happy happy happy

oh my god! It’s the happiest game ever! Go there and play a happy game and smile.
Try all the Orisinal Games. All of them are super cute, some are more frustrating than others. It’s the thing to do when Ravelry is going oh so super slow!
It’s a good stress reliever! Today I finished most of the first sleeve on my cardigan and I tried it on and OH! I overestimated how fat my arm was. PZANG! Had to pull out the entire sleeve and then close the armhole a little and then recalculate the decreases! I probably won’t have it done by tomorrow and I can’t start any new projects until I finish a project.
I also started to make a loaf of molasses oat bread and didn’t stop to check if I had any molasses left. Molasses is something you never buy, it’s just always up there in the cupboard, it’s label aging away. I actually have to buy molasses on occasion since I like to make the molasses oat bread. I subbed brown sugar. Also added wheat germ and flax seed to give it a hippie feel. Ate it with the homemade wild blue buddy berry blueberry jam (made from the blueberries I picked in the BWCA. It’s really awesome. No, you can’t have any. I’m just telling you about it because I’m an asshole.).
Also, you know what’s good on everything (except fruit, ironically)? Tajin!

Sister Act

I’ve mentioned before that I do not have contact with the people who are my biological family. I don’t really discuss the specifics and I won’t start now. I have a family, the family that adopted me, and for all their quirks I love them dearly.
I have a biological sister, 2 years younger than me. We’d not spoken for 8 years. Last year, after much searching on her part she found me. She contacted me on an incredibly ironic day, the day I started seeing a psychiatrist for my overwhelming depression. The timing was so….strange to me.
Following my normal course of action on things like this, I kept everything at arms length. I’m not one to just jump in and go for it, I wait, feel things out, see how they unfold. One week after she contacted me, Ghengis was killed.
To say that November was a tumultuous month would be an understatement.
After some rough moments, misunderstandings about intent or emotions, my sister and I have set forth rediscovering each other. It’s a strange process to say the least. People would think that if you have a blog you must want to share all aspects of your life, that you are an open book for all to read (or an attention who screaming for validation, i don’t know). There is much I do not write here, there is much that I do not talk about. There is a lot that I do not share with anyone.
This has been difficult, having someone pop in and know you. She knows me, she knows who I was, but in 8 years I’ve changed. I do not always have the words or motivation to describe how I’ve changed.
On the other hand, she has also changed. She went from a younger sister, a 20 something chica who could party and joke and be young. I always saw her as young. In 8 years she’s become a housewife and a mother. I have nephews. It’s taken some time to process that.
The similarities are interesting, she loves to cook almost as much as I do. We have a similar sense of humor. She is a housewife with kids and that used to be a goal for me. We also have differences. Differences in the way we interact with people or view certain things.
And so, for almost a year, i’ve had this triumvirate of events wrapped around me, my psychiatrist, my sister and my ghengis. Each stressful and each liberating in their own way. Through much effort, my sister and I have been able to find a balance. A certain level of solid ground from which we can feel comfortable. For me it was not easy to allow into my life a person connected to a group of people, my biological family, that I had deliberately cut off. For her I imagine it was not easy to find that the long lost older sister was not celebratory, but cautious and suspicious. It’s probably very hard to want to run to someone and embrace them only to find their arms out in front holding you back.
And so, after all these months I can say that I have another sister, her name is Brett. Now I can say that I have two sisters.

It’s not that I don’t love you….

It’s just that I love Ravelry a little more than you right now….
I’m just kidding. Suckers
Anyway, yeah, I’m all over Ravelry like the poopsmith on your droppings. Not only does it help me organize my projects, I can link to all kinds of things and get project ideas and I can talk to other crocheters!! I can spend time talking to other crocheters! Do you know what this means? This means I can be involved in a conversation about the yarn arts and not sit and listen to “knit knit knit knit we all knit knit knit why don’t you knit”
I found a place where I belong!!!
But I’m not all gin and roses, oh no! Today, lets balance the love with a little hate. Let me talk about the bands or musicians that I can’t stand! Having set up Pandora recently I’ve discovered that there is a whole world of crappy music just waiting for me (and a tiny island nation of good music).
1) Polyphonic Spree. Gimmicky gimmickness with a thick syrup of gimmick all over it. Why do you need 23 fucking people in the group? Why? Because you need a gimmick! Take off the robes, stop pretending to be all peace and love and go get punched in the face. 23 people? Come on, the only reason why you have 23 people in your group is because you know I’ll get tired after punching 16 or 17 of you and you’re drawing straws. YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF WIENERS!!!
2) Yo La Tengo. Why don’t we all wear some earth tones, make some pleasant mellow music and then take a break to drink this special free trade organic tibetan herbal tea harvested by buddhist monks so devout they don’t actually breath. You guys are also wieners but if I call you wieners you will probably just offer me some tea.
3) John Mayer. Long time readers already know of my deep seated hatred of John Mayer and his predilection for raping simile and metaphor. John Mayer, you are NOT a wiener, you are a wiener stain.
Dang, I’d love to share more, but I’m still happy from Ravelry. Ha!

Fixed?

yeah, fixed. and by fixed I mean I just went back to my old template.
Creating a whole new blog on MT4 or creating your blog with all the new stuff, totally easy. Trying to upgrade your blog but keep your styles…headpoundingly frustrating.
I will continue to hammer away at it, but for now, we will revel in the deliciousness that is my pinkity pink blog and my Ghengis/Maddie/Dino banner that Jessi made for me.

oh! new!

I just upgraded to Movable Type 4. More specifically, the ever awesome Pavel from Living Dot did the upgrade for me. So, two things
1) if things get wonky, be patient while I work out the new features and try to get things going.
2) if you are looking for a web host I more than recommend Living Dot as a host. From the beginning they’ve been pleasant, helpful, fun and responsive. Their tech support is in the US and they speak english (not that I’m disparaging the other languages of the world, it’s just that when your tech support dude says “i doubt at the installation part of you” to you…). Their prices are reasonable, I’ve never had a minute of down time (that I know of) and again, the tech support is out of this world.
Wish me luck my peeps!