Friday Shuffle - Just Around the Corner Edition

Please, let me be the ninety-jillionth person you've heard utter the words "Yikes! Christmas is next week? It's coming up so fast!". Actually I keep going back and forth between "Holy crap, Christmas Eve is Wednesday and I still have stuff to do before then!" and "Oh pooh - Christmas Eve ain't until Wednesday - I still have plenty of time to do everything."

Some things that have cropped up for me lately:

• I got a notice from the post office that a package from the US is waiting for me at the customs office. I'm fairly certain it's my Christmas gift from my sister because she said she sent me something from Amazon. Only problem is that she had it sent from Amazon.com and not Amazon.de or Amazon.co.uk so that means I'm probably going to have to pay customs on it. If something is sent to me directly from the seller it doesn't count as a gift so that means I have a lower value limit before paying customs than if it were sent directly from the person giving the gift. I also didn't get the notice until ten minutes before the customs office closed for the weekend so on Monday morning when I should be doing holiday baking I'll instead being driving to the other end of town to bail my Christmas present out of customs jail. Now let's all wish for the giving spirit of Christmas to be with the customs agent so that he lets me slide and I don't have to pay a customs bill that's the equivalent of my weekly grocery bill.
  
  
• Some thoughtful person, obviously someone who knows just what I find to be amusing and knows my sort of entertainment, kindly left under my windshield wiper an advertisement for a "porno karaoke" event to be held at a local club on Saturday night. It's karaoke! It's porno! It's two treats in one! What would porno karaoke entail anyway? Do they show porno flicks and you stand up in front of the crowd with a microphone and provide the moaning and panting? Do you get up and perform pornographic acts while singing Hit Me With Your Best Shot? I'm very tempted to go down to that club on Saturday night. Not to find out what porno karaoke is but to find the person who put the ad on my windshield. It rained this morning which soaked the little card advert. I found the ad after the rain had stopped and the winds had dried the card to the windshield and I spent ten minutes trying to scrape it off with my thumbnail. Finding the person responsible and beating him with a microphone while he moans in time with the music is what I'd like to do but I realize it wouldn't be in keeping with the spirit of the season.
  
  
• I can't figure out my holiday baking schedule. If I bake this weekend I'm afraid that we (read: I) may end up eating all the cookies before the holiday. If I wait until Tuesday to bake then I'm afraid I may be terribly busy that day and the baking won't get done at all. The solution may be to bake on Sunday and then lock them away, giving B the key.
  
  
• I've made it all the way to December 19th and I have yet to hear Last Christmas. Suck it, George Michael!

Time to shuffle.

1. There She Goes Again - Beat Farmers
2. Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3. Cold As Ice - Foreigner
   
4. Sub-Rosa Subway - Klaatu
5. 3's & 7's - Queens of the Stone Age
6. Language City - Wolf Parade
7. Eddie's Gun - The Kooks
8. Dear Sarah - Scott Miller & The Commonwealth
9. Cult Of Personality - Living Colour
10. Gravity Fails - The Bottle Rockets
    

Favored Dots, With a Light, Fresh Scent

I was awake until well after 5:00am because if history in the United States was being made last night I wasn't going to miss it. Suffice it to say that today I'm running on adrenaline and English breakfast tea. A perfect excuse for reverting to a bulleted list - one of positive things going up to out-and-out favorites.

• So. That election, huh? Pretty exciting stuff. Even if President-elect Obama ain't your guy, you can't deny the history that was made. I alternated between tears and straight out mouth gaping astonishment that within my lifetime I saw an African-American elected president. What I've loved best about this election are the feelings it has renewed in me. In that great feeling that we Americans do our best work when we're given incredible challenges and long odds. That we're perserverent. That we have shown times in the past where our desire to unify in a common cause or goal transcended our differences and we're being given an opportunity to do it again. Since Barack Obama first became known to me I knew he was a speical sort of man but when he announced his candidacy for president I didn't throw my support his way until I had learned more about him. And what sold me on him most is the idea that we can aim for high goals and reach them if we unify. That the United States is one nation and the things and people that seek to divide us and put us into this group or the other are not going to keep us from reaching those goals. That we can achieve and we can make things better for future generations. I haven't felt this hopeful and optimistic in a long time and I'm hoping it's going to continue to grow and deepen.
  
  
• My obsession of knitting socks every month has paid off. In one of the knit alongs in which I participate there is a drawing to win a hank of sock yarn - if you finish a pair of socks within that month your name goes in for a random drawing. Dixie got lucky in October.
  
  
• Since I was staying up all night anyway I killed some time by hand winding some center-pull balls of yarn and flipped through one of my pattern books to decide on which pattern I'll knit for November. I found tucked within the book a sock pattern. Evidently I had used a pattern I'd found online and had printed off a copy without copying the name of the pattern so this is a pattern I've knit before but I don't know which one it is. So what the hell? I'm just going to knit this sock and see what pattern it turns out to be.
  
  
• Too tired to write more. Must crawl into bed, bury my face in the pillow and get high on the lavender scent.
  

Scrooed and Popped Dots

Scattered, unrelated happenings ahead. Here we go.

• Hair Scroos. Ohdearlord, how did I live before I found Hair Scroos? I didn't know where to find them but read somewhere online that they can be easily be found in Germany at all drugstores. In reality it seems that what was meant was all drugstores except the first two I went to looking for them. Third time was indeed the charm and I found them at my local Müllers. As you can see by looking at picture they appear fierce and tricky but in reality they're quite easy to use. The trick is to twist the hair you wish to have pinned up and then you simply screw in the Hair Scroos at strategic points to hold up your hair instead of using conventional hairpins. And since they screw in, the pins don't fall back out. I love them. I put my hair up all the time now. I'm running around my flat looking like a prissy schoolmarm with my hair up in a cute little bun one day and a chic French twist on another day. And yes, I do resemble a compound dwelling, poligamy marriage wife wearing Holly Hobbie's wardrobe when I French braid my hair and Hair Scroo the bottom of it underneath the upper part of the braid. No crazy aerodynamic bangs though.
  
  
• Did I learn my lesson last month and get my pair-a-month socks knitalong project finished in plenty of time? No I did not. I don't even have the heels knit on them yet and here it is the 22nd. I told y'all this was going to happen!
  
  
• I need some new double pointed needles. In reality I merely want them but perhaps if I say "need" instead of "want" enough then I'll be able to justify spending a tenner (plus shipping!) on two sets of dpns. The call of nickel-plated Harmony dpns is strong and my will is weak.
  
  
• Popcorn. You irresistible little minx, you.
  
  
• I'm not ashamed to say that while cooking supper tonight I danced around the kitchen while listening to Bixente, the iPod. And I thought using wooden spoons as drumsticks was a fairly inventive touch.

Oops. Popcorn's done. Tschüss.

