Knit This!

I like knitting. I just wish I was better at it. or that when I went into a yarn store I didn't feel all creeped out by the crunchy granola-y girls who are knitting a car or some farm equipment. I don't even know how to knit a hat for chrissake. I tried to knit a sock. it would've been a tube top.

I think I need to take a class, but then again, see comment above about knitting shops. these people scare me. they are friendly enough, but I don't even know what questions to ask them. I just wander around and touch things. I have a feeling I scare them too.

I did, however, manage to figure out my sewing machine. Brava Platypus! I fixed 2 pairs of pants that had ripped in the crotch. And then.... that was it as I don't know what else to do with it. My mother bought some curtains that I was going to chop down to make valances, but now she can't find them (way to go mom with the organization) so that's out.

oh, and i'm broke. broker than broke. pb&j broke so I can't really afford to take a class or even buy materials for learning how to do these crafty things.

Maybe I could collect cat hair off of Spider Cat and see if I could spin it into fiber. Then all I have to do is dreadlock my hair and buy some birkenstocks...

ok, who am I kidding, I could never afford actual birkenstocks!

AP

Being an adult

I am on this new kick to keep my life and my house organized. It is not easy. I have one million lists.

But it's going pretty well. I have been taking a few minutes at the end of the day to actually wash my face and brush my teeth before bed and then actually read a book! It's astonishing! I think it might help me sleep better to unwind a bit at the end of the day. It's got to beat falling asleep on the couch in front of what ever idiocy the Duck is watching on Comedy Central.

Now if only Spider Cat would learn that aqautic mammals (and water fowl) need to sleep at night...

AP

Petey Here...

I have taken over the posting on this innernet to tell you about what the Platypus did to me this weekend.

There I was sleeping peacefully upon the covers, occasionally waking to climb to the top of the Platypus and use my teeth to see what's under all that hair. This is also a fine vantage point for surveying the room.

I heard some rustling in the other room (the one that holds the toy that hangs from the ceiling and irks me so with it's soft fur and feathery tail. Just what is this creature and why can't I drag it around to house?!) The sounds coming from the outer room were being made by my very own running toy! It had soft fur AND it squeeked. Especially when I used my teeth!

I brought this fun new game in to the Platypus for her to see and play with. She didn't like it one bit! she made a horrible racket and woke up the Duck. Ooooh the Duck and I do not get along in the evenings. He will not let me sit upon his head and he locks me out of the room....

Anyway, I chased my new toy under the bed several times while the Platypus yelled and the Duck chased me with a big blue plastic mitten. This made the Platypus laugh so I jumped on the bed to show her my toy.

Then the Duck took it away. and he threw it outside.

I am not speaking to either of them until they bring me a new running, squeeking, furry toy.

Yours Very Truly
Petey Parker (Spider Cat)


Did they honestly think I would be fooled by this pink thing?

You know you have a problem when...

you find yourself thinking about how much your job cuts into your craft time.

seriously people, this is not good. I am a scientist. Say it with me, s-c-i-e-n-t-i-s-t. I am a first-class nerd with more diplomas in big heavy frames than my office can reasonably display.

and yet, i sit here thinking about my myriad of scrapbooking projects that have been neatly corralled into an eclectic pile of paper bags, plastic envelopes and one enormous Dingo boot box. Then there's the knitting that needs to get started if I have any prayer of finishing Christmas presents before next June. Oh, and the new sewing machine that I got for my birthday last weekend that I cannot seem to thread the lower bobbin on.

This last part is particulary embarassing. I cannot get the bobbin to thread. See above comment on multitude of degrees.

I will now commence hanging head in shame.

AP

Family

The problem with blogging is that people feel the need to be entertaining. I am too tired to be entertaining. I also feel like it would be so long winded to give the back story on some of the crap I want to blog about... blah blah blah....

.....right, so I had spewed a whole litany of my venomous wrath directed at the parental units of one Duck (my aforementioned fiance. that word seriously makes me cringe). I sat on the entry for a few days and decided that posting it would only continue my annoyance everytime I saw it.

Suffice it to say they are not good people.

However, yesterday I spent the day with my grandfather. The original purpose was to go to the cardiologist, but his memory is starting to go, so these trips endup being a meandering through the streets of his past.

