School + Work = NO SLEEP, NO BLOGGING...

Hey All, I apologize for the lack of updates. I'm in my last few weeks of school and things are a bit crazy--oh wait, haven't they been crazy ALL semester? No matter, they are even crazier now as deadlines loom in the near future. I'm also still working. Yes, I know I said I'd be done soon and I will be, temporarily. See it turns out that the person I'm filling in for won't be back from maternity leave on the day she's supposed to because she had the baby late and the doctor won't let her. Well, I definitely need time off during my final week of the semester and I'm flying to PA May 11-17th for my sister's wedding shower so I'm working until May 5th and then doing my thing and then going BACK to work May 19th-31st. Yep, I will be working through my vacation from school. Sigh. How do I get myself into these things? Do I carry too much personal guilt? I can't understand why, I'm not Catholic or Jewish but I got the guilt thing down pat. Middle class guilt maybe? Although I'm not sure there even is a middle class anymore in this country. Anyway, I didn't want to leave them in a bind. It's not like I was going to go anywhere over semester break because Tristan is still in school (he's on quarters and won't be on break until the middle of June). And I'll only be working 3 days a week so maybe I can tackle those lingering boxes in the crap, I mean the craft, room.

OEN (Other Exciting News): One of my two very bestest friends from way back (since we were 12!) called me this week to tell me she's pregnant! You know what that means, I finally get to use those baby patterns I've amassed since no one I know has gotten knocked up since I started knitting. Yeah! I hope she has a girl because there are so many cute girl patterns out there--and I'm pretty sure I'll be better at knitting butterflies into sweaters than I will be trying to do a fire engine. Not that girls can't have sweaters with fire engines on them, but you know, it's harder to do. I'll get to see her when I go to PA because her brother is getting married that weekend. And my other best friend from way back will be up that weekend too. I'm so excited, I get to see my two oldest friends together for the first time since last February.

We may be adding to our own family as well--no I AM NOT PREGNANT!!! Just wanted to clear that up--we're thinking of adding another cat. Magellan really needs a playmate and since Tristan will be working this summer and I will probably be working at least part of the time, he won't have any humans to play with during the day. We went to www.petfinder.com and found a kitty named Franklin who loves to wrestle and play--Magellan tries to wrestle with Amanda but she wants none of it! Franklin is a black and white kitty about the same age as Magellan. We're going to go see him sometime this week to see if he wants to come live with us forever.

Knitting News: Since I've been cleared for knitting by the doctor (only an hour or so a day and I get up to stretch periodically) I've started working on my green sweater again. I'm almost ready to begin the neck shaping so don't worry Darcy, I'll finish it soon! I'm hoping to get it done so I can wear it in PA but I'm not counting on it with all the schoolwork I have to do.

Well, I gotta go break up a cat hissing contest. Samantha is behind the TV making a sound that sounds like a fork that got stuck in the garbage disposal because Magellan is blocking her escape route. Oh yes, and I really want to be a mommy for a fourth time? And then back to the drudgery that is my current project.....

**addendum added 5/8/06---um, it's actually my sister's wedding shower not baby shower that I am going to, talk about putting the cart before the horse! Sorry Mic, didn't mean to imply that you're having a shotgun wedding or anything....

At least we got to go for pancakes....

Saturday night Tristan and I went to see "The Black Rider," a musical written by William S. Burroughs and scored by Tom Waits, at the Ahmanson Theater dowtown. Tristan is a huge Tom Waits fan and bought the tickets months ago, as soon as he heard that a Tom Waits play was coming to LA. I had no idea what it was about when we got there--and neither did Tristan. I figured it would be a bit "out-there" because, come on, the man wrote songs called "Chocolate Jesus" and about pianos that have been drinking...Well, this was even more out there than I anticipated. It was so far out there that I think it may have been in Orange County. The story line itself is sort of Faustus-like, a man sells his soul to the devil for magic bullets so he can shoot some game and win the approval of his sweetheart's father so that they can get married. The songs were good--they are off of the album with the same name but the rest of the play was pretty otrocious.

First of all, the tickets were $60 a piece and for that price we were way up in the balcony, so high up that I had a few moments of vertigo when we first sat down. We were also getting a bird's eye view of the top of the actor's heads for part of the performance. This was opening night and at the beginning of the play it was announced that this was the first run through of the play, that in fact the last 4 scenes had only been practiced "ONCE" on the stage. Hmm, didn't inspire confidence in me, let me tell you. The play itself is a lot of stilted dialog punctuated by a motley of various sound effects--ticks, pops, clangs etc. Except, that since they hadn't done a dress rehearsal, the sounds didn't match up to the actions and there was about a 2 or 3 second delay. Then there were the shooting scenes when deer fell over before the gun went off... Little things, people, but very key. I worked the sound board at a Children's Theatre when I was about 13 and we managed to get this kind of stuff down before opening night...