Friday Shuffle - With A Fireworks Finale Edition

It's been a frantic day here and it doesn't seem that I'm going to be able to pull off the single themed, complete, well thought out paragraphs thing. You know what's coming, don't you? Break out the dots.

• I was totally digging on the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this afternoon. Beyond impressed with their originality and precision. And the fireworks. I'd have probably lost my ever loving mind had I been there to see the fireworks live. I know that some folks are anti-Olympics this year because of China and their human rights thing and I can respect that. However to me it seems too late for that. The time to be up in arms over it and register outrage was before the games were awarded to Beijing. That would have been the time to actively protest human rights violations and the potential screwing over of some of the Chinese people and the disgustingly filthy environmental conditions there. The horse is long gone from the barn and I don't see how boycotting is going to get it back. Right now I'd rather enjoy the performances of the athletes and support their efforts. The Olympics in general have turned into a farce of greed, power and corruption and the only the athletes - the one thing that should take precedence over everything else - are the only things that remain that keep alive the whole point of the games...and unfortunately even they have their own problems with corruption. Still I want to see the efforts of those who have trained for years and are finally seeing their dreams come true, even if it meant some others got rich and powerful in the process.
  
  
• Last Friday I told y'all how I'm knitting a scarf during seventeen days of the Summer Olympics and today when the opening ceremonies began I cast on and knitted like I was on fire. Of course I may be like those who run long distances who don't pace themselves well. I may knit on it like my life depended on it for a few days but I also see me getting 2/3 of the way through and thinking that I can't. knit. one. more. stitch. I love scarves when they're finished - it's the process that can drive me a bit batty. I get bored with scarf knitting rather quickly because even if it's a pattern that has a fifteen row pattern repeat it's the same thing over and over for sixty or seventy inches. I don't have this problem with sock knitting because of how they're constructed. By the time I get sick of the leg, it's time to knit the heel. By the time I want to scream from doing the gusset decreases it's time for some zen knitting on the foot. By the time I'm bored of the seemingly unending foot it's time to make the toes. Scarves are just long rectangles and the scenery on that ride doesn't change. But I shall meet this test of endurance because it would be humiliating not to get a prize in a virtual contest.
  
  
• Gerd had his jaw surgery today. And it also seems that B and I understood incorrectly the story of what caused Gerd's jaw funk. We had understood my MIL to say that it was an impacted wisdom tooth that caused this problem. In reality the wisdom tooth had been pulled nearly forty years ago but somehow a bit of the root was left behind. Over the years this bit of root had dug into his jaw and ended up fracturing it. The break never healed, became infected and ended up destroying some of the bone. Today the funky bit of root was removed, the infection cleaned out and some sort of brace was put in to build up his jaw. At least we think that's what happened - it's what the surgeon told Gerd yesterday would happen. He was also told they'd make his jaw immobile but that doesn't seem to have happened. My MIL went to the hospital late this afternoon to see Gerd and his jaw wasn't immobilized - Gerd was able to talk some although it was very difficult to understand him. He's unable to eat but he's is able to drink. Gerd was so groggy that he wasn't able to say much and he hadn't spoken to the surgeon since waking up from surgery - the doctor would be around later to speak to him. All I can say right now is that the surgery seems to have been successful and we're hoping that Gerd will have a quick and complete recovery. For that alone we're all very thankful.

Wow. I wrote complete paragraphs after all. They're not related to one another but they're complete. And on that note, let's shuffle.

1. Flamethrower - J. Giles Band
2. A Fool In Love - Ike & Tina Turner
3. So It Goes - Nick Lowe
4. Two Halves - My Morning Jacket
5. All I Ever Wanted - Michael Stanley Band
6. Whatsername - Green Day
7. Fire In The Canyon - Fountains of Wayne
8. Soul Deep - The Box Tops
9. Rockin' At Midnight - The Honeydrippers
10. Beautiful Dream - Adam Ant
    

Five Dots

Seemingly random events all made tidy by the addition of dots.

I wish I could describe to y'all what I just saw out of my kitchen window and express it in a way that you could really imagine it. At the horizon the sky is still somewhat illuminated but all the gold and reds from the sunset are gone. As the sky rises the blues deepen and it's so subtle it's almost impossible to tell where the colors change. And in the deepest blue - the sky being nearly black - a bright, white crescent moon hangs and glows. It was utterly captivating to see.

Yesterday during my name my doorbell for the main downstairs door rang and when I asked via the intercom what they wanted the man said he rang at another neighbor's bell. I told him that he rang by the [insert my last name here] family and he again told me he rang by...whatever name it was. I forget now. He didn't seem to get that he rang my bell and not the bell of whom he was looking for. This afternoon the doorbell rang again and this time the man said it was UPS and he had a package for Herr Fox (now that I think of it, it seems weird that for a German person to have the last name of "Fox" and not "Fuchs", which is the German word for "fox") and thinking that he rang by me to get me to accept the package because Herr Fox wasn't home I buzzed him in. The UPS dude came up, I took the package, signed for it and he said he'd leave a delivery notice on Herr Fox's mailbox. Herr Fox has not picked up his package and upon closer examination of the package I see that yesterday's date was written on it with the note that he rang by Fox and [insert my last name here] answered and that the mailbox is stuffed full. And upon further consideration on my part I think Herr Fox is the dude that moved out of our building earlier this week - I'm not 100% sure about that though. In any case it seems that I have a box of shampoo here (I looked up the business from where this package comes - I mean I didn't want to have a box of anthrax sitting in my hallway) for a guy who may not live here anymore, a delivery notice that may be lost in the pile of crap the guy has stuffed in his mailbox and a neighbor whose doorbell rings at my apartment.

So after a year of my MIL and Gerd being together each and every day and him essentially living at her place full time for the past six months they've decided to go ahead and just get rid of his apartment and live together in sin full time. Well. You know. Okay. If that's what they want to do. It's none of my business but I told her to document very well what stuff is absolutely hers alone because I'm not having them both expire at the same time and having his two kids who he has virtually no contact with anyway swoop in and claim that everything there is their's. The most disturbing things though are that they're buying a new sofa but buying it on credit. My MIL has never bought anything on credit in her life. It's one of those zero percent financing things but still. I thought B's head was going to explode when she said they bought a sofa on credit. I can't even describe how anti-credit he is. And then they're getting an aquarium. I know my MIL hates aquariums. B had one when he was a teenager and she complained about it constantly. I know she's commented that other friends of ours are nuts for having them - too much to fool with, in her opinion. B asked her why she consented to an aquarium and my MIL replied "Well Gerd's always had them before and you know you have to make compromises when you live with someone.". I can't disagree with that but...I dunno. It's not my life. Good grief, she's 74 years old. If it makes her happy she may as well do what she wants.

