Reunion

I went to my 20 year high school reunion on Oct. 11. I graduated from Clovis High School in Clovis, CA - Class of '88 - Go Cougars! It's a small town (or at least it was small) outside Fresno. Redneck California. It's all orchards, vineyards and cows. We used to joke that Clovis and Fresno were 2 or 3 hours from anywhere you really wanted to be (the beach, mountains, San Francisco, LA, etc).

Anyway, I didn't plan on going. I never cared for high school and while I had lots of friends and even with a graduating class of over 600, everyone pretty much knew everyone else - still didn't care much about going back. But my best friend since we were 13, Nikie, was very persuasive. We used to see each other every 3 years or so (she lives in Georgia) and I was in her wedding and she was in mine, but we hadn't seen each other since my wedding in 2000.

So we convinced another friend of ours (Chelsea) to go and we all met up on Saturday night for the shindig. My husband bet me how many lines I could sneak in from Gross Pointe Blank - one of our favorite movies (it's a hilarious movie about an assassin who decides to go to his high school reunion). I got in about 6. My first opportunity was when we checked in and they handed us our stick-on name tags with our Senior picture on it. I looked at Chelsea and said, "Oh, it's a fresh kind of hell" which is the line Cusack says when they gave him his sticky label with high school pic on it. It was actually pretty helpful though since, out of the roughly 40 people who showed up, only 4 looked exactly the same as they did 20 years ago. And one of them was a cheat as he was one of the 6 black kids in our entire graduating class.

Another reason I didn't want to go was they chose a black and white dressing up theme for the party. Really?? We couldn't just have an equally lame luau theme and at least be comfortable??

I bought my dress a couple of days before for $6 (gotta love the clearance rack at Kohl's) and my shoes, make-up, nylons - pretty much everything I had on me had to be purchased since I don't dress up.

Here's a pic of Nikie, me and Chelsea...


Chelsea, I have to point out, is wearing a dress that she wore to a Winter Formal when we were in high school. Still fits her! (Her dad had kept it all these years.)

And yes, that is my finished Juliet! I'll give more details, better pics, and the story of that project in another post.

So it doesn't take a real keen eye to see that I had changed clothes during the evening. After dinner, when the dancing started, I went up to my room and changed to be comfortable. (BTW, the 3 story hotel didn't have any elevators. Haven't there been elevators since, like, 1810? Fresno.)

There was drinking. Lots of it. I kept telling Chelsea, "I don't know how you're facing this sober!"


Dancing


Group shot. The guy in the front row holding up his drink is the only teacher that showed up. It was kind of funny, because as I remember, this guy got in trouble for partying with the students 20 years ago! Apparently, he's still at it.


I don't know if I'm doing that old lady shrink thing already or what but all the guys seemed about 6" taller then they were when we graduated. It was weird.


The whole thing was surreal. I went by myself which was a bummer. I really wanted my husband and kids to be there (there was a reunion family picnic on Sunday). If for no other reason then to be able to use them as a distraction. As in, "Look, shiny children! Pay no attention to the fat girl behind the curtain, look at the shiny children and gorgeous husband!" The thought of facing my crazy family and former classmates by myself was giving me nightmares for awhile before I went.

But in reality, I had the best time!! (I'm sure the alcohol helped). Really, though. I had so much fun and everyone was really cool and laughing and having a great time as well. We were all filling in the gaps for each other with all the "Remember when" and "ohmigod, I'd totally forgotten that!" One of the women who showed up with her husband lives in Colorado now, one town over from me!

Sunday morning, I had breakfast with Nikie and her family before they headed off to Disneyland. Nikie had gone to the ten year reunion and she said it was so different because people still had attitudes and cliques and something to prove but at the 20 year, everyone was over it and was just there to have a great time.

Also, Nikie's daughters were breaking my heart. At 6 and 3 they are so beautiful and adorable, it just made me miss my babies so much!

On Sunday, I went to the picnic and hung out with Stacy (a friend from elementary school) and Chelsea. It was really laid back and other then one girl's insistence that we play softball, it was really mellow. No one wanted to play ball and I think everyone was just chillin' and recovering from the previous evening's revelry.

After the picnic, I stopped to see an old friend who had refused to go to any of the reunion festivities. In fact, her exact words were, "Awww, you're cute! Not going." I sat in her kitchen with her and her wife and we talked and laughed our asses off for almost 3 hours! It was so great to see her. I was teasing her that she is one of those people who's dog looks just like their owner. She's got this big, burly Akita. Looks really intimidating but is actually a teddy bear. Veronica is the same way. She looks like a short, burly, intimidating Samoan man but is actually about one of the sweetest, kindest people I know. I wish I brought my camera to take a pic with her but I forgot it at my mom's house.

