Domestic Geek

Thanks to Google Alerts, I found another "Domestic Geek" blog. This person has found some pretty cool things to share, so go check out another Domestic Geek. (We're going to take over the world!)

Oddly enough, I'm being neither Domestic or Geeky lately. OK, still knitting and stuff, so a little domestic. I still haven't finished coding this site. My 101 Things in 1001 Days site is atrocious! I found a neat Wordpress theme that I'd like to try to make work, but don't have the energy. I bought myself a new mouse for my birthday last week that is still sitting in its box. I want to sew. I want to scrapbook. I want to draw. I want to bake. I even want to clean my house. I just don't have the energy. I blame work.

Work is literally draining the life out of me. I'm on my feet 12-14 hours a day doing manual labor. It's not even work I enjoy doing. I've lost all respect for my superiors. I was actually told my my main supervisor the other day that my standards are too high and I need to quit expecting so much out of others. Really? Is it too much that we have guidelines as to how things are supposed to be done and I expect other employees to do things right? Whatever happened to expecting more and people will rise to the challenge? It isn't like we've been particularly busy and people have more than ample time to double check their work. There is absolutely no consequences for those employees that do a half-assed job and jack stuff up. Some days I'm amazed we're still in business with all the stuff that gets screwed up. <sarcasm>I guess I'm out of line.</sarcasm> Also, I don't have time to cook healthy meals for half the week, so I end up eating crap late at night. My insomnia is back. My feet hurt so bad some days I can barely walk. I know I need to find something else to do with my life, I just don't know what yet.

OK, that's not true. I do know what I want, I just don't know how to get there.

So, I realized two nights ago that my knitting and crocheting supplies are officially out of control. I'm starting to avoid going into my craft/computer room because I don't want to face that mess. I also can't find things. I know I bought a set of size 0 bamboo DPNs to make a Harry Potter bookmark that I need right now can't find anywhere. I'll be darned if I'm going to spend good money on new ones. I have several skeins of yarn sitting around that I bought with a purpose in mind, but now have no idea what that purpose was. Every time I go into my craft room, I cause skeins of yarn fall to the floor. I also have lost the Chibi needles I purchased. I still have the case, but the needles are nowhere to be found (shhh, don't tell Marcus — he hates it when I lose pointy metal objects. They usually find their way to his hand).

It's time to get this stuff in order. No more new yarn until I find a way to organize my current stash, including what project it is meant for. My hooks and needles need a permanent home and I need to catalog them on Ravelry. I just bought a duplicate hook the other day because I couldn't find one in the size I knew I had to have had, but it's probably hiding with another project or just somewhere it shouldn't be.

I realized that the totes of my acrylic yarn (that I rarely use) is taking up valuable space in my craft shelving. I think I'll relegate those to the closet and store the new yarn in that space. Maybe I'll actually be able to get to my embroidery machine and my work surface and get some quilting and embroidery done.

I deal with enough nonsense and chaos at work everyday. I shouldn't allow it at home in my "me" time. My crafting is what usually brings me peace and saves my sanity. Right now, not so much.

Every sorting quiz on the Internet has the same result for me:

Seen at What on earth is a KariBeri?

While browsing around the Internet yesterday, I found an article that September 12th is International Crochet Day. I wish I had found this sooner.

So, what did I do to celebrate? I had planned to go to the park at crochet, but Mother Nature had other ideas with the arrival of some much-needed rain yesterday and today. Oh, well. I crocheted in front of the television while watching Regis and Kelly and I'll crochet in public later when Marcus and I go to Wing Stop for dinner. I always bring a knitting or crochet project every Friday night. I still have my crochet sun hat to finish (though my plans of having it finished before Summer was over are shot to heck). Either that, or I'll keep working on my Rust Goes Green market bags. I didn't like the way the colors I had picked out were looking together, so I found a better match for the variegated and will get some more green to make a second one solid.

Speaking of plans shot to heck, I didn't finish squat for the Summer KAL-CAL. Between the surgery and work, I didn't complete either of the bag projects I started. Oh, well. There will be a Holiday KAL-CAL, so hopefully I can finish something for that.

Speaking of crochet, Robyn Chachula is going to be in the Denver area in late September. I'm particularly interested in taking the crocheted sock class she will be teaching on Friday, September 26th down at Purls of Wisdom down in Parker. I'll be signing up for that class tomorrow when I head down there to visit.

One thing I'd like to complain about: The variety of colors of cotton yarn in this town kind of sucks. The national craft store chains carry a very limited number of colors of the Sugar 'n' Cream, as does Wal-Mart with the Peaches 'n' Cream. Even most of the yarn stores carry very little cotton and the ones that do carry the higher end stuff. I'm not making dishcloths and the like out of good yarn. It's kind of a pain when you have a particular idea in mind and can't find the yarn. I hate ordering online without seeing it first. I'm thinking I'll have to get one of the Peaches color cards.

Guess who turned 42 today? Duh, ME!

It should be a pretty good day. I don't have to work. Dad's coming over in a bit for some Wii bowling. I may take my free birthday entree coupon from Noodles & Co. over and get some free lunch as well as some free ice cream at either Cold Stone or Baskin Robbins. I've got knitting and crocheting to do. We're going out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse this evening.

We actually celebrated last Saturday. We had BBQ Steak on a Stake over at Mike and Nina's house. We played some Wii - Mike has some really cool game where you knock stuff down. Marcus and I got Mike Rock Band for his birthday. That game is actually quite fun! I had to sing first, but after I got over myself, I actually had a good time. I got the first season of The Big Bang Theory DVDs (I LOVE that show) and a Frank Sinatra CD from Mike and Nina. Marcus got me a new Superdrive and a G5 Jive and an adapter card to add extra hard drives to my Mac. I'm going to install them this afternoon and rip the cd to iTunes to see if it all works. Marcus already ripped TBBT for me and we've been watching them all week on the AppleTV.

I can't believe that seven years later, I'm still getting comments about my birthday being on September 11th. I was at a quilt store last Friday taking advantage of my birthday month discount when it last happened. I had to produce my driver's license to verify my birthday and the clerk commented that it must be tough to have a birthday on "that day." Uh, not really. The only thing that's rough is dealing with the people that make such comments. I admit that my birthday in 2001 sucked. I, like every other caring person in this country (and around the world) was in shock and upset over what happened. Horrible things happen all the time, though, and unfortunately these fall on somebody's birthday. If I met someone whose date of birth was December 7th, I wouldn't say, "Oh, how sad to have a birthday on the same day Pearl Harbor was bombed."

Anyway, off to enjoy my day!

ETA: Heh, Laura sent me this ecard she found: