March 1 – Caterpillar Day

"Life depends on a silken thread" - club motto

Mr. CPA and I aren’t exactly what you would call ‘joiners’. We’re a bit quirky and non-conforming and we like it that way.

However we are thrilled that 26 years ago today, Mr. CPA became a member of an exclusive club in which almost no one actively seeks membership. The Caterpillar Club.

There are no dues or meetings and the club is fairly small because only about 10 people per year qualify for membership.

The rule for membership is so simple that it is contained in a single sentence:
Members of the club must have saved their lives by using a parachute to jump out of a disabled aircraft.

Now Mr. CPA might point out that he did not jump so much as he was forcefully flung out by the centrifugal force of the plane’s inverted spin after he popped the canopy immediately following impact, but this, dear reader, is a technicality of a very minor sort.

The headline from the front page of the Pensacola Journal

The distressingly meager remains of the two planes



The rip cord that opened the best parachute ever

As it turns out, Mr. CPA had not personally checked his parachute before leaving because things had been a bit rushed getting ready for the training flight. He thought about it as he and the instructor hurried out to the plane but told himself, "I'm not going to need it."


To show his gratitude to the diligent workers who had obviously both packed the chute well and checked it correctly, Mr. CPA (in his then capacity of Mr. Marine Corp 2nd Lt.) bought a case of beer for each of the parachute packers on duty that day. Because when you're a young guy in your early twenties on military pay, a case of beer is a lot of gratitude.


But really? It wasn't enough.

* Caterpillar club image used with permission by Wikipedia

(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CaterpillarClubPin.jpg)

Boo!

Fair Warning: This post is not entirely Disney-wholesome, 'G' rated...read on at your own risk


Setting: 9:30 p.m. Halloween night

Mr. CPA returned from making a quick trip to the Safeway grocery store just across the street from our house and the following conversation ensued…

Mr. CPA: So, what’s the scariest thing to see on Halloween?

Me: (interrupted right in the middle of composing a work email) blank look

Me: Uhhh, I don’t know, ummm, lots of things…(frantically trying to think what the right answer might be)

Mr. CPA: How about the kind of creepy looking guy behind you in line at the grocery store with the two loaves of French bread and two extra-large boxes of personal lubricant?

Me: Eeewww!

You say it's your birthday!

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

The Beatles – The White Album

(I love that song! It’s like instant energy and mandatory here at Casa del Chaos whenever there’s a birthday. In fact, I’m listening to it right now…)


<actual age removed for purposes of homeland security> years ago today, on an exceptionally hot Sunday morning in June two-weeks before her due date*, my mother was floating around Lake Tapps on an inner tube when she realized she was in labor. I arrived just a couple of hours later, handily allowing my dad to celebrate Father’s Day that same day (and a whole year early too!).

Me and Mom

I’ve been going through old family photos lately since I’m preparing to scan everything into a digital format (note to self: must remember to get scanner). So I just happen to have some first year photos lying around that I thought I'd share. (ages are approximate since hardly any of the family photos are dated or labeled ::sigh::)

me at around 5-6 months

still around 6 months
(my mother was convinced a fat baby was a happy baby - look how happy I am!)


one year


Mom, Dad and me (at 6 months)
I think my parents are about 14 here (LOL - just kidding!)

I have to say I'm not quite sure what's up with the curlers. What was my mom thinking? She's at a family holiday party for heaven's sake. If that's not enough of an event to warrant taking the curlers out what is? (note to self: remember to tease mom mercilessly at next phone call).

*and sadly probably the last time I was ever early for anything.

Suddenly Spring!

When Spring Appears

Meadowlarks give lusty cheers
when spring appears
when spring appears.

Buds and seeds prick up their ears
and blades of grass show eager spears.

And only icicles weep tears
when spring appears
when spring appears

Aileen Fisher

Spring photos from around my yard
(if you prefer puppies to flowers, scroll down to the bottom)

Rhododendron

Ajuga (bugleweed) and daylilies

Japanese Maple (acer palmatum)


Dwarf Fothergilla



Bleeding Heart




Japanese Cherry
(okay I cheated with this one it's not from my yard - it's from the mall parking lot)

Another sign of Spring:

Our neighbor stopped by yesterday to show us her adorable new puppies (only 10 weeks old). They are a cross between a Boston and a Pug - a Bug!

These were the best shots I could get, these little rascals are a bundle of energy and don't really hold still.

Brindle Bug (Brin for short)

Lady Bug and Brindle Bug

These photos are about the sum total of what I accomplished this weekend, with the exception of a bit of spinning and knitting (photographic evidence soon).