On Monday, I went to my old high school to see some teachers. My friend Tiffany, works as the registrar at the school now and she told me not to check in first - she said if I checked in, they probably wouldn't let me go see anyone. She told me to call her in the morning and she'd tell me when/where to go to see the 2 teachers I wanted to see. I went to Mr. Menendian's class to say hi but he was out for the day. Then I went to see my dance teacher, Mick. She was such a huge influence in my life. She was a strong, stable woman and that was something I never had much of growing up. She was always so patient and kind and made us feel like we were worth a million bucks.

I went to the locker room to see her and the moment I laid eyes on her, I started tearing up. I swear, I had such a hard time pulling it together to tell her how much she meant to me. I kept starting to tear up and blubber like an idiot! I don't know where it was coming from but I got so emotional. What the hell! She was really cool about it and we got to talk for about 15 minutes before she had to go start her class. She's still the best! Here's a pic of us under the Dance Yourself Silly sign she still has over the door after all these years.


I walked across campus to the amphitheater. Sat on the edge of the stage like we always did at lunch way back when. Swinging my legs and wondering why such a land-locked town has seagulls flying everywhere around the high school (just like 20 years ago). Some woman who works at the schools walks up to me and standing not a foot from me and looking dead into my face snaps, "What are you doing?? Don't you have class to go to?" I looked at her and smiled, "um, 20 years ago." After she figured out I'm an adult, she was all smiles and sweet, "Oh, just visiting then? Well, have fun!" Some things never change.

I walked to the admin building to see Tiffany and take my pic under the mangy, stuffed cougar that's still on the wall there. Do you see his missing toe (it's the little white spot on his hind foot)? I wonder who snapped off that souvenir. People always get all bent about that cougar being there but the thing's been dead for over 40 years. It wouldn't be alive now even if it hadn't been killed and stuffed by some hunter so long ago. And we all know that back then, these things were more acceptable. Plus, as I've mentioned, Clovis isn't exactly forward thinking. So it's still there.



Clovis now has a population of over 94,000 people. That blows me away. It was like 30,000 when I left in 1991. When I was in 8th grade, there was this huge open field in one corner of the main crossroads in Clovis. Someone put up a sign that said, "Future Home of the Sierra Vista Mall. When I left 8 years later, that sign and empty field were still the same. The only thing they'd built was the movie theater in the field behind it. Now that mall is actually there. Shocker!

It's so changed and yet still so the same. The highway 101 is still a dead end. Usually when you see a sign that says, "Highway ends, 100 feet", it means that the highway turns into some random road. Not so in Fresno. In Fresno, it means, "No, Bitch, the highway ENDS. You best find the next exit." Otherwise, you'll be barrelling through wooden barricades and hitting a mountain of dirt. Ahhh, Fresno. How I've missed thee. (not really)

On Monday, I also went to see my high school sweetheart, Drew. We started dating when I was around 16 and were together for nearly 3 years. The first two years were great, that last one was mutual torture and drama. When I moved out of the house when I was 17, we lived together for about a year. We've always been friends and keep in touch by phone every year or so.

His family owns a big auto machine shop in Clovis and they all run it together. His dad (whose retired but still shows up everyday, because, really, what else is he gonna do?) is still there, Drew runs it now, and his oldest sister still runs the admin side of it. His little brother (who was about 6 years old when I left town) is all grown up now and is working there as well. (They have 2 other sisters, one is a teacher in Las Vegas and his littlest sibling, Sally Marie, is getting her Master's at Fresno State - she was about 3 years old when I left. I'm old.) His mom got paralyzed (waist down) in a car accident about 10 years ago (99 car pile-up in the fog on one of California's highways). She sometimes comes to the shop still, too but wasn't there when I visited. It was great to see them! I was a little nervous about seeing him in my current shape (or lack thereof) but I needn't have been. He got fat, too! We were laughing about our weight and the old times and the current times. We crack each other up, still!

His girlfriend showed up and they are having some drama. I was at the other end of the counter and I guess she told him, "Why don't you go start talking to her, then!" and left. He told her I was with the other guy standing at the counter (who is another old friend of ours, but apparently one she didn't know very well). I told him he should've said, "That? Man, she was 20 years ago!" Like I said, some things never change. Drew's not happy unless he's with a woman whose making him miserable. That includes me - 20 years ago, I was a total basket case! Thank Dog for therapy!