Since my MIL is making room for Gerd's stuff she's sorting through all sorts of stuff and gave us a pile of photographs for us to look at, keep which ones we want and toss the rest. The pile she gave us today included photos from B's first wedding. Egad! There's no envy or hard feelings on my part because I know how that woman hurt him (she filed for divorce while he was still in the rehab hospital after his accident) and B has nothing but contempt for her now but it's still a little weird for me to see him looking happy with another woman. I'm actually feeling uncomfortable for him because I think it makes him feel sort of embarrassed. As far as I'm concerned the only thing he really needs to be embarrassed about is the mustache he wore at that time. Holy smokes. Couple that with his long hair and he greatly resembles a 70s porn star. Thank goodness he ditched that look. It is rather interesting though to see photos of him from that time because it was about a year before his accident and it's strange for me to see an adult B standing upright.

It's Pfingsten (Pentecost) weekend and that means Stadtfest! It's the annual city festival - four days of fun right outside my door. Beer tent at the end of my block! Perfect weather anticipated for the whole long weekend! Fun and shows and games and great food to my heart's content. I am again reminded why I'm so glad we moved to this apartment.

We're celebrating and shuffling tomorrow to be ready to dance.

Same Dots, Different Day

Y'all have been hankering for a bulleted list, haven't you?

• If you're an American somewhere between the ages of...say...35 and 50...and you hear the word "hanker", do you automatically think of this classic cartoon ditty?
• Know what you get when you cross stays-on-16-hours lip gloss and your favorite t-shirt? A new dust rag! I tried everything I could think of to get rid of it and that stuff is stuck fast.
• I talked with my mom last night and we got on to the topic of my great-grandfather - my grandfather's dad. I'd always heard that we had a Cajun woman in our family but I never knew who she was. Turns out she was my great-grandfather's mother - a Cajun woman who was married to a riverboat gambler. Riverboat gambler daddy was shot and killed (I'm not even going to speculate on that), Cajun mama remarried a jerk and my great-grandfather ran away from home and lived with family friends and they all eventually moved to Arkansas. And my great-grandfather, as a teenager, would ride into Mexico with his buddies to steal horses. Our family has gotten so much milder over the years.
• Every clock in my apartment, save two, is wrong. One is on my microwave and I set that myself and one is on my digital TV decoder and they send the time signal for that. The rest? All of my radio controlled clocks? All of them are wrong and all of them show different times. Evidently they're getting a bad signal or someone has found out that it makes me a bit wiggy if I am not able to tell what time it is and they're trying to mess with my head. It's working!
• Y'all would be amazed at how much I've caught up on my laundry. Bashed head aside, buying that second drying rack has changed everything.
  
• Anyone want to come by and help me fold and put away clothes?
  

Friday Shuffle - Fluffy Easter Dots Edition

Think of the dots on this list as being just like little Easter eggs. You know except for the fact that they're not egg shaped, brightly colored, edible, nor are they hidden.

• I shall be the fifty jillionth person in Germany whose blog will mention this Easter weekend's weather. It blows. Literally. It's windy, cold, alternately pukes snow and rain and often mixes the two and then two minutes later there is blinding sunshine. We have the Sybil of weather this weekend.
  
  
• Of course crappy weather outside gives me an excuse to stay inside and watch movies. What Easter/Passover weekend would be complete without a viewing of The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur? It's no wonder that I grew up thinking that Charlton Heston was somehow holy.
  
  
• Many of you may be pleased to hear that I no longer consider Charlton Heston and Moses to be one and the same. I am also no longer impressed with the animated burning bush in the film. Couldn't they...I dunno...actually burn a real bush? No one had a Zippo on them that day on the set?
  
  
• This evening I've been watching Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain and remembering how much I loved this movie if for no other reason than the fact that I nearly squealed out loud the first time I heard it mentioned in the film that Amélie loves to crack the sugar topping on crème brulée and dig her arms into barrels of dried peas and I love the same thing. I like it when a film confirms that my quirks may be quirky but they're also somehow endearing.

On to the shuffle.

1. You Just May Be The One - The Monkees
2. It's Won't Be Long - The Beatles
3. Secrets - The Zutons
4. Lyla - Oasis
   
5. Beautiful Lies - Michael Stanley Band
6. What A Crying Shame - The Mavericks
7. You'll Be Coming Down - Bruce Springsteen
8. Rich Woman - Robert Plant/Allison Krauss
9. Bad Day - REM
10. Fill My Little World - The Feeling
    

Friday Shuffle - A Little Oven Edition

When I was a child I remember reading a book called A Little Oven. It's about two little girls who are best friends and when one of the girls gets tired her mother would pick her up and say "I guess what you need is a little loving and a little hugging," and the little girl would repeat back to her "A little ‘ovin’ and a little ‘uggin,". The other girl then told own mother that she needed "a little 'ovin" and the mother misinterprets her meaning and instead of giving her hugs and loves takes her instead to a toy shop to buy her a little toy oven. I loved that book because when I was little and feeling blue my own mother was quick to give me "A little ‘ovin’ and a little ‘uggin".

And now forty-plus years after reading that book I still, once in a while, need a "little 'ovin" and y'all understood me. I was feeling pretty frustrated and even a bit helpless and y'all came through with your gentle words and kind wishes. For that I'm grateful and very humbled by your generosity.

On to other happenings.

• I suppose one would call it a grand coincidence that I got hemmed in by the ground meat case in the grocery store by some woman who was looking at the packages as if they were the Rosetta Stone while on the store's PA system Steeler's Wheel sang Stuck In The Middle With You.
  
  
• Yesterday I received this book from Darling Mollie. I definitely don't give a crap about knitting a Madonna - either the Like A Virgin version or the pink pointy-ass bra version - but I'm all over the Beatles and the Audrey Hepburn and the David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Moll is after me to knit her a Godzilla and a Mr. T. "How can a woman who wears Chanel so well want knitted versions of Godzilla and Mr. T?", you say. Darling Mollie is nothing if not multi-faceted.
  
  
• I am attempting to give up drinking Coke. I stopped drinking real Coke years ago and switched to Diet Coke and now drink Coke Zero but I'd like to give it all up and stick with tea and water. I'm giving y'all permission to bet amongst yourselves on how long this actually lasts.
  
  
• I wish you could feel the socks I'm knitting now. They're so soft and squishy it's like a pair of socks made of Wonder Bread.
  
  
• Remember when Wonder Bread made commercials touting how good for you their squashy, pumped-full-of-air their bread was for your growing body? How full of crap were they?! - although you have to admit that a tomato sandwich on Wonder Bread is exquisite. The bread turns all pink from the mixture of mayonnaise and tomato juice and the bread itself - a normally flavorless affair - takes on the taste of the mixture. Eating one takes me right back to a July day in 1972.
  
  
• One last bit of yarn talk before we shuffle: Wait. I forgot what it was. Something on TV distracted me and I forgot what I was going to write. Feel free to heave that sigh of relief. I'll remember it though and annoy you with it another day.
  

