I've Got a Ticket... and Not to a Ride at Disneyland, Either

Quite the provocative title, huh? Is it a speeding ticket? A lottery ticket? More to come in just a minute.

First of all, Sheryl arrived last Sunday after a horrendous 11-hour flight. It took her a few days to acclimate, but now she appears to be on our schedule. It's been difficult for me to get on a "normal" sleeping schedule, and since it's 5:10 a.m. (and I'm typing), it's obvious that I'm failing miserably. I've been getting up at a reasonable hour and going out to do some things with her, but it's been up to poor Hubster to take her into town and go shopping on those days when I've slept most of the daylight hours away. I feel terrible, but I'm doing the best I can. She's been a tremendous blessing - she got all the orders packed and sent out, is helping me go through the stash and sort it into piles (throw away, give away, sell, keep), and is helping me list new artists this week. She's also a lot of fun to just hang out with. I've yet to feed her a traditional breakfast, go to the day spa for a day of pampering, and do a bunch of other things - but she's going to be here all week (and maybe another week after that), so we've still got time. Unfortunately, we're about to undergo a big warmup - she doesn't do well with warmer weather- so there goes Disneyland. We've got a lot to do, though, so I doubt we'll even miss it.

Today, we decided to go to San Diego. After doing a bit of research, we found a yarn shop we wanted to go to. It was okay - kind of small - but we both found some things to buy. I wound up putting all my yarn back because I realized I had more than I would ever knit in a lifetime, so I just bought some books and patterns. The shop owner informed me that she was converting to all indie yarn and was quite pleased with herself... until I told her that's all I sell and wasn't doing well. I'll have to go back to see if she really does it. I saw several labels which I carry, so I know I've got some modicum of good taste.

Anyway, we went to Old Town afterward and found that a fiesta was still going on (I forgot that Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow), and a lot of street vendors were still open. I scored big at a pottery place, buying some new chimes, a hummingbird feeder, and a peacock for the front yard (don't ask). Hubster was less than pleased. Then we decided to head over to the main drag, where I found a Chuck Jones gallery. After seeing the prices on the cels, paintings, and sculptures, i found a little original drawing of Marc Antony and Pussy Cat (you remember that cartoon - Marc Antony the bulldog finds a stray kitten whom he adopts, only to get into a lot of trouble with both the kitten and his mistress) which I could afford. It now resides on an end table in my front room. Then Sheryl was hungry, so we grabbed some food at Pizza Hut and headed to our favorite beach to watch the sun set over the ocean and eat our dinner. That's when the trouble began.

After eating, I lit a smoke and sat there watching the waves. It was then that I noticed a truck driving across the sand. The truck stopped at the people next to us - they had a fire going in a pit - and then drove over to us. Huh? What did I do? It turns out that you can have a dog who shits on the sand, but smoking on a public beach is illegal. Instead of just warning me, the asshat wrote me a ticket for smoking. I couldn't believe it. So now we have to call the courthouse to find out what my fine is. Had I been thinking, I would have given him false information. So now I have a point on my record, got Hubster all pissed off, and had the perfect ending to a less than happy day. Sigh. I think today will be much happier, though - we're going to stay in and knit all day.

Speaking of knitting, we're both using these 9" circulars by HiyaHiya. I thought they were silly at first, but then I transferred my work to one of them. It's fantastic! Going round and round beats the hell out of dealing with the joins of each new DPN. I'm working with size 1 on this project (socks, of course, and basic ones at that), but I've got up to size 3. I was kind of leery of using them (that's the snob in me coming out - any needle which I didn't pay more than $20 for had to stink) - but I'm really happy with them. I got stainless steel instead of bamboo because I like the speed steel affords me... and I always seem to break bamboo or at least get them splintered. I bought a set for Sheryl and also got a set of Darn Pretty DPN's for other projects (from Grafton Fibers). I had to find a new DPN since Golding no longer makes them, and these are an acceptable substitute - they're strong, sharp, and... well... darn pretty. They're also inexpensive, which I know makes Hubster happy.

So that's it for now. I've just fallen asleep and slept for an hour, so I'm going to wrap this up and do some knitting before I fall asleep again. I have lots more to tell you all, but that will wait for my next post. My lovely disease is attacking my left knee, so I can barely walk without excruciating pain. A day in sounds like just the ticket.

And once I find out the fine for the ticket, I may just be knitting and not going out for some time to come.