Petunia rambles on and on….

I’m not quite full up here with stuff, so I had Amazon.com bring me a few more things. To fill the few little empty nooks and crannies that I might be able to find around the house if I work at it.

While I agree that this isn’t the best time for me to be ordering more books of anything at all, in my defense I have to say that I pre-ordered one book last July, a book that had a publication date of 23 March 2010. Then I bundled the second one with it so I wouldn’t have to pay any shipping charges!

I’ve enjoyed and used Wendy D. Johnson’s first book about toe-up socks, and when I heard that she was working on another one, I quickly let Amazon know that I wanted it. Toe-Up Socks for Every Body differs from the first by offering socks for all sizes, children through adults.

I like having small projects on the needles. Sure, I do shawls and sweaters and such, but I usually have socks in the works. Small items are easily tote-able and great for when you are waiting for a mammogram, a dentist appointment, an oil change. I also do hats. Hats are great for trying out new techniques. Colorwork, lace, intricate patterns. If you like the technique, you quickly have a finished project! If you don’t, you haven’t wasted much yarn. Small items are a great way to use up yarn left over from Projects Past, those little bits and bobs that I just can’t toss. I’ve used them up in hats and mittens! So when I saw a book on hats by Charlene Schurch, well, it leaped into my Amazon Shopping Cart – you know how that can happen. She has written several sock and mitten books, all well received – I figured Hats On! would be a good one.

I’m impressed by both books so far. Hats On! has quite a few with colorwork, as pictured on the cover, and I have leftovers – even if I use complete skeins (which I’ve got aplenty), these patterns are small, quick and not going to take large quantities of wool. I’ll make some of the socks in Wendy Johnson’s new book and learn much from this talented designer.

And Pop picked out a movie or two. Nothing new, nothing that doesn’t have weird aliens in the cast, nothing I wanted to see. Forbidden Planet? Thank all sheep that I have an iPod with audiobooks.

The list of Things Accomplished is still a hell of a lot smaller than the list of Things That Still Need to be Done. Damn.

However, so far, I have:

