And now starts "Carla's Whiny Season"

It was bound to happen soon. Last night we even stoked up the fireplace for the first time this season.

Bleh.

ETA because its Monday (and I forgot!)

I can't get this song out of my head today. I don't know why.

I lack words. Mostly because I'm tired.

Spending nearly an entire day at a Toyota dealership will do that to a girl. But I got the deal we wanted. I was ready to walk, not once, not twice, but three times.

Who knew Toyota's were popular? (Ok, I did.) So popular that the dealership is "backed up", and we won't be able to get the van "delivered" til next week. Bummer.

I loooooove it. So much nicer than our usual Dodge purchases.

If you don't know what Loving Day is, read here.

Loving Day is an educational community project. The name comes from Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. Loving Day celebrations commemorate the anniversary of the Loving decision every year on or around June 12th.

I forgot to post about it last year. And while I planned to the year before, something else happened.

To borrow a paragraph from Devilstower at dailykos.com:

It's also a good day to remember that this kind of legislation, including the "Defense of Marriage Acts" now in effect in more than half the states, will one day be looked on with the same distaste as the law that put the Lovings in jail.

Now I'd planned to celebrate this day, much in the same way that Richard and I would celebrate our anniversary. However after spending the better part of the day at urgent care, I came home with a diagnosis of an anular tear in my L5. Pain patch, vicodin, mass quantities of motrin and ice packs. What a way to celebrate an anniversary, huh?

You know, whenever I take an extended break from blogging, I always come back and say that it wasn't intended. This time however, I rather purposely avoided the blog. Maybe my blogging steam has run out.. or maybe it hasn't since I'm back here today blogging. But, I have seriously thought about giving it up. And just when I do, I think of all the time I've invested into it and reconsider. So since I'm sitting here right now tapping out an entry, you could come to the conclusion that I have indeed reconsidered - I'm just not sure how much time I'll be devoting to the blog in the next few months.

Ok, now that the "business" is out of the way, on to a few photos and a little bit of a catch up..

Do you remember the We Call Them Pirates hat I was making? Well, it has been gifted..

Meet Steve (or depending on who is reading this - you may already know him!)

Steve is a former co-worker and an excellent friend of Richard's. Steve has ventured all the way to the other side of the country for a change of scenery. And since where he moved sees way more snow and cold than upstate New York, I figured he'd need a warm hat. It really warms a knitter's heart to hear her gift called "kick ass".

We'll miss you Steve! And we can't wait to see you again around Christmas time!

And while I'm not knitting a whole lot lately, I do have a few things going - I'm just not in any sort of rush to finish..

This would be the very popular Boing! by Anne at Knitspot.

And here it is pinned out just a teensy bit to see the lace. I'm using Celestial Alpaca/Merino that I picked up at Mission Rose sometime last year. The yarn is meant to be sock yarn, but when I started socks with it, I just couldn't stand the feel of the fabric it created. It makes for much better lace knitting - nice, halo-y and soft.

This is the Celtic Tote from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I was going to wait until Boing! was finished to cast it on, but startitis got the better of me. I'm almost finished with the back portion after using it as TV knitting for a night or two. I'm using of course, my favorite cheap felting wool, Patons Classic Merino.

Other than the knitting..

So, I had an urge to play with manic panic. And I was totally urged on by Ravelry friend Bethoff who recently did some purple streaks. I originally planned to go with a bright pink but Alex talked me into Rockout Red. For my first time, I bought the demi permanent Hot Topic brand, so in other words, its not at all permanent, and will likely be totally faded out in a few weeks time. I didn't bleach out where I wanted the red dye either - this was just the test run. I do like it however, so next time I'll be bleaching out some strands before adding a more permanent dye. Should I go with red again? Or my original inclination towards pink? Hmm!
For reference, the image on the left is the night I dyed it. The image on the right is the next day after washing a few times to tone it down just a bit.

Now it just occurred to me that this blog entry has a red theme - Hmm.

Lastly, since I missed Music Monday, two weeks in a row, today you get a youtube - sort of new, but sort of not!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huuuuge Journey fan - When I was a teen, my bedroom walls were plastered with Journey posters and I wore out at least 4 copies of Journey Captured on cassette. So if you missed CBS Sunday Morning last week, where they told the story of Journey's new lead singer Arnel Pineda, then you need to see this video.

Journey is playing the State Fair this year (and Beth already has tickets! Whine!) But instead I think we'll try to see them down home at Montage. Jill? Tracy? Want to babysit? Please?

My lifeforce in my favorite mug... Yes, it is a good Sunday morning!

As for the rest of the day? Paige reminded me of the shearing festival at Springside Farm. We went 2 years ago, and I think we'll take a drive down today, that is if I can pull the "boys" away from the Wii. The biggest boy bought himself the Wii zapper yesterday which included Link's Crossbow Training. They're having a lot of fun apparently.

After a few weeks of stalling negotiation, I took the boys in for a haircut...

They literally begged for mohawks for weeks .. and in the end, I gave in. But at least they both think I'm "the cool mom". Geez, thats all it took?

And..

OUCH.

This means we're staying home this holiday weekend - A time when we typically travel down to Pennsylvania. Thank you so much President Bush. Your foreign and energy policies suck.

I'm in a crappy mood today. Lack of sleep. Allergies. And to top it off, its raining.

I did want to share this little bit though, even though 90% of those who read my blog are knitters, and thusly are likely to have listened to Brenda Dayne's most recent podcast and know about Ingrid Michaelson. Honestly I was hooked in the first thirty seconds. Knit Hat? Binghamton? Must. Learn. More. And I'm happy that I love the rest of her music too.. even the Grey's Anatomy stuff.

But this song? It just makes me happy, despite its moderately sad theme. It makes me want to dance.. and smile. Even on a cold rainy day - So things are looking up!

It was shot in Ithaca just a few weeks ago. Its a bummer that I didn't learn of Ingrid until after she toured through here.

In any case.. Upstate Represent!

Started on Saturday morning (April 5th), I was at the toe decreases by the next evening. I'm not sure what is up with all this speedy knitting. Slick yarn? Easy stitch patterns? Anyway.. these are the Hedgerow Socks from Knitters Review, being worked in sKNITches Kettle Drum, colorway: Cherry Bark. I love 'em.. especially the heel.

Busy day today.. I'll be riding with Connor's speech therapist this afternoon to his yearly CPSE review. Bleh. I'm not worried about services being discontinued, since he very clearly evaluates in - if anything speech and OT will be expanded. But we're all pushing for extending services, primarily, placement in an integrated classroom. Since we failed with this placement last year, I'm expecting the worst this year. However, we are armed with more information, better evaluations and extended goals. And.. we're trying to get a referral for Connor to see a developmental pediatrician for further evaluation. In any case.. I'm dreading this meeting.