Spring Has Sprung ... and it's Going to be a Hot One

Geez. I just don't know where the time goes. The older I get, the faster it goes by.

Here it is, spring already. It was 80 degrees in the City of Angels the other day, and even though we're about 20 degrees cooler up here than in the flatlands, it looks to be a rather warm spring. I know what that means. It means a beastly summer is on tap. Fuck.

Those of you who have been faithful readers of my rather sporadic blogging know that I don't deal well with the heat. So what are we doing? We're looking for a house in the Delta region, where temps well in the 100's during the summer are common. We can't afford to move close to the Bay, so it's out in the mud flats for us. We're only looking at houses with pools, which is how I survive in those regions. We're also going through the pre-approval process for a loan right now. Damn... I knew we should have fixed our credit report before now. We haven't heard yet if we'll be approved or not (and if so, for how much), so keep your fingers crossed. We have to look at larger houses because if my mother gets full custody of the kids, that means we'll eventually get custody of them when she gets too old to take care of them (which also means that should be next year). I don't mind, though - as long as I'm still here and can take care of the little monkeys. They're already excited that we may be coming home. It's not me they're excited about - it's Grandpa and the pool that floats their boats. Oh well. The prices are amazing. We looked at a 3700 sq. ft. house (pool included) that's listed for $275K. You read that right. Of course, people are putting in offers like crazy on these things - the banks now have no vested interest in getting rid of properties quickly because of that stupid bill our president pushed through - so houses are selling for quite a bit above their asking prices. The deals are still good, though, so if we qualify for a decent loan, we should be able to get a good house.

Speaking of children, Daisy (our blabbermouth grand) told my mother that "Mommy is going to have a baby". Mom had her suspicions - I guess Amber's ass is as wide as two axe handles. I haven't seen her since she's cut off all ties with us, but I have a feeling that it's true. If it is, that bodes well for the court hearing in July. She'll be about eight months by then, and the judge isn't going to feel charitable towards her. This is the final hearing for permanent custody of the twins, and for someone who can't take care of the two she already has, it's not likely that a judge is going to grant custody of them to a pregnant mother. I just don't know where she went wrong. I regret the day I popped that monster out, and a monster she is. I may have been a wild child, but I never hurt people and always put my family first. Not Amber. She only considers us family when it suits her. Hubster and I have disowned her. We refuse to be hurt anymore. The one I feel sorry for is Amber's ex. He's a sweet young man with a lovely family, and I would have loved to be related to them. She seems, however, to like men who mistreat her. Sigh.

Not a lot has gone on in the past month, but we did manage to make it up to Stitches. I spent that Friday going through the marketplace with my dear friend from KaratStix, and then spent Saturday in Rabbitch's booth. I met some more people I've known for years online, and a good time was had by all. Saturday night, we took Rabbitch to San Francisco for dinner - we didn't have time for sightseeing - and had a wonderful meal full of great food, lovely conversation, and just plain enjoying each other's company. Hubster dozed off in the truck while we had dinner so we could spend time together without him. I'm glad I went - not only did I get to spend time with dear friends, I also picked up a few odds and ends, the most exciting of which is a rolling yarn cart with wheels that light up when they turn (I'm such a bag and bling whore). I can stuff more crap in this thing than I can in any of my other knitting bags. So, in addition to my stash, I'll be selling most of my knitting bags. We're still working on photography, but as soon as I'm done listing enough things to open the shop, I'll post it here. It should be soon because I don't want to haul a lot of extra yarn with us if we're lucky enough to move.

We have a good prospect for the bike, but I haven't heard from her for a few weeks. I dropped her an email last night asking if she's still interested in it, and I'm just waiting to hear back from her. I sure hope she still wants it. That would go a long way towards helping us qualify for a good loan, and it's one less (expensive) thing to have to truck up north. Again, keep your fingers crossed. Something good has to happen this year.

