What is with people these days?!?!?!?!

Around 4am, a neighbor a couple of blocks over had both cars in their carport set on fire. The cars and the carport were completely destroyed, but the house miraculously only had a few singed shingles. Their son's bedroom is right near the garage, so they were very lucky.

The cops think it may have been some sort of gang initiation.

What the hell?

What is the world coming to where people think that kind of thing is a good idea? Are they going to decided to burn down houses next? It freaks me out.

We have a car that is parked in back of the house. Dr Pig went out and bought a locking gas cap yesterday afternoon. It won't prevent all mischief, but at least it will prevent that particular mischief.

I'm just glad everyone is safe.

In political news, why is that certain people are so eager to ban abortion and yet these same people who are so desperate to save the fetuses rant about "socialism" when any attempt is made to provide welfare assistance for the resulting child?

Want to know something really scary?

This summer, I decided that we should try to get the house all ship-shape as if we were going to sell it. We're not moving any time soon, but we've been here almost 10 years and I'm not going to need strollers and a crib and an exersaucer again. I don't need those boxes of books that have been in the attic for 10 years - they are starting to smell musty. That skirt that I love but haven't worn since before I was pregnant? Yeah, it ain't gonna happen.

We've been cleaning out the attic and I've been working on the closets and under the beds and all those little places where we stash stuff (as opposed to the places we stuff stash - that's off limits).

So, forget Spring Cleaning. I'm instituting a Fall Purge!

Worth It

This is even better than The Kronos Quartet performing Purple Haze. The lyrics start at about 1:05, just in case you can't place the song.

Diving

Stash diving, that is.

I was reading Fuzzy Noodle Knits the other day and I saw this. For some reason, my brain decided that I had to knit it.

Now.

You know how it is. You have elebenty-million projects already on the needles and that pile of second socks and you can no longer see any of it. Because you must knit that.

The original was knit in Noro. Noro and I don't really get along.

I love the Koigu that Caryn chose, but I have very little Koigu and the skeins I have that match are already earmarked for another project.

So, I went stash diving and really looked hard at the stash. I didn't want something overly bright or too dark. And I wanted the skeins to match at some point, in order to randomize the striping sequence a bit. Where the skeins matched, the color change would be very subtle.

I think of myself as having a largish sock stash - maybe enough for 50 pairs of socks. I have a fairly decent selection of self-striping, variegated, and semi-solids. You'd think it would be a snap.

It took a while.

But I settled on this combo.


Vesper sock in Verbena and Claudia Hand-painted in Lipstick.



I've knit just a little bit, but I love where the two reds meet. The red in the Vesper is pinker than the Claudia, so there is a very subtle shift.

I'm already thinking of combinations for another one. There is something addictive about this pattern. I've needed a No Thought Required project for a while. This one is fun.

And I should have enough leftovers to make short socks with the toes, heels, and tops in the Lipstick!

Standards

Look, lady, it's pronounced nu·cle·ar. That's \ˈnü-klē-ər

I find it hard to take you seriously when you keep saying noo-q-lar.

I guess it's supposed to be folksy. If I want folksy, I'll go to Cracker Barrel.

Sunday night, I woke up at 3am and could not get back to sleep.

Monday night, Dr Pig's pager went off at 1.30am. He had to work the rest of the night and I had the devil of a time getting back to sleep.

Last night, Bean got into bed with us around 5am.

It's a conspiracy!!!

I'm trying to get the house in a bit more order before The Invasion Of The In-Laws commences tomorrow. On the plus side, we have several social events this weekend so, free babysitting!!!

Must go to grocery store, though and buy several loaves of bread. They go through about a loaf of bread a day. I've never seen people eat bread like this. They'd never make it on Atkins!

In other amusing news, last night at dinner I told Bean to stop rocking her chair because it was in danger of flipping over and then she'd have to go to the hospital and get stitches which would HURT. (I'm not above using a bit of scare tactics if that's all that works.) Dr Pig told her that he'd had stitches and it hurt and then tells her, "I'm not even going to tell you where I got stitches."

Bean fixes him with that "like you're so smart" look she has and retorts, "Oh, Daddy, I know where you got stitches. In the hospital."

I couldn't help it - I spent the next 10 minutes giggling like a madman.