SpinWeaveKnitandCake

You know it's been awhile since you've blogged when you forget your password...

No pics today, I'm too embarrassed of my selvedges to show you the whole FIVE INCHES that I wove over the holiday weekend.  Woo-hoo!   Progress!

Dulles Deja Vu

I'm back at Dulles, heading to Little Rock this time. The plane is set to take off at 9:50A, hopefully the rain won't keep me from making my connection in Atlanta. 

So for happy thoughts here is a fuzzy squirrel that lives in a park over by the Senate office buildings.  I think he wanted a handout, I had nothing to give and I try not to feed the "wildlife".

Drive by blogging

I spent some time in Philly this week and this morning I'm heading back to PA to hang out with the family. I was coming home from Texas on Easter, Mother's Day nobody was in a mood to meet. So today is the day. Luckily, I'm a passenger today - hence the blogging via the best cellphone ever. I've gone the way of the CrackBerry! Now I bid you adieu, I have a new HandWoven that I haven't had time to read calling my name.

On a jet plane...

I'm sitting in the Dulles Airport at Gate B73, it's 5:40 a.m. 

I'm off to Texas to see a college friend.  If you have a metal implant expect to be pulled aside and accosted. I see our sister gate heading to Florida is boarding.  We are to board at 6:05.  Fun.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Cloudy with a chance of change on the horizon...

Things here have been both hectic and quite stale.  There's been no time to blog and nothing to blog about.  With Spring lurking so closely, I'm beginning to air out the rugs.  Let the fresh air seep back in.

Starting with tomorrow, I take my free introductory kickboxing class!  How crazy is that?  I don't know how it's going to go, hence the introductory class, but I feel secure after talking with the folks at the local boxing hut (I don't know what they're called.  Gyms?  Dojos?  Ring?) that they can handle all that is me:  titanium hip, deformed hand, oh and I'm a whiner under extreme duress of exercise. 

But it's cool and they are able to roll with me.  They actually work with Iraqi war vets who have had serious injuries so I'm probably the least messed up person who has walked through their tent flap.   My main concern is making sure the gloves fit and I don't break a thumb.  The whining ratio would then soar expontentially.

In the spirit of starting new things and assisting with the economy I bought my first MP3 player, an iPod Shuffle.  It's so tiny (shown with bulkier wine cork for comparison).

And for being so tiny, it's causing me to fuss.  I have to figure out what 250 songs I want to shove in there.  Luckily I didn't get the larger memory version that stores 500 songs, I would surely have pulled all of my hair out by now.  And because I'm cheap, I don't want to just download everything from iTunes and so now I'm trolling around the house looking for music.  "Oh, that CD that was out in the truck where did it go?"  Alternately when I'm on iTunes it's like what was that song that I heard that I really liked??  Fuss, fuss.. but it's a nice distraction from work.  Speaking of which, Thursday left me woozy until yesterday.

Also another nice distraction from work.  I had a celebrity sighting.  Saturday morning I saw Rob Lowe and I even snapped a lame cellphone picture of his backside.

See:

I tried to be more casual about it than the other herd of gawkers.  He sure is one handsome man, scrawny, but handsome.

We finally got some snow, not the three feet that I had wanted but it was impressive.  This is my little corner of the world all covered in snow last week.  (pic taken from the driveway)

Of course, now we're up in the 70s and the daffodils are pushing up and the crocuses are in bloom in the back yard and the squirrels are out in full force frantically digging for food.

Finally here's a mini-tour of DC, well the parts I'm walking by right now.

When did it become February?

Still nothing crafty. 

My love gifted me with a serger for Christmas and I haven't been able to use it yet. 

Please check back in a few weeks, I will be weaving a couple of towels for a friend to match a runner I made her for Christmas. 

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the Year of the Ox and that would be me.  I truly fear this year is going to be a sporadic one on the update front.  This blog is about crafts and I've been busting my hump working, which is a wonderful thing.  I feel useful.  But trust me I won't dissolve into the ether.

So here on the home front:
Loom Cat is asleep right now. 
Shhh, be very quiet. 

Who am I kidding?  She's tormenting her sister Whisky right now.  This was a rare moment.

My guard cat is now my Facebook ID.  He looks fierce but isn't.  He loves tummy rubs and will almost knock you over when he rubs up against your leg.

He wears "Medium Dog" harnesses.  Okay to be honest that was only once.  Didums doesn't like collars and well it's not worth the blood loss to try it again.  I had a grand idea of taking him out for walks-- yeah, that didn't work.

And here's the loom.  5 yards down, 15 more to go!  Woot!

20 yards.  What was I thinking?

Proud to be an American

Hmm, it's a weird feeling that I haven't felt in many years.  Pride.  It's a funny thing.  I feel like I can be proud to be an American again and to have such an eloquent and self-made man as our President is the icing on the cake.

I think if I can respect our flag again and actually feel my spine straighten up when I see it flown, then I'm sure people around the world will be able to respect our country again.

If you ever make it to DC to see the sites, make sure you get over to the Capitol it's a gorgeous building.

Now, I have to get back to work.  The self-employed do not get paid vacations.

Don't Let the Door Hit Ya' Where the Good Lord Split Ya'...

Good-bye No.43.

13.5 degrees here in Inaugurationland...

The news says "it feels like 5 degrees".  I think I'm not going outside anytime soon.  In fact, I will be here at the table typing what's left of my fingers to nubbins.  It was a luxury to sleep in during the holidays, but now I need to get back into my wacky, fun-fun schedule of early mornings. 

I guess I will give a quick update of my whereabouts.  It seems like this month is going to be about the once a week updates.

The loom still has a significant amount of warp on it and I will weave some more as time goes on.  The knitting needles are idle, but I've decided that I need to knit myself a new scarf.  The spinning wheel is folded up in a corner in the craftroom.  And finally addressing the cake in SPinWeaveKnitandCake, I didn't enter into the City of Fairfax Chocolate Festival Cake Competition this year and that's because I just realized I missed the cut-off date which was yesterday.

I have camera phone video that I have to figure out how to convert from 3GP to MPG of my mom at the horse pull the other night.  I didn't get to drive up to Harrisburg, PA but these days PCN TV streams live from there, so I got to see her here at home on the computer. 

And the inauguration is coming up quickly.  The government has decided to shut down major roadways and bridges into the city for everyday vehicle use, so traffic will be quite entertaining.  As I like to say, Heeee-larious! 

Also if you are planning on attending it's going to snow.  I just checked the weather and it's going to be cold, not like today cold, but cold and snowy anyway.  So come prepared.  Mayor Fenty (Mayor of DC) was on the news this week saying don't expect to attend the Parade and the Inauguration.  You will have to choose your event, which is quite true.  You will not be able to do both - unless maybe you have a jetpack but then the Secret Service would probably shoot you down. 

So yes, I am staying home where it will be warm and elbow in the ear free.  My jetpack will stay grounded for that day. 

Speaking of jetpacks, kudos to the pilot in NYC who managed to land the plane on the Hudon River.  Eep.  Can we request this man when we have to fly??  Roll up to the ticket counter and ask: And who is the Captain today?  My luck I'd get the Skipper and Gilligan in this type of a situation.  Going to North Carolina?  Oh no, we'd get stuck on an island in the Pacific. 

Now if you will excuse me, big girl needs some more coffee.  I fear the caffiene to blood ratio is terribly, downright dangerously low.