Stupid Man-Eating Escalator.

I was supposed to get my stitches out today, but the doctor decided it would be best to leave them in for another couple of days. So I get to pay an additional co-pay in a few days. Stupid escalator. Stupid rush hour.

Okay, enough griping. I've got good stuff on the horizon. I haven't really said much about this because I was being superstitious and afraid of jinxing myself, but I have to get past that phobia. So here it is - I applied to the NYC Teaching Fellows program and have made it past the first round!!! Deep breaths, deep breaths.

So the next round comes this coming Saturday. I have a day of interviews downtown and I will have to give a 5-minute teaching demo. I'm excited and terrified all at once, and Nancy is a saint for putting up with my mania as I mine her years of education knowledge. She's given me some great ideas, now I have to test it out on my boys to see if I can get this down pat in five minutes.

I don't know what will come of this, but I'm really hopeful. I have wanted to get into the classroom for so long, and I really hope that this is the chance for me. So please, keep your fingers crossed, ok? Send some teacherly vibes my way.

Other happenings... I'm working on the endless stockinette stitch involved in the French Market bag, but have cast on for a Celtic Neckwarmer to keep my brain from flatlining.

I've got another swap going - the Saucy Knitters Swap Part Deux - a continuation of the awesome hot sauce swap that I was in a few months ago. (not so) Cynical Knitting Gal, someone I've come to consider a good friend, ended up being my swap partner and she totally rocks! I'm so ticked off that my camera is still dead (grr...), but I'm going to see if I can get Will's camera to work so I can take a pic of the swappy goodness. In addition to the package o'yarny love I received at home today, there's one of hot saucy goodness waiting at the local post office. So guess where I'm headed after work tomorrow.

Did I mention that I got to meet another knitting Plurker? Last week, Karen from The Knitting Patch and I got together for some tasty Yolato and knitting talk. It was so great to meet another knitter that I've been talking to online for months (only to discover that she works less than three blocks from me)! The online knitting community is really amazing.

Okay, before I split to break up the emerging fight between the boys and herd them to bed, just have a message for my friend Sisi - I do not know what is up with the e-mail situation; no one else has had a bounceback! I am sending off a letter to you by the week's end, but didn't want you to think I was ignoring you - when my e-mail crashed a while ago, my address book was wiped out and I can't find your e-mail in my address book! Can you e-mail me again? I hope we can make plans for October!

Oh, and by the way - new issue of Knitscene? Must. Knit. Every. Pattern. Immediately.

Okay, they're trying to put each other in sleeper holds. This can't be good. I'm out for now.

I've Been Remiss...

My blogging, knitting and hot saucing pal over in The Windy City, the (Not So) Cynical Knitting Gal, has a great blog with fantastic photos of her garden and her pets (especially her smooshie-face doggie, Gracie - who has her own blog). I've been remiss in visiting her blog, so I'm off to comment all over it. Just thought I'd share. If anyone likes pictures of golden retrievers that you just want to bury your face in, I highly recommend it. And honestly, if you like gardening or just beautiful pictures, I really recommend it - how she gets those shots is beyond me.

As for me? After a brutal allergy day yesterday (thanks again, FHLL, for neglecting Field 4!), I'm back in business, sounding a lot worse than I feel.

I've gotten to the heel work on sock #2, and hoping to turn the heel on the way home if I get a seat on the train (har har). Since the first leg was a bit tight, despite the ribbing work, I cast on and knit the initial ribbing with a slightly larger needle (which Stacey would still say looks like a toothpick - we'll start Stacey off with some nice chunky worsted and size 15 needles), so I'll see how it fits when I'm done. I am fighting the urge to try on the sock now, since these needles are shorter and if I drop any stitches off the needles at this stage of the sock, I will burn them and never knit again. Okay, maybe not that drastic, but I'll whine and cry and make Mike's life miserable for a while. That's far more realistic.

Catch-Up Post - Baby Boyd

I've been really bad at updating my photos lately - once I get them off of the camera, I just go to bed. Or play with my iPod. So I was seriously lax on my Snapfish distribution action. I've remedied that last night.

If you're a regular reader, you know that I've been anticipating the arrival of Baby Boyd with about as much zeal as I anticipated my own boys - which is probably on par with the arrival of the Christ Child, but indulge me if you will. This is indeed another Baby Boyd post, but it's illustrated.