Let's shuffle.

1. Lukey - Great Big Sea
2. Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
3. Under The Blacklight - Rilo Kiley
4. Blue Skies - Albert Hammond, Jr.
5. My Wife - The Who
6. She's A Woman - The Beatles
7. Cherry Bomb - John Mellencamp
8. Southern Anthem - Iron & Wine
9. Tick Tick Boom - The Hives
10. Tom Sawyer - Rush

A New Year Brings New Dots

I'm beginning to run out of clever ways to introduce bulleted lists. As if I had clever ways in the first place.

• Should I be worried that I'm in the throes of mid-winter malaise and I'm not all that concerned about it? That I spend my days being all hausfrau-y and then when all is clean and tidy I knit like crazy. Then when my tennis elbow flares up, which, of course, is certainly not caused by me playing tennis - I haven't played tennis since Carter was president - I read. Thank goodness B got me a lot of books for Christmas because my elbow has been rather bad lately. Thing is, I think I should be worried about the lack of enthusiasm or get-up-and-go-ness or spirit of adventure but honestly, I'm feeling very homebody-ish lately and I'm dug in like a hedgehog.
  
  
• My birthday is in less than two weeks and my MIL asked me what I'd like to have as a gift. I'd like a new bedside lamp for my bedroom so I suggested that for a gift with the idea that she'd say "Oh great! Let's go shopping for it next week!". Instead Gerd piped up and said "We should go to that store that's down there behind blahblahblahblah - they have nice lamps.". No mention of me going with them to pick out a lamp that I'd like. Now I'm sweating that they're going to pick out a lamp that I think is ugly or isn't a style that I wanted. My only comfort is the fact that the way the bedroom is arranged, the lamp wouldn't be seen by anyone but me. In the pre-Gerd world my MIL and I would always shop together for stuff like this. I'm definitely in the post-Gerd world now.
  
  
• I took a package for one of my neighbors today. I always take packages for my neighbors. I'm home most of the day and it's no skin off my nose to do it. Plus it gives the added advantage of being known in the building as the very nice neighbor lady. I like being known as the very nice neighbor lady because being known as the assholey, grouchy neighbor lady can cause you to have crap - perhaps literal, perhaps not - tossed in your mailbox and no one will hold the elevator for you. Anyway, neighbor dude came to get his package - no idea what it was but it was one heavy, awkward-to-lift SOB - and I must have made his whole day. He was so freakin' happy that I took this package for him and that he wouldn't have to wait another day to get whatever it was he got that I thought he was gonna dance a jig at my door. What really got me was that he acted like I'd done the biggest favor in earth for him. I thought about that after I closed the door. Is it good that someone can show his appreciation so readily or is it so sad that being a good neighbor seems to be rare enough that when someone does another neighbor a kindness it's treated like a rare event?
  
  
• I think my eyelashes are getting shorter. I mean I've already come to the conclusion that they're getting more sparse but now I'm thinking they're actually getting shorter.
  
  
• Here's the sock I'm working on - the pattern is seeded ribbing check. I'm using a different method for me to knit this pair. This time I've cast on for both socks on two different sets of needles. I knit one for a while and then switch and knit the same amount on the other sock and then back to the first one again. I think I'll be much more likely to get the second socks finished using this method. Of course it doesn't look like I've knit all that much but that much is done on the second sock of the pair.

If mid-winter malaise keeps up and my elbow holds out I may be finished with a whole pair of hand knitted socks in record time.

Friday Shuffle - What Day is it Anyway? Edition

I've been mixed up all week with what day it is. On Monday I thought it was Thursday and Tuesday seemed like Sunday and yesterday seemed like Wednesday. Today seemed Friday-ish but maybe that's just because I went grocery shopping yesterday and I tend to grocery shop on Thursdays.

Mixed up or not, I've had one of my more mellow weeks and regardless of what day I think it is, it's always the right day for a bulleted list. How's that for some rationalization?

• I've not been out very much this week and my days have been taken up with hanging out with B, watching movies, knitting and reading. I got a pile of books for Christmas and new books to me is like having money that's burning a hole in my pocket - they're irresistible. Currently I'm doing a re-read of The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. I got The Barrytown Trilogy, the other two books in the trilogy being The Snapper and The Van. I read these books years ago but didn't have copies of them for my own and B solved that problem. I love Roddy Doyle books. I'm fairly certain that all the things I know about Dublin I learned from Roddy Doyle books.
  
  
• I've set a goal for myself to knit fifteen pairs of socks in 2008. Crazy, I know, since I have only managed to do maybe eight pairs in a year but if I'm going to set a goal it may as well be a crazy one. I've signed up for a couple online knit-a-longs - one is for one pair every month for six months and one goes for twelve months so if I use the knit-a-longs to keep me on track then I should be assured of actually knitting all twelve pairs. And I figure that if I keep on track and not slack off then I can squeeze in another three pair. Yeah, I'm laughing at that notion too. I'm working on finishing a pair as it is that I started over the summer.
  
  
• This is the first time that the Christmas market is still open after Christmas. Normally the last day is December 23rd but this year they're staying open through the 30th. When I'm down there it seems so strange to see it still there and perhaps it's contributing to my confusion as to what day it is. However, it doesn't matter how weird and out of place it seems to have the Christmas market still open 'cause it's not gonna stop me from taking full advantage of it. I have yet to fulfill my cravings for the season for freshly grilled bratwurst!
  
  
• Last mention of knitting for today: I found that there's a definite advantage to being a fast and efficient sock knitter. The other day I saw a piece on a news magazine about hand knitted socks being sold in high-end boutiques in Switzerland. They're plain socks - nice yarns but no fancy patterns - being knit to standard sizes. Who's doing all that knitting? Little old ladies. They have a whole crowd of old ladies who crank out a pair of socks, on average, every two days. Swiss old ladies because one of the other selling points of the socks is that they're a product of Switzerland. Evidently the socks sell out rather quickly - at a price of approximately $30 a pair, mind you - and so these knitting grannies are in demand. Now you know to appreciate even more any hand knit socks you may ever have given to you as a gift.
  
  
• Darling Mollie, appreciative recipient of hand knit socks from me and someone who has such an eye for what's really gorgeous has, yet again, turned me on to something really gorgeous. Take a look at this guy's photography. Feel free to gasp while viewing them if so motivated. Seriously, this fella's photography is wonderful. And once again I am in awe at how people with that sort of talent can see and capture for all time scenes that are utterly amazing. I've been to some of the places in his photographs and all I can think is "Dang! How come the Jefferson Memorial didn't look like that when I was there?" There's a photo of a bluish-purple water lily that almost makes me weep to see it. That's how perfect that photograph looks to me.

Regardless of how many holidays we have in a week, Bixente the iPod knows when it's Friday. Time to shuffle.

