Instead of working on my sweater as I was supposed to do, I have been sitting here researching the legality of owning farm animals within the Austin City limits. As it turns out, our property, being large, would allow us to have just about anything we want. I’m thinking a few chickens and a goat.

I’ve also been researching flowering ground covers for the front yard. Wow, there are some beautiful, low-growing plants to use to cover areas you don’t want to mow. I’m going to have a hard time picking one.

Why am I suddenly researching farm animals and ground cover? I am trying to find perfectly legal ways to be a pain in my neighbors’ asses. Seeing as the neighbors on the one side have chickens and hate mowing their lawn too, I don’t see them complaining about anything we might do, but I am willing to bet the crazy ones on the other side will have a coronary about it … which is, of course, the point. Yes, I know … I am EVIL, but they started it, and I am going to run with the idea of hating them and making their lives as miserable as I legally can. Take that, crappy neighbors!

Amazing how the people we thought were the coolest and most worthy of getting to know on our street ended up being the craziest and bitchiest, isn’t it? And they get crazier every month, I swear. In another few years, I suspect they may all be locked up for insanity or law-breaking.

Even moving as slowly as I am today, I managed to do the crochet edging on The Endless Sweater. I am mostly pleased with how it turned out, but I am not too certain the edging is going to solve the problem in the edges rolling in. I guess I won’t know until I wash and block it. For that fact alone, I haven’t worked in the ends from the crochet work. That way, should it end up not solving the problems, I can still take it out and redo it with a different edge. Actually, if it doesn’t turn out right, I was thinking about putting in a standard sewn facing made out of a stretchy knit fabric. It’d be a lot of work, but it wouldn’t look bad at all. I’m really just hoping the blocking helps, because I am about sick to death of working on this project. I want it done so I can wear it!

Since the kitchen sink is remarkably free of all dirty dishes, I think I’ll go wash it now and lay it out on a towel on top of the washer and dryer to block it. The laundry room is the warmest room in the house, because the air conditioning doesn’t go in that room. I had thought about setting the sweater outside in the sun, knowing that as hot as it is these days, it would dry very quickly, but then I thought about all that pollen and pollution in the air and reconsidered. Not to mention the possibility of bird poop, though I wouldn’t say having it in the laundry room is any guarantee there won’t be bird poop. A few days ago I found bird poop on a blouse I had left on top of the washer. I couldn’t find anywhere birds could get in, and I have never seen or heard a bird in there, but bird poop is extremely unmistakable for anything else on the planet, so there had to be at least one bird in the laundry room as some point during the three days that blouse was in there. I told you the laundry room was less of a room and more like an outdoor area with walls and a roof. I really wasn’t kidding. It’s not at all secure from critters, though we have gotten it closed off enough now that the critters who do get in are all of the small variety. I dream of one day having a laundry room with a real floor, real walls, a real ceiling, and air conditioning. It’s not all that high on the priority list though. I’d rather have a nice bathroom and a spare room that wasn’t full of boxes.

Since it’s almost time to start dinner, which means there will be dishes in the sink again, I better go do the sweater washing now. I’m really eager to see how it finally turns out. I’m even more eager to put it on and wear it somewhere! Also, I am looking for my next knitting project. Getting this sweater done has freed my mind to think of other things I want to knit. I didn’t really want to start anything else until it was done, for fear of it never getting done at all. Now I can go back to knitting little things like purses, gloves, scarves, hats and cozies … the things I really do enjoy knitting the most. So tonight, I’m going to go through my yarns and my favorite untried patterns and pick something to move on to. Lin and I have been taking about going to see his family for Xmas this year (never have done this — oh boy, Chicago in December, will I survive it), and they would definitely appreciate hand-knit woolen goodness … so I better start thinking about it and get started making some warm snuggly things for my in-laws!

And yes, I can’t WAIT to see how Lin and I going to Chicago instead of my family Xmas ordeal is going to go over with MY family. It’s sure to cause some drama … a whole lot of drama.

The visit to Mom’s went OK.
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All the knitting it finished on The Endless Sweater! All that’s left is working in the loose ends, single crocheting around the neck and armholes, and then washing and blocking it. I finally got to try the damn thing on, and it fits perfectly! I am so thrilled to be almost done with this project, I’m going to go ahead and post a photo of it with loose threads dangling and edges all rolled up … because I can’t wait another minute to show it off, and I am not inclined to work on it anymore today. Though I might do just that. Being so close to finished, I am fired up about getting it ALL done.

The one month anniversary of Fuzza’s passing. Not that I noticed that until just now when I looked at my calendar. It’s odd though that when Lin got home from work, he walked by my shelves and said “There’s our cat, sitting in a little black jar.” I turned around in my chair and we looked at the photos and talked about the cat for a few minutes. I think subconsciously we both knew it had been a month, but we’ve had a lot of other things on our minds the last few weeks. Even more odd? Lin came home early … at 3 pm. One month to the hour, minute, and day. Life is spooky sometimes, isn’t it?

I thought it might be a good time to pull up the draft post I made that night and make sure it was understandable and legible. You know, correct the spelling and make certain I wasn’t just babbling insanely. I can’t do it. Don’t want to read it. Read the first few lines and started crying. So I am just going to post it as is. Forgive any spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and outright lunacy you may find.
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Ok, one more thing.

I decided to pre-order tonight’s pizza so I wouldn’t have to remember to do it later, you know, in case I fell asleep on the couch or something. I look through my coupons and check the specials on the web site. I’ve determined that Papa John’s Pizza doesn’t know the meaning of the word “unlimited”.

My dictionary says “unlimited” means “not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity or extent.” I think we can all agree, that’s a fairly standard definition of the word.

In the world of pizzas, it apparently has another meaning which is “unlimited up to five toppings.” Now there’s some “truth” in advertising for you! Though I guess it’s still not a bad deal seeing as you get a five topping pizza and a 2-liter bottle of soda for cheaper than buying them separately.

Still … I wish words still meant what they are supposed to mean.

In more personal news, I ache all over today. My neck and back are totally out of whack, and that always makes me miserable all over. I’m blaming the furious knitting and having possibly pushed myself a little too hard while doing my daily exercises for today’s pain. Ouch.

I’d wanted to go on a real grocery shopping expedition this afternoon and run to the craft store to get a paper trimmer, but now I’m not feeling much like doing either of those things. I guess we’ll just have to survive the weekend on the food we have in the house right now, and I’ll just have to keep trying to cut perfectly straight lines with scissors. It’ll be terrible, but I’m sure we’ll make it through just fine. After all, tonight is pizza night, and Sunday we are going to be at Mom’s house … and I suppose I can either put off my paper cutting until a later date or go get the thing tomorrow (while my 40% off coupon is still good).

So sitting at the computer hurts, doing housework hurts, and I’m betting that knitting isn’t going to feel so great either. It’s been so long since my neck and back gave me grief, I don’t remember what I used to do on the days when it pained me. I guess I just sat on the couch and watched FoodTV, which sounds like an excellent plan for the rest of the afternoon.

Oh, and Kenno made my crackers, and they have received the Kiwi Seal of Approval! Next week, I’m going to work on some other variations, and I may never bring home store-bought crackers again. These are just too easy and cheap to make, and they are so much more tasty than their mass-produced cousins.