Baby Boyd made out like a bandit at what I like to refer to as "The Pre-Game Show". Enjoy some of the haul...

Here we are, flush with the joy of new goodies to find places for. I'm secretly thrilled that Nancy prefers her photos to be taken from the chest up, because I really don't want anyone viewing me from below the waist these days, either.

Keith surrounds himself with testosterone at the Pre-Game Show - there was a LOT of estrogen magic in that home.

As the countdown to Baby Boyd's arrival begins, I ask myself... what do I have time to knit? ;-)

Closet Monsters Reading

I've blogged about my friend Dan's book, Closet Monsters, before. Last night, I was lucky enough to go to his reading down at the Rapture Cafe on Avenue A and had a blast. The Cafe is a coffee bar and indie bookstore that has to be one of the most relaxed environments I've ever been in. Dan and another author, Tom Cardamone, who read from his book, Werewolves of Central Park.

I haven't been to a good LGBT event since I left ISO, so this was just such a great night out for me. I got to see some old friends, meet some new ones, and support one of my close friends as he embarks on authorhood. Dan's been published before, but Closet Monsters is his first work of fiction that's all his. There are five short stories and a novella that anchors the book. Dan read from the novella, Zombied Out and rocked it; and in true Dan self-deprecating fashion, proceeded to talk about how he looked like the perv since Tom decided to read a less-scintillating entry from Werewolves - no worries Dan, I don't think anyone had a problem with that. ;-)

Dan, giving some background on the story before launching into his reading

It was just a nice, relaxing night out. I was surrounded by books, good coffee, and friends. What more can anyone ask for, especially since my nights out don't come 'round that often? I even got to play photojournalist for the evening, taking pictures along with Danny, Dan's boyfriend (and muse - tongue planted in cheek).

Shot of the Rapture toward the back - I just thought all the black and white ads and art looked so cool, contrasted with the very reading parlor-feel of the front of the cafe.

Counter shot - don't you want to buy a copy?

Of course, the adventure begins when I head home. I was proud of myself for successfully navigating a new train line for me - the L train - and got to Union Square, where I transferred to an N to 34th Street, figuring just in case the R isn't running (you know it happens all the time), I stand a chance of getting home. I walk over to catch the F train when I notice a rat is running up the stairway directly across from me, like a little commuter. Ah, New York. Get down to the F line only to see the Queensbound side is roped off, with no explanation. Even the lights on the Queensbound side are dim. Argh. I run back to the local side, asking some random guy on the way if he knows whether or not the R is running. He answers that it is, so I decide to take his answer on faith rather than go upstairs and hail a cab. Thankfully, an R is pulling in as I run back down the staircase. Whew. At least I don't have to transfer at Roosevelt now. I get some more knitting done, and am back home a little after midnight.

I remember when my evenings began slightly earlier than when I arrived home last night. All I could do was murmur to Mike about what a great time I had, thank him for being cool about letting the kids terrorize him all night, and pass out.

Okay, Dan - when's the next reading?

Some Knitting, Some Sewing, Some Sleeping...

...describes the weekend. I had a great day out with the girls when Nancy, Stacey and I took off to go shopping yesterday. Any day that involves unlimited salad & breadsticks at Olive Garden is a good day for me. I even purchased some new yarn - cotton yarn to recreate Alex's beloved 'blanket', which literally wore away about a year and a half ago. I knitted it for him when he was first born, and he became like Linus with it. When it first started to fall apart, I tried to mend it but like I said, it was literally worn away in some spots. So I just knit up another one, with a regular yarn. He's tolerated us, but continues to ask for 'Blanket'. So I got home yesterday, whipped out one of the balls of yarn, and said, "Hey Alex, what's this?" He jumped up and down and said, "BLANKET!" It kind of blows me away that he remembers it.

Will is sullen because I haven't started that massive skull blanket project from DomiKNITrix yet, but that's HUGE.

I also got some fabric because Stacey insists that I can too make a simple wrap skirt using one of the patterns I got when Rag Shop went out of business. Let's see how simple it is when I call her, sobbing, at 1 a.m. one night soon... ;-)