I also got to meet some of my "imaginary friends" (as my husband calls the bloggers). I had dinner with Quail Hill Knits (but forgot my camera again). She has the best stories! Like the fact that, recently, the police recovered a motorcycle that was stolen from her husband... 20 years ago!! Awesome.

And I got to have breakfast with and a ride to the airport from ChickenKnits. She's so funny and cool! I wished we live closer together!


I'd get into the drama that is my family but even I'm bored with it at this point and this post is overly long enough as it stands.

More fun then I'd ever imagined, Ruth!

Why Yes!

That WAS me you saw on the Yarn Harlot's blog.

This year it was held at The Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. Here's a before shot of her books on display...

Here's an after shot...

People showed up in all their knitting best. Here's the Mitered Coat of Many Colors (as I'm calling it)...

This next woman had a beautiful jacket on. When asked about the yarn, she said, "I don't know, I bought it and knit it." Fair enough! Her companion wouldn't lean in to the picture with her, even after I gently nudged him with my foot. No, I'm not normally in the habit of kicking strangers but it was the excitement of the evening! I teased him about being a fugitive as others wanted to picture her and he'd always look away from the camera...

It was a fantastic evening. Rachel and I got there around 3p and we were #6 and #7 in line. I remembered to bring some camp chairs - last year, I sat in line for a few hours on the floor and when I stood, I couldn't feel my legs!

The Ever-Lovely Marly showed up, too...

We were in line with lovely people and the waiting was almost as fun as the Harlot. A lady next to me gave me some ingenious little stitch markers and showed me that when you bite off the end of a dried apricot and shove a whole almond into it - it's a delicious treat!

Sam, Kelly, and LaDonna, and Jen (owner or Purls of Wisdom in Parker but elusive to picture) were there. As were many other of my "imaginary friends" (as my husband calls my Blogger friends).

This was our first sighting of The Harlot...

This is "Crutch Girl". She's in all the shots as she got a great front row seat due to her crutches. Hmmm, have to remember that for next time. Just kiddin' - we got there early and we got front row seats, too.

Stephanie taking her crowd pics...

Over 200 people showed up and an excellent time was had. A man wandered over to the fiction section (to the left of the screen) and stayed there listening and laughing for about 15 minutes before his family found him and they left.

Oh, and note to the woman behind me who answered her cell phone during Stephanie's talk. Stephanie is a wonderful, patient woman because if I was public speaking (which is difficult enough) and some yayhoo in the second row not only answered her phone but talked on it for almost 5 minutes - well, y'all know I'm not the most diplomatic person. I did hold my tongue this time because I didn't want to add to the noise the woman was making. She answered the phone and said, "Why are you calling me??" but then talked For. EVER! And not quietly either! Didn't even try to whisper!! If you have to take a call, OK - maybe it's test results for an illness, maybe it's the sitter, but for decency's sake, walk off in to the stacks of the bookstore to have your conversation. Ya silly, rude, B....!

When it came time for book signing, I asked Stephanie if I could massage her hands. (For any newcomers here, I was a massage therapist for 8 years) This is something I meant to do last year but was all bunged up about meeting her and forgot. Her hands are tiny and soft! She asked if I could just follow her around from city to city and I could be a HarlotHead. If only!

After the great time we had seeing The Harlot, we went across the parking lot and had a great time at a pub. Their ended up being 13 of us at the pub. The food was great, the service spectacular, and the Woodchuck Hard Cider plentiful. Maybe that's why I left my camera there! I didn't even discover this until Monday (3 days later). Lucky for me they are honest people. I am a dunderhead.

Planning my life as a HarlotHead, Ruth!

Holiday Madness!

I had a crazy week last week! It's such a blur, that I can't even remember what I did Mon. and Tues. This is going to be a long post - get a snack. BUT there will be knitting pic's and yarn pic's and a recipe!

I was supposed to get a massage on Wed but the therapist I trade with called to say she had vertigo really bad and couldn't do it. I was so bummed! I've had this spot in my right shoulder for 2 weeks now. The kind that when it showed up, I couldn't turn my head properly.

On Wed, I do remember going to brave the post office. I usually use their automated machines - those things are awesome! If there is a line for them, the people using them move much faster then the people behind the counters. But I was sending some books to my friend stationed in Afghanistan and to send to an APO AE address, you can't use the automated stuff. sigh.

I worked on this while I was in line...

It's the Chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm using these 2 balls of Koigu that I got on sale years ago...

