Ow.

I played badminton yesterday. A lot. Like, 10 games. Have I mentioned that I'm sore as hell? But, I won more than I lost. So ha!

Mother Nature & Lady Luck have GOT to be related.

At least, in my little corner of the universe, they are. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Gather round, my two readers, while I attempt to tell (re-tell) how things have been going here in LishyLand.

Up until a few days ago, I would swear that it has rained for the last month. Seriously. And if it wasn't raining, it was threatening to. So you have many, many days that are just cold (did I mention it rarely got to the 60 mark?) and dreary and you just wanted to sleep. And so, on one of the days when the rain held off for a while (and the first day of my vacation), I went to my Mom's house to do a good deed. I went to transplant a cat. Yes, a cat. He needed a new home as Mom and Pop are moving and I am currently not suited to this particular kitty's needs. Here's a photo of him. His name is Friendly, and he lives up to his name. Gorgeous cat. Horrible breath. I'll get back to that in a minute. Let me tell you about what happened before I got the contortionist cat transplanted.

As I said, Mom and Pop are moving. They've been painting at the new place, and sorting at the old. So when I get there, they're at the new place. I decided to help Mom paint. In the bathroom. In the small-ish bathroom. Given, this was probably my own fault, but oh well. Here's the layout. Walk in, immediately to your left is the sink and counter. Two people could possibly share the mirror here, if they aren't that large, and don't mind elbowing each other in the nose. Just past the sink/counter is the toilet, and along the back wall is the shower/tub. So anyway, I'm chattering away with Mom and my hand just kind of automatically picks up the little paint roller. You know, the one for the edging and hard to reach places. She's going to town with the normal sized roller and I just started helping out of habit. Hey, it kept my hands busy at least. So we're painting and chatting, chatting and painting. I climb up on the edge of the shower (barefoot) to get up by the ceiling. No big deal. Well, I can't leave big gaping sections unpainted. Call it one of my slight OCD quirks, if you will. As I get farther over, I decided to stand on the lid of the toilet. Now, I have to admit, Mom did tell me not to worry about the upper part of the wall, and like any grown child, I deftly ignored her. Fast forward a few minutes. BIG CRASH.

Yep, you guessed it. I fell off the toilet. Sideways. I don't think any normal person is supposed to bend that way. Both of my feet are on the floor between the toilet and the tub. My left arm is holding the other half of my body weight, and my right arm is just kind of wobbling toward the wall in front of me. It probably looked like some weird yoga pose, to be honest. I guess Lady Luck got enough of a laugh out of that and shared some of her good fortune with me, as nothing was broken, apart from the seat and lid of the toilet. However, I have a couple of hellacious bruises. But did I learn my lesson? No-o-o-o-o-o. I still ended up helping them paint one of the bedrooms as well. That time, I kept my butt pretty firmly planted on the floor, though.

So then, (yes we're still on the same day) I go to get Friendly to deliver him to a friend at work. At least one of us was smart enough to use the cat carrier. I've never had a problem with a cat in a car and not in a carrier. Apart from the yowling, that is. But this is my first time transporting one by myself. After he wandered around the car a bit, crying at me, he finally found a spot he felt safe traveling in. Unfortunately, this happened to be UNDER my butt! Under the driver's seat. It's just not right to feel your butt move when you're driving and it's not you moving it. So I get to work, park the car, turn off the engine, and sit there for a minute, thinking Friendly will come out or start meowing again or something. Lady Luck definitely got her money's worth that day. He didn't move a muscle. Didn't make a peep. I start frantically fumbling a hand around under the seat to find his head because by this point I'm thinking Ohmygod, he's had a heart attack or broken his neck and died on the way. I find his head by blind luck (Thank you Lady) and he's still breathing. Next problem. How the HELL am I going to get him out from under there without A) him bolting out of the car and disappearing or B) injuring anything on either cat or car. After several minutes (which probably look like I'm praying on the security cameras), I managed to get him facing the back seat and have to push him out from under. It all went fairly smoothly after that. I got him in a bear hug, basically. Now he decides to meow in my face. Did I mention the horrible cat breath? Yeah, I got an up close and personal whiff of it. We got him over to the other vehicle and I turned over the putting him in the damn carrier to his new owner. All reports so far indicate that he's adjusting fairly well and wasn't traumatized by the events.

Mother Nature has now decided to smile upon us and give us some sunny days and temps in the 60s for the most part.