I've closed (or am trying to close) my account on Ravelry because I've had it with them. I posted an innocuous comment on one of the forums and saw the next day that it had been removed. When I wrote to the moderator to ask why, she wrote me back a horrible letter telling me, among other things, that I was a "lying, thieving, cheating bitch" (or words to that effect). She then proceeded to tell me that a friend of hers had been ripped off by me, that if I answered her letter, she was going to call the police department in my town, blah blah blah. I keep telling these snatch whores that we don't have a local police department, but they don't seem to believe me. It was a terrible, uncalled-for letter. Not only did she remove my comment, she deleted the entire thread the next day. Ravelry may have a lot of good things going for it, but it's changing from a knitting thing to a group of nasty women who form cliques and attack people whom they don't like for whatever reason. I thought I had left all that behind in high school. In any event, I'm tired of dealing with women like that and refuse to patronize a place where they congregate. So far, the powers that be over there haven't closed my account, so I'm just not logging in. I'm not impressed with the speed and/or quality of help you get when you log a complaint. I personally think that Ravelry has grown too large too fast, and whatever it was originally meant to be has long since disappeared. I think they've lost control of it, and when that happens with something that large, it tends to grow into something other than what it was meant to be. I don't see any way they could turn it back into a knitting/fiber forum-type place at this late date; it's already morphed into a living, breathing beast. I know a lot of people spend hours every day on it, and I also know that it has a lot of good qualities. I don't wish to partake of any of them, however. Please don't send me any more hate mail because of my opinion; I've also had it with that.

Emma is doing well; she's not limping any more. I got a really good referral from a good friend to a vet near us, so we'll be using him if anything happens. He doesn't take appointments, but we don't mind waiting. Anything for our Emma. She loves it here, but I think she'll love it no matter where we live as long as we're with her. She's gotten huge - big head, enormous chest, huge paws - and she's strong as the proverbial ox. She's also gotten in the habit of barking when she hears a noise and protecting me by inserting herself between me and the perceived danger. Whoever said that bullies aren't good guard dogs hasn't met the M.

I don't have any pictures for you this time, but I'm hoping to have some pictures of completed socks the next time I blog. I've got four pairs on the needles (I did have six, but got rid of two of them), and even if I only have one of each pair completed, at least it's something to show you. One of them is a plain pair, but the others are lace or have fancy features. I've got socks to make for friends (you know who you are), and a couple of those fall into that category. I'm actually using some yarn from my "new" stash (thank you, ladies), and have done really well with my buying habits. It helps that we don't have any expendable income and are also trying to save for the new house. Besides, I still have enough yarn to open another yarn shop. However, I have an army of people who are sworn to kick me in the ass if I even consider such a thing. While I loved my shop, I'm just not cut out to be a shop owner - not anymore. I met a lot of wonderful people, but it's just too much.

Nothing has changed in the health department. It's getting time to stock up on the magic herb again, which means I have to find a dispensary close by. Palm Springs has 27 of them, so I don't think it's going to be a problem. We don't want to drive all the way to Van Nuys, which is over a two-hour drive with traffic (and when isn't there traffic around here?). Oddly enough, there aren't that many of them in the Bay Area, so I need to make sure I have enough to last a while before we leave. I carry that letter from the doctor whenever I'm holding (I had the damn thing laminated), so we don't get pulled over and thrown in jail. That's all I need. I have a problem using the bathroom in other people's homes, let alone using an open toilet in front of a group of women and guards. I'd be plugged up for the duration.

One thing that's coming up is my "swimming with the dolphins" outing. I've always wanted to do it, and Sea World has a deal where you go to a class for a few hours to learn how to behave around them, and then you don a wetsuit and jump in the tank with them. I told Hubster to give me that for my birthday, so we're probably going to do it around late April/early May (before it gets really hot). I can't wait - it's a lifelong dream come true. Sea World is doing the "buy one day, get the rest of the year free" ticket deal again, so we'll take advantage of that. I love going there and seeing the whales. Now if only Disneyland would do that ...

I think that's all that's going on around here. I'll try and blog more frequently, more like I used to. I've been working with the voice program Laura told me about, but it takes time for it to learn your voice and mannerisms. You should see some of the sentences which pop out. It's easier than typing, though, and I might even get caught up on my email. Hang in there - if you have a letter coming, you'll get it.

It may be unintelligible, but you'll get something.