Seussical!

My brothers have done it again — they're in another musical. The auditions were only yesterday, but they found out what parts they got today. The older one will be playing Vlad Vladikoff (a "black-bottomed bird" if I read the Wiki right) and the younger one will be Mr. Mayor, as in the Mayor of Whoville.

Sign me up for seeing that show! I think the middle of row E or F will do it ... the perfect vantage point for embarrassing pictures!

I think it's about time to go home and see if I got some yarns for wrappin'.


P.S. According to our paper deliverer's receipt, gas is now $2.38. On Monday, it was $2.50. By this weekend, I predict 99¢.

Tuesday, too!

Most entertaining message on the voice mail at work: *background noise, then caller leans away from phone to talks to someone else* This is an answering machine, it wants me to leave a message ... *click*

How many times have I said it? People are crazy.

Speaking of crazy (no, not really), I found another fun blog to subscribe to in my Bloglines. Dear readers, I present to you BSC Headquarters — "Revisiting my awkward(est) years, one Baby-Sitters Club book at a time."

I mean, in the comments of one of the posts, I found this gem: aaaaaaaah this is the life! i pulled some ding-dongs from underneath my mattress to enjoy while reading... That is the epitome of the BSC. I love it!

I totally used to read the BSC books — they may still be stored in my parents' basement, if they didn't give them away. A friend (or two) and I created our own version, which mostly consisted of discussing the latest episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" and 5th- and 6th-grade gossip, homework and other trivial matters. It was good times.

Anyway, there's more work to be done.

Quickie

According to a brief report on NPR, Des Moines' gas prices are the lowest in the nation. A quick look at IowaGasPrices.com confirms that the current price for a gallon of gas is $2.50 here. Suh-weet.

Only wish I could find my wallet. And maybe my alarm clock.

Spiders on a Shirt!

Okay, just one*. But it was a big mf-ing spider. Probably two inches, toe to toe. And it was a wolf spider. Eight hairy legs, pointy butt — wolf spider. (The first link is for Google Images, as in pictures of spiders. The second is from the caring people at termite.com, who think it's funny to animate a couple of the spider graphics just to make you squirm.)

Well, I'm glad I found it before it bit me. I mean, I respect spiders and all that (you, especially those of you who work with fiber, know and love remember Arachne, right?) but I'm not really a fan of getting welts or crawled on. Ew.

Enough about spiders. I need to go see if I can coerce the printer to work. I've got some patterns to print.

*Sorry about the dark picture. I didn't exactly have a chance to get out my light meter or anything, okay?

No, I don't actually have a light meter.

Four-letter words

Iowa Stat(e) Fair -- I went back to the fair yesterday, this time with my mom and roommates. Since it was the last day, it was also half price (score!). I tempted the roommates to come along with free tickets and free beers (and that $4 overflowing bucket o' cookies that we got when we arrived). Worked like a charm.

Free beer -- I now know the meaning of "drink tickets" (which brings to mind the book Party Monster by James St. James), thanks to Diamond Jack. We had 25 tickets for either a 20-ounce beer or a frozen beverage, margarita or daquiri. We shared, of course, on the advice to use them to "win friends and influence people".

Free show: Joan Jett -- And the Blackhearts. I really loved the show. Did I mention that it was Joan Jett? And that it was free? I totally felt that she was singing to me and my secret girlfriend, Clover, when she sang Crimson and Clover. I mean, come ON. She was. 'Cause, like, she knows me and stuff.



Right there. She convinced me to get her new album, Sinner. She can turn the world on with her smile, that Joan Jett.



Free cash -- I won $20 to take to Terrible's Casino. I have to use it by the end of the month, but $20 is $20. The roomies won some, too, but not as much as me, because I'm just like that.

I love the state fair. Where else can you see snakes near some trains, a man riding a tiger, and freaking amazing African acrobats?

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How was your weekend? Any four-letter words?

Thursday is for blather

To prove I've actually been knitting, here's some progress on my Mason-Dixon hand towel (the wavy one). I worked on it a bit last night during Project Runway, but had to stop around the time Michael Kors kept gushing about Jeffrey's trompe l'oeil. I thought he was going to wet himself with joy, the way his was talking. Yikes.

Oh, and can I just say that I was excited to be able to read more of Jeffrey's neck tat. For the longest time I've been calling him "Detroit", or at least shouting it at the tv whenever there's a shot of his neck. But now, now I can call him "Harrison Detroit". That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

And just one more reason I love to read The Panopticon:

Bäuerliches Stricken is German for "stitch patterns that will make you rip off your eyebrows in frustration and eat them."

I would just die!