I never knew what to do with 2 such differently colored, smallish skeins! This scarf is perfect for that.

While waiting in line, I got about an inch done. May not seem like much but it's small yarn smallish needles! When I got to the front of the line, the postal guy who helped me said, "Wow, I wish everyone would bring their knitting! Or a book or something. They get here and see the line and then get all pissed!" Now this particular postal guy is the slowest thing in creation. He's a sweet, much older man and he chats up everyone he deals with. He's got his pants pulled up to his nipples and wears these HUGE rimmed glasses. Every time I'm in line and he's at the counter, all I can think is, "Less talking, more postaling!"

Anyway, when I left, I saw the massage place across the street. One of my goals that day was to buy some Biotone - the preferred massage lotion of most therapists I know. You'd think with the something like 20 massage places in this city of about 40,000 people, I could find some for sale. Not so, my friends. I called a bunch of them to no avail. As I was leaving the post office, I drove across the street, the phone number was on their window, so I just called.
Me: Do you sell Biotone?
Her: No, we don't.
Me (sounding, perhaps a bit desperate): Do you know anyone in town that does??
Her: No, sorry. Why, are you a massage therapist?
Me (pitifully): Yeah.
Her: Do you need topping off?
Me (pitifully-er): Yeah.
Her: Come on up!
Me: Splee!

Her is Sandy. And we scheduled a trade for me for that Friday! YAY!

On Thursday, I had to work on (massage, that is) our accountant. We'd worked out a trade, we'd pay him $200 and trade the other $200 worth! The guy's like 6'4" - a huge juxtaposition from the tiny 14 year old I worked on the prior Monday (someone's daugher - another trade). When we were finished, he tried to tip me. I told him, "There's no tipping with trades!" but he insisted and wouldn't take no for an answer. He said he was going to schedule weekly massages during tax season next year and asked how much I charged. I told him $65 and hour and then he tipped me $30! I told him that was way too much, but again, he was very insistent.

Good thing I took it! I had my hair cut and colored that afternoon and that evening, I took the boys and Rachel's daughter to Disney on Ice with the tickets I'd won. They were great seats! We had a fantastic time and the three children were spectacularly well-behaved. I was so proud of all of them! The show was so much fun.

I was worried, since it was called Princess Wishes that it would be too girly for the boys but they had a tone of stuff for boys, too. The 7 dwarves did a number and Goofy and Mickey came out between every number. As did Tinkerbell. I think Tinkerbell was drunk. Every turn she did and every leap she made had a very wobbly landing! Davis kept calling her Princess Wishes because of her wand that she'd wave around and it would fling fairy dust everywhere. There was even a fire-breathing dragon and at the end, they shot off fireworks! (At which point, Rachel's girl leaned over to me and said, "I thought they weren't supposed to do that inside!" I agreed as I was having my own Great White flashbacks.)

Only one of the skaters fell from a leap. Towards the audience end of the rink, there was a big puddle of water and he landed in it and bit it. It was really cute to see all the little audience girls dressed in their Disney princess costumes. And one strange thing - when we walked through the parking lot towards the coliseum, at the end of it, there were 2 semi-trucks without trailers. I figured they were there to haul the equipment for the show. When we left, I saw a whole family get into the white one and drive away! It was Mom, Dad and 2 little daughters in their Disney costumes. Kind of strange, no? Like they were driving through town after a big haul, saw the sign for the show and just pulled in!

On Friday, I worked on Nate (he's the mechanic we use for Dave's truck and I work on him every Friday morning, building up trade), had my massage (Sandy is AMAZING!!), and that evening Rachel and I attended the PTO dinner. It was so much fun! We were at the house of one of the chairmoms and in the basement, they had copious food and alcohol. We played a game where you put a little known fact (at least to the people in the room) into a bucket. They read the facts and you have to guess who it's about. I told about my kidneys. I also learned that our PTO president won 2 wet t-shirt contests when she was in her 20's and that our Vice Principal Bob was a child model!

Saturday I went for a little shopping and visited the new yarn store in Parker. Dave told me about it (he had to deliver a ton of stuff there!). It's called Purls of Wisdom and it's near the movie theater on 20 Mile Road. The owner is fantastic and the place is beautiful! I know the owner of YarnArts is worried but I don't think she needs to be. This town is growing like CRAZY and there's more then enough business for everyone. Besides, they carry different yarns! There's some really good pictures here.

