I was feeling a little blue...

then I read this:



I don't feel blue anymore. I'm just really happy to be who I am and living where I live and when I live. Wow. I first heard about this book from Bookslut. Thought I would give it a try. Picked it up on Sunday and started it on the bus home . I finished it last night after work and then had an awful time trying to go to sleep. There is some amazing/brutal/stark/desperate imagery in this book. There is this fine cord of love and humanity in it though that is really very beautiful.

NOT a light read. I think I'll go read a Terry Pratchett to get the taste of this one out of my brain.

Nerves

I start my new job tomorrow afternoon and I'm feeling just a touch nervous. Actually, when I stop and fully think about it I kind of almost throw up a little bit. I'm sure that's perfectly normal. Oh well, at least I finally took the leap and moved out of that comfort circle.

On Friday there was cake at work and then Lisa and Vanessa had a wee song prepared. They revamped the So Long, Farewell song from The Sound of Music to be all about where we work. It was awesome! Then some time in the pub where some shooters were shot. It's been so long since I did tequila shots that I forgot the order one is supposed to do the salt/lime/tequila in. How sad is that!

Yesterday Vanessa and I went to Macleod's Books. WOW! It was fantastic. When you walk in there is that old old old book smell. Inside the front cover of a collection of Thomas Moore's poems was a gift inscription from 1902. It was wonderful. We wandered around and drooled for two hours and didn't even feel like any time had passed. We didn't even make it to the basement! Next time. We also hid Grand & Toy and bought blank notebooks. It was brilliant to go with someone who gets that same look in there eye for pens, paper, and books.

After our shopping foray we had grilled panini sandwiches in a little cafe and drooled over our books some more. It was an awesome day.

I washed and blocked my Glampyre raglan and I should be sewing up the hem today. If I do I'll post a pici later on. It washed up so soft, I'm sure it will be one of my staple sweaters come next winter. Actually, the way the clouds are rolling in maybe I'll get to wear it today before I fold it up and store it away for winter.

And finally, I'm very sad to report that my Canucks have lost two straight. Both of them shutouts. They have to win tomorrow night or they are eliminated from the playoffs. Soooooo, if everyone out there could send a wee happy hockey thought to Vancouver at about seven pm pacific time, that would be great! Thanks. :)

I'm what?

38 you say? Wow, that's flipping amazing. I never thought I'd be that old, not ever! It's okay though, I usually act like I'm 12.

The rain has finally stopped here in the wettest place on earth! We broke all kinds of weather records. Most consecutive days of rain, most rain in the month of March, most muddy dog footprints I've EVER had to clean up in a month, etc, etc.

On Saturday my mom and I met up with Linda and hit the Sewing and Needlework show in Abbotsford. I was virtuous and bought no yarn. Virtuous might be overstating it, nothing really sang out to me. Which is good. However, I should be flogged for forgetting that Saturday was Linda's birthday! Can you imagine? I was her secret pal last year, there is positively no excuse for forgetting something that important. Ridunkulous. I'm so sorry Linda, I hope spending part of your special day with mom and me was at least a little bit fun for you!

There was a book vendor at the show, Copperfield's Books, and they had a tonne of knitting books. Three in particular that I've been wanting.
So they came home with me. The mitten book is a great resource book. I've wanted Charlene Schurch's book forever, but unless they reprint, that isn't going to happen. Her "Hat's On" book is amazing too, but not available at amazon.ca only at amazon.com. I should send a note and see if they will stock it. We are the great white north, we need hat books!

And, while I was at the momma's I finished up two more Dulaan hats. Only 20 more days to enter the Dulaan contest. Let me hear from you!

The Patons SWS is really nice stuff. I also started working on my Noro blanket again, finally. After I farted around with the sewing/quilting you see in the last post. Mom and I got inspired at the show on Saturday and we're both blowing the dust off of our machines. I also picked up enough cotton chenille for a baby blanket for a friend at work so I might just play around with that this afternoon. I'm pretty sure I can sew a baby blanket much faster than I can knit one so I think with all these gals at work having so many babies, that might be the way of the future for me! I'll keep the knitting time for Dulaan and me!

Okay, I'm out. I'm going to go make another cup of coffee and head to the basement for some more sewing.

Misc.

Wow, it's been a challenging week here at casa beentsy. Stella's epilepsy has been particularly bad the last two days and we're all a bit exhausted, Stella in particular. Hubby is fighting a cold and I'm knitting like a fiend to keep my sanity! :)

However, being the closet optimist that I am, I know that good things are always on the way. Then when they show up I can be all cocky about it! Good eh?

First good thing, Lizz is back blogging! Yay! Missed reading your stuff and seeing your knitting girl. Go look at her Christmas stockings on March 5. I'm in love with the Canucks one. Lizz has exceptional taste in books, especially when it comes to Guy Gavriel Kay. After the Fionavar Tapestry I think my favourite of his is Tigana. That book reads how good music feels. It just washes over you. Gorgeous.

Second good thing, I found the book prize for the Dulaan contest. It is the Shawls and Scarves book by Knitter's. Lots of lace to lust over in this one. Luckily being in a box due to renovations doesn't seem to have done it any harm! I'm not going to try taking a pici today, it is way to grey here. Pop over to amazon and you can have a peek at it.

Third good thing, with all this down time with the dog I've knit half of a sweater in about 3 days. No kidding, I am booking. Granted, it is on 6mm needles but I'm still well chuffed with my progress. It's the easy top down raglan (click on pattern shop and scroll down), by Stephanie Japel. Very nice and very user friendly. I'm doing mine in denim blue Cascade Pastaz (#31) for the yoke and some charcoal unspun Peruvian wool that I got in a bag sale at Elann about 3 years ago. I'm starting to have a deep and personal relationship with my stash. Which is a excellent. I'm also burning through about 3 balls a day of this stuff so that's all good!

See, silver lining. Oh, and I'm Bowling for Big Brothers tomorrow night. This is my third year being involved and it is such a lot of fun. It's a fifties theme this year which should be a hoot. I have my little fuzzy cardigan and my matching scarf to tie around my neck in a jaunty manner, hair in an obligatory pony tail and chewing gum all ready. Besides, I get to wear bowling shoes. I love bowling shoes. I really should google and see if I can find a place to buy some. Hmmmmm.

A little light reading?

Taken from Mumbling Monkey:

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicize the ones you want to read.
leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) (My favourite book of all time)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Huh, that's 51 for me.