It's been quiet lately...quiet with lots of fluff.

This last weekend I went to Shepherd's Harvest, and stocked up on many, many lovely wools to play with. So now I get to make decisions. I have some fun ideas, but where to start? I'm overwhelmed by choices, and the choices are all good. It doesn't help that I'm tired from work, so I don't really have the energy to start making much. So I've been playing with my drop spindle, spinning a yard here and there while watching tv or something...

Also, I'm not really that happy with Etsy anymore...between the hordes of resellers and the stories that keep leaking out about the way they treat their handmade sellers, I'm shopping around for other sites where I can offer my yarns. WePay doesn't look too bad,really. I'm thinking thoughts.

So there you are...

This morning, I was upset and dismayed to learn that LJ was monkeying with things again...
It just seemed like the usual trend of having to pay more for less, and it annoyed me more than the usual. I'm calmer now, and paid up and everything. Still annoyed, but more resigned, really. LJ is different now, and I miss the way things used to be. I miss Etsy before it became a reseller's paradise, I miss Youtube before it started making all the good reviewers and parodies move, and I miss LJ when it was a talky hub full of gleeful insanity. It still is sometimes...

Plus, I have a knee that's bothering me. I was helping friends move yesterday, and my knee has been unforgiving, even though it was for a good cause. Makes me grumpy. Grump Grump...

Anyway, thanks for grumping with me, and I love you all to pieces. Not actual pieces. That would be really hard to clean up. Just the metaphorical pieces, then...

I've got the day off, so I'm cheerfully puttering at home, and hanging out with the rabbit. Later on I think I'll go plant some nasturtiums. There was gumbo and cake. And a nap. I love having just a little extra time off to celebrate just being alive...

For your enjoyment, I give you Shamu the Bunneh with a tiny hat on his head...

The other day I bought a wonderful floofy dress to wear to a friend's wedding. Black and green. I know, Gaily-Waily told me I should never, ever wear black to a wedding. Or red. Or white. And I looked at her and said, "But have you SEEN me in beige? You really don't want to, darlin'"
Anyway, this is not completely black, the green is a lovely sage color. I'll take photos this weekend, I think...

Meanwhile, I've had trouble trying to catch up here on the Lj. Life has been pulling me in all kinds of funny directions, all of which seem to demand more and more attention. It doesn't help that it's become absolutely gorgeous outside, so much of the time I'm on the Paeceo with some knitting and a lemonade, humming to myself and watching squirrels chase each other around.

Actually I surprised a squirrel in my garbage when I was tossing out some old coats. He shrieked, I shrieked, and two separate neighbors came running to see who was trying to murder me. I laughed and pointed at the now-indignant squirrel trying to regain his cool in the lilac bushes. Apparently I have a very loud scream when you freak me out bad enough:)

So anyway, more soon, I promise...

It's been warm. Really warm. So warm I've busted out the Bunny-fan for Shamu. His winter coat is still coming off in fluffy bits here and there, but he's nowhere near done, so he needs the help. This weather scares me a little...

However, the weather hasn't stopped me from buying solar lights for the Paeceo. Including little ones that need days to charge, and still haven't come on yet. All the other lights have a charge now, so I seethe a little bit--those are the lights I wanted the most! C'monnnnn, c'mon! All I want are twee fairy lights in my damn lilac bushes, this is not so much to ask! And yes, this frustrates me more than it should.

But really, things are okay. A lot of Paeceo going on this last weekend was lovely, including an idyllic interlude where we all watched a bunch of teenagers in shorts and sun-dresses try to break into the tunnels under the Island...down the wrong manhole. We sarcastically golf-clapped when they finally got the manhole up, and then they trooped up to ask if there was a better way to get into the tunnels. Hehhehheh...we told them nothing useful, interspersed with fits of giggling and a spatula-wielding Pink Satan shooing them out of her yard. It was a hilarious, priceless thing, I tellya!

All in all, not so bad, really...

Why does it feel like it's harder to adjust to Daylight Savings this year? Everybody's walking around looking dazed, grumpy and confused. I am too--this morning I overslept,and I almost never do that. Happily I got where I had to go in good time, but it rattles me on the few occasions when that happens...

So I've been cheering myself up with knitting. I'm about two-thirds of my way through a big round shawl on circular needles. Since it's still being knit up, it looks like a huge Rasta hat. People come up to me and say, "Wow, that's a really big Rasta hat you're knitting there!" and I stick it on my head and tell them I'm going to have the Biggest Dreads in History...happily, everybody knows I'm lying my socks off. So there's that.

Also, I'm thinking of a new Rogue Docent tour...I want to do a Mad Tea Party. I think we *need* a Mad Tea Party. If you have a day that sounds like a good one, let me know, and I'll do my best to schedule something if I can swing it. I will definitely find somewhere to have tea after, and if fancy dress-up delights you, I think it should be done. So there's that too...

And now, time for some meditation on the couch with a book, until I feel like cooking something dinnerish...

Yesterday it got warm. Very warm for March, even. So Ben the Neighbor and Matt and I had our first outdoor Paeceo this year. It was a little soggy, and icy in bits, but we enjoyed the sun so much. It was such a nice thing, sitting out with our cheese and beer...

Paeceo makes the world a nicer place...

Recently I've been grumpulunt lately...I think it was just the combination of weather and events and lots and lots of working. This last weekend was Toddlergheddon at the Mines, so to keep my spirits up I insulted everybody who asked me to do so on Facebook. But this is not for you, beloved LJers...

Nonono, instead, for you and only you, I have the Squee-athon. For anyone who asks me to, I will give the most florid, over-the-top compliments you've ever heard. Big, brassy, wonderful compliments that will make your cheeks glow and your eyes sparkle with life! Incredibly silly compliments that will make you think I am an A+ weirdo! All for you, just for the asking!

Okay--one, two, three, GO!

Ah, that's better. I'm finally over my cold. But for some reason the Dorito craving still lingers. That's just plain wrong, I tellya...

Anyway, since our winter has been so mild and balmy, my spring-cleaning impulses have been jumping up early. There's clothes I should just toss and replace, and things to put in boxes and store. There's knitting to finish up, and some really good, fluffy stuff to spin. I have this strawberry fluff that wants to be a fluff-yarn so very, very much, and I keep having to ignore it and do practical things for a bit. It surprises me sometimes, how hard my spinning-jones has become. But I feel so much better when I'm spinning--more grounded, happier, less wound up. and, let's face it, it's been a pretty tough winter emotionally. If spinning is my Xanax, so be it...

The tricky part is finding the right balance, as usual. I'm sure it'll happen. In between the errands and the cleaning, it'll be okay...