I have hives

My lower arms look blistered and rashy, some large puffy red spots are on my upper arm and I can't stop the scratching. I'm not sure if it's stress, allergens or sun overexposure. All I know is I itch. The Benadryl and hydrocortisone hasn't kicked in yet.

I'm cranky.

Puttin' down paw

It's the night before we leave for drive to Oregon and I'm nervous about the little things like, what time should we leave to avoid morning traffic (hell) in L.A.? Where will we stay the night? How far will we get? Will we get in the way of all the traffic going to put out the fires in Northern Cal? Will the cats be OK? I feel bad for them, I can already see their unknowing little faces staring and yawning as we walk out of the apartment. Thankfully we have a babysitter, Big Mac, lined up to feed, water and clean out their litter boxes.

<-- I'm planning on using Twitter to post updates, you should see them in the upper left corner of my blog over there. Meanwhile, Zoe the Siren has just let me know it's massage time. Since she won't be getting any massages for a while, I'm going to lay it on thick tonight.


PS: Those are freckles, not dirt. And his toes look bumpy from the texture of the Wii Fit board.

We got it!

That's right, one of Apollo's connections called him today with the message that he had put a Wii Fit off to one side for us. Within 30 minutes, we had it set up and were hula hooping. I really enjoy it and am so glad we got it.

Simba, of course, thinks it's something for him to lay on. Whenever we'd step off, even for a minute, he'd lay his body across it.

At one point we were getting ready for another set of aerobics when we saw this message:
(click to read screen better)
"Confirmation complete! Your weight seems to be really different from last time. Do you want to continue anyway?" Too bad I can't create a Mii Cat. Then again, I don't really think Simba's too motivated to do much other than slap his sister, poop and lay around.

I want!

Today I visited Shawn and he forced me to use his Wii Fit! It was pretty horrible having your BMI flash up on a screen along with your weight in front of friends but, hey, that's life. I have to admit, though it was embarassing I had a lot of fun. Now Apollo and I are on the hunt for our own Fit! We have a lead on where to get one tomorrow, hopefully it'll work out! Oh, and I lost 3 lbs this week. Yay!

Roving and holes

Today on my lunch break I went to Black Sheep in Encinitas to buy some roving. I basically had a choice between two different types, New Zealand and Merino. Though half the price, the New Zealand was rough and didn't feel good. I didn't really want to learn to spin with something that felt scratchy so I bit the bullet, paid a little more and bought the Merino. I got 4 ounces of pink, 4 ounces of purple (I swear, it looked more merlot in the store) and 8 ounces of blue. There weren't many color choices and I felt this is the best I could do. Besides, I'm a newbie so this is fine.

I brought the roving home and prepared to get everything ready to take a picture for you. But first, since I met my goal of 96 ounces of water a day, a trip to the bathroom. It was here that I discovered I have about four or five holes in my pants. In the ass. *sigh* I'm soooo embarrassed. I mean, I went out in public today AND worked in the office with a couple of the guys. Not to mention all the bending over I did while looking through the roving. This is what I get for using the washing machine here in the building, it always chews holes in our clothes. Just when I get desperate enough and forget how bad the machine is, I give it a try and it eats my clothes.

While I was lamenting over my situation, I heard the crackling sound of paper and I realized one of the cats were probably getting into the paper bag that held the roving. I had a good idea who the culprit was since he's always getting into things. However, I had no idea what he was really up to.

As I walked out of the bathroom, I caught him in the act of stalking and bum-rushing the roving. Here he is eyeing his prey, waiting for it to move so he can kill it. I had no idea this beautiful combed roving could turn into fluffy clouds of puffs. So sad!

It must smell good because he wants to chew it. I'm sure he would make a bed out of it if he could.

So here it is. Hopefully the next time you see it, you'll see something that somewhat resembles yarn. I'm sure it'll look horrible but I'm fine with that.

I think I'll buy my next roving online where I'll have a larger variety of colors to choose from (look at me, I'm already planning to buy more and I haven't even spun anything yet) . I'll buy some new pants too. My god, one of the holes is huge. Huge!

