I probably shouldn’t be writing today since I’m fasting before a blood test later this afternoon. My dermatologist asked me to fast for 12 hours before another Accutane blood-work procedure to check up on my liver function and cholesterol levels. I don’t know why I had to go and choose an afternoon appointment instead of a morning appointment, because now I get to think about food during my waking hours and drink copious amounts of water with Crystal Light imagining it’s a liquid fruit salad. I even pulled a Bugs Bunny on Jason when he got home from school- rolled up his sleeve, tossed on a little pretend salt on his forearm and pretended to corn-cob-gnaw up to his elbow. So yes, I am a touch cranky and I reeeeeally want to get this day over as fast as possible. I see sushi or roasted soy-lime tofu in my dinner-future.

The past weekend was a bit tortuous in the South- it rained for almost four days straight and rainy weather is my trigger for a rotten mood. I get really mopey, don’t feel like doing anything, and start taking every little thing personally. I knew I had to do something about it so on Saturday I made sure that Jason and I did something fun together- we went out to Ru-San’s sushi buffet for lunch, and saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D that night. If you’re into old sci-fi movies or enjoy Japanese robot vs. monster movies, you’ll like Dreamworks’s latest offering. We were surround by kids, but I think we got more out of it than they did. Jason and I almost peed our pants when the monsters were telling their background stories- each one is based on an old sci-fi movie, so funny.

In scarf-related news, I got an offer for something kind of big, but I’m reluctant to discuss it in complete detail here yet. It’s something that involves a fast-approaching deadline… I’d have to have the scarf completed by the end of April or beginning of May to be considered. And I’d have to have some semblance of a pattern made, and I’ve never written an actual knitting pattern before aside from the chicken scratch I write for myself. I feel like I could dig deep and crank it out in a month, but I’m really worried that I’ll set this huge goal for myself and end up crashing and burning. I just wanted to be honest with all of you and get my thoughts out there, but I don’t want to encourage any great expectations… yet. I probably won’t mention this again unless something actually happens come 30 days from now, sooooo yeah.

Another project I’ve started planning is a series of actual tutorials (ones that I will actually succeed at, heh) on what I lovingly refer to as “camp crafts.” When I was a kid, I dabbled in a bunch of crafts that weren’t exactly practical, as in, they didn’t serve any serious purpose, but were a lot of fun and really got my fine motor skills working. I’m talking about finger knitting, making friendship bracelets, etc. I do kids’ crafts every week at the church and realized that a lot of these kids don’t know how to do a lot of the things I did at their age. There are a lot of books out there (that I probably once owned) that can teach kids all these skills, but some cost up to $20 a pop, but you don’t get the same instruction a live person can offer. I want to make video tutorials aimed at kids that are free on the web, and invite you to solicit yours ideas/suggestions for activities. I’d even love to have guest vids! This project is still in the works and I will probably make a whole new web page to house everything so this isn’t something cropping up overnight. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about for quite awhile and have been envisioning all the possible angles of approach. My goal is to give kids everywhere the chance to experience easy and fun crafting that they can pass on to friends. Viral crafting for kids, if you will. And it gives me the chance to be a kid again!

This week’s goals include:

• Spinning furiously to add more yarns to the Etsy shop
• Making lists of kids’ crafts
• Spring cleaning my craft room
• Sprucing up the front yard! (Yay! Been waiting all soggy winter to get started!)

And just so this post isn’t complete picture-less:

Remember “Delightful” from the other week? I measured it today to put it in my Etsy shop and it’s 255-freaking-yards! I had no clue it would end up that long. And it’s about a worsted to bulky weight which means helluva lotta yarn!

Remember those pictures I promised for Friday? Ha! It rained for three days straight which meant no walk and no natural light. And since the Boyfriend and I are the biggest procrastinators around, we tried to get all our chores and packing done at the last minute so no time to post apologies until today. Sorry.

Our road trip to Decatur, Alabama was fairly uneventful other than constant rain and the occasional horse, but I did manage to snap a few pictures of the little things that make even the most boring drive tolerable for about ten minutes.

I don’t need a sign to tell me that dump trucks are inedible.

Oh, snap! Handbags, shoes, AND a pharmacy? My life is complete.

I understand that there are sticks involved, but I’m intrigued by the “stuff.” Our friend’s iPhone later confirmed it was a furniture store- WORST FURNITURE STORE NAME EVER. And now that I’m looking at this picture again, Fred’s what? What belongs to Fred?

We had a fun weekend exploring the small town and hanging out with friends- something we never do anymore because apparently Jason and I have turned into an “old married couple.” We are neither old nor married so I hardly see how this is accurate. Shoot, I stayed up until 3 AM Atlanta-time on Friday night and I wasn’t even drinking…much. Our other couple friend who we drove to Alabama with dubbed us that in the car and I did my best all weekend to prove them wrong. I even squirted lotion all over my boob in an attempt to use shtick to win them over. Behold:

Beware Lotion Samplers of the World- if the lotion bottle nozzle is crusted over, don’t squeeze harder. Just walk away. It wasn’t meant to be.

The wedding was nice and it’s always a good thing to see your Significant Other looking sharp, even if they don’t shave or wear white socks. ::sigh:: I got a few great shots of Jason and one of our carpoolers Chris in action and acting like the goofball friends they are.

Ah yes, shoving their faces and posing like nuts when I ask them to smile. Quintessential Jason and Chris. But we still love them!

I did manage to get Jason to stand still long enough to take a nice picture with me, though. Finally, a picture of us together, both sober, and looking like respectable adults. A miracle.

I can forgive the beard because we both look cute and I believe I am standing on my tip-toes in this shot.