Saturday afternoon, the boys got to go to a birthday party for the 2 year old across the street. He's a sweet little boy and the parents had a some other boys (ages 13-15) come play. Their band is called First Installment and they play alternative rock. It was lots of fun!

Saturday night, we had the HOA party. It was freezing! Last year, the woman who "organized" it scheduled it for 1-3p. Prime nap time for the kids. This year, she scheduled it for 5:30-7:30p. Dinnertime?? 4 or 5 of us volunteered to make crockpot soups. I made my Zesty Vegetable Beef. Like most of the things I cook, it's stupid easy...

Zesty Vegetable Beef Soup
1 lb. ground beef, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, minced.

2 cups pre-shredded coleslaw mix, 1- 10 oz. pkg frozen corn, 1- 9 oz. pkg frozen green beans, 4 cups hot-style V8 juice, 1 - 14.5 oz. can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tsp. dried basil, 1/4 Tsp pepper.

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic. Drain well. Combine meat mixture and remaining ingredients in crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Eat!

Oh, and Saturday night, we had our first sleepover! My friend Kathy's husband's business had their holiday party that night. It was in Denver. I said we'd watch her boys and then when I thought about it, I said, "It's such a long drive to the party and back, why not just let the boys spend the night? That way, you guys don't have to worry about leaving at a certain time and you can relax and have a nice night like adults." So their 3 year old and 4th grade boys came over right before we left for the HOA party. Kathy gave us $20 to get some Happy Meals and we had a great time! Dave dropped me, the soup, and the boys off and went to go get the food. As I said, it was freezing but the kids seemed to have a great time. There was sledding (the 3 yr old got creamed by someone on a sled, riding down the hill, but he was OK) and hot chocolate and cookies and Santa showed up! Also, there was a horse drawn carriage ride. I told the 4th grader he could go on it and he did - without us. He must not have heard me say to wait so we could all go together! I lost Kathy's first born! For about 15 minutes!

When we got home, we fed them and I'd rented Shrek the Third. They watched it, and all went to bed after! Easy, peasy, rice and cheesy! I guess the key to a quiet, successful sleep-over is to freeze them half to death, wear them out with snow and then keep them up until 9p watching a movie!

On Sunday, we fed them all breakfast and let them play video games until their dad picked them up at about 10a. Then I took the boys to see Santa (again!) at the Black Bear Golf Course Clubhouse. They got to do a coupla crafts and get a balloon animal and see Santa. Then Dave and I took them to the grandparents and went out on our own. We had a nice lunch and did some final shopping for the boys.

Whew! 3 or 4 things a day for 5 days straight! Glad that's over! I'm done shopping. I've finished (except for seaming) one of the 2 hats I'm making for the boys for Xmas (they are getting the same hat). Here it is...

I got the chart off Ravelry and the yarn is Paton's Classic Merino. The recipe came with the chart and is just CO 82, rib for awhile, knit 3 rows, knit the chart - then I changed the end of the pattern to the basic hat pattern from the Yarn Harlot - k1, *k6, k2tog*, rep to last st, k1; next row (and all WS rows) purl; next row, k1, *k5, k2tog* rep to last st, k1. Keep decreasing one stitch before the k2tog's (k4, k2tog, then k3, k2tog, etc.) until your knitting 2 together all the way across. Then I purled one row, then k2tog all the way across again (keeping the k1 selvedge edge at beginning and end of each row) then bound off. Now the seaming and the making of the second hat.

This was my first fair isle. It's a bit lumpy and imperfect but I'm making 2 more (one for me!) and I'll give the boys the two best looking ones.

Holy cow, Ruth!

The Ripple Effect

This thing with Marion Jones having to return her medal has more consequences then had originally occurred to me. Now they are talking about her relay team and how those other team members may have to return their medals as well. That makes me sad. All that theoretically legitimate hard work gone to waste because someone else cheated. Hardly seems fair.

And what happens to these returned gold medals? Do they get passed down the line like the tiara from a tainted beauty queen? Silver is now Gold, Bronze is now Silver, dude that came in 4th is now Bronze?

During the Infamous Southern Denver Yarn Crawl ,when we stopped to have lunch, Nake-id Knits said something very nice to me. She said she couldn't understand why I was working at Target, it seemed such a waste of talent. (Have you ever heard such a lovely compliment?) I explained that unless you were on a management level, everyone working there was a waste of some kind of talent. There's nothing wrong with Target, it's a good honest job. Even so, working there isn't particularly a first choice for most people.

