Deviant Dispatches

Ladies and gents: the Neverending Quilt, in its almost-full glory. It's a whopping 49 squares in size, and covers our queen-size bed with ease. It's a good extra blanket in winter, and will make a solo appearance in summer as a more lightweight covering. I'm quite pleased to have the worst of it over with, especially since I've been working on it for more than two years now. But alas, there is still more work to do: an edging all the way around. It will be black, but other than that, I have no clue what I'm going to do. Seeing as the quilt is now functional, I think it will take me a while to get around to that. I'll still aim for having this thing completely finished by the end of summer, but in the meantime, I have something else to worry about. Socks.

Dear Health Insurance, You suck. Certainly, in some ways, you do not. It's wonderful to know I can see my doctor without having to forfeit food for the next month. It's great to have prescriptions that cost $20 or less. And someday, if I ever have severe medical issues (or, you know, spawn ), you've mostly got my back. But you've got issues beyond that. How am I supposed to choose which of you to fall madly in debt with when two of your plans are named the same thing and are almost exactly the same thing? I know there's a catch in there somewhere, but it's the waiting for it to appear (and the bill) that will kill me. Health Insurance, you are just like Two-Face. Source You are excellent to have, and in retrospect, I can't believe I lived so long without you. You're not quite the air that I breathe, but you are just what I need to be a healthy person. On the other cheek, you're malicious, back-stabbing, and vicious, ready to alter my

On Saturday, the cats had a big surprise. Spousal Unit pointed out his favorite part  of this picture: you can see the actual size  of the squirrel's tail.  I was sitting on the couch when this squirrel-out-of-nowhere appeared. (Not related to the alpaca out of nowhere .) Here's the thing: he didn't start off on the main deck - he just appeared on the screen all of a sudden. What makes this even more bizarre is that we live on the second floor, and there are no trees around our little porch. The next day, he showed up again. This time, I watched as he scurried around the deck, hopping on the fence posts. When he was ready (in other words, got tired of tormenting the cats), he shuffled down one of the boards head-first, four paws wrapped around the sides. I have no idea what he did when he reached the bottom of our deck. There were still eight feet of open space below him.

Last weekend, Spousal Unit and I sheared some sheep. Rather, we helped.  We would have been very bad at the actual shearing. There will be more awesome in the near future.

Last weekend, Spousal Unit and I bought some lovely (albeit slightly battered) chairs for porch-sitting. We set them out on the deck, daydreaming of finding a small table to go with them and sitting out there on an early weekend morning with a pot of tea and good books. In the background of our minds, songbirds and lawnmowers uttered cries of spring. The next day, the chairs received a liberal coat of snow. We were less than pleased by this, as have been many Midwesterners and East Coasters. Where are the robins? Where is the brown-but-ready-to-green grass? Yesterday, there was a low of -1F. In shadier circles, I've heard talk of the best way to cook groundhog for a spring feast. (Better stay hidden till next year, Phil ol' boy .) The only sign of spring this year has been on the horizon, too far to know if it's real or not: the earlier sunset. At least it makes for some pretty pictures.

Yesterday, a Dairy Queen opened on our route home. For their grand opening, they were having half-price cakes. Spousal Unit and I were thrilled to see this on their obnoxiously flashing billboard. We immediately decided we needed a holiday to celebrate - and, of course, didn't end up deciding until we were there the next day to pick up the cake. Our choice of celebration would determine what color we chose and what we had written on the cake. Spousal Unit abhorred the idea of Blue Spirit Day, since we already had Avatar Day . (Shame on him - the Blue Spirit rocks.) "Maybe we could have Firefly Day," I suggested. "We could get a yellow cake and have 'Shiny' written on it. Or we could get an orange one and have something about a very fine hat put on it." Spousal Unit wasn't fond of those ideas. "So our options so far are Firefly, Star Wars, and Star Trek." "Star Wars already has a holiday - May the Fourth ," I pointed out.

Click to view larger   I designed this shawl for a friend who's been dealing with health issues lately, and I did so while listening to the audio version of Lord of the Rings, read by Robert Inglis . (He is amazing - reads with great voices and even sings throughout. Listen to it.) When I began the project, I had no idea where it was going - I had just picked the color based on what I thought the friend would like. But as the opening pages of the book rolled by, it became clear that this shawl was the embodiment of the Shire. It only took me about a week of working on it every evening to finish. Using a double strand of yarn and a size N hook really moved the project along. This shawl is adjustable, too. I'm very fond of how the project turned out. The shawl is six feet long, heavy, and utterly comforting to wrap up in. Piggy likes it, too. The Shire Shawl Materials 6 skeins Berroco Comfort in color Maine Woods (9839) Size N crochet hook Main Body Ch 51

Last night, Spousal Unit and I saw Rising Gael play at the Stoughton Opera House . The group is originally from Wisconsin (one of the CDs we picked up was recorded in Cottage Grove), and from their witty banter on stage, it sounded like they had many friends in the audience. Spousal Unit first heard them on The Irish and Celtic Music Podcast and has loved them ever since. Their first song of the night was Nova Scotia Farewell, which is becoming my favorite song the more I think about it. Lead singer and pipe master (a.k.a. flautist) Erin Ellison has such a strong, distinctive voice - I especially love the effects when she hits the high notes in this song. Despite that, the audience was quiet early on. A little too quiet. (Can you blame them? Stoughton is full of Norwegians - we don't get rowdy unless we're instructed to.) "We're used to playing pubs," guitarist Peter Tissot announced, encouraging the audience to get into it. And that was all it took.

