PlazaJen: Passion Knit

There's so much to do! So much to recap!

1. The Wo got home this morning, or very late last night, depending on how you define "day" and "night". 2 a.m., because his flight out of Detroit was delayed four hours. I woke up shortly before he got home, and thankfully the dogs didn't go into Full Tilt when he opened the door. He was in Detroit for a big backgammon tournament weekend, and while I missed him on my birthday, it was great to get updates and hear how much fun he was having. It's good to do the things you love!

2. The dogs are hilarious when he's gone. They go into Major Protection mode of me, which I appreciate, but it wears a little thin if I'm watching a movie that contains sounds that alarm them. The burfing is loud, and intended to scare off anyone who thinks they might be coming in the house. And once wound up, any other little noise sets them off. I think they're always going to be this way, because of the very unfortunate incident a couple years ago, that I wrote about but discovered I never published. Pack behavior is an amazing, amazing thing, and even though part of me thinks our dogs are big love dogs with big barks, I'm also pretty sure that if they continued to sense my fear, they would bite someone threatening me. No hugs for thugs!

3. My birthday was nice. I spent 5 hours at the day spa, and was extremely relaxed by the time I poured out the door. I did get a bit frothy with the plumber situation that afternoon, because even though I had high hopes, part of me knew it wasn't going to be resolved. But I talked to James that afternoon and officially handed it over to him to handle. (Three & a half weeks, and the plumber dodged the appointment we had on Friday. I'd get mad just typing that? But that wouldn't be letting go. LET GO. Let it wash away like.... like a SHOWER that WORKS....)

4. I picked a TON of tomatoes this weekend, and processed the ripe ones yesterday - we're going to have spaghetti tonight, which isn't exactly a summertime dish, but I know already that with fresh basil & roasted garlic, it's gonna be YUMMY. James is going to have quite the canning adventures ahead of him this month!

5. I joined the Mystery Stole #3 knitalong. I blame three people: Kristin, who told me about it in the first place; Jacqui, one of my very first Ravelry friends and does some beautiful lace knitting, and then of course the Yarn Harlot, because if she were going to jump off a cliff, I think we would all quickly knit ourselves some parachutes and follow her right off the edge. Actually, I would have thrown the Office Max dude off a cliff on Saturday, because he seemed to think the idea of highlighter tape was of my own imagination. WRONG-O.

6. Speaking of Ravelry friends, I'm going to complain about this once, and then I'm going to be done. I categorized some people as my friends, some of them based on the fact I read their blogs - and I comment there - and certain people are a bit too good and not as willing to reciprocate. Now, mind you, I'm not talking about the biggies, the famous knitters, with gazillions (or even hundreds) of people who read their blogs - that would be nutters, and I completely understand that. I'm talking about people like me, and honestly, that is the one thing I just f'n hate about how the internet can reduce you to feeling like the ugly girl at your locker, watching the other kids stream by and ignore your very existence, when you're metaphorically smiling at them and waving "hi". Of course, the internet brings a gajillion more people into my life, for which I'm extremely grateful and my life is enriched a thousandfold because of it. So I have to recognize none of this is black & white. I keep having to relearn the lesson that even if I call someone my friend, they're not necessarily MY friend back. (And lest we think this all about Ravelry, this actually happens in real life, too.) So to stem some of my irritation, I removed them from my friend world, and I stick with adding new unknown people that Ravelry thinks would be good matches, based on patterns and projects, and I am divesting myself from taking it personally. I'm sure I'll have that one figured out in um, 20 years. MSCONFIG: Run: \\complaining:OFF

7. I have a vacation hangover. The only thing that would really make me happy is if I could go back to sleep for about ten hours. And wake up to discover the shower's been fixed. And everyone wants me to be their friend. ;)