East Coast Knitters ROCK!

I HATE it when my pyooter isn't working. You might as well tie my hands behind my back and stick a sock in my mouth. I hate being unable to communicate. I couldn't send email and couldn't upload pics, so I am late in proclaiming my thanks to fellow Knittyheads Turtlegirl, Trillian, Zknitter, Roxy and AliceC who put together a fantastic package overflowing with goodies to cheer and de-stress me.



Overflowing. Literally. I mean, LOOK. I tried to keep track of what came from whom so that I can thank everyone properly, but I think you'll understand how a girl could get confused.





The first package I opened was from Zonda (I think). It's a book I've wanted for a really long time and the needles to go with it. This alone would easily been enough for me to be giddy about, but no... there's more.














Roxy sent this stuff - a makeup bag complete with makeup and other such yummy-smellin' goodies. And pink Cascade Fixation! For some reason, I love knitting pink things.











The boys were SO excited to open this from Turtlegirl!

It bought me about 80 priceless minutes of peace.
















Gorgeous Koigu from Trillian!











And here's a funny story - last week co-conspirator Bezzie emailed to ask me if I'd tried these interchangable needles. I said that I hadn't but that I'd been thinking about it, and since I'm such a good friend, in addition to my endorsement, I even emailed her a coupon so she could score them at 40% off.

I came within inches of purchasing them for myself last weekend (since they were clearly good enough for Bezz) and then at the last minute I thought, "no, I shouldn't... I mean, it would be nice, but I really don't need this..." so I put them back and actually left Michaels with nothing. This was a super surprise, and so was the Lornas Laces yarn in the colorway called BLACK PURL! How appropriate!







Sockatta from AliceC!

The boys want me to make them socks out of this.











And finally, ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS for Beebie and me! Lord knows we need it.




A huge whopping thank you to all of you East Coast Knitters, and to the other well-wishers (a big wet sloppy smooch to you, Dan!)who well-wished me out of my recent funk. I'm doing much better. I'm down to only a couple of relatively minor stress factors.

Specifically, television has been disappointing me lately. I haven't been nearly as committed to this season of Survivor as I have been in the past. Today, however, I'm actually happy about some TV-ish stuff. Season 6 of Sopranos is FINALLY out on DVD (Yay! It's like a family reunion with your creepy old uncle who tried to kill you!) so that's what R and I have been watching. Can I just go on record with the fact that if any of my kids turn out to be as big a worthless piece of crap as A.J. Soprano, I will have them whacked? Thanks.

And Blockbuster Online now has this new thing where if you take the DVD you got in the mail to their store you can trade it in for a rental, plus you'll still get the next one from your queue mailed to you. It's awesome, you get a free in-store movie while you're waiting for your next one to come in the mail. Basically, you wind up getting twice as many movies. I know a lot of people prefer Netflix, but for my money, I LOVE Blockbuster Online.

And may I gloat over how Emmitt Smith won Dancing With The Stars and he was my favorite from the very beginning?

I'm deleriously happy that 30 Rock is getting its due and moving to Thursday nights! If you haven't seen it, you should. Alec Baldwin is one of the funniest actors out there. The whole cast is brilliant.

I have started taking a new Bellydance class on Thursday nights, which is partly why Survivor and I are falling out of love. The class is tough but I have a cool friend who has a son in Ry's Pre-school class and another son in Tito's class, plus a newborn son. She's kickass. She's the Anti-Stella.

Anti-Stella is so cool that she didn't get mad when I called her 5 minutes before our bellydance class started to let her know that I wasn't going because I had just spent the last half-hour figuring out what I was going to make for dinner, going online to find a particular recipe for chicken breast, locating and mixing the necessary ingredients and various utensils and preheating the oven only to discover that the 2 pounds of chicken I was going to cook had spoiled and smelled so nasty I started dry heaving and then I cried and now I just kinda didn't feel like going anywhere and I especially didn't feel like shakin' my can in Bellydance class. She understands shit like that.

Anti-Stella and I and our boys were invited on a play date with Ry's friend Camille earlier this week. Camille's mom is sweet as can be, but marginally OCD (I think I'll refer to her as Margie for marginal), I suspect. Camille also has twin brothers who are 2-ish, so there were 9 kids running around (ok, 8 running around, the baby is just teeny) Camille's house. It was insanity.

I got to hold the teeny baby for a little while, and he was so snuggly and clean-baby smelling it was just really sweet until he started rooting. Oh, no, no...no, my friend... I laughed nervously.

Note: Here's your last chance to bail out before I start talking about my boobs.

I have a bit of a love/hate thing with my breasts. I was an early bloomer and blossomed into a D cup in high school. You may not be aware of this, but there is a common misconception that any girl with huge boobs is automatically a slut. I think I managed to do my part in shattering that stereotype. Boys are stupid.

When I got pregnant with Beebie, they grew even bigger. I felt like I was in a freakshow. I hated nursing, too. I hated the letdown reflex, hated leaking, hated trying to find nursing bras in my size, hated the fact that I couldn't poke R to get up in the night and feed her if she cried, it was all on me. And I was aware of the possibility of pumping into a bottle but the LAST thing in the world I wanted was to hook a machine up to them so I could feel even more like a cow.

Anyway, I have recently come to appreciate my body in a healthier way. And to celebrate that fact, I got my nipples pierced a couple of years ago. I mainly did it because I knew R didn't think I'd do it. I don't like to lose a game of Chicken, if ya know what I mean. And I was good and sure we didn't want any more babies, cuz I'm closing off the tap once and for all. I don't even want to be tempted.

So I went to this place called Goldenlands on the recommendation of my friend Maddie who also had hers pierced for a time. By the way, Maddie, if you're reading this, please call me. A girl named Jessica (who had, among other things, the skin in the back of her neck pierced) did the work, and R went in the room with me too. Yes, it hurt. The second one hurt more than the first. But they don't hurt anymore. They do, however, conduct cold, which can be downright painful in the winter.

I still can't believe I did it, but I did. I have steel curved barbells. I love them. I can't really feel them except for (ahem) sometimes, but I like how they look on me. I feel like they make me look more symmetrical. I love that they make me feel like a badass. I love that they remind me of how pain is temporary. They're totally symbolic of the fact that I'm too much of a nonconfrontational puss to pierce something that would be readily visible, like a nose or an eyebrow, but I'm still ballzy enough to get a big freakin needle shot through a body part. Twice.

Other than on my blog, I'm relatively private about my badass side. I'm more of a covert, hush-hush, closet, undercover agent badass. It's my little secret from the world. Kinda like my Power Panties, only I wear these all the time. I especially think it's funny when I know people can see them through my shirt but they're trying not to stare.

And more than anything, it cracks me up that my FIL probably never thought he'd have a pierced freak for a daughter-in-law. My sister has her tongue pierced, so I figure my parents can make peace with mine. Except I haven't really told them yet. I'm 98% sure somebody told my mom, though. Whatever. I guess I'd show her if she asked.

So while I was holding Anti-Stella's baby, I let it slip to the other moms that my nips were thusly adorned, and I think Margie was kinda horrified but Anti-Stella said, "Oh, I can TOTALLY see you as someone who'd have a cool piercing!"

Hello, New Best Friend!

I think I'll teach her how to knit.