Random, briefly

You know how you have a big challenge, like, say, your partner going away for a week and leaving you alone with the kids and your 45 jobs and your messy house and you get through it and you breathe this big sigh of relief and you think "hey, I did it, time to rest!" but then life keeps going at breakneck speed and you crash but life doesn't stop and you wind up way more behind and tired the week after she's gone then you did the week she was here?  No?  Well, I do.  Did I mention she's gone next week too?  Love the job of the partner.  Oh yessiree.  I'm reminding myself that if all goes according to plan, things will be very different next year.

So, I was saying,

• Kepler is in time out.  We've pretty much straightened out the behavior that got her there, but she's going to have to spend a little time alone for the moment.  You know, I knew that picking out a couple of rows of stitches from a provisional cast-on was going to be a PITA, but I hadn't taken the cables into consideration.  Freakin hell. Now I have to graft the cables, and again, not a big fan of the lovely kitchener stitch under the best of circumstances (thank you PGR for the no-sewing-needle socks, oh thank you) and now the whole grafting cables thing is just going to make my head hurt.  I figure I can do it.  People like Claudia and Stephanie have made sport of flashing their invisible grafting jobs before and I will do my very best, but not before I pretend it doesn't exist for a while.  Because grafting cables together feels way too much like work.  I should note, for the record, that the need to graft cables together is my own modification of the Kepler pattern and I should, for that reason alone, suck it up.  And I will.  But first I will pause to pout.
• Sick day today.  Everyone is coughing.  So it was that beloved place where the three-year-olds were sick enough not to go to school, but not sick enough to just sit there.  And they're still finishing up the little renovation project, so there are whole areas of the house they can't touch.  Fun!
• The renovation has been pretty much true to murphy's law (no hardwood in the hallway, surprise electric in the walls, and a carpet remnant designated as an emergency solution to the hardwood in the hallway issue, that was just a teeny bit too small).  But the nice gay contractors are very friendly, neat, and conscientious, and the newly opened-up doorway looks awesome.  We've traded in a stained carpet for stained flooring (which, it turns out, is actually hardwood veneer, which I didn't even realize existed), but some rug-like thing will cover that up (perhaps not an ebay oriental, since Juno invoked the M-O-T-H word).  So yeah, happy about that.
• I don't know why I'm embarrassed to admit this, but instead of knitting Kepler I'm finishing up my second Klaralund, that has been sitting, just under half-done in UFO-land for no reason other than I have been too excited by other projects to work on it.  I know a lot of people hated their Klaralunds, but I wear mine all the time.  It's like my sweatshirt sweater.  So comfy.  And I want another one.  So this one is in kureyon, the colors rock my world (shades of rust-red) and there is no knitting more mindless.  So, whatever, mock me, I can take it.
• My secret pal just got her package and she is over the moon.  I parted with some yarn I got for me because I thought she'd like it, and I was right.  Nothing like making somebody happy with wool.  I tell ya.
• Jody of Raising WEG sent me to an excellent time suck web site today.  It feels strangely intimate to link to this list, which is odd because I think nothing of telling you people of my weird hormonal problems, but I like the idea of a book catalog site and recommendation engine that isn't, well, Amazon.  There's even a blog thing for the sidebar if I ever get around to adding it.
• The grad student I work with at one of my jobs (hi M!) recommended the show TransGeneration to me.  It's freakin' fascinating.  I have to confess to being a bit of a fuddy duddy (or as one of my student workers once called me, an Older Lesbian), and being somewhat clueless about the whole trans phenomenon.  I've also been concerned about young kids making really permanent and serious life decisions (surgery) when they are still in the process of forming their identity.  But this show has taught me a lot, and really given me some insight.  It's on Sundance, and seriously, it's worth seeking out if you get that station.  M had to urge me to watch it, and man, was he right.

Well, I kept falling asleep today (note: the kids did not do the same, naptime was successful only for me, briefly, of course), so I suppose I should try to actually sleep tonight.  I find it does wonders for my general attitude.  Go figure.