Is it a bad thing when I need a few days off from my vacation?

Brain Dead, Have Some Quizzes

I am unable to be witty and/or funny at the moment, so here's some quizzes I found over on Blogthings:

Your Slogan Should Be

Lostlishy. Hand-built by Robots.

The Slogan Generator

You Are Disturbingly Profound

You're contemplative, thoughtful, and very intense. Taking time to figure out the meaning of life is a priority for you. Because you're so introspective, you often react in ways that surprise people. No one can really understand how you are on the inside... and that disturbs them.

Are You Disturbingly Profound or Profoundly Disturbing?

There's a Chance You Could Be Violent

Overall, you're a pretty chill person - and you have a good handle on your emotions. Sometimes your anger gets the best of you, and end up regretting how you act. Try to curb your temper more often. It only has to get out of control once to do some damage.

Could You Be Violent?

You're a Confident Chica

You're a total superstar - and you know it Even if no one else does (in which case you'll remind them) You hate to admit that you're wrong... even to yourself Your life is great - and you've thankful for every great thing you have

Are You a Confident Woman?

You Have Many Alpha Tendencies

You're not a total alpha female, but you certainly know how to - and like to - get your way. You're forceful without being intimidating. You're confident without being vain. A perfect mix.

Are You an Alpha Female?

You Are 51% Pure

You're not so innocent... in fact, you're quite unpure. You have seen and experienced a lot. And you're no worse for the wear!

The 100 Question Purity Test

Yarn Factoids and Other Randoms

I've been stressing most of the past week. Let me just get that out in the open and leave it at that. I'm trying really hard not to dwell on the bad, here. Let me dwell (and share) some of the good things I've picked up, figured out, been gifted with, etc.

Yarn is kind of like knowledge. Knowledge is kind of like an STD. Therefore, yarn (and playing with yarn) is kind of like an STD. Once you get it, you want to spread it around. I'm thieving part of this from someone (PTerry, I think) and don't want anyone to sue me for slander/libel/plagiarizing. If I could remember exactly who, I would dutifully recognize who the quote is from. So, back to the original topic. Which was spreading the yarny love. Since I've been 'infected', I know for a fact that I've spread it to at least one other person. But it's hilariously awesome as to what/how much my friends (old and new) and I have shared amongst ourselves and others. Let me explain further. I was introduced to knitting around 3 years ago. Sure, I knew that there were things that were knitted, I just never really thought about it. Now that I'm 'in', I am almost always seeing things that are knitted-either by hand or machine. And I have to pause a moment to inspect said article. Then, I started to branch out a bit from just scarves. I made hats. Or, rather, I made the same hat at least a dozen times, with different types/colors of yarn. I overcame my aversion/fear of circular needles and DPN's and making things in the round. I'm now figuring out how to do lace with itty bitty yarn. I've been introduced to yarns that aren't acrylic and cost more than a few dollars for just one ball or skein or hank. I've probably babbled ad nauseum about yarn and knitting to anyone who would listen or couldn't run away fast enough. I've helped provoke enough interest that at least one person was/is willing to try it for him/herself. Even if it's just to shut me up or figure out what the hell I'm talking about and what kind of code language I'm speaking.

Back to the spreading around analogy. Here's a photo of some of what my friends (both knitters and non) have shared with me. Clockwise from top left: 3 balls of Sugar & Cream, some Merino lace wool, several patterns peeking out of a hand-knit bag. The bag also has a little Yarn Harlot pin on the top left. A clown head measuring tape, some Red Heart Lustersheen (which isn't at all scratchy, it's actually quite nice to work with), some Lacey Lamb lace wool, a special copy of Yarn Harlot's newest book: Things I Learned from Knitting...whether I wanted to or not, a collection of 14-inch straight needles (some are not shown because they're in use), 2 more balls of Sugar & Cream. In the center is some Jitterbug fingering/sport weight wool. Also present (but hard to see) is a stitch marker (one of several) that was made for me.

Now, why is the book special, you ask? Because it's autographed. To me. Need proof? Fine.
The photos are a little bit blurry, but it was the best shot I could get. And just in case I haven't thanked them enough, THANK YOU BOTH FOR THINKING OF ME AND BRINGING ME A LIL SOMETHING!!!

Oh, by the way. Ames, I found my other needle, it was on the (modified) rocking chair upstairs...