1. Falling Slowly - The Frames
2. The Way You Do The Things You Do - The Temptations
3. Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen
4. What I Like About You - The Romantics
5. Twist And Shout - The Beatles
6. Angels - BoDeans
7. 'Til It's Too Late - LeRoi Brothers
8. It's The Little Things We Do - The Zutons
9. Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night - The Fratellis
10. The Ocean - Led Zeppelin

Y'all have a good weekend. See you again before the year runs out.

They're Not Dots, They're Ornaments

I really need to start making an effort to get up earlier. Daylight is at a premium these days anyway, with the shortest day of the year coming up and all, but I'm shorting myself a good hour, hour-and-a-half of daylight every day by not getting up earlier. When you're only getting about seven hours of daylight a day anyway, every minute counts. This could account for my general sluggishness and the inability to do anything that requires me to concentrate for more than...oh...ten minutes.

And this could account for why you're getting a bulleted list today.

• I want this book. I want it badly. Darling Mollie informed me of its existence and told me she wants a Mr. T doll and said "I pity the knitter!". How can I deny her now?
  
  
• And when Darling Mollie and I aren't discussing knitting and large, gold chain wearing pop icons, we discuss things like whether Santa was an asshole. We voted that in this case, he certainly was. I watched that Christmas special every year when I was a child. I'm so old that it was one of the five Christmas specials one had to watch every year 'cause those five were pretty much it: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Anyway, it's a wonder that repeated viewings of Rudolph didn't put me off of Santa permanently.
  
  
• About six months ago my MIL bought a new cordless phone and we bought one at the same time. She bought a Siemens and we bought an AEG. We loved ours and she hated hers so for one of her Christmas gifts B and I decided to buy my MIL one just like ours. We bought it about a month ago - too late to take back 'cause in the land that's never heard of customer service Germany you can't just take back things whenever you want. In this case we had two weeks to return it. But that doesn't matter because we don't need to take it back, right? Of course that's not right! My MIL called last night to say that Gerd bought her a phone just like ours for Christmas and gave it to her early. Well Merry Christmas, fella. Thanks for throwing yet another monkey wrench into the works. And hey, that's an all-fired romantic gift ya got her there!
  
  
• I think I've stated before here that I have a tradition each holiday season where I read two books. The first one is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I first read it in 1975 when I was thirteen years old, re-read it in 1978 and have re-read it each year ever since. I love this book and I started the annual holiday re-read by accident. The first time was coincidence that it was during the same season as the setting in the book. The second year was because I had run out of books to read and wasn't going to get new ones before Christmas so I read it again. After that it became a tradition with me to re-read it each year between Thanksgiving and the middle of December. The other tradition is for me to find a mystery series where one of the books takes place during the holiday season and read it then. Just like watching Christmas movies only at Christmastime it just seems right for me to read books that take place during Christmas during that season. A Christmas themed book in May just seems wrong. This year's mystery series read is Wreck the Halls by Sarah Graves. I think she writes one of the best mystery series out there and she actually makes living in Maine sound like something I'd want to do - that is until I remember that if it snows more than an inch I cry like a slapped child.
  
  
• When the sun begins to set I like to sit up in my kitchen window and watch my favorite holiday season sport - Jockeying For A Parking Space. As you know I live not 300 meters from the Christmas market and parking in this area is at a premium. It's why I won't, for any reason except an extreme emergency, move my car any time after noon, else I won't have a spot for it when I get back. Folks ride up and down the street looking for a spot to dump their VWs or their Renaults and after a while they get mighty testy. I sit there and wonder things like "Is the guy who parked crooked going to have someone key the shit out of his door?" and "Can she get that big ass Mercedes parked next to that big ass van?" or "Who's gonna nab that space - the Ford facing north or the Audi facing south?". No actual fisticuffs yet but Christmas is still a couple weeks away.
  

Now I'm in the mood to watch some Christmas movies. Maybe we'll talk about those tomorrow.

Quick and Dotty

Full day, not enough sleep, halfway cranky disposition, mandatory posting. What does that add up to? You getting the bulleted list treatment.

• Lindor chocolates by Lindt. Damn your smooth chocolaty goodness. Damn your delicious power of addiction. You must be Satan's eyeballs.
  
  
• Yesterday when I went out to fetch bread at the bakery I saw the mail dude down the street delivering packages. Since I was expecting a package to be delivered any day I hung around the front of my building. He delivered a package next door and then brought packages to the delivery door of the auto club office that's at the front of my building. I reckoned he had nothing for me since he passed by my particular entrance so I went on about my business. When I returned I found a "We tried to deliver a package to you! Come pick it up tomorrow at the post office!" slip in my mailbox. And so I did. And while I was gone to the post office to pick up the package I missed delivery of yesterday I missed the delivery of another package today. Is this an example of irony or just dumb ass luck?
  
  
• Week before last when I was at the gynecologist she took my blood pressure and it was high. Really high. And this was strange because normally my blood pressure is as steady as a rock. My gyn wrote me a note to give to my primary care physician who I was going to be seeing at my home later in the day and Dr. K was puzzled herself because I'm normally super steady blood pressure woman. So now I have an appointment to go to Dr. K's office to be outfitted with some gadget that'll take my blood pressure something like every half hour for 24 hours to see if it's just a fluke or if I need to be put on medication. My sister went on blood pressure meds when she was my age so it wouldn't be out of the question. My problem is that how is this gadget not going to elevate my blood pressure because I have a feeling it's going to annoy me no end.
  
  
• Number one on my to-do list for tomorrow. And the next day. And may days after that.
  

Back tomorrow. I'll be the one making the funny buzzing and puffing noise every half hour.

Friday Shuffle - Resurrected Dots Edition

It's day twenty-tree of NaBloPoMo and I have yet to resort to a bulleted list! Or pictures of my knitting!

Don't cheer too loudly. We've still got a week to go, my friends, and the bottom could drop out any moment. Like now.

• My left foot is sore, right where the toes meet the ball of my foot. Not agonizing pain or something - just a dull ache, like a headache in my foot. I can't decide whether I've injured it somehow and don't remember doing it or if I'm getting arthritis in my foot or maybe it's just time to start all the "It's hell getting old." talk. Massaging my foot helps though.
  
  
• Know what is really awful about having a quadriplegic husband? You guess it. He can't massage my feet for me.
  
  
• If you're tempted to email me and tell me I'm being selfish to complain about how my husband's disability effects me, save yourself the effort. Use that time instead to come over and massage my foot.
  
  
• I'm in the mood to watch a good horror movie. Not one of those slasher things because they alternately bore me and annoy me. Something suspenseful and creepy and ghosty. Something where stuff jumps out and I shriek a little. Any suggestions?
  
  
• Currently I'm reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. I bought it when I was killing time at the airport in Memphis. It's a novel so it can (and does) have all sorts of historical inaccuracies but it's still a pretty good read - a good yarn for a rainy late fall afternoon. You feel sort of virtuous for reading something somewhat educational but it's like eating granola - it feels "good for you" even if you know that it's full of fat and sugar.
  

