method No. 253 to know whether you have PMS

1. You're reading one of your favorite sites, and this post makes you catch in your throat a little bit: this guy's hamster, which had been featured on CuteOverload, has died. How tragic!!

2. You scoot over to his site, and you see pictures of his red eyes, a little poem he wrote to his hamster, and even pictures of the burial. This doesn't gross you out, it just makes you even more sad.

3. You follow his link to the tearjerker Rainbow Bridge poem, as told in a Flash presentation. (You probably haven't read this in a few years, when your most recent pet died.)

4. You sit at your computer and sob at the corny graphics and think about the tragedy of losing a pet.

Not that this happened to me. I'm just saying, you know you have PMS if this chain of events were to happen to you.

It's been an uneventful week ... I finished the baby boy blanket and have moved on to the baby girl blanket. I'm happy with both. Photos TK when I'm not lazy.

I'm making spinach pitas for dinner tonight. I feel the makings of a migraine coming on, though - the kind where my eyes and even my follicles hurt. I haven't had any caffeine today, so that could be exacerbating it.

On the good news front, my mom got the go-ahead to take the radiation pill today, and her thyroid is on its way to destroying itself. She just has to avoid small children and babies (and people in general, but especially little ones) for a few days. It was kind of unfortunate that right after taking the pill, she had to walk past a bunch of kids on her way out of the hospital, though. She can be around people again by the time I get there next Saturday, though.

Oh yeah ... I'm taking a trip to S.C. (possibly for the last time, if they move) next weekend. A wee short one, but I don't mind. I'm looking forward to our day trip to Asheville.

an update of sorts

I've tried to avoid my computer at home the past few days. Work has been intense, and my weekend was cut short to work some overtime in light of the news this week. It's been the kind of week where, at 12:30 a.m., I got in my car and drove home in silence - no radio, no phone calls - just to decompress.

Yesterday was my day off, and I wanted it to be a happy one. So I took Gracie for a nice run/walk in the gloomy weather (luckily it didn't rain on us). I had to buy yarn for yet another co-worker who wants me to make a baby blanket - actually, she wants two. Whee! I visited a yarn shop I hadn't been to yet, and I'm glad I went. All yarn was 40 percent off. I found some supersoft Plymouth DK in a nice baby variegated colorway.


I went to AC Moore, where I bought some double-pointed needles for eventual sockmaking and some white Caron Simply Soft to pair with the Plymouth DK. And I got some blue and green Simply Soft for the other blanket. Perfect. I bought some gorgeous sock yarn at The Hook and I, too.


I came home and crocheted all night and watched the Metaphor-Off on The Colbert Report, among other delicious television programs. Here's my progress on the first blanket:


Happy Friday.

dichotomy

Yesterday was a weird, weird day. I woke up excited to go to work - the Pulitzer winners were being announced at 3 p.m., and a series my paper published was a finalist in one of the categories. As much as I would like it to happen more often, I know it's a rare thing - so I really wanted to be there on such a historic day.

And then the shootings at Virginia Tech happened. I watched TV at home in disbelief (it's still five hours away, but jeeze - it's still my state) then went to work early, where people were hovering at my desk, watching two nearby TVs with worried looks on their faces. And yet for the Pulitzers, there were Pilot photographers and videographers and even a TV camera taking footage. There was champagne on the TV anchor's desk - we were going to toast whether we won or lost. It was such a weird environment, all that sadness and yet all that hopeful anticipation. We found out we lost, and our editor gave a very moving speech that made me very proud to be here, and we had a moment of silence for the shooting victims.

I think the tie that binds the sadness and the celebration is good journalism. The Pilot did a more-than-excellent job to get where we did in the Pulitzers. And we were going to cover this horrific event to the best of our ability. We have four open pages inside today's paper with lots of stories that hopefully educate and inform and even soothe our readers. I'm very proud of what we did.

I know it's trite and I wish I were a better writer, but I was proud of what we did yesterday, even though I wish so badly that these shootings never happened.

dangerous ...

I just discovered that you can buy Hobby Lobby's yarn online through Crafts Etc. There are no Hobby Lobbies around here - I might visit the one near my parents' house in Greenville twice a year. They have great mohair-lacey type yarn for scarves that have sold well at the Joy Fund craft sale at work. I will have to put together an order sometime soon (when I've decided I've been back on my yarn diet long enough, that is).

I got my new basketweave baby blanket started tonight. It's coming together quickly. I like how this Bernat Softee Baby is, well, soft.

sick sick sick

I am sick again. It's even worse than before my trip to Ohio (which was very fun, by the way ... I just haven't felt the need to blog about it). My ears are clogged, my throat is scratchy, my voice is mannish (especially in the morning), and worst of all, my nose will not stop running. It makes sleeping very difficult - I want to tilt my head up to breath easier, but then my nose runs. So I need to find a perfect balance. It's tricky. Now my nose is raw and I've gone through about 39042 tissues.

I figured I'd try an outing to the grocery store and AC Moore as a test-run for work tonight. I felt delirious on the interstate heading there and came home exhausted, but at least I had food and some yummy yarn (at right). I took a really nice almost-two-hours-long nap from which I woke about 40 minutes ago, but I could go back to bed right now. Being sick is horrible, but at least you have an excuse to sleep all the time.

and away we go

I'm headed to The Ohio State University for the weekend to visit my brother. He's turning 22 on Sunday, which I've just remembered happens to be Easter. Perhaps I should cook an Easter dinner, but I'll worry about that when I get back.

I'm flying through Detroit, so I hope I don't get caught in a snowy nexus that Lauren did a few months back. At least there will be a Chili's there if I get desperate. Otherwise, I've got no less than three crochet projects to keep me busy.

almost time for ohio!

It is about 75 today. I went for a run, I plan on running to AC Moore (to buy crochet hooks in teensy sizes for my Tofutsies socks, which I hope to begin in airports) and I might swing by the beach for a little sun, if my eyes stop itching. Work, medicine, work!!

Forty eight hours from now, I will be on my way to Columbus, where it isn't expected to get above 39 on Thursday. And it may rain/snow. I'm seriously debating bringing a winter coat.

I can't wait for my trip. I told (Texas) Josh last night, I've been saying since my brother graduated from high school in summer 2003, I wanted to visit (brother) Josh at Ohio State. I went up in the summer with my parents once, but that was it. Never on my own. Now I am a Grown Up with a Job, and I am excited to go to Ohio and be a College Kid again (read: getting drunk at Mad Mex and eating at Chipotle and getting Gumby's and basically gaining 10 pounds in a weekend).

Time to eat a sammitch and be on my way.