  Somehow in those intervening seconds between being dragged, smoking, from the fireplace and her eventual (but deserved) dismemberment, she somehow finds the time to change her socks.  At least it looked that way to me.

Only a knitter would notice that...

SA

13 comments:

sheep#100 said...

There might not have been any knitting in this here post, but it was about a Knitter - and that's what counts.

Anonymous said...

Oh no, you're not going to trick me into clicking on the link this time! I saw enough disembowelment the other day to last me for a while. :)

Cathy said...

Spring Break is over, already?

Before we know it, summer vacation will be upon us.

Mia said...

Oh Sheepie, you and those zombie movies! I don't know how you do it.. I'd be a basket case.. I'm already freaked out at every little noise outside!

But hey, the batting looks yummy.. and speaking of yummy.. now that you mentioned brownies a few times.. I have a serious craving!

Cursing Mama said...

I'm so relieved that you didn't go all over-achiever on us at the last minute. I clearly would've been left feeling less than adequate if you got it all done in one day.

Ronni said...

Spring break really should be about resting up for that last push through to summer. Not about getting lots of stuff done. That's more a summer thing isn't it?

Kath said...

Brownies is good but ice cream? If you wanna be bad - that's the way to go!

Anonymous said...

It sounds to me like you had a mighty fine vacation. Maybe it wasn't what you planned but still it was way better than being at work.

Knitting Linguist said...

I think you've got a definite publication there. The title alone is an attention-grabber (and so true!).

Anonymous said...

Hey, You had fiber. That counts for knitting.
And PEZ things are very interesting.
Too bad your Va-Ca is over.

Yarnhog said...

Maybe the Yarn Harlot's fleece stealing squirrel is vacationing in your neck of the woods. I'd go with that, anyway.

Why, why, why do they always insist on standing in front of doors?! No amount of my screaming at the screen makes the slightest impression, either.

Anne said...

I *do* like it! Any impulse purchase with that logo is okay by me.

The end of vacation in this house saw D#2 dressed and jacketed and backpacked, standing by the front door 20 minutes before departure time. I thought ruefully of her poor teachers -- but am pleased that she was so ready to get going this morning.

Is it me, or is the verification code harder than ever to read??

Anonymous said...

I just finished a couple freshly-baked brownies myself. There is nothing better to cure postpartum depression (what do you mean, my youngest is 18?!), spring fever (high temp of 40 today, no fear of spring anything), shingles or falling hair or anything else that ails you. Go forth and vanquish the rest of the school year.