Jeweled Web

Been a lot going on lately! First off. I'm beyond happy that Jay won Project Runway. It was good to see some footage that Kara Saun wasn't as morally holy-than-thou as she thought she was. My favorite quote, "I'm being penalized for having good taste?". No, no Kara Saun ... it's for a blatant disregard for the contract rules that state "No gratis or favors". Congrats Jay!

On a side note, if I need a dress designed for me then Wendy may be getting a visit. I enjoyed Jay's clothing a lot, but Wendy's clothes are supremely wearable. No need to feel badly Wendy, there are those of us out here that 'get it'.

Okay. Last weekend for the Community Playhouse production of MOON OVER BUFFALO. My parents came to see it on Sunday. My step-dad loved it and my mother hated it. My mother (who wishes that fiction was just a passing fad) does not enjoy slap-stick comedy. This show isn't exactly slap-stick, but it is extremely funny. So my mother not liking it is no big deal, in fact, quite expected. However, there was a comedy of errors of sorts on Friday night. The light board operator, my friend Mary, was out getting an award for her design of a playhouse theatre poster. I don't have a pic, but you can visit her blog at www.sculptedyarns.blogspot.com in order to see it. So the director was running up and down from the lobby, backstage, and the booth to help out. I'm running both the sound and light boards, often at the same time AND THEY ARE NOT IN REACHING DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER! Sigh. Not to mention that the sound system pooped out on us on Friday. No sound. The show starts and my first cue to run the telephone is coming up and in desperation I hang the booth monitor (a small computer speaker) out the booth window, crank up the booth monitor and run it through that. It was hilarious. The audience had no problem, but the actors were reacting to the phone and not being able to hear it. This lasted the entire last three performances. Surprisingly, all seemed to go well.

Also, Thursday night, went to see the national tour of BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS with friends Sandy and Joe and his girlfriend, Liz. Great show. Lot's of cursing. Some people actually called and complained the next day over the curse words. Hello???? People, people. If you are going to a show with the word "Whorehouse" in the title, there might be something you find offensive in the show. Sigh. Just because you enjoyed the movie, does not mean the play will be the same. GREASE in another show that comes to mind. Broadway shows are routinely 'cleaned up' for movie goers.

Have a great day!

I have loved watching "Project Runway" on Bravo this year. I have grown attached to designers and have been sad to see them leave (Austin and Kevin and Nora) and others that I wasn't so sad to see go (Alexandra and Robert and Mario). But the finale is tonight!!!! There are three finalists: Jay, Kara Saun, and Wendy.

I love Jay's work. Kara Saun is always top notch. And everyone hates Wendy. Except me. Well, I wouldn't like her much if I was in this competition with her most likely. And things are severely edited for television, so I don't know her or what any of them are really like. But to slam her for WANTING to win???? All the others are so like, 'it's all in the design' or 'never compromise your art'. And yes, they may all truly believe that and live by it. Wendy, like Richard Hatch, knows one thing .... she does want to win. I can respect that, if nothing else. Austin was the last designer to be kicked off the runway, so to speak. And yes, I adored Austin and his work. But what the judges said made perfect sense, he never listened! He was off in his own little beautiful (often gorgeous) world and some of his designs were impractical for the assignment of the week (Post Office uniform comes to mind). Wendy's post office outfit was far uglier, but also far more practical. However, Kara Saun won that assignment and most rightfully so. So, to all three ... have fun and I like you all.

American Idol (do I watch to much t.v.? is that even in question???). Last night was the ladies. I loved Vonzell, Carrie, Nadia, and Aloha. I have only one complaint about Aloha. Why is last night the first and only time we've seen/heard her sing????? I liked the other three already, Aloha just kinda snuck up on me. For shame AI editors, for shame!!!

Carrie. Sweet and powerful voice. Apparent airhead. Well, no more "apparent". I know someone who knows her and the airhead persona is not a cheap imitation of Jessica Simpson (and no, I do not watch her on any shows, nor Paris and Nicole. Airheads need not apply to my schedule, for the most part). She really is, well ... a sweet airhead.

Anyway. Elimination round tonight. Good thing I'm taping "Lost". Hmmmm ... Sayid!!!!

Okay, I stole the title, but I couldn't help myself. I watched American Idol last night with my friend Mary. Robert brought us cheese and garlic pizza from the best place in town and then vanished, he doesn't care for AI. Mary and I enjoyed mostly the same people and mostly disliked the same people. What we disagreed about was .... Constantine vs. Bice.

Now, I'm not disliking Constantine. But my preference in all categories is Bo Bice. As for David Brown and Anwar, we agree that they are wonderful as well.

