Kermit had it right....

It's not that easy being green;

Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.

When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold...

or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy being green.

It seems you blend in with so many other ord'nary things.

And people tend to pass you over 'cause

not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.

And green can be cool and friendly-like.

And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain,

or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be

It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?

Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!

And I think it's what I want to be.


Kermit had it right….

It’s not easy being green.

This past weekend, MUC and I got back into the swing of the letterboxing gig. It was really great to get out and see folks at the “It’s Not Easy Being Green” event at Folly Beach, SC. Drgdlg put on a really nice, low key event with plenty of boxes to keep us busy.

Personally, I’m still a bit of a mixed bag regarding my feelings for the whole thing. Not because of the event, but due to my own abilities and performances. It was a real testament to what I *can’t* do right now. My mind was no where near being able to focus enough to sort the boxes by geographical area, much less work on any codes (there were a couple of those). If it weren’t for the very uncharacteristic laidback graces of Eidolon, I don’t know if we’d have boxed at all.

MUC and I have boxed quite a bit with Eidolon, Artemis and the Hitchhiker puppies, and we know what we’re getting into. It usually involves moving at the crack of dawn, hustling all day long, solving issues and clues on the fly, debating and re-debating, no eating (unless it’s along on the trail), and ends with a flashlight at the last boxes. We’re exhausted, filthy, inky messes with lots of stamps to show for our efforts.

This weekend, either Eidolon was in a particularly gracious mood or was ill, because we were practically sedate and leisurely all day long. MUC and I didn’t get there until almost noon, and basically announced to Eidolon we were going to ride his coattails. And we did. After lunch. I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened. We also stopped and let the puppies play at the dog park (which was freakin’ huge, by the way).

We did a little boxing after dark, but it was a guided tour type thing by drgdlg, with Paw Paw and Granny, hawkeye and Jdog, as well as Buttercup and Johnny Quest along for the journey. Other than a brief encounter with an after hours park nazi and MUC’s momentary scary spill, the evening was tame as well.

Most stayed for the weekend, but MUC and I came on home, getting back to Chez McD by about 2 a.m. And, yeah, we were exhausted, inky messes, but not quite so many stamps as I’m used to having at the end of the day.

The day after was rather unpleasant, but Dr. Rheumo finally came over with some pain meds, so it was at least tolerable. It’s also what prompted my late night trip home. We had considered staying the night, but after deciding my pain threshold was just too unpredictable these days, I didn’t want to be away from home if I really needed to medicate myself.

All this, and I forgot my POS camera. So, I’ll leave you with this image instead.

Namaste

Namaste ( pronounced nah-mah-STAY) is the word used at the end of each yoga lesson. It’s a benediction of sorts, and roughly translates to “the divine in me recognizes the divine in you”. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not so much into what Necropolis calls the “woo-woo” of yoga, but I like saying that word at the end of each class with my fellow students. It has sort of a binding moment that is difficult to explain. When I made my newest pattern, a yoga mat bag, it seemed right, somehow, to name it Namaste. So I did. Mine is a bit unusual, in that I purposefully made the stretch of the lattice work for me, so the bag is actually smaller than the mat. It stretches to its correct size quite easily. That also means that it takes less yarn to make that the other mat bag patterns I’ve seen. I made mine in Noro Kureon, with which I have sort of a love/hate thing going. I do love the colors. I’m not so crazy about the sticks, stems and leaves I have to clean out of the stuff. You can find the pattern for Namaste Yoga Mat Bag on my Six Degrees site and listed on Ravelry, as well as my Easy Peasy yoga socks.

Now….back to all that knitting I put off, not to mention the long list of Christmas knitting (ARGH!)

Why My Kids Are the Most Awesome On the Planet

Necropolis and I have always encouraged our children to be themselves and have not restricted them to gender stereotypes. If one of our children chose to take ballet or said they wanted to study fashion, we would encourage and support them.

Our children, however, have other ideas.

They are two of the roughest, tumblest, dirtiest boys imaginable. They are of the scraped knees, frogs in the pocket, swinging from the rafters variety. And, that's quite alright as well. Hard on the washing machine, but quite okay.

It's the time of year when the toy commercials are really hitting hard, and GLB and MUC are starting to really sit up and take notice. It's strange how they focus on this, since Santa is quite selective in what he brings, and we tell family and friends to go light on the toys. Our children are very fortunate in what they have, so we don't encourage excess. At any rate, while watching these commercials, the boys often gag and vehemently disdain any "girl" toys. My Little Pony, Barbies, Bratz (which, quite frankly, scare me), and others of that ilk are very like to provoke a resounding "OH, GROSS!" from the kid quarter. I feel it is my obligation and duty as parent to tease them unmercifully. I still have a couple of my childhood Barbies, a carry case, as well as several outfits. They've been in the garage, in storage all this time, but I keep threatening to get them out for the boys to play with every time they start gagging at a Barbie commercial. Tonight, MUC called my bluff.

And, I called his.