And to end the wedding re-cap on another happy note, Jason caught the garter and I caught the bouquet. But before you look at the picture, please let me explain that I did not steal the bouquet from a woman in a wheelchair, although it may appear to be so in this photo. The bouquet clearly came straight to me and I politely waited to see if any of the other ladies would take a grab at it, they did not, and I proceeded to make an amazing catch… just before flashing the entire room with my Spanx thigh-shaping shorts. If ever there was a gal who never picked up on lady-like behavior, ’twas me.

And now on to some yarn porn.

Rawr. I’m calling this one “Delightful” because my original title was “Berry Delightful,” a stupid pun, and I realized I use a lot of fruit-themed titles. It was also a delight to spin and ply and I think it’s the best yarn I’ve made yet. It’s due for a soak and stretch and then I make the difficult choice between using it myself or putting it up on Etsy. I’m leaning towards selfishness because it looks so good, but we shall see.

In other words, I’m not dead… yet. My fever broke towards the end of the week and it felt like someone lifted a vest of iron from my chest and my mobility was restored. Fevers can really take a lot of out a person. I am still hacking all the residual nastiness out of my lungs, but thankfully I feel a million times better than I did last week. I haven’t quite recovered on the house-cleaning end of things, but I’m going out of town to north Alabama for a wedding tomorrow afternoon so I have big plans for the morning.

Here’s a list of things, though, so this post isn’t a total bust after a week’s absence:

- I had a big health scare last week in the midst of having the flu. As a side effect of taking Accutane, my cholesterol has shot up dangerously high and I have to make major dietary/exercise changes immediately.
+ On the plus side, more seafood to be had (got sashimi & yakitori this evening!) and I’m joining Georgia State University’s rec center as an alumna! Yay to dance classes!
+ I’ve already lost about 4 pounds by eating better and walking the baby I watch during the week all around the neighborhood.
- I can’t eat anymore at the fantastic Australian bakery in the EAV I just discovered- so many pastries…omnomnomnom.
+ I’m learning how to cook! Again! Recipes welcome!

+ I finished plying a gorgeous raspberry/pink/purple/magenta yarn yesterday and it looks really, really cute! (Pictures tomorrow in good light.)

+ My boyfriend’s dad’s wife’s daughter (we don’t call her his step-sister) had a baby boy last weekend and I get to shower him with knitwear… at the start of a Georgia Spring! (This reminds me to whip out my copy of Mason-Dixon Knitting and make some cotton bibs.)

+ It snowed last week and this week it’s been in the upper-70s. Our doors have been open to warm the house naturally. LOVE IT.

+ I finished some socks from the ‘How to Knit 2 Socks on 1 Needle Book’… but, shhh, I used 2 circs! (Other 40 inch circs are occupied.)

+ I made a March budget and am actually sticking to it. Time to make more crappy recycled notebooks for the rest of the year!

- The new cat has been peeing all over my clothes. So what if I left them all over the floor…

+ Fat Stinky is still the  & sweetest stray-turned-housecat ever.

+ Finished, thoroughly enjoyed, and was mentally-f*ed by Life of Pi, am loving and about to finish Trailer Trashed (expect a lovey-dovey email, Hollis), have Cat’s Cradle waiting on the nightstand, and just bought The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao based on the cover (and the fact that the author won a Pulitzer Prize).

- Have been babysitting like a mo-fo. (Gotta love wiping little butts and wearing vomit.)

+ Have been making boocoos of money from people who are much richer than I ever hope to be that pay me to watch their kids. And I have so many hilarious kid stories from just this week that I really need to journal. Like getting mooned by a five-year-old, teaching him that term, and then being mooned for the rest of the evening as a result. And seriously, that’s just the very tippy-top of the bizarre babysitting iceberg…

It’s been a good week. Atlanta’s weather hasn’t been too redunkulous (barring that crazy ass snowstorm), and Atlantans know that word perfectly epitomizes the strange oscillating weather patterns we have during the months outside of summer. It has been surprsingly pleasant and the trees in East Atlanta and the weeds in our front yard have begun blooming. I’m going to try to take a walk tomorrow before we hit the road to take pictures of all the varieties of magnolia and cute blossoms springing up around here. I hope wherever you are the weather is enjoyable, or at least tolerable.

I am yet again drag out, drop down sick. I have a fever that likes spiking to 102 degrees, have yet to rid myself of a three-month-long sinus infection, and the cough I picked up Sunday (doubt it’s related to the snow, but who knows at this point) just ties it all together. I want so badly to get out of bed and DO something, but my body hurts so bad and my head makes me feel like I’m on a ferris wheel. Is this the flu? Could I have the flu? No stomach pains, throat pain is mild, but my joints and head ache something fierce.

Anyway, please send me pictures of all the crafty things you’re doing. Maybe it will convince my body to repair itself and allow me to function again.

Last week we saw 70 degree weather and yesterday it was 54 degrees all the way into the middle of the night. Around 10 this morning I looked out the window at the church nursery and it was SNOWING! Big time! Huge, globby snowflakes were tumbling down, swirling in Midtown Atlanta and quickly coating the warm ground. By early afternoon there was an inch on the ground in Midtown and it was hard to see as I drove home. It’s still fairly warm so there is a lot of slush, but our house is blanketed in white and the cats were freaking out.

I know many of you live in places where snow is a normal winter occurance, but in Atlanta it’s such a sight to behold. We get snow maybe twice a year, and rarely does it actually stick to the ground. Today’s snow was heavy and thick, nothing like we normally get. What a beautiful way to start March!

P.S. The Weather Channel calls for it to be 71 degrees next weekend!