Long Time Coming

I've been a little out of the loop lately, since I've been busy with knitting all these wonderful socks, catching up on some mending that's been more or less lounging around the house waiting for some TLC, fixing a board on the deck, repairing the garage door (we won't say who's fault THAT was), mowing lawn, doing laundry, playing with the bagpipe band, going to an Alpaca show and just generally staying busy.

Recently, there's been quite a furor over the State of Michigan budget. The population is angry because the senate and legislature have been haggling over the issues for over 8 months, there's been some talk of things like they only came in one day a week the entire month of August. Now, I want to know how somebody can work those kinds of hours and get paid, and with a higher salary than I'll ever see--for a 40 hour week. I think the UAW has a right to demand part time work=part time pay. I realize that some of these folks work lots more than 40 hours a week, but when a deadline looms, why go through all the drama of waiting until the last minute to make a quick decision? I just don't get it at all.

I've been working on the KAL for friendly socks (I think it's friendly socks, anyway--I have so many sock clubs that I can't remember who's doing what!). We decided to do the colors for the Tour de France. I picked yellow and green. BRIGHT yellow and EMERALD green. Lovely colors, and they go well together. The wound balls are on a previous post. Progress is going well on these. I started them about a week ago, and they are now a few rows past the heel turn, and I'm working on the gusset decreases. I will post a pic as soon as they are finished.

Saturday, our band did a volunteer gig for Relay for Life, Race for a Cure--a fund raiser for Breast Cancer Research. I picked up a pair of shoe laces, a pin with a pink tennis shoe on it, two T-shirts, one pink, one purple, and we just generally had a good time. Afterward, some of the people in the band drove over to a Bob Evans for breakfast. We had a nice time there, too.

From there, it was a long trip to Jackson to the Alpaca Show. We stopped in Kalamazoo, grabbed a bite to eat across the street from the Airport, picked up some fabric for pips for the band shirts at Field's Fabrics across the street, dropped in to the Airport to say hello to my ex-husband, who was rude and told us to leave, and then headed over to Walmart to buy some hairy pink yarn to make covers (sort of like you would for a golf club) for the tenor drummers beaters. This way, the tenors can have pink covers for their beaters for when we do this stuff for Race for a Cure, which we do twice a year. I'll probably do something for covers for them for normal performances, too, but have to get with them to find out what color they want.

Then it was off to the Alpaca Show in Jackson. This was something of a disappointment, I guess. It was one Alpaca farm doing a tour of their farm, as well as showing their alpacas (I had hoped it would be a show with other people's alpacas, with alpacas for sale (or rent? ). They had lots of Alpaca fiber and finished goods for sale, but without a budget for the State of Michigan, and as an employee here, I didn't think it was wise to spend all of my money at this time. I walked away, sadly empty handed.

When I got home, I decided to continue to spin my friend's chiengora, and got another bobbin full. Then realized that I had my yarn for my red sweater on my niddy noddy, and the other two bobbins were full of sock yarn from the sheep to sock project. So I finished binding off my sweater, dunked the red yarn into a pool of warm water, and then hung it in the bathroom to dry. I never did unspool my sock yarn, but went back to work on the KAL.

Sunday, my hubby took me to breakfast, then we went to the store to pick up some fruit, then to Walmart to pick up some fiber tablets, then home to fix the deck and repair the garage. After that, we watched television until suppertime. I worked some more on the KAL. Then I made dinner. At 10pm, I watched the news to see if the state had made a decision, and the news said everything was still up in the air, but I knew already that we were going back on Monday.

Ask me why...go ahead...ask me why.

On Friday, I drew a tarot card that said that I needed to keep a positive outlook and not worry about it. Then I drew the 8 of wands, which reminded me of the UAW employees on the Civil Service lawn. Then on Saturday, I drew the Wheel of Fortune--right side up. This, for me, boded well, and I told my hubby "I'm going to be going to work on Monday morning"

Sure enough, it happened.
Now, you ask "why did the Wheel of Fortune have anything to do with going to work on Monday?"

Well, word had it that the casinos were going to have to shut down--I associate the Wheel of Fortune with gambling (for one) and good fortune (or luck). Meaning the things that I want or need will be provided. Therefore, if the gambling had to stay open, then of course, the rest of the state would as well. I am going to work, and the positive attitude I had also caused the wheels of government to turn just a bit faster.

This morning I rolled up the Judgement card reversed. This could mean a lot of things, but most of the time (for me) it means that someone is judging me wrongly. Well, that would be my ex, who is terrified of me for some reason. I find it all very amusing, because I'm not a vicious person, and I've never done a thing to him. However, he is VERY paranoid over many things, not just over me--and I'm sure that he would rather I NOT become friends with his new wife. I have no idea why he was so rude to Ray and I on Saturday, because we did only stop in as it was "on the way" in our travels, and only to say "hi", but it's likely got something to do with some unreality that he's concocted in his own mind. I'll have to pull some other cards to find out why he's judging me so harshly. It might be he's mad that I told his sister in law the secret that he told me (of course, it was a total lie), or the fact that I see more of his mother than he does. Perhaps he thinks she and I talk about him incessantly. I don't even mention his name. When she does, I try to direct the conversation to other items of interest.

It's been very pleasant having his mother back in my life, and I'm finding that I don't cry over him anymore like I did for nearly 20 years of my life. The only thing that's different, is that she's back in my life (as well as my ex's brother and sister in law, and also his sister and I talk on occassion when I see her at the store), so it's not so much like I lost my family anymore, and this has been a good thing for me.

Well, it's time to get back to work, and break is over. I'll take a picture of my socks in progress and post this evening. Have a great day, everybody!