When I was a senior in high school, I finally obtained the coveted position of supervisor at the grocery store where I worked. It was a position I'd wanted to have for quite a while (in kid-time), but I couldn't legally until I turned 18. Those in charge were also reluctant for me to have the post because I was going to college in short order. But I convinced them, gaining all the privileges and responsibilities of the post. One night at the beginning of summer, when I was working the late shift, I noticed a woman in her late 30s moving through the aisles with one of our red baskets - the hand-held kind - and filling it with food. As this was a grocery store, that wasn't unusual in the least. What was unusual was how everything in the basket was buried under several plastic bags. I was the only authority in the store. My heart pounded as I watched her from the end of the aisle. What to do? According to my training, I was supposed to wait until she stepped out the door -

Something ridiculous can be found here . Daylight savings drives me nuts. At this time of year, we get back a little of that precious morning darkness. It allows us to sleep more deeply in the morning, but also makes us more lethargic. That hour, originally stolen in ancient times (alright, only the idea is from ancient times)  for the benefit of farmers , will eventually provide us with more light in the evenings for baseball games. But that's where its benefit ends. It used to be fairly important for energy conservation, but with the advent of different lighting systems and HDTV, we use energy at different rates for different reasons. We're breaking with the natural cycle of the day because that's what suits us. (Also because humans are strange creatures.) So why are we still following this archaic tradition? Just as with the penny, we're still using it because we're stuck in a rut and wouldn't know what to do without it. The other thing I can'

I don't think I've ever blogged about religion, and I'm not about to start. (Despite the Buddhism book you see here.) Start Where You Are by Pema C hödrön Buddhism is a religion I associate closely with on a spiritual level, because it's about being nice to others and yourself. But I'm not Buddhist. I don't meditate, I don't believe the fables, and I don't pray to Buddha. But that doesn't mean I can't learn something from it. I've read before about people leaving little reminder notes for themselves around the house. I've seen them on bathroom mirrors - things that say, "Smile! You are beautiful." It seemed kind of cheesy to me, but after I started this book and found so many well-articulated sentiments in it, I decided to give it a try.  One of the sentiments in the early pages is, "Regard all dharmas as dreams." I always have a hard time grasping exactly what dharma is - no matter how many times I

Source Now that the most recent snowstorm is behind us, I've really begun itching for spring. The sun is rising earlier, I've already seen a robin, and daylight savings is this weekend. We still have a couple of weeks until March 20 - the vernal equinox and official start of spring - but I want my spring now. Things I'm looking forward to: - Fewer layers (though I always carry a sweater) - Open windows - Exploring the neighborhood in full bloom - The day the cats discover bird-watching - A shorter commute (no snow!) - Moisture, for the love of GOD moisture (I've become pampered since leaving the Southwest) - A garden on the porch, instead of in the bedroom (where the cats can't nom stuff) - Porch-sitting! I'm mostly excited for flowers. I never thought I was much of a flower-person (aside from my hippie tendencies), but again, coming back from the Southwest changed me a bit. Now, my prerequisites involve lots of color and a body of water in wal

I'm posting cat pics today. Cat pics are cool . At least, these are. ... How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jaws!

Dear Media, Just because you hate yourself doesn't mean everyone else should hate themselves, too. I'm really getting sick of all these ads I'm seeing lately. It doesn't matter what site I'm on - Facebook, Pandora, the freaking dictionary  - they are all full of ads for people with a negative body image. That or they're designed to give people a negative body image, which is Not Okay. It's driving me nuts. Imagine how it feels to me. I'm at work, trying to verify a word's definition or spelling, when BOOM: I get whacked in the face with an image of a not-so-large woman shrinking to a size 0 before my very eyes. Even if I'm perfectly happy with my body, I don't want to be confronted with the fact that most people are on diets every time I turn a corner. It's depressing. And since I'm not perfectly happy with my body (as most women and many men are not, thanks to you), all those ads do is make me question my proportions and dera

Today, I go back to work as usual. But today is different: I am no longer a temp. Today is my first day as a real employee. I've been temping for so long at this company (since October) and I've known for so long that I was going to be hired (a month) that in some ways, it feels like there will be no changes - except for the giant stack of papers I had to take home yesterday. Certain things will change in the way I allot my time; I will get benefits now, too - something I won't actually see change for a month or so. But the thing I'm most excited about right now is having an official email signature. Before, it was just my name. Now, I get to include my title and the company's name, too. Lamest thing ever. But I can't wait to send my first email this morning, just the same, because I'm thrilled and relieved to finally have a permanent job in the field I love. With all the perks. Source