Okay, you did your time with the dots. Time to be rewarded with a shuffle.

1. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon
2. She's Rather Be With Me - The Turtles
3. 22 Grand Job - The Rakes
4. Killing the Blues - Robert Plant/Alison Krauss
5. Life On Mars? - David Bowie
6. Song Of Joy - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (That certainly satisfied my appetite for something creepy.)
7. I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl - Queen Latifah
8. Girl - The Beatles
9. Whiskey In The Jar - Thin Lizzy
10. Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison

See y'all tomorrow. If I have to resort to a knitting picture for content, I'll apologize in advance.

Friday Shuffle - Slightly Skeeved Out Edition

Some days it's one full body shudder after another.

~ After the terrible bridge collapse disaster in Minneapolis, have you found yourself getting nervous about the bridges you need to use? I'll admit that it's caused me to think about it a bit. Normally I love bridges - so much so that I could be one of those people who drives bridge-phobic folks across. Since Magdeburg is situated along the Elbe river we have bridges but most of the city is on the west side of the river and I only have to go on those bridges if I'm visiting friends on the other side or if I need to put gas in the car since the closest station to us is there. And I've been comforted in hearing that Germany, being as they're quite anal about such things, inspects their bridges on a frequent basis. Still there's one bridge that has always freaked me out slightly - a railway overpass that I go under to and from the supermarket. Every time I'm stopped at the light as a freight train passes over I tend to get a twitch. Today I was twitching like a junkie hunting for a fix as a train carrying tanks of something - something explosive, I'm sure - rumbled overhead and that light just would. not. turn. green.

~ As I went out my door to take out the trash this afternoon I was hit with the smell of my neighbor's armpits. It was only a small step up from the times when I go in the hallway and it smells like his rabbit's dirty cage. And then I entered the elevator and it smelled inside like fresh baked bread. It was like the scent fairies took pity on me.

~ I've got something wrong with my left leg - when I walk for more than five minutes it hurts like I've got shin splints or something. As I took my evening walk my leg started to hurt to the point where I had to sit down on one of the benches along the street. I was in front of the bakery just down from the country saloon just enjoying the evening and listening to them line dance to Alan Jackson reminiscing about being way down yonder on the Chattahoochee (stomp, stomp, stomp, clap!) when a teeny little mouse came out of the flowerbeds that line the sidewalk and ran around my feet a few times. I don't have a mouse phobia to the same degree that Darling Mollie has - she got a few mice in a home she loved and had been living in for years and ended up packing her stuff and moving out - but I was still very close to ringing the bell on the mice-freak-me-out scale. Shin splints and big white ass be damned - I jumped up from there and scurried home like I was being chased by the hounds of hell.

I need the sort of soothing that only music can provide. Bixente the iPod, do it for me baby.

1. Use It - New Pornographers
2. You Really Got Me - The Kinks
3. Hooked On A Feeling - Blue Swede
4. Suddenly Everything Has Changed - The Flaming Lips
5. Desire - U2
6. Well Thought Out Twinkles - Silversun Pickups
7. Queen Of The Slipstream - Van Morrison
8. Down To The River To Pray - Alison Krauss
9. Tush - ZZ Top
10. Pictures Of Lily - The Who

Have a soothing weekend.

Friday Shuffle - X Marks the Dot Edition

Y'all have had a slight reprieve from bulleted lists from me but all good things come to an end.

X - I like to take a walk around the block just as the sun is sinking below the horizon. Just to get a bit of fresh air before closing things up for the day. I like to see folks walking home from their dinners out or venturing out to a pub and sometimes after my walk I'll sit on one of the benches that line the street to enjoy the fresh air and maybe listen to some music coming from a restaurant or bar.

As I sat near the country bar around the corner from my apartment and could hear someone playing guitar and singing live in the upstairs bar area. He was initially singing some ballad and as I sat down and then he switched to singing Hey Ya from Outkast. It cracked me up when the audience was singing along with the "Heeyyy yaaaaaa!" part. I snickered when the guys in the audience sang out "Ice cold!!". I had to get up and leave when they audience was chiming in with the "Shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture!" because by then I was hollering out loud laughing. That was the best part of my whole day.

X - Holy socks, I need a pedicure. My feet look like I've been stopping my car with them. Need some lumber sanded? The bottoms of my feet could do it for you.

X - A parcel delivery service truck was parked in the loading zone next to my parking space in front of my apartment. I was unloading groceries from my car when the delivery man came from the building entrance next to mine wheeling a dolly with a lone box still on it. I had ordered more Hellmann's last week and was expecting it to be delivered any day now so I excitedly squealed "Oh is that mine? Is that package for [insert my last name here]?" He replied that it was.

"Oh good! I really need that box. I'm completely out of mayonnaise."

"I'm glad I was still here then. But you do know they sell mayonnaise at the place you've just been, don't you?"

I just sheepishly nodded. I could never make him understand my love of Hellmann's.

X - Can someone come up with an excuse for me to get out of going to a barbecue party at the home of some friends - people I seldom see and am not all that crazy about? I have to go to this shindig every year and always get pressured to try the flavorless potato salad. If they only would use some Hellmann's...

Time for some more organized randomness. Bixente the iPod, shuffle for us, please!

1. American Idiot - Green Day
2. Going To A Go-Go - Smokey Robinson
3. Roll With The Changes - REO Speedwagon
4. Blank Generation - Richard Hell
5. Brick - Ben Folds
   
6. See No Evil - Television
7. Go All The Way - The Raspberries
8. Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money
9. Across The Sea - Weezer
10. River Deep, Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner

A little early New York punk scene mixed in with some mid-western working class rock. And Ike Turner. Now that would make an awesome cage match.

Unscheduled Dots

You had a bit of yarn talk yesterday instead of the normally scheduled yarn talk Tuesday so today we'll hit the bulleted list. I haven't gotten dotty on you in days.

• I finally broke down and ordered new panties. Finding that at least half of my panties have elastic that couldn't hold up a flea let alone themselves around my waist prompted my ordering. Shot elastic determines the purchase of new panties. Any holes will, however, take priority and require that the pair be retired, regardless of the condition of the elastic. I order panties from the same place in the same style. I require that they be cotton, cut high on the thigh and 50% of my panty wardrobe must be plain white. They are utilitarian, not sexy. My days of believing I could impress men with my undergarments are long gone and I wear panties befitting my status as a middle-aged woman who knows that there are a more things a man will find sexy than panties.
  