Also, the dialog is hard to follow and there are foreshadowing scenes except it's really hard to figure out if what's going on is a dream or if it's really happening or what. During intermission I was standing in the lobby trying to figure it all out and wondering if I was the only one who didn't get it when two guys walked out the theatre exclaiming "WTF?" So I guess I wasn't the only one. Perhaps I'm not artsy enough to get it. It felt sort of like a Tim Burton animated movie with real people and hokey sound effects. There was also a soliloquy near the end by some character, who's name/part in the story I did not understand, who uses three different voices and talks about a contract and movies and other stuff. A few people in the audience laughed but I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE GUY WAS REFERRING TO! Everywhere I looked in the theatre there were sets of two head together--one person who thought they got it explaining it to the person next to them who was shaking their head in agreement but whose frowning face clearly indicated they had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Afterwards we walked out into the misting rain and got back on the Red Line. We got off at Sunset and Vermont and walked up the street to Fred 62. I got a Cherry Coke and some apple pancakes. Tristan had fried mac n' cheese balls (which were pretty good--doesn't get more American than frying cheesy pasta!) and a fish sandwich. We then thought we'd catch the 217 Bus home, since it was raining, but after about 30 minutes of waiting we decided to walk home in the mist---for about 2 miles--so glad I went for the sensible and not the cute shoes! We got home around 1:30am and crashed.

I spent all day yesterday working on projects for school and then doing a little quilting during Sopranos and Big Love (east coast feed so it doesn't conflict with Desperate Housewives and Gray's Anatomy--gotta love satellite). I was a bit bummed that Desperate Housewives and Gray's Anatomy were little catch up thingys for people who couldn't be bothered to watch this season. So ABC forced me to do some more schoolwork before going to bed.

I'm so happy that today is finally here--I get to knit again! But only for one hour. Medium had better not be a re-run or heads will roll!

Hippity-Hoppity Easter dinner...

Yours truly decided last Thursday to make an Easter dinner this Sunday. Yes, I am aware that most normal people don't plan a holiday meal 3 days before the holiday but I've never claimed to be normal. It wasn't so much that I wanted to celebrate the religious aspects of the holiday, I just wanted to eat ham and mashed potatoes. Luckily my friends were free on short notice so there were 8 of us for dinner yesterday. Tristan pitched in with the cleaning and the house was actually looking presentable--well except for the office but all the crap had to go somewhere....I was making stuff all day but I still didn't seem to time it right and dinner was not on the table at 5pm as planned (more like 5:45?). Anyway, at least we put out a bunch of appetizers so there was no coup! Our group, clockwise from the left--Tristan, Darcy, Mark, Michele, (picture Grady's girlfriend Yumiko in the empty chair--she came after I took the picture) Grady and Grady's brother Randy.
Here's the spread. I was so excited to use some of our wedding gifts such as the placemats, napkins, the dragonfly napkin rings and the red goblets. I thought we had 5 yellow plates and 5 red but somehow we only have 7 altogether now so I got a purple plate. We had ham, Tristan's chicken enchilada suisa, mashed potatoes (which Darcy mashed with a whisk because I stupidly cooked them in a pot that was so deep the hand mixer couldn't reach the bottom--whoops! Thanks Darcy!), green beans, corn and biscuits. Michele and Mark brought lovely pink tulips, baked beans and some cheezy au graten potatoes--yum! Darcy supplied us with chocolate mouse cakes for dessert. We also had key lime pie and a strawberry pie and Yumiko brought these fabulous deserts that were little works of art. Pear tarts, chocolate tarts with little crepes, and a few other pastries that were all hand made and yummy!

In preparation for company, we decided to have Magellan and the other kitties "sheathed" with soft paws so we could roll out the rug we bought last Saturday and rolled up again the next day as the cats had attempted to destroy it overnight. Tristan picked orange to match Magellan, and of course Samantha & Amanda had to have orange too because you get like 40 in a pack. They are little vinyl things that you glue onto the cats nails. Don't be horrified! It's all edible. The cats can eat the glue and the claw covers and be just fine! We had to clip their nails first then you put glue in the little claw thingy and stick it on. Tristan came up with a way to hold them down--straddling them on the bed without sitting on them while I filled the things with glue. I think Tristan was more scarred by the whole experience (literally) than the cats were. They licked at them for a while but now they don't seem to care that they are on. They all look like they had their nails done. It seems to be a good alternative to declawing your cat which is cruel and should be illegal. And our rug is still intact!

Since the house was actually clean, I decided to take some pictures of our living room for you all to see. Especially my family and friends who keep asking for pictures. And yes, curtains are on the "to do" list. I'm thinking whispy gold sheers on either side of a taupy suede-like roman shade. I'll probably have to make it myself which means it will be up some time in 2008 when I have time....



This is a shot looking into the dining room. Once I finish all the dishes from yesterday, I'll take a shot of the kitchen/dining room. You'll have to wait for the other rooms because they still have a ways to go.... and no knitting updates because, since my shoulder has practically imobilized me, I have been forbidden to knit. I know, it's been awful. I don't know how to keep my hands occupied while I watch tv. I've done a little bit of quilting instead because it consists of smaller movements and doesn't involve my shoulder muscles as much. Oy! maybe I'll feel better once school is finished for the semester--only 5 weeks left!

Only in LA....

Our city actually hires a whole bunch of goats to eat the grass off of hillsides to avoid summer fires. The news advertised it as great family entertainment, parents take the kiddies to watch the goats stuff themselves on weeds! And they say Pennyslvania is full of redneck simple folk--I don't remember ever going to see a bunch of goats eat, unless you count the goat pens at the county fair but that was really just a shortcut from the games' booths to the cotton candy seller...