Exciting friday night

I finally finished the first of the Summer Socks for Mom. I'm hoping to have both of them done by the time I leave for her place next week. I also don't really like the colors and thus knitting them annoys me. Just one more to go though. I just have to make sure I recreate all the significant mistakes I made in the first sock.

Meanwhile, I've wanted to learn how to spin for a while now. The fact that it's such an old technique that our "foremothers" used for thousands of years speaks to me. I can't quite explain why I feel the need to give it a try but after doing some research, I finally decided to buy a spindle. I saw a blog posting about Tour de Fleece and thought, what the hell, maybe this will get me started. Well, I'm sad to report that due to my work schedule and a frustrating lack of spindles and roving in my area, I gave up and ordered one online. (I actually received it only 3 days after I ordered it from Greensleeves Spindles.) While I won't be able to join the many people who are spinning yards and yards of yarn, I can at least say I have acquired a spindle, will get wool tomorrow on my lunch break and will start spinning before I leave for my trip on the 17th. Hopefully I'll be able to spin while Apollo drives.

Sock knitting continues, of course, but spinning may become a new obsession. We will see. Anyway, guess I should go to bed so I am somewhat rested for work tomorrow.

Team Squirrel!

You may or may not know about the plight of squirrels everywhere. Poor, harmless squirrels that are forced to share the earth with us humans. Squirrels that can't go grocery shopping or pop a Lean Cuisine in the microwave when they just want something to eat. Squirrels that must fend for themselves and eat things like stale bird seed and whatever fruit or nuts they find lying around. Yes, I'm talking about those cute little guys with the long tail that only survive by whatever cleverness they can muster up in those tiny little brains.

If a squirrel manages to get some seed from a bird feeder or even climb up a tree and take advantage of free organic fruit, I say way to go squirrel! Unfortunately, some squirrels have to deal with mean, grouchy humans who flip out over a single cherry! One cherry! Humans who make death threats followed by stories of barbecuing and grilling squirrels! There's just no explaining that sort of insanity.

Therefore Team Squirrel has been formed. Join Team Squirrel today if you want to show your solidarity against squirrel haters! Add this badge to your website/blog to show everyone which team you're rooting for!



Squirrel haters need not apply.

Movie: Wanted

We bought our tickets to Wanted knowing it would would be as unbelievable as The Matrix but we had no idea it would go even further! The ridiculousness of the stunts and other space bending activities caused most people around me to snort and snicker, but not in a "I'm being entertained" way. It was more of a, "I can't believe they're trying to sell this shit to me, I mean, yes I know it's fake but c'mon!"

And then there was James MacAvoy's frequently screaming of "Oooh sshiiiiiiiiiit!" in a nasal American accent. I can still hear it ringing in my head. It's awful.

It took a while for me to realize the level of gore in the movie. Then again, it probably falls under the "This is disgusting, please pass the popcorn" heading. So if you're the average movie goer, it won't bother you. But if you plan on bringing your kids, you may want to give that another thought. Speaking of kids, someone did bring their baby to the movie. A BABY! And yes, it did cry. *sigh*

The plot was fine and had a great twist. Oh, and the last few seconds of the movie? Dumb. You'll know what I mean when you see it. Don't worry, this won't ruin your movie experience. I hope. hehehe

On another note, the camera did zoom in on Angelina's face as much as possible and long enough for me to take notes on how the artists applied her makeup. She looked gorgeous and sexy, even if a bit skinny.

My rating: Not theatre worthy, wait for the DVD.*



*(I have strict movie standards because by California standards, I am po.)

Aimee's Beach Socks

Knitpicks Felici Self Striping Sock Yarn is perfect for brainless knitting. It was easy to match up the stripes, which stay pretty consistant, and the stitches are nicely defined.

There is one major flaw in the gusset, but I decided to leave it. I even made the second sock match the flaw in the first sock! For those that know my frogging tendencies, you know this is a big deal. If you like this color, Schooner, get it while you can. Once they're sold out, that's it.