• For the second time within a week I've been woken up and forced to answer the door while I still have curlers in my hair. It seems I've found the way to get unexpected visitors - just wind strands of my hair around foam rods and wait. Today's visitor was some guy sent by the rental company to fix some defect on the heater in the kitchen. I informed him that I had the heater in the kitchen removed. He said his company sent a letter to tell us about this little project and when it was scheduled. I told him that I got no such letter. He asked me if I was sure. I told him that had I received such a letter I wouldn't have answered the door with my hair in curlers and regardless of whether or not I received such a letter it wouldn't change the fact that the heater in the kitchen was removed when I moved in and was quietly collecting dust in the basement. Dude, I am standing here in curlers! Get the hint and blow!
  

• This week our weather is damp, coolish and mostly cloudy with the occasional shower thrown in. Next week it's supposed to be up near 100°F. Let the whining and bitching begin!
  

• You know I can roll my dry hair on those little foam curlers, leave them in a few hours and I've got curls that last a good 10-12 hours. 2.99€ well spent!
  

• Mmmmm...fresh blueberries and slices of fresh peaches. I'm getting all swoony thinking about them.
  

• Have you checked out the goods up for bid on Boob-Ha-Ha yet? Make a bid, get something great, support breast cancer research!
  

I'm off to heed the siren song of fresh blueberries.

Hot 'n Dotty

Lots of goings on, lots of dots. Let's get at it.

• B called Kirsten yesterday. I'm glad he called her then instead of on Tuesday when I had wanted him to. On Tuesday the news would have been that Kirsten's daughter picked her up from therapy and Kirsten collapsed in the car and Freya had to drive her to the hospital to be revived. As it is the news we got yesterday was a bit more encouraging. Kirsten saw another doctor Wednesday morning and he told her that she was very close to be hospitalized and it wouldn't be here in the city - he'd send her to a clinic in Bavaria that specializes in eating disorders. Now that in itself didn't worry Kirsten in the way the next part did. The doctor told her then that if she didn't start to eat immediately, he was sending her to the clinic where he'd have her put on a feeding tube and that the experience would be terrible for her. She didn't say if it would be done surgically directly into her stomach or would be through a tube in her nose but it scared her badly. Maybe he was exaggerating regarding how bad it is to get a feeding tube but who cares? The result was that Kirsten is more terrified of the feeding tube than she is disgusted over food. Her eating disorder has changed from her becoming sick when she eats to her just not being able to swallow food. Food - all food - disgusts her and when she puts it in her mouth she can't swallow it. It's not a matter of her thinking she's too fat in the way most anorexics think - she knows she's too thin - but her mental problems make food seem gross to her. But the idea of a feeding tube grossed her out even more so she went home and at the time we called her Kirsten had eaten a few spoonfuls of vegetables and was about to eat a peach. For supper she was going to eat a tomato. Doesn't sound like much but she's eating something and for that we're grateful. The doctor gave her a list of what she should be eating right now and when and if she sticks to it and gains some weight then she can avoid the feeding tube. We'll be grateful for any improvement. B told Kirsten he wanted her to come over and she said she didn't want to right now - she's too embarrassed for B to see her. That just broke my heart to hear that. I want so much for her to get better and to start loving herself again.
  

• For shit's sake, stop with the humid ass weather. I'm sick of being bathed in a constant sheen of sweat. There's not enough fresh blueberries, watermelon and ice cream in the world to make up for being in a constant state of sweatiness.

• And what's the worst part of being Champion Head Sweater of the World? This: It's back again. It's not quite to the giant, nearly purple, ready to burst stage but we're definitely at the getting swollen and hurts like a son-of-a-gun stage. Ready to burst should be in a few more days. Ugh.

• However there was one advantage to the neck funk - it got me out of the hair dyeing appointment with Tina. There was no way I was going to let anyone put stuff on my hair that would potentially touch my neck. I have enough problems - I don't need hair dye turning my neck funk into a raging volcano put on top of it all. I called her this morning to beg off our appointment and told her we'd reschedule when I was all healed up again. In the meantime I'm going to come up with a way to get out of it completely. Hmmm...maybe...let's see...tell her I don't want to do it! Now there's a novel idea!

• Enough of gross neck funk talk. Let's see something pretty! It's the sock I'm knitting for Mollie!

I will not be surprised to find out that Gross Neck Funk wants me to knit him socks.

Gettin' Dotty With It

So much to say, so little ability to put it in any sort of real structure. Time for a bulleted list!

~ My MIL seems to have a boyfriend. Or beau. Or gentleman caller. Whatever it is you call a 73 year old widow's man action. And he's younger. Only 65. And he's a widower himself. He lives in the apartment building across the street from hers and she met him while they were walking their respective dogs. I'm pretty sure this is one big reason my MIL wants to share Bonnie with us - if we cut her off from regular dog walking she wouldn't meet as many people. Evidently I've seen this guy before as well when I was walking Bonnie - unfortunately I only remember his dog, a cute little smooth coat Jack Russell terrier named Willie. Anyway, she invited him over for coffee a few weeks ago and come to find out he's been wanting to ask her for coffee for a long time now but, as he put it, "I was nervous about approaching a fine lady like you.". Ever since their first little coffee meet-up they've been seeing each other nearly daily. And Bonnie likes his dog so it's a match made in heaven.

Want to know how much my MIL likes this guy? She won't let Aunt Annoying meet him yet. She hasn't even told Aunt Annoying about him yet. Saturday is Uncle Milquetoast's birthday and my MIL has to go over to their house for his dopey birthday party and I've got to be the one to drive her. In order to not scare this guy away she's choosing to be driven over there by me in an 11 year old, non-air conditioned Toyota Starlet instead of being driven by him in a comfortable 3 year old Mercedes. She must really dig this guy.

We're scheduled to meet him this Sunday. B's slightly hesitant about the whole thing because my MIL has not had the best track record with men since B's dad died. The first gentleman friend she had bought her nice gifts but he was weird and wanted her to stay with him at his apartment all the time - an apartment without a dishwasher or a microwave. Dishwashers and microwaves were too high faluten for him. That she could live with but she witnessed him having a hissy fit at a family party and that was it for him. The next guy was nice but a bit socially awkward and they ended up just being buddies until he dropped dead one day while visiting his late wife's grave. And the last one was a freak. After being together for about a week he wanted her to keep a framed photo of him in her apartment and he kept wanted to buy her groceries for her (a big no for her) and at her birthday party he kept hanging on her or petting her arm like she was a poodle. He was given the heave-ho after a month. B and I couldn't stand the guy. He walked around like he had a full diaper in his pants and B and I took to calling him "Pampers Butt".

~ Now we all need to join hands and say a prayer that on Saturday Magdeburg beats St. Pauli in soccer. Magdeburg has the opportunity to move up to the second league in soccer if we can beat St. Pauli...a major feat because last year we were in the fourth league. Third league games are virtually never shown on TV but this one will because it's a big deal. And what will I be doing while the game is on? I'll be driving to POS Cow Town with my MIL for Uncle Milquetoast's birthday festivities! And be forced to sit with the most obnoxious woman I know and her guests who are off-the-charts boring. Break out the muthafuckin' party hats!

