Shock! Awe! Impossibility!

Normally, I don't have much patience when it comes to craft-like things. My mother and sister are fabulous seamstresses. Me? Not so much. I just could never get into it. When my mom suggested I learn how to sew, my response was something along the line of running away in terror. She tried. And failed. Sewing...so not my thing. My sister, I know, had trouble understanding why I wouldn't want to create my own clothes from ultra-thin pieces of paper and fabric. I can't explain it myself. It simply is.

So, when I announced to my sister today that I'd learned how to knit, she gaped at me, and there was silence as she stared at me in open-mouthed shock. After she'd recovered, she said, "I...have no response to that." Honestly, I wish I'd had a camera with me, just to capture the look on her face. Julie doesn't really shock that easily, but I've managed to do it with the words "I taught myself how to knit." I've never seen her look so stunned!

Frankly, I'm a little surprised myself. Knitting was one of those things that I only had a slight interest in. As opposed to sewing, where there was no interest whatsoever. Once upon a time, I've learned to embroider and crochet, but never knit. So, this a first for me. I went a bit crazy at Jo-Ann fabrics. I bought myself a how-to book, some green yarn, a package of needles (plastic - they were on sale and they glitter in different colors. I'm a geek, yes. Moving on...), a size G crochet needle, and other assorted things. Then, I spent most of Friday casting on and learning how to knit and purl.

The result? My first practice piece (which is...nothing. Just yarn weaved together in no particular form.) is now finished! My, I've been busy this weekend! I've discovered something very important about knitting - it's addicting! In the worst way! Or the best way, however you want to look at it.

So yes. I've been assimilated. And it's all April's fault! Go check out her blog and you'll see why! (Psst...it's Coffee Crazy Knitters. The link is on the right. You know you want to!)

Random bit of random random-ness

A Bit Of Both You are 50% Calvin and 50% Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes, like a scruffy yin and yang, are in perfect balance within you. Like Calvin, you're weird, a bit insecure, and can be a trouble-maker. But like Hobbes, you're down to earth and sensitive. It's a risk to say it here, after just a ten question test, but I'll bet you're smarter than most. Both Calvin and Hobbes are crafty, clever characters, and any one made from equal parts of each is a force to be reckoned with.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 51% on calvin You scored higher than 28% on hobbes

Link: The Calvin Or Hobbes Test written by gwendolynbooks on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Curse those adventure games!

I've become an addict. To what, you ask? To adventure games. I'm now shamelessly hooked on MYST. And Riven. And Exile. If you ever get the chance to play one, I have one word of advice for you: RUN! If you don't, you run the risk of walking around for the next week (or as long as it takes you to finish the game) chained to your computer and only bread and water for rations. Because heaven forbid you stop the game to do silly, meaningless, unimportant things like, oh say...eating. Sleeping. Peeing.

You get the general idea. But if you like brain teasers, these games are right up your alley. And if you don't have an alley handy, then a street will do. In my defense, however, I've learned how to shut my laptop off. Yay me!

So many friends, so little time!

We had our Special Assembly Day this past weekend, which was a ginormous blast! I spent the weekend with a good friend, which is always fun. That morning, though, she had to box-guard, so I went to the Altar of Fantastical Goodness to feed our mutual addiction. Otherwise known in the real world as Caribou Coffee. You know those carrier things they give you when you have more than one cup to...carry? Well, here's a tip. Don't - I repeat, don't - try to carry that and a muffin bag in the same hand. You might think it's a good idea at the time, but here's what happens. You give your friend her coffee once you've carried everything inside like the pack mule that you are. Then, you breathe deeply, inhaling as much of the glorious aroma as you can before gingerly taking a sip. Just to whet your appetite. A couple of sips later, you are informed that you have something on your shirt. Looking down, you discover that in your eagerness and pure delight, you have dripped *raspberry* coffee on your *lime green* shirt.

D'oh.

Then, you hand off said coffee to your older brother, who had previously expressed a curiosity about the coffee. Moments later, you glance at him and do a comic double-take. On the bottom part of his suit jacket you spy several dark lines. He has a sheepish grin on his face and comments, "The lid leaks."

Alrighty then.

You still have spots on your shirt that, despite your best efforts in cleaning, are still there, only wetter and darker. You continue through the day looking like a psychedelic Christmas doll, getting thankfully few comments on the unique pattern of your shirt.