I was bored by the first few performances. Then Bo came on singing "Drift Away". He flat out nailed it in my opinion. Mary is by far the better versed in singing and musical knowledge, but I disagree with her placement of Constantine over Bice. Then Anwar came on. He sang the first few lines of "Moon River" and I thought, what?????? I mean, what are you doing???? Then he rolled right into it and gave it a blues slant that just .... rocked.

So far, Anwar and Bo Bice are my two favorites.

I like Ozzie Smith the baseball player, but his son, "Nikko" just didn't get it across last night. I hope he's not eliminated on Wednesday though. I'd like to see him "hit it out of the park" if you will forgive the bad joke.

Anyway, I've got to run. American Idol is on again tonight and I may be picking up Mary to watch it at my house tonight. But when I called her she didn't sound like she felt that well. I'm going over to check on her now.

Later!

I am patting myself on the back with a proud lil smile. Why? Because I have sucessfully added a free web counter to my blog site! I am a computer and html idiot. It took much trial and error, but it's there! Anyway, this may mean that I will be hearing the proverbial crickets in the background as I come to realize that no one is visiting my blog, but then again, I may be pleasantly surprised. We'll see!

This has been a long weekend, and not necessarily in the good sense. It started Thursday night following the final dress rehearsal. An artistic decision for the set had gone badly awry. The director hated it, the light-board operator (whose opinion I greatly respect) hated it, and I hated it. Cast didn't like it either, one even went so far as to say that the set looked as if it had been set on fire and doused.

So the director, myself and Mary (light-board operator) stayed after dress rehearsal until 2:30 in the morning fixing the set. Oh, and the dress rehearsal had sucked too. Not a good feeling. When I got home around 2:45 a.m. I was keyed up and didn't get to bed until 4:30ish. Then I slept until 10, rolled over for 5 more minutes sleepy time and woke up 5 hours later. Now groggy, I had to rush to get everything done Friday (which gratefully I did not have to work) before Opening Night. Opening Night went much better than rehearsals, by the way. Some technical difficulties, but nothing terrible. Still it was another late night considering my alarm clock goes off at 5:15 a.m. on Saturday. It was my turn to work this weekend. Saturday I worked all day til 3:30 and then ran to the theatre for the performance. Cast party afterwards, I could only stay about an hour, why? because I had to work again today! At least there's no show tonight.

Tonight involves actually getting my house a bit cleaner and doing laundry so I'm not searching for that last pair of clean unmentionables. I need to balance my checkbook tonight and pay my bills. I might even make an actual dinner. I'm off on Monday as well, for working the weekend, which means I might actually get some of the things I want to get done, done.

Right now, I'm waiting the last few minutes for patients to finish breakfast and to start gathering them for the first rehab group. At least my co-workers this weekend all work well together. Sometimes it doesn't run as smoothly.

Anyway ... Have a great day!

Last year at this time I was mourning a failed relationship. It wasn't a long or deep one, but definately one that I had some high hopes for.

This year. I got propositioned by a married man. Somewhat flattering, but also completely insulting. He actually gave me a valentine candy heart, the small ones with short sayings printed on them. It read "don't tell". Sh**head. I don't dislike this fellow. But I am disappointed in him. Then the next day, I met his wife and two of his three children, I had met the third previously. I didn't say anything. I was a little flattered that he felt I was attractive, but also felt demeaned that he felt that I was so low as to go along with it all. As I was leaving from our conversation, on good terms mind you, he said .... "if you ever lose your inhibitions, you know where to find me."

I would have to lose more than my inhibitions, how about my morality, my faith, my self respect, my honesty and my mind!

Okay. On to better subjects. Double tech for the play is over. I have my doubts about the show, but it gets better with each rehearsal so who knows. I am THRILLED beyond measure that my friend Mary has joined us to run the lights for the show. We will be in the booth together and that should be a lot of fun. In fact, I'm heading over to her place soon. We have to have our usual discussion about what we're going to eat before we watch American Idol. Deciding what to have for dinner is more difficult for us than knitting patterns and running light and sound boards.

And someone from the Knitty board has made my day! I have been struck by a Random Act of Kindness! She sent me a book, KNITTING PRETTY. It has 30 projects, and several are just what I've been looking for. I can't wait to get started! However, I'm currently working on a baby blanket for a co-worker and friend. I'm taking the Knitty pattern "Wavy" and quadrupled it. We'll see how this turns out. I had to frog two abortive starts and wasn't real thrilled about it, but it's getting better.

"Yarn snobs" is my new phrase for the week. I learned it at Knitty.com and it refers to those who prefer the non-acrylic yarns. You know, they like the angoras, silks, natural fibers, and things like kid mohair. I'm not sure about the difference between kid mohair and regular (adult?) mohair. Is it like veal and lamb? Poor baby mohairs.