I went, at great risk of life and limb, and found the case, cleaned it off, and offered it (with a strong admonition that it was OLD) to the boys. They DOVE into it. And hour and a half later, I'm typing this blog entry, and they're still playing with the dolls. I know this is probably a one time event. They'll lose interest, and I'll put the Barbies back. But, it does my heart proud to know my kids just don't care. Just like they don't care about color, or gender, or how much money some one's parents have.

Oh, and someday, when they bring home a date, I've got proof of this night.

Build a Better Mousetrap

I’ve never been one to go with the status quo, just because. Of course, I don’t feel a need to reinvent the wheel, just because, either. I do feel a driving need to create items or complete tasks with the most efficiency and most direct method of completion to a goal with the smallest chance of error or failure. I’ve discovered most people don’t feel this way.

The pondering of this came about while working on my various incarnations of yoga socks. How I got from one point to the other may seem a bit of a stretch, but I got there. The short version: I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I went about determining what would be required to create what I needed. I determined the efficiency, the most effective method of getting there, the possibilities of error, and set my course. As a result, I now have 3 variations of socks, one complete (Easy Peasy over on Six Degrees), and two in the works. I even have a tutorial over on Six Degrees for working part of one of the socks. The other two socks should be finished fairly soon, ready for their unveiling.

What I’ve discovered, in my very direct method of creating my path to efficiency is that many people perceive me as being negative. I’ve been accused of not being a team player, of not supporting the group, of not being ‘happy’, of being a spoil sport. I often play Devil’s advocate in a situation, find the holes, the errors, the mistakes. I see the whole picture instead of just the steps, and I often say what I mean and mean what I say.

I’m not a yes woman. If asked, I will give my honest opinion. If I don’t know, I say so. If it’s not strictly positive, I’m very likely to offer some suggestions for improvement or ways that might make the plan more effective. I think in the long term, not in the now.

I tend to not be a very popular person in a work environment, especially education, which is currently driven by No Child Left Behind (thanks, George W) and test scores.

When I find a true kindred spirit, who enjoys collaboration as much as I do, the results are wondrous. The art teacher at one of my schools and I often collaborate. We have several art/music projects across grade levels and throughout the school year. We work together with several school programs, where we always receive tons of compliments for our work. We have written and received grants. The one we’re most proud of involved assisting our students in creating bags of art and music goodies for children who might not have things at the battered women’s shelter and the Children’s Hospital.

Why did I feel the need to write this all based on some yoga socks? I don’t know. At times, I suppose, despite how self sufficient I tend to be and how resilient I am (not to mention how right I am about the whole thing, but that’s another post), it’s still a sore spot.


Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Taking a Different Tack

Just a short note here about a digression in the venture.

I decided not to clutter this particular blog with the patterns and such I intend to create and make available online. As a result, I determined the best course of action was to create a second blog, Six Degrees Arts, that will contain that type of information. Life Less Blordinary will continue to be the primary blog for my general rambling and photo publishing and talking about not much at all. And, I'll announce here when I have released new patterns on the second blog. Over on the righthand side, at the top, is a quick link to the Six Degrees blog, where you can find any patterns I might have available.

At this point, there's only one: my Easy Peasy Yoga - Pilates Socks. If you go there, you'll find the pattern, and it's also listed on Ravelry.

Keep your eyes peeled for more!

I Touch Myself

Last week, I had another appointment with my rheumatologist. All I can say is, it was a little bit better than the last visit, no thanks to Dr. Rheumo. The real thanks goes to the cute, young Dr. Peter that was following her around. I go to a teaching medical hospital, so I see lots of medical students, interns and residents. I don’t mind. I figure they have to learn somewhere, and they might someday discover the cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s. At any rate, cute, young Dr. Peter came into my exam room and asked if he could ask some questions. Basically, he asked me my medical history, so he got the full story, complete with depression history, my two C-sections, prolonged, induced first labor, and everything leading up to my current state. We were in there about 45 minutes talking, and he really was sweet and incredibly, terribly earnest. Bless his heart.

So, while talking, I mentioned that often, I feel a lot like I used to after REALLY overdoing it at the gym (back in the Stone Age when I was rather fit and did this on a regular basis), where I didn’t want to move, and I didn’t want anyone to touch me. Of course, that feeling would pass in a day or two, and I’d be better. The trouble now is that the feeling never passes; it just stays there, or gets worse. The pain and discomfort grinds on you, not just physically (which can be difficult), but emotionally and psychologically. In my head, I KNOW there’s so much dog hair on the carpet you can no longer tell what color it really is, but I also know that using the vacuum cleaner, even for that little bit, could cause untold agony the next day. So, I have to weigh the pros and cons for everything I do. I told cute, young, earnest Dr. Peter that my family was really understanding at first, but now, it looks like I’m just lazy, since I don’t LOOK sick. It often appears to others that I have plenty of energy to do the ‘fun’ things, but no energy to do the work type things. In some ways, that’s true, since I often try to balance a certain amount of activities, like this past weekend’s trip to the Ren Fest, for my children’s benefit against how desperately the compulsive need to load the dishwasher hits.

