The Adventures of Jane, Marley and Cat

There were moments of sheer genius this weekend, and moments where I was left scratching my head and asking “WTF?” Pretty normal fare for one of my weekends.

Friday I was invited to a party hosted by someone from work.  I really, really detest parties unless I know everyone quite well.  This was a party where I didn’t know everyone, and I felt rather lost.  Until the entertainment portion of the party commenced.  The first part was the hostess taking a microphone for 30 minutes and rehashing her life’s story.  Granted, she had some interesting parts to her life, but it was hardly the venue for an autobiographical sketch. Nevertheless, her party guests sat and obediently listened.

We were then asked to play a game, which I am sure didn’t come off as originally planned.  It was one of those “write something unusual about yourself on a piece of paper and see if someone can guess who it belongs to” games.  Well, it ended up that each party person would read their slip of paper into the microphone and we’d all try to guess who it was about.  Although most of us didn’t know anyone else in the room, so it was weird.

Until Dr. Author-of-4-books stood to rehash his life.  Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away he used to work for SETI. (The Mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. We believe we are conducting the most profound search in human history – to know our beginnings and our place among the stars.) So he had to tell us about it, and I must confess, some of it was so outrageous I thought he might have to kill us because he told us those things.  Then he told us about the four fictional novels he had written, and recounted THE ENTIRE PLOT of each of the books.

After that intense excitement of listening to this man, I had to leave the party and find some solace in knitting.

Saturday I wandered up to stay with Jan.  We made jewelry, watched bad TV, and slept well.  The next morning we made more jewelry, visited with friends, and I headed home about 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. I always leave Jan’s feeling like I’ve had a little mini-vacay, and it was just what I needed.  She made me this gorgeous citrine necklace for the cruise:

So, back to my knitting.  I got a wild hair on Friday night that I would knit Linda’s daughter a pair of socks for her baby shower on Saturday afternoon.  Well, this was one of those classic times where had I knit a guage swatch things would have been significantly different.  I managed to finish one of the socks, and it looked like it would fit a Barbie doll.  So, I gave up on the concept of knitting another.  Which of course meant that at the shower I was asked, “In the event that Summer’s baby has TWO feet, will you knit another sock?”

So I went back to Carolyn’s socks.

They are a beautiful rust and green and beige hand dyed wool/nylon blend.  Very pretty, and now that I have mastered the concept of knitting socks, very easy.

There was more to the weekend, which I won’t go into.  Suffice it to say I didn’t get to knit quite as much as I would have liked.  But I did catch up on the week’s General Hospital, so all is well.

Tags: dork-o-rama, getting stoned with stones, knit purl, party girl

Every now and then I watch a moment or two of “Clean House”, where professional home organizers and rubbish collectors go through people’s homes and sanitize them back to a state of normalcy.  I’ve often thought to myself that those people who allow their homes to become so cluttered and sickeningly messy are somewhat mentally ill.  Their counters are covered with dirty dishes, their closest are full to overflowing with dirty clothes and whatnots that have no business being in the closet.

In light of the change of season, I produced my own version of the Clean House crew. I smugly cleaned out my ginormous closet in my bedroom last weekend.  I made a bag of clothes I don’t wear, organized my knitting crap, and even put my tops in order of color (hey, we all have our little OCDs).

But later in the week I realized there was one closet I have crammed full and I don’t dare open.  Every now and then it leaks out all over the place and makes a mess.  This is the closet of my emotions.

I have it packed full of all the fear and worry I have for Robbie on his adventure and in his life.  Added to that shelf is all my worry and fear that something will happen to his beloved dog, Otis. Then the persistent concern about all the other children and their lives paths.

Also in this closet is all my anxiety around finances, and trying to help my adult children and still maintain a household.

Tucked in the back corner of this closet is all the self-loathing I have packed away regarding my weight and all the stupid mistakes I’ve ever made.

Then there is the grief spilled all over the floor of this closet.  Grief over lost friends, lost loves, and lost family members.  The grief does tend to sneak under the door of the closet more frequently than I’d like.

I have the closet door locked, and the key is kept on a ribbon around my neck.  It hangs right over my heart.

I would do well to do some Spring Cleaning in this closet, but I am terrified to open it.  Someday, someday… I will have the courage to clean and organize this one as well.

Tags: evil offspring, i need very special drugs, ocd, running away

I don’t know why I’m feeling completely uninspired to write on the blog.  Everything in my life is going well, there is nothing particularly strange going on.  I just feel a little “meh” when it comes to writing.

So, I’ll update on the fam:

Julia is nearing the final push of her semester.  She studies hard.  Ben is still waiting to hear from 7 law schools.  They are both slightly uncomfortable that nothing is settled for next year.

Rob is in Springfield, Missouri (which I couldn’t spell for the life of me, thank you Google).  He’s been there for about 4 days waiting for the weather to break.  He wants to head back west again.

John is finishing up his high school diploma (Hurray!) and hopes to be done by July. I’m still hearing rumblings from him about the Air Force, but we shall see.

Kjarsti is going to Prom on Saturday and is busy deciding on dresses, shoes, and hair-dos.  The word Prom looks too much like Porn, and frankly I feel that is no accident.

In other family news: my step-mom fell and broke her hip.  She is recovering well and should be home from rehab next week.  Dad is running the Hawaiian farm and feeling very proud of himself.

Jubilate is preparing for our “Mostly Mozart” concert in May.  We are doing the Hayden “Te Deum” and a Mozart Missa Brevis (K220).  More music will filter in over the coming weeks.  It seems like there are a lot of people sick right now, so we are very few in numbers at rehearsals.

And thus ends another über boring post from moi.

Tags: boring post, evil offspring