I know I should be upset that he's starting to fail a little, but I sort of enjoy being able to see that side of him. He was never the kind of guy to sit and chat and tell stories. He was "The Boss" at the ironworks and at home. I feel a little badly that I know he's probably winding down at 89, but I'm also a little happy that I get to be privy to those moments where I begin to understand who is really is. And I see a lot of myself.

I am always in charge. Even when I don't want to be. Very little happens in my immediate sphere without a consultation with the Platypus. I'm hard pressed to forgive a transgression and I am prone to irrational (well, to others) violence.

But I feel like these things have been put upon me. I don't really want to be like that, but somehow, I have to be the one to be resolute.

I think I know how he feels.

It's hard for me to see the Duck's parents behaving so poorly and not at all like parentals should and then to spend the day with my grandfather, the uberparent. Without him, we would all be useless.

What on earth are we going to do when he's gone?

Big Brother is Watching...

Today's New York Times

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"My goodness, it’s my whole personal life. I had no idea somebody was looking over my shoulder."

THELMA ARNOLD, an AOL user who was identified through her Web searches.

wow, that is so excellent. I can just imagine what my search profile looks like. I'm sure there's some city employee filtering through wedding vendors, webmd, knitting blogs, ebay searches and loads of "why does my cat do X?!?!"

I'm so glad I can support an entire IT department for this great city. I feel I have completed my civic duty for the morning.

Enjoy!

A.P.

The Kitty Cat Blues

It is very difficult to explain to a kitten that people sleep at night. Kittens sleep during the day or whenever the mood strikes them. We recently adopted a kitten who's about 6 months old and we are trying to train him to not bite on our heads while we sleep.

Why am I bothering? Why don't I just shut my bedroom door? Well that's all fine and good now, while it's hot and I'm running the a/c or the fan at night, but come winter, my little bedroom has no heat.

"What!? Your bedroom has no heat?! What century do you live in?!"

Apparently the 19th. That's what you get for buying an old house that's loaded with "charm". Charm does not keep your tootsie warm, however, and if Petey doesn't learn that people need to sleep at night...

Well, I don't even want to think about it

"but I am so cute... how could I be so annoying?"

Lists are Fun!

email from a friend while trying to come up with blog name:

"ten pounds of crazy in an eight pound bag"

yup, unfortunately this is me. now that I've finally gotten this thing up and running (like it was so hard to configure blogger...) I have nothing to say.

Actually I have so many things to say I don't know where to start... Let's make a list of things that I may want to comment on in the future:

1. the annoyance of friends who are always late but expect you to be uberprompt
2. punctuality, or rather, caring about the passage of time as if it were real or important
3. phantom mother-in-laws
4. being smarter than everyone you work with
5. knowing that #4 is true and may also be expanded to include most people you know
6. the entire healtcare field
7. especially genetics
8. working for a living (and living over an hour away from your job)
9. the institution of marriage
10. global warming
11. why i suck at crafts and yet am compelled to tackle them

wow, this could go on for a long time.... So maybe I should just plop down some of today's insanity.

Right now I am sitting at my desk procrastinating due to plain ornery-ness. You see, I have this friend. she has lots of parties. they are not so fun. well, they are fine. no, that's a lie. they cause pain and suffering. mostly because a vast majority of her friends are stupid. really really stupid. like wear a helmet stupid. and we are trapped in a small apartment with these people while they drink. so she is having a party tonight and I am supposed to be there. probably like an hour ago. but I don't feel like it. Truth is I don't feel like doing anything but sitting here in free airconditioning. but if i don't get off my butt and go out there to her sweaty-ass party, she is going to call and harrass me. and I told her I would spend the night. this involves sleeping in the living room on an airmattress with Mr. Duck and my friend's two ginormous cats.

le sigh

And did I mention the greasy food they are ordering to stuff themselves with? Ugh.

My intestine doth protest in anticipation.

The Anonymous Platypus

here is the first post in what is sure to become many many ramblings on about the things in my life no one really cares to hear about.

why should I burden my poor friends/ loved-ones with the inane idiocy that I face (and sometimes, create) on a daily basis.

Isn't that what blogs are for?

I apologise in advance.