It's only a flesh wound.

My shoulders are killing me. It's definitely related to keyboarding; my right shoulder is a little bit worse, and that's my mouse hand. I blame my craptastic chair, my abysmal desk setup, and my huge boobs.

My arms are pretty much useless; even taking 800 mg of ibuprofen four times a day isn't helping. It is exquisitely painful if I press even lightly on my acromion. I can't tell if it's the bursa or what, but the pain is so bad that it makes me nauseous. It's a hot, sickening pain. I can barely get out of bed in the morning, and work itself is agony. I'm trying to take frequent breaks and carefully stretch my arms; it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, so maybe I'm doing myself some good by at least preventing further damage. Or maybe the ibuprofen just makes it so I can't feel it. I dunno.

Sure wish I had health insurance. Think icing would help?

Obama: Snowy Washington Needs 'Chicago Toughness'

By Frank Ahrens

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 28, 2009; 11:24 AM

President Obama, you're not in Chicago anymore.

Shortly before a meeting with business leaders on the economy at the White House, Obama said he wanted to make an unrelated comment to the press. In a slightly amused tone, he noted this his daughters' school, Sidwell Friends, was canceled today because of a snow and ice storm that hit Washington.

The suburban schools systems and many private schools in the region were closed today and the District public schools opted for a delayed opening because of the sleet and freezing rain that made some roads and many sidewalks treacherous.

"Because of what? Because of some ice?" Obama said to laughter around the table. He said Sasha, his 7-year-old, pointed out that in Chicago, not only is school never canceled for snow, "you'd go outside for recess. You wouldn't even stay indoors."

He concluded by saying: "We're going to have to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town. I'm saying that when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."

The year in review.

Two lost souls swimming in a frozen fish bowl.

It's snowing. Again.

I'm alarmed by the amount of snow on my roof.

We are out of pellets for the wood stove. I just called the south store; they're open, thank JEEBUS. I asked the dude on the phone how Scholls Ferry was looking. He said it hadn't been plowed when he came in this morning, "But if you've got 4-wheel drive or chains, you should be fine." Works for me! Now I just have to go out there, dig my car out of the snow, put on the chains, and pray I can make it to Scholls. I think I should be okay.

The last time we had a really bad snow storm (2004, was it?), D and I were able to drive my Jeep to 24-Hour Fitness and shower there after our pipes froze solid. The south store is only about a mile down Scholls, so it's like 4 times closer. It's only a mile by road from my house to Scholls, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I have to go put a bag of kitty litter and a shovel in the car. Just in case.

To make myself presentable to the general [store] public, I melted snow in huge stainless steel mixing bowls on the wood stove and had a nice sponge bath in the living room. Yeah, it sucked. But at least I'm CLEAN. My hair is filthy, but I plan on hiding that under a hat. Hopefully I will be home soon with 9 rolls of duct tape to wrap around that busted pipe. I would so dearly love to have a shower tonight.

By the way, all of the major highways coming into and out of Portland from the east and west have been closed. WE'RE TRAPPED IN HERE!!

#@$!!!

Silk Mocha has been DISCONTINUED.

I hate you, World.

Further adventures in Knittygritting

I've got two more completed projects under my belt: the ponytail hat for R and an umbilical cord hat for Meatie's acupuncturist's newish baby.

Of chickens and chickening and the chicks who dig it.

Conversation with a friend earlier this evening:

AED:  i wonder if i could get a chicken. wouldn't it just wander off?
AED:  and therefore die
Me:  I dunno. I think they like to stick around their homes
Me:  but I have no chicken experience
AED:  how do they know its their home?
AED:  they dumb, remember
Me:  You take the chicken and you say, "Look, chicken. This is your home!" and you make sure that chicken is home before sundown so you can show it where it's supposed to chicken until the sun comes up again
AED:  dang right!
AED:  You chicken right here, chicken!
Me:  heehee
Me:  I just had a small asthma attack over that

Knit knit, purl purl! I married young, the rest is a blur.

I finally finished my second illusion scarf!





Stockingette stitch always curls in on itself, which bugs the hell out of me. Unfortunately, from everything I've read so far about yarn, blocking is pretty much useless on acrylic yarn.

Merry Christmas. IF YOU DARE.

We've replaced these children's Santa Claus with a serial killer.

Let's see if they can tell the difference!

Toddler in the middle: Can totally tell the difference.
Little girl on left: Knows the horrible truth but can't quite bring herself to believe it.
Kid on the right: Made a deal with Evil Santa and is eager for the carnage to begin.