• Filed for Unemployment Compensation, received a statement back from the Dept of Labor with notice that I’ll get the maximum allowable in this state. Now, of course, it remains to be seen whether I’ll actually get anything.  I haven’t filed for Unemployment Comp since 1974, when I first moved to Delaware and my transfer did not get picked up by Diamond State Telephone. Waving the paperwork proving that my transfer was approved before I left Florida and my secure job there did nothing to help my cause. Unemployment turned me down, claiming that I had left my job voluntarily, disregarding my paperwork that I went out on Leave Pending  Transfer status. Got nada. But they said, “Just get some little job and then get laid off, cause you have big money coming from your previous salary rate.”   Well, OK.  So I’m desperate for work, winter’s coming on and we have no warm clothing, and I take a job opening a local K-Mart. I worked there for several weeks, putting women’s clothing onto hangers and then onto racks. Worked through the Grand Opening weekend, and was laid off shortly afterward.  Back to the Dept of Labor I go. See, it’s me again, laid off. File again for some assistance, ’cause the kid needs shoes as sandals aren’t appropriate in snow. Again, NADA!!  This time, the reason is that I didn’t make enough!  WTF???  I was too poor to get help??!! Yep, that was it. There’s a rule that says that if you are claiming Unemployment based on earnings from another state, you must make 10 times the Benefit amount in DE before you can claim. So my good job in Florida, that earned me the max comp rate screwed me out of getting anything at all. I would have had to make 10 times that amount at the K-Mart, and probably didn’t make 1/10th of what I needed!!    —–    So you can see why I don’t put a whole lot of faith in getting any help here.
• I finished spinning and plying the beautiful Denim colored Superwash BFL that I got from Teresa Levite Studio last October at the FiberFest in Snow Hill, MD. Now I have to noddy it, soak it, hang it.  My arm aches thinking of the noddy-ing – where’s a kid when you need one?  I filled an Ashford Jumbo bobbin with 2-ply fingering weight – and must have about 18 miles of it. Perhaps less.
• Found 6 pairs of socks that I made that haven’t been worn for lack of having the wee ends woven in. DAMN!  I sat one evening while Pop was watching some hideous epic event on TV, and had them all done in an hour.
• Finished a pair of plain socks for me in Lorna’s Laces Devon colorway, k2, p1 until death do us part – or until I ran out of yarn. Colorway is beautiful.
• Looked up into the sky every morning for days and days, hoping for sunlight to photograph all those socks. Maybe by August?
• Remembered to get the lab slip, blood drawn and show up for the doctor’s appointment. In my book, this is called a Stand-Up Triple! Found out this morning that my cholesterol is wonderful (138), my HDLs are up and my LDLs are down, which is good, my triglycerides are fine as usual, and my sugar is up one point. Remember to cancel the Easter candy. Bitched to doc that I need a new back or a major repair on this old, used one. It’s been hurting almost non-stop for about 4 months whenever I am standing or walking. Sitting so much could have something to do with those weight numbers being up a bit.) As I expected, I got the “Why the hell didn’t you come in sooner?”  As all anyone ever does for my back is put me on muscle relaxers and pain meds which puts me on the couch for a week,, and knowing I was gonna lose my job in early March, I waited until I knew I’d have plenty of time to lay around off the clock. So doc added one more test to be done this week, in addition to the regularly scheduled broadcast mammogram and bone density tests. I’m also gonna have my lower back, sacroiliac x-rayed to rule out arthritis and possibly agree on  sacroiliitiis. Having no clue about this stuff, research on the net tells me that at the base of the spine is the sacrum, a wide flat bone. To the left and right are ilium, what we call hip bones. They meet the sacrum and are held in place by ligaments. These ligaments loosen during childbirth due to hormonal changes necessary for birthing. My back’s been hurting for 40 damn years and it’s all your fault, Jim. Sadly, that may be close to the truth, as I’ve had “back trouble” of undetermined origin since I was in my early 20’s and it could be due to ligaments that never snapped back properly after the ordeal of an eight and a half pound baby scuttling through there. I questioned doc – Rule out arthritis? If I had arthritis, a condition that worsens with time, 40 years ago, wouldn’t it be a hell of a lot worse by now? Doesn’t that make arthritis an odd choice? And wouldn’t an MRI tell you a whole lot more?  He agreed that it sure would, but that the insurance would never pay for it, and I didn’t appear to have $2K in my pocket to pay for it myself. While common sense tells you that arthritis is unlikely to stay unchanged for 40 years and unlikely to be the issue here, the insurer won’t pay for the higher, more exacting tests until this is ruled out. So I get my arse radiated for little gain. And anti-inflammatory meds.
• Learned a new  acronym today. In my former job, I dealt with/worked with the military, particularly the Communications folks. The military has its own language, Comm folks, too. And they give every simple thing a long, involved name and they all abbreviate everything.  I read a document that had  “WTFO” on it, and was puzzled by the “O.” As I couldn’t think of or do anything else until I knew, I contacted a former colleague. Duh.    Comm guys.  “What the fuck? Over.” I need to stay closer to the bathroom.
• I did some knitting on Pop’s sweater. The second sleeve is nearly done. The boring gray-green color is killing me.
• I gave the poodle a home-made hair cut. I have no skill at hair-cutting. She is too embarrassed to go outside when she needs to go. I offered to trim up the back of Pop’s hair for him, and he just looked sadly at the dog, then burst out laughing and walked away quickly.
• I found my Canon camera. I put it away where it would be safe. A week ago.
• I did not get a new belt for the power head on my vacuum cleaner, but I did carry the broken one around with me all day. Just airing it out, I guess.
• My oldest child turned 40 last week, and amazingly, I am  only 39. Call that guy that keeps that Book of Records. Guinness?  (No, wait, isn’t that the beer guy?)
• On that same date, I reached 3 years of being smoke-free. Not one cigarette.
• Went to three job interviews. They take  forever making up their minds, or so it would seem to the terribly impatient.

I’m gonna use the bad back as the excuse for why more household chores aren’t on the Done List. Hurts to stand up for the time it takes to shower. I did do a lot of sitting down, sorting, tossing, shredding of paperwork kept way too long for no good reason. I made a big batch of that Impossible Cheeseburger Pie, haven’t had that in a long time. And batter-dipped, deep-fried onion rings! Tomorrow, I think, Fettucine Alfredo with chicken and mushrooms?

Will post pictures if the sun ever shines again.

I don’t know if this is a first – the Vice President of the United States getting “bleeped” on national television.

Click here http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22920353/

and weep with me.