I also told him that I got the feeling, right or wrong, that the doctors were thinking it was all in my head. I was trying to do my part, losing weight gradually (the scales backed me up on that one), slowly increasing my exercising (a delicate balance, to be sure), but when I needed the help to get there, namely pain management, I felt like I was getting the run around, being prescribed the baby aspirin of pain meds.

Like a good little student/intern, cute, young, earnest Dr. Peter ran and tattled to Dr. Rheumo. So, when she came in the room, practically the first words out of her mouth were, “We don’t think it’s all in your head, and we do believe you.” Then she gave me a prescript for some better pain meds. They don’t work great, but she also gave me the nurse’s number and her email address. I feel more like she’s with me now than before.

While visiting Dr. Rheumo, she and cute, young, earnest Dr. Peter threw out a new word – polymyalgia. Apparently, this is different than fibromyalgia. And after looking it up online, I have to agree that my symptoms do more closely align with poly. The part that’s hard to swallow? The average onset age of polymyalgia is 70. It’s unheard of in anyone under the age of 50. Necropolis says that’s because I’m aging in dog years. This brings me to something the online research suggested. Yoga.

If you had told me even 6 months ago that I’d be in a yoga class, I’m sure I would have laughed at the idea. However, even with my limited experience, I have to admit it’s been a real turning point. I haven't really bought into the whole meditation thing yet, but I do give it an honest attempt while I’m in the class. What I can’t dispute, however, is how much more loose, less tense, less stressful, just….less….I feel when I leave. It’s been amazing. I’m sure I’ll be writing about this more as time goes on and I get more involved in this. I’ve actually bought my own mat and a DVD of easy beginner stuff to do at home on the days I don’t have class. I bought a pair of yoga pants. And, I’ve knitted some yoga socks. Yeah, my feet get cold. I’ll probably knit fingerless gloves too, since my hands get cold too. Anyway, back to the socks. I looked around, and all the socks I saw looked okay, but I thought I could do better, so I came up with my own design. I have an easy-peasy version, and a more fitted version (which I prefer). I plan to put them here on the blog to share very soon. Once I actually get the second fitted sock finished. Hopefully tomorrow.

Blog entry title courtesy of The Devinyls

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Today, we took a family road trip up above Charlotte to the Carolina Renaissance Festival. It's a rather laid back festival, and more people in street clothes than playtrons, but the boys enjoy it, so we go and play tourist as well.

There was a huge, old kaleidoscope outside of one of the shops. I took a couple of macro shots of the outer color wheel.

My big pleasure of the day is a stop at the Henna Tent.


The boys thought it was BIG TIME today, since I let them get a small henna design today as well. They were too proud.

MUC says next year, he wants to "dress up".

I Just Want To Bang On The Drums All Day.

MUC's Tomten Jacket is complete. Well, complete with the exception of needing buttons. But, otherwise, it's complete. So, after I picked up the Things from school today, I dragged MUC out into the backyard for a little photo session. While yes, we do live in Georgia, and yes, it did get to 90 today, no, my son was not sweating as a result of my forcing him to wear a wool sweater in 85 degree heat and 70 percent humidity. He was sweaty when I picked him up from school. That's my story anyway.

The coolest part of this sweater, in my opinion, is the yarn. I had 3 skeins of plain, old natural colored Paton's wool. MUC and I decided that we would see what damage we could do to it, and the green, blue and rust color are what he, I and some Wilton's dye came up with. I purchased the charcoal gray Cascade 220 to bring it all together (and since I knew I was going to need another skein of yarn). The Tomten is an Elizabeth (The Most Holy One) Zimmermann pattern and is really an easy knit. I have one planned for GLB as well, but he wanted something more simple, so no dyeing of yarn for that one.

It's Too Late, Baby

After a mad dash to the first of October, a moderately insane moment where I trusted Necropolis with my pinking shears, and copious amounts of muttering and cursing, my latest Italian Ren garb is featured in the Italian Showcase on Bella's site. You can check it out here. All in all, I'm please with how the gown itself turned out. How it looks on me? Not so much. Frankly, the thing hangs like a sack of potatos, since I've lost weight (take THAT, Dr. Rheumo!), and I didn't have time to do a complete remake. Even if I had the time, I don't think I would have done a complete remake. But, it's done and over, and now I have another gown from the 1490s to complete by November 1st. I love stress.

GLB decided he wanted to be Harry Potter for Halloween, so I'm in the process of knitting a Gryffindor house scarf for him. And, it's in the yuckiest, scratchiest Red Heart acrylic yarn ever made. I must really love my children.

I haven't mentioned this before, but I've been playing around on Ravelry, a new knitting/crocheting community. Let me tell you, if you do yarn work, GET ON THE LIST. This place is amazing for the pattern search alone. You can see what other people have done with a particular pattern, what issues they might have had, what yarn they used...it's totally amazing.

I've also added a ton of photos to my Flickr account, so you can see what passes for my attempts at photography with my POS camera. Necropolis keeps hinting that Santa may be nice to me this year. One can only hope!

More knitting on the way, but I don't have a lot of photos of the works in progress. And, the photo issue I mentioned before seems to have resolved itself. Good thing. My resolutions would have probably resulted in a subdural hematoma (how's that, Lucy?).