There's J - her husband worked at a company most of his adult life and they were living comfortably (if a bit tightly) off of his pension when he retired. Well said company f'ed up the pension and it disappeared. Now she works full time at age 65 because they need the benefits and the money. He's gone to work, too but has health issues and can't work as much.

There's all the kids who are at Target for summer jobs or to help put themselves through school.

And then there's K. 2 years ago, her husband was caught in a sting much like the To Catch a Predator series only with no cameras. This man was a high school softball coach and went to a house thinking he was going to hook up with a 14 year old girl. I watched the "Predator" show all the time and I never really thought about these guys having families. Yea, some of them had wives but I didn't think of how they might have kids, too. Or how getting caught would effect their wives accept to start divorce proceedings.

K's entire life savings got eaten up along with her husband's savings when it had to be used for his defense. He's now a registered sex offender and can't even call his daughter's house because she has small children there (not that they want to talk to him, yet). He lost his job and most of their friends and K had to live with the suspicion of everyone in town, "How much did she know?" She didn't know any of it. She knew he was spending a lot of time online but had no idea what he was doing there. She never even suspected. Why would she? Would you? As soon as court matters were done, K divorced him and moved to Colorado.

This man got caught 6 weeks before his other daughter's wedding. He was able to go but it made everything really tense and weird when it should've been her happiest day.

K and I met at Target. She has to work to help with her living expenses (she's also around 65). She gets some alimony from him but it ain't much. As a registered sex offender, he has a hard time getting a job. Or housing.

She asked me to teach her to knit and she came to my house to learn. She opened up to me with all this and I really felt for her. (That was a couple of months ago and she's given me permission to write about it.) She says she feels so stupid about it - like she should've known about him somehow - but I asked her, "Why? If you had no idea.. I mean why would you ever think that about someone you've known and loved for over 30 years??" I was at K's house, giving her another lesson when the phone rang. It was him. Yes, she still has to deal with him. They still have money tied up together (IRA's, 401k's and such) and even thought their kids are adults, she's got to deal with him for the rest of her life.

Talk about ripple effect. It's so sad.

Things I do effect everyone around me. And actions of others effect me. It's all a crap shoot, but it makes me think twice about my actions.

Still not tip-toeing, Ruth!

J. O. B.

Awhile back, La asked how my new business was going. This is what I told her....

"No money yet. It's recruiting for a Medical Device Sales company. I feel like I've walked into the middle of a conversation. There were 12 open searches when I got it and now there's only 6 (happens all the time). None of our candidates were picked for the ones that closed. There's 2 that I'm fairly certain our people will be picked but the entire interview processes takes 60-90 days. It's a waiting game.

But it's very cool to wake up and a) have something to do during my day (something that makes money, anyway) and b) have something I'm excited about!"

The "middle of a conversation part" is so true. Imagine walking into a room and there's a man talking on his cell phone. You've got to not only decipher what the person on the other line is saying, you've also got to speak as though you know what they are talking about and then you've got to go and find 5 other people who know what he's talking about and add them to the conversation. Now multiply that by the number of open searches. Currently, there are 7. sigh.

My Blogless Rachel H. clued me in to the fact that I haven't posted in almost a week! That's so unlike me. Usually it's about 4 times a week. I miss you guys! Tomorrow there will be more posting and a clean(ish) closet.

Buried in resumes, Ruth!

What A Weekend!

Saturday, Dave and I tried our level best to kill ourselves.

In the morning, I had the computer tech guy come over and hook up our wireless (at a relatively painless $60).

Then we drove both the minivan and the hoopty the half-hour to Littleton and spent an hour trying to shove all the furniture and file cabinets and boxes of old files into said vehicles. The main desk is a behemoth (it had to way close to 100 pounds) and we had to get it out of John (the seller's) basement (up 8 stairs, 90 degree turn, 6 more stairs). After much sweat, strained backs and frustration, John put two of the filing cabinets into his Suburban and we headed off to his rental house where the rest of the furniture lived.

We dropped the Suburban's filing cabinets there and headed home, knowing we'd have to come back at least once more to get everything else.

I flew home with Dave not too far behind me (using the tennis ball in the back trick the whole way!) because it was already 1p and I told My Blogless Rachel I'd be at her house at 1:30 to help set up for the birthday party for her daughter Morgan. I helped unload some stuff, ran upstairs, took a rinse off shower, finished crocheting the fuzzy flip flops for Morgan, wrapped them as a present from Davis and wrapped the other present from Trevor, threw the gifts at the boys and ran around the corner to Rachel's house.