However, at the end of the day, you wish you'd gotten a remark or two on the interesting pattern of your *skirt*. Evidently, while carrying in the coffee that morning (see top of entry), you had dripped more coffee on your skirt than your top. You, naturally, didn't realize this until AFTER the sessions were over and you were sitting patiently at a box.

Thankfully, no one seems to have noticed. But...that was my favorite skirt! Sigh.

The day was good though, despite this incident. Nichole and I had so much fun this weekend, I don't know where to begin. One thing I will say is that there is now a new word in existence: Poosemonkey. We're not sure what it means yet, but I'm using it as a good frustration word. Like, "Oh, poosemonkeys!" Although I did call my cousin Brandon a poosemonkey last night, because - in one of his rarer moments - he was being a dope. (In case you're wondering, Coley and I were watching Holy Grail, and when trying to read the subtitles in the beginning, she tried to say moose, but it came out "poose". That kept us going all night. Things went downhill from there!)

Between this and a late-night game of Pictionary with a small group, I still feel like laughing crazily!

Ooohhh, pretty.....

My lovely cousins April and Mica have thoroughly corrupted me. (Love the haircut, btw, April! So cute!) I'm not kidding. Recently, I followed my mother into a Jo-Ann Fabrics store, since she wants to make me some dresses. Okay, fine, whatever. I'm not a huge sewing fan. The last thing I tried to sew was in eigth grade Home Ec. (Are they calling it Life Sciences now or something? What's up with that?) May it rest in peace. Poor thing didn't have a chance from the beginning.

Where was I? Oh, yes. So I'm walking through Jo-Ann's when I made the deadly mistake of...rounding a corner. Suddenly, I'm standing in the middle of the aisle, hypnotized by the siren song of...wait for it...yarn. My brain is in a crazy whirl of colors and textures and random thoughts along the line of "Oh, that would make a GREAT sweater! Oh! And that would make a lovely scarf!"

Yes. Yarn. So, I repeat. My wonderful, talented, slightly zany in a good way cousins have corrupted me. I can hear them laughing. (Quite the accomplishment, since we live across the countryside from each other.) They have no shame. A few times of reading their blog - see links to the right, by the way - and I'm completely entranced by a few hundred thousand bins of yarn. Sad, isn't it?

In other news, I saw a tumbleweed yesterday.

Now, for those of you who live in the South-Southwest, this is not a big deal. In fact, it's likely quite a common occurence. For me? Not so much. This particular tumbleweed happened to be blowing across a four-lane highway in Minnesota.

Of course, you understand why I was somewhat taken aback. Or, I could just be delusional. Either one would be accurate.

Run from your coworkers!

I usually get along with all my co-workers. We say random things to one another and mock one another, and all is well in the kingdom. But...when someone informs you of the fact that their stomach distends after they eat? That falls under the category of "Far Too Much Information - Now Excuse Me While I Vomit". I only have one response to this:

Ew.

What did I really say? I don't think I actually said what I was thinking. I'm sure my face had a blank look. (No comments from the peanut gallery!) Another co-worker's response? "Well...I never looked. I'll take your word for it." Hee.

And now, for something completely different....Has anyone seen the new P&P? With Keira Knightley? And Matthew Macfayden? Well...I broke down and bought it. I honestly liked it! Of course, nothing can beat the A&E version, but this one did pretty good. (On a side note, the guy who plays Mr. Darcy may not seem to be all that handsome at first, but wait until he smiles. *swoon*)

One of the weirdest things

Does anyone else think it's strange to run into old classmates that you haven't seen since you graduated high school? For me, it's both unavoidable and unexpected. There were about 100 of us in my graduating class, and we live in a town with a population of under 1,000. Everybody knows everybody; it's almost like Mayberry. In a strange twisted kind of way, at least.

Yet, whenever I run into anyone I knew from school, it's always a surprise. And it seems they're always surprised to see me, too. I don't really keep in contact with anyone from school, despite the fact that about 75% of the kids I graduated with I've known since kindergarten. (BTW, the word 'kindergarten' means 'child garden' in German. In case you didn't know. This is one of the few things I got out of the two years of German I took in school. Just thought I'd share a random thought. Again.)

What's my point? Do I have a point? Not really. It's just that I ran into a classmate today at work, and it was strange. Then again, most of the things that go through my mind ARE on the strange side. Which you know if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time.

I am not to be trusted with sanity. You have been warned. Hahahahahaha - ahem.

On an entirely different note, I have to say that blogging with my family certainly cheers me up immensely! It's such a comfort to know that none of us are truly sane! :) *hugs* Love you guys!