~ Speaking of those who can throw a great muthafuckin' party, I want this t-shirt beyond all reason. I love Deadwood, I think Al Swearengen is brilliant and that line was one of the best lines of the whole show.

I just had an idea. Wouldn't that be a great t-shirt to wear to the Aunt Annoying/Uncle Milquetoast birthday festival?

No Knitty, Just Dotty

Another week has gone by with no discernible progress in my knitting. Frankly, I'm sick of the sock I'm working on and reading has been taking up a lot of my time as well. So today you're excused from more yarn talk for another week. Well. Sort of anyway.

~ Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch is a book sock knitting friends of mine have for a long time encouraged me to finally buy. I pooh-poohed it somewhat - there are tons of sock patterns online for free and I can be a cheap ass when it comes to buying knitting books but when I had a Amazon.com gift certificate to blow I bought it and it arrived today.

Holy smokes people - if you knit socks and don't have this book, you're not getting the most out of your sock knitting. It's billed as the only sock knitting book you'll ever need and I'd say it lives up to that. It's set up so that all you need to do is, pick a pattern, pick a yarn, pick the needles you want to use, have your leg measurements, know your gauge and you can knit dozens of different socks without the agony of worrying over whether a pattern is going to fit someone properly. It gives some styles based upon certain types of stitch patterns and then cleverly adds a stitch dictionary so that you can substitute different patterns with ease. Just when I was feeling a bit burned out on socks, this book arrives and rejuvenates it.

Since it was one of those "buy this book and get this other book too for this amount" deals, I bought the second book, More Sensational Knitted Socks, at the same time. For anyone interested in getting it for themselves the difference in the first and second books seems to mostly be the patterns offered...and the patterns offered are pretty gorgeous. The instructional part goes over the basics just as it does in the first book, the tables are basically the same and then there are some more techniques introduced like different cast ons for top down socks and bind offs for toe up socks. There's also another stitch dictionary provided. I'd say it's worth buying this second book.

I must stay strong. I must not cast on for new socks until I finish what I'm working on now.

You can peek again! Yarn talk is over!

~ It's tempting to say "Holy shit, it's hot here!" but it's not particularly hot. What it is is humid. The sort of humid where even the slightest amount of exertion turns me into a sweaty mess. I have spent the entire day with most of my hair soaking wet. When I was in high school I worked in a dry cleaners and laundry and I don't remember sweating that much there, even in the middle of the summer. It's the sort of humidity where you can't bear for any part of your skin to touch any other part of your skin and should you have a puff of a breeze touch you, you nearly weep with joy. It's humidity you could surf on.

~ I'm going to blame this next part on the humidity and its ability to make me stupid. I went today to the immigration office to get my residency visa transferred from my old, expired passport to my brand spanking new passport. The residency visa has my photo on it. Did I think to bring a new photo with me? Of course not! That would have made this trip entirely too efficient and my time well spent. I got two photos when I renewed my passport so I have a biometric photo already that I can use - my only problem now is finding where I have it stashed. At least I made an appointment for my return visit to speed things up when I go back so there won't be any waiting in line. And I'd like to take this opportunity to compliment the ladies working at the immigration office. Nice, nice, nice and extremely patient. Friendly as all get out. I thought my MIL (who I like to take with me when I go do important things just in case there's one word I don't really understand) was going to invite them over for coffee and cake 'cause they were just so danged friendly! They may be a little dick-heady at the Bürgerbüro (for those of you not in Germany, that's a bureau that takes care of citizen matters - you get your national ID there, get a passport, register your residency, etc.) but by golly the ladies at the immigration office are top drawer!

~ I bought gasoline about 10 days ago. I don't drive a whole lot and my Toyota Econobox Starlet isn't exactly a gas hog so I fill it up usually every 7 or 8 weeks. Yay for good public transportation and living right in the middle of the main shopping district! Anyway, when I filled up I paid 1.36 € per liter for super unleaded. We'll not go into why I'm putting super unleaded in an 11 year old Starlet. I'm not even sure I have a good reason why. At the time I nearly fell out when I saw what I was paying for a liter of gasoline. The time before that when I filled it I paid something like 1.23 € per liter. I was a little mad with myself that I'd evidently picked a bad time to buy gas but I had to have it. Today I saw that super unleaded gas is going for 1.45 € per liter. Converted to American dollars that's about $1.95 per liter. Nearly $8 a gallon, folks and it's only going to get worse. Until people start getting serious about using less gasoline it's going to get worse. If not bringing a photo to the immigration office made me feel dopey, buying gas before the price spiked makes me feel like a genius. Or at least at the right place at the right time.

~ Mmmmm....coconut and chocolate ice cream. It doesn't cure sweated out hair but you care less about it.

Friday Shuffle - Everything At Once Edition

I said I'd do it
And it's true! I really will!
It's all in one post.

Haiku! Photos! Lists!
Bulleted or by numbers
With a shuffle too!

• Why can't I just stop time with my hair? Right now I'm hitting a good hair day every day. It's nothing to do with how it's cut or colored - it's probably everything to do with the alignment of the planets.
  
• I'm up to reading Harry Potter IV and have thrown aside knitting in favor of tales of wizards. I've also had a few dreams about Harry Potter, as if I'm a character in a book, and I'm fairly sure that means my geek quotient is at an all-time high.
• While I'm very good with keeping the outside of my car clean, the inside is pathetic. Nothing exactly gross in it - no fast food wrappers tossed around or abandoned clothing items - but I'm fairly certain that there's enough dust in it that were it all compressed together it would be enough to form a fair size island. The dog hair's fairly out of control as well and I wish I had a nickel for every TicTac that's spilled out onto the floor. Sad, sad, sad.
• Know what I'm looking forward to while visiting the US this fall? Yes, yes - seeing my family and friends tops the list but coming in a close second is buying new shoes. There's a lot about Germany that I like but their idea of shoes isn't among them. 'Cept for the Birkenstocks. Birkenstock clogs make me very happy.

Speaking of shoes, get ready to dance. Bixente the iPod's ready to shuffle.

1. Sail On Sail On - NRBQ
2. Latchmere - The Maccabees
3. Boat On The River - Styx
4. My Favorite Mistake - Sheryl Crow
   
5. Im Nin'Alu - Ofra Haza
6. Your Mother Should Know - The Beatles
7. Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
8. I Want You Now - The Feeling
9. Sherry Darling - Bruce Springsteen
10. Reflections - Diana Ross and the Supremes

A shuffle as all over the place as this blog entry is.

And to round things out here's your photo - a super groovy Kinder Surprise egg changing photo. Glide that cursor over the photo to see it change!

This time the prize is a puzzle.



Awwwww! A puppy and daisies! What better way to wind up a week than with an adorable puppy and daisies?!

Have a great weekend filled with adorable things.