2-4p - What a great party! It was a carnival theme and they had the kids use markers to decorate their white goodie bags and then go outside for games. There were 5 different game stations (darts at balloons, ring toss, her husband made a big plinko board, etc.), a fake tattoo station and a face painting station! At each station, the kids all got little prizes whether they were successful at the game or not. A good time was had by all!

Go home, shower again (the party was outside and it was a little warm) and get ready for a night on the town. Dave and I haven't had a night on the town in about a year!! When we were in Tucson, his parents would watch the kids on Saturdays so we could have a date. It was almost always during the day and the few times we went out at night, we'd be home by 10p because it was either his parents watching them at our house or a teenaged babysitter.

Last night, Dave arranged a surprise evening! He's the only guy I know who would surprise his wife for his birthday night out! I knew we were going into Denver but that was all. We ate at P.F. Chang's and then went to somewhere near the 16th Street Mall. To Bovine Theater! It's an improv show much like Who's Line. When we came into the theater, the guy at the ticket desk asked us to write down something someone had said to us that day. I wrote down the book inscription Faith got (see the comments from here) and when it was used it got a big laugh. I got to go onstage and play in one of the games, too (yes I volunteered, I'm a big ham, donchaknow).

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again sometime! The tickets were only $16 each (the Friday tix are only $5!) and they also have an improv school! What fun!

When we left the improv show, we went back to Parker and stopped at a bar on Mainstreet called The Tailgate. They had a live band (Play It Forward) which was pretty decent and no cover charge, which is always nice. We had a couple of drinks and went home. We got home around 1a! I don't think we've ever stayed out that late! Not even when we were dating!

Sunday, we recovered. I've never been one to get hangovers. The only time I've ever had a headache from drinking was a Jim Beam incident in 1997. And that was just stupidity on my part, I've never liked whiskey so why was I drinking it that night? Anyway, I don't get hangovers, I just want to sleep all day from being up late and my stomach seems to object to alcohol as it always does angry, mean things to me whenever I have more then one drink. Good thing I've never been into drinking a lot!

OK, Massage Monday:

How to pick a therapist....

You can always find a student to work on you, like I mentioned in this post, but if you want a professional here's some tips.

1. Know that it's going to be trial and error, like finding a good hairdresser or family physician.

2. You want someone who has at least 500 hours of schooling. (In San Diego, it used to be, if you had 500 hours or less you had to register with the vice squad. EW! California has no standardization and there's all these little 100-150 hour schools. What do they even teach you in 100 hours??? "Here's some lotion. Come back next week." People take these classes, get a massage therapy license and do... um... otherwise. I've got no objections to prostitution. I think they should legalize it and regulate it. And if you choose that lifestyle, then that's your choice, but call it what it is. Stop giving massage therapy a bad name!)

3. You want to make sure your therapist knows their anatomy. If you ask them to work on your piriformis, they should know that's deep to your glutes. If you don't feel like quizzing them (because that might just be a little weird and off-putting), then make sure they listen to what you tell them you need. If you tell them your neck hurts and they focus on your legs... yes, it is all connected but, come on!

That's it for now! I know I promised knitting content and I do have some, but this post is too long already. Tomorrow for sure - knitting, pictures and a funny man.

Learning the new biz, Ruth!

The Dark Side

In the past four days, I've produced 3 FO's. *All crochet* (whispered)

This....

Which I half-frogged and redid. It was wonky and WAY too big. The last washcloth I made shrank up and became too small. This one, I was going to make as big as a regulation terrycloth washie. I got bored and came up a few inches short. I didn't realize that kitchen cotton is about ten times thicker and heavier then terrycloth. (Yea, I'm a dolt.) I frogged back to where I'd accidentally added the extra stitches, then I crocheted 4 more rows and added one round of double crochet. Perfect! (We'll see. When it shrinks, but it should still be big enough.)

Then there's this....

Here's a shot of it in action...

And here's a shot of the one I made last Xmas for the boys bathroom (as per Uberstrickenfrau's request)...

And then there's this...

It's a cover for my Swiffer WetJet. I think it's obscene to pay $12 for 8 WetJet pads. Also, I have to use 2 whenever I clean the floors. (Maybe if I cleaned them more frequently, this wouldn't be the case.) I have a fair sized kitchen floor and then the two upstairs bathroom floors (both relatively small). But I also have little boys and they don't have the best aim in the bathroom. I do the kitchen floor, change pads, do our bathroom, then theirs. Anyway, I wanted one that I could rinse (and ultimately throw in the laundry) and re-use. Viola!

