Monday, March 31, 2008

random bits

It's been a heck of a week. Busy. Excuse me while I attempt to pull out any bloggable bits and then make fervent promises to post more often. And comment on other people's blogs more often, and reply to comments more often, and, well, you get the idea.


I went to the dentist this week. Twice. First for my regular cleaning, and second because of course they had to find something dreadful. Involving wisdom teeth - again. Back in July they only pulled out two of my wisdom teeth, partly because that's all I could afford, but also because one of the bottom ones has a scary root that is shaped like the letter U. The surgeon said he'd prefer to leave it where it is, and when I was there Monday, a hygienist literally looked at the x-ray and said, "Holy crap! Imagine pulling that out!" It's a caveman tooth, is what it is. And apparently if the bottom one is staying, they'd like to keep the top one too - don't ask me why. My top one had a ginormous cavity in it (wisdom teeth are nearly impossible to keep clean, I'm told; that's why they usually yank 'em), so they did a filling with some kind of medication in it. It tasted like cloves. As she was getting started, my dentist says, "Since it's kind of a big one, I'm going to drill it without using the cold water. You might smell something - don't worry about it." Well, smell something I did. Like she was burning toast in there. And she did not mention that I would see smoke rising from my mouth as she worked. Dude, smoke. Thankfully she's very good with the anesthetic and it didn't hurt at all.

It's starting to feel like it's thawing out around here. Thank goodness. I do like winter, and I'm not looking forward to the summer heat and humidity, but the arrival of spring is very welcome. Yesterday afternoon the kids and I even got to walk the bike path a bit. I missed the bike path! Soon enough the mornings will be warm enough to resume my morning walks with Baby Sister. Although if yesterday is any indication, they'll be a bit different. She rode for a bit, but mostly she wanted to walk herself, stopping every now and then for an impromptu round of "Ring Around the Rosy." There's also a tunnel on the path, running under some train tracks. The local junior high painted a mural in the tunnel, and Baby Sister did not want to leave it. Can't blame her - there's bright colors, and animals, and a cool echo. Eventually she tripped and scraped her hand, and in the ensuing holding and comforting I was able to take her out of the tunnel. I'm thinking there's probably a better way, though.

I've been knitting, too. I'm on the second sleeve of the sweater, and I'm starting to entertain the notion that it might be possible to finish it in time to see the Harlot on April 27th. Possible for me, I mean; I know it would be possible for most people. I've probably jinxed myself saying out loud, though. Or in print, whatever. I also started some socks for Little Brother, out of leftover Cascade 220. I put in a cable pattern so I wouldn't get too bored.



I like them. I let the boys go stash diving to pick out yarn for their socks, and I think this was a good choice - you can't go wrong with Cascade 220. Big Brother, on the other hand, picked out my leftover Lush (50% wool, 50% angora) in a light purply-blue color. Although I have no personal objection to purply angora socks for a ten-year-old boy, I can't help but think they'll be full of holes in about five minutes. We may have to have a yarn-choice discussion.

Hmmm . . . what else is going on? Well, we're doing this.



Not with any real result, but you gotta start somewhere.

Now for the fervent promises: I swear I will blog more than a single crappy post in a week! I will knit like a fiend and share my results! I will visit all the blogs I read, the ones that have posted such well-written, thoughtful posts, and I will leave equally thoughtful comments! I will reply to both emails and comments! And then hell will freeze over!

What time is it? Crap, I have to get ready for work.