See you at the Fiber Twist (and if my living room is not still in pieces, I'll be in touch with those who have let me know they'll be around).

Comments

[Julie]

Jody is a trouble maker! I really didn't need to see that link. ;) I wish I could go to the Fiber Twist this weekend but instead I'll be at a Relay for Life conference so that I can help run our town even next June. Hope you survive your week and have a fantastic weekend!

[Colleen]

Wow, Kate, I could take a nap just from reading that post. Don't know how you live it :-).

[Carole]

As a real-life librarian, I gotta tell ya, that library catalog thing is pretty cool. Now that my spinning doesn't look like crap I can buy fiber freely on Saturday! Woo hoo!

[Dena Childs]

Uh-oh. Why do so many people hate their Klaralunds? I've been thinking of making one. Is it the V in the back?

[JoVE]

3-needle bind-off.

Looks good. The join is at a seamline anyway. Not as frustrating to do. Honest.

[Judy]

Wow, I didn't know the Fiber Twist existed. If I weren't driving to Maine on Sunday to pick up my *NEW* wheel, well... have fun.

[Lee Ann]

Wish I could go to Fiber Twist...have fun!

My kid is past nap stage. I am SO TIRED...

[Cara]

Re: The Library Thing - time suck doesn't even begin to describe it. Please, if you see me clicking over there - STOP ME IMMEDIATELY!

[Marcy, Blogless]

"Older." Uh huh. Right.

[Kat with a K]

I'm craftylibrarian on LibraryThing, although I've only added a very small fraction of my books so far, and no reviews. (There was no review feature when I joined, and I hadn't had a chance to look at it recently.) I added you to my watch list.

[juno]

There's always something to learn, for sure, but once you're partnered up, isn't OK to not be on the cutting edge of gender identity and exploration?
And I'm sorry, someone called you nn Older Lesbian? To your face? Did you laugh yourself silly?

[The Feminist Mafia]

We really have to spend some QT together soon. I have much to share (and want to listen to your stories) about the work campus and the trans-scene there. I caught the streaming version of TransGeneration and of course it made me want to sign up for the Sundance Channel. Thanks for the link. Let's hope that NetFlix will buy it. I just asked them to.

As for the older lesbian thing, I'm afraid that I'm rapidly approaching that category too. Partly its working on a college campus -- those 18 year olds are getting younger and younger. Keep this in mind though -- when I was in college, I always crushed out on the older lesbians, and I knew many other baby dykes that did the same thing. Perhaps you have secret admirers?!

For fun -- did you happen to notice Raci's drama teacher in episode one? Me likes.

Good luck with the Klaralund and have a blast at Fiber Twist. Sadly, I won't be making it to WMA this weekend. Hrumpf!

[Maggi]

Hey, Cate, I love my Klaralund, too. I'm knitting Silk Garden again this fall (Gloria) and looking forward to that dunking that makes its softness bloom ~

[--Deb]

I'm just trying to think how long it would take me to enter ALL of my 2600+ books into that catalog . . . yikes!

[Sneaksleep]

I've been wanting to watch that show, but we don't get Sundance. I hope Netflix listens to FM.

She's also right about the BD's crushing on the "older lesbians." Trust me. I speak from experience. You should have seen my college notebook margins.

I purposely did not click on the library thing link, because I know I would get nothing else done for the rest of the week. I might not even remember to go home from work. But I will try to sign on one weekend soon and hurl myself and my strange collection of books into the mix.

Now I think I'll close my office door so I can have that afternoon nap--er, important conference call.

[Steph]

Congrats on surviving your lone-parenting gig. My guy is away again and has clocked 80ish days away this year already including one 22 consecutive stint that just. about. killed. me.

And I'll tell you, I've never had a graft as good as that one you link to since that lovely day.

[Kathy]

OK, I love the idea of LibraryThing, but only 200 books for free? That would handle my cookbooks and a few paperbacks, but that's barely a start. Sigh. Hi, my name is Kathy, I'm a book addict.

[Laurie]

Love the library thing. I may need to get cracking.

"Older"?? Oh shit.