I'd been thinking of making a cover for awhile and then a couple of weeks ago, I saw someone talk about it on another blog (I forget which one). They had a link to a site that had the pattern for a knit one and a crocheted one. It took awhile for me to get to it but since I was on a crocheting spree, I thought, might as well!

Here's the pattern I came up with (modified from the one I saw online).

US H hook, Sugar 'n Cream yarn

Chain 15, start in second chain, single crochet across (14 sc)

single crochet every row for about 14" Fold over 1" on the end and slip stitch the edges closed.

Then tightly chain 17 and attach chain to other edge (you want this chain to be just short of the width of the piece).

At other end, fold over 3" and slip stitch edges closed.

I finally replaced my favorite scissors.

I had bought this contraption years ago and in the past few years, I haven't been able to find it. When we moved, I did a thorough search of my old cross-stitch stuff while packing. It's gone. So, I used my Sunday 40% off coupon at JoAnn's and bought a new one. I LOVE these scissors! I doubt they'd be let on any plane anywhere but I rarely fly so that's OK.

They are Gingher and they are so compact and easy and sharp. I heart them.

After dinner, on the 4th of July, I convinced Dave to take a walk around the block. It was so nice out, it didn't take much convincing. I really wanted to walk past Rachel's house. She and her daughter had been on vacation for the past 10 days and since she's really the only person I know here, I missed her! She and her family were outside and we stopped to say hi. (The boys were riding their bikes along with us.) We spoke for awhile and her husband set off a few firecrackers. Then we continued on. Around the corner, there was a HUGE block party going on. One of the women at the party insisted we stay. (My husband was mouthing, "I don't want to stay" but she was really so insistent, it would've been rude to leave.) Turns out there were quite a few Husker fans in the crowd. So now my husband has new friends.

We ended up staying almost two hours! We met a lot of neighbors and the kids had a great time. The guy with the table full of fireworks in his garage, had this game that he and some friends made up. I wish I had brought my camera. It's called Washoe, it's like horseshoes only... let's see, how can I explain this....

There's a team of two people and there's this box (about 4' X 2'). Two boxes, two teams. The boxes are covered in fake green worn-down turf and there's three holes, evenly spaced, cut into the length of the box. The boxes are set about 5' apart, short ends facing each other. There's a person from each team at each box (Box A has a team player from Team 1 and Team 2, Box B has the other team players). The player stands on a box at the end closest to the other box and throws 4" washers (hence, Washoe) into the holes of the other box. There's some elaborate scoring system: The hole closest is 1 point, the middle hole is 3 and the farthest hole is 5 points. If a team member makes a point it's subtracted from the other teams points. First team to make 11 points wins.

I didn't play but I was fascinated at the complexity and the fact that someone took the time to not only come up with the game but to actually make the boxes and develop a scoring system!

There were sparklers and fireworks galore!

And Davis scored a new girlfriend! This is Cora and at the end of the evening, he's actually sitting in her lap. She's a girl in Trevor's class. The entire evening, Cora was running around with Davis in tow, holding his hand. He was fine with it! At one point, I look over and Cora's got Davie's hands, another girl's got his feet and they are swinging him back and forth!

I can't begin to explain how happy fireworks make me. I was ecstatic! Somewhere during the evening, I (obviously) did go home and get the camera but I didn't take many pic's because I was running around looking at all the bright lights. We could see some professional one's over at the city and at the development to the East of us. Also, there seemed to be some pretty professional looking ones over on our street. When we finally made our way home, we were just in time to see the people across the street bring out some more of these professional (albeit, illegal as all get-out) fireworks. They asked if we'd mind if they set off their "grand finale" one. We said, "Go for it!" They brought out this 2' square box with a fuse. The guy lit the fuse and me and the boys laid on their lawn watching while it shot off 30 high altitude sparkly bursts!

When Dave and I were living together, we worked at resorts next to each other. His resort had the golf course and they used to have a professional fireworks show each year. The golf course maintenance guys would "volunteer" (they were paid but not required to be there) to be at each hole to make sure and report if any fires started (it was a desert after all). The first year, D and I sat at one of the holes overlooking a canyon. The next year, we laid on the grass of the hole right next to the hole where they were setting off the fireworks. We had to wait for awhile in the golf cart for a Gila Monster to leave the hole but other then that, it was the best show I'd ever seen!

Roller Coaster and Fireworks. Every Time, Ruth!

P. S. Got some very cool packages (from Faith and Uberstrickenfrau and Claudia). Pic's on Monday!