I am not a yarn snob. Unfortunately, mostly because I do not have the monies needed to be a yarn snob. But also because .... wool makes me itch. But I am finding out that their are wools and there are WOOLS. So, I have yarn snob envy at the moment. I'll be keeping an eye out for great sales, let me tell you!

However, when my friend Mary went with me to Wilson, NC to a local yarn store (LYS from now on), I did find a small sale. I bout two balls (they are rounded and don't think they can be referred to as skeins) of Giardino. Obviously Italian, it says so on the label. If I'm reading this right it is 85% cotton and 15% "polyamid". Polyamid? I think that's synthetic, but if I'm wrong don't be too surprised. This is a very pretty blue than when knitted supposedly looks like butterflies on a field of blue. Right .....

Except, Mary bought some that looks like daisies on a field of green. And it kinda really does! When I get my butterfly scarf made (for a friend's little girl) then I'll have to see about putting a picture up on the blog. I wasn't able to get a pic of my Wavy scarf, cuz well ... I finished it at 11:30 last night and gave it away at lunch today. It was for a co-worker's birthday. She really seemed to love it.

SECRET: I only did 9 of the 10 sections because of time constraints. But it still looks gorgeous and it was certainly long enough. Only I know (and now you) that it wasn't completely complete. Why does this feel like cheating? She loves the scarf and will never know the difference. But I know.

She does really like it though.

Argh! How many more months before football????? What do you mean it's over?

Congrats to the Patriots, they deserved it. The Eagles ... Time Management!!!!!! Why oh why run down the clock the way you did?

Actually, neither are my team. I am a fan of the Houston Texans, former Oiler fan. I root for the Houston Astros and the Houtson Rockets as well. See the pretty pattern forming? The Texans are still a new team, but they improve each season and things look good. Not to mention that their very first game ever they beat the Cowboys. All else is gravy. MMMMMMmmm!

As for my knitty, I am almost done with my Wavy scarf. Which is good since Mary's birthday is Wednesday. I have rehearsals tonight and don't know how much I'll get done. But "stitch n bitch" is Tuesday, which will help or hinder. Help because it's a knitting night with friends. Hinder because we'll be talking and watching American Idol. Ah well ... we'll see.

Just re-read Sherrilyn Kenyon's NIGHT PLAY. Love that book, very funny.

Later!

WOW

My own blogger. Welcome! This is my first post and it is an early morning (or late night) one. I am a night owl with a day time job that forces me to get up early. This wreaks havoc with my internal clock, especially on weekends. I work as an Occupational Therapy Assistant at an in-patient rehabilitation facility. If you want to know more about that, let me know.

Anyway. I have known how to crochet for a very long time. My grandmother taught me and I then forgot all about it. Couple of years ago, I picked it back up and have finished over ten afghans and given them all away (I use the one my grandmother made me). I work with a basically elderly population, and many crochet or knit. And I became fascinated with learning how to knit. I made several abortive attempts on my own, but I am a poor pattern reader. I do have other interests though (stay with me, it does connect to knitting), which include theatre. I met a new friend, Mary, who was knitting during spare time in rehearsals and backstage. She was making this marvelous felted french market bag. I WANTED TO DO THAT! She took me under her wing, along with another friend named Anna, and we meet to SnB on Tuesdays. I'm still only doing basic knit and purl stitches, but I'm 3/4 through my first Knitty project ... Wavy! I'm having so much fun learning to knit. Shout out to Mary who is the best!

Right now I work full time, am stage managing the current community theatre production of MOON OVER BUFFALO (hilarious show), and learning to knit. I'm not at home right now though, I'm in *****boro, NC which is about 1 hour from my home visiting my two best friends - Eddie and April. April is pregnant (very early stages). Her sister and cousin are also pregnant (one of which didn't think she could get pregnant). Two good friends and co-workers are due soon and another is trying for a second child. There was a jealousy pang, but it went away fast, followed by a flood of panic about gifts. I'm known for making baby blankets (crochet) for people. But I'm on a knitting kick and just can not get geared up to making that many blankets! I've been looking for some fast and easy (beginner) baby bootie and hat patterns. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Interesting side note. About a year ago I made a George Washington tricorn hat for a co-worker's child who had a school project. I sat in my living room watching the movie VOLCANO as I made two hats (the first was a disaster). Tonight, April, Eddie and I watched VOLCANO as I worked on a scarf (Wavy pattern from Knitty) for a birthday present. Something about that movie and craft work. Is that the theme from THE TWILIGHT ZONE? Dum ... dum .... DUM.

After I get through the spate of baby gifts, and no I probably won't break down and get store bought stuff, I will finally get to try that French Market bag that I lusted after in the first place.

Anyway, goodnight til next time!