Mr. CPA has been quite ill this last week with a nasty virus courtesy of the rather ironically named Dept. of Health. I held out hope that my alleged immune system would rally this time since I made it through an entire week of close contact without displaying any signs of viral activity. But, ummm, no.

Not quite according to plan

The minutia of my day that will probably interest hardly anyone…

Scheduled plan for today:
9:50 am - Leave for 1+ hour trip to hair appointment 60 miles away.**
11:00 am - Arrive in town early for 11:30 appt with plenty of time to pickup a coffee and/or check out local shops
12:00 pm - Depart for home
1:00-ish pm (depending on traffic) - Arrive home, finish a few inside chores
1:30 pm - Go outside in glorious sunny weather and garden for the rest of the afternoon.

Actual Events:
10:30 am - Leave later than planned due to several unexpected phone calls.
11:30 am - Arrive just in time, having driven well above the posted speed limit in several places in attempt to control the time-space continuum.
12:50 pm - Leave salon
12:51 pm - Determine weird car noise is actually muffled cell phone tone harmonizing oddly with music from radio.
12:52 pm - Agree to meet oldest manchild 20 miles from current spot for emergency parental cash infusion.
1:10 pm - Stop at bank for cash
1:30-ish - -Curse Puyallup South Hill traffic after taking wrong turn, wonder aloud why anyone lives here, avoid near collision with traffic-deranged driver.
1:40 pm - Meet oldest child and deliver cash, chit chat, get iced coffee and large water for trip home since it is now quite warm outside.
2:00 pm - Depart and head for freeway. Note with concern the solid line of non-moving traffic that you must now merge with, wave gratefully to nice person that lets you into the nearest lane.
2:30 pm - Check odometer to see that less than 10 miles have been traveled and that you are nowhere near any freeway exit. Regret drinking that delicious iced mocha latte in the first few minutes of the journey home, sense that the remaining car time may be less than enjoyable.
4:00 pm - Arrive home. Decide garden will be fine until tomorrow.


**We moved to our current house almost 8 years ago and in that time I have tried repeatedly to find a local stylist that I like but these adventures in haircutting always turn out really badly (like the time I ended up with square hair), so I keep returning to my stylist in Enumclaw. It’s far enough away to be inconvenient but close enough that I’m not really forced to find someone new. On one hand Mr. CPA thinks it’s absolutely silly that I drive so far for a haircut. On the other hand he is happy not to be forced listen to me rant endlessly about my bad, bad hair, which is what always happens when I get it cut closer to home. Plus her rates are quite affordable so that the cut, tip and gas cost actually end up being less than getting it cut in the town where I live.

I take the cake

The cupcake that is! Friday I came home to find a package waiting for me. Inside was the adorable little cupcake pincushion I won in a drawing on Vallen’s blog.

Isn’t it fun? It is even cuter in person. And the best kind of cupcake; high fiber and zero calorie! I will really enjoy using this.
(ETA: the cupcake is made out of felted knitting and felt. It is incredibly soft)

Vallen also tucked in one of the clever fabric flower pins she makes (you can see more of them here )

This gift is made even more amazing by the fact that I never win anything. Nothing*. Every drawing I enter is pretty much the triumph of hope over experience. Of course, I guess I really can’t say that any more. Do you think this is a turning point with my luck?

Thanks so much, Vallen!



*I know what you’re going to say Vanessa, and that knitting bag does not count because you were the one who won it not me. I didn’t say that I don’t have incredibly generous friends who give me the door prize that they won!

Behind the Scenes

(Or, Even more excuses about why there’s no new spinning or knitting content …)

Just a quick shot to show you how I spent my last ‘Entrepreneurial Fridays’ day.

Here’s what I learned last Friday, in no particular order:

• One can fit a rather amazing amount of yarn, props and small furniture into a Honda Civic. This was all the more amazing because the person packing it was me and not, say, Lisa’s amazing husband with the Tetris-like spatial skills. I really wish I’d gotten a photo of the car packed to the top!


• Photographs without live models are actually much more challenging than those with live models. Who knew?


• Photo setup will take longer than you think. (well, maybe just for me…)


• Four hours at a go is too long. Both party’s interest and creative energy were flagging a bit at the end of the session.


• I am not going to be quitting my day job for employment as a photo-stylist anytime soon (okay, admittedly I knew this one already, but let’s just say it was brilliantly clear after this session)


• If you schedule a photo session (or anything) in Washington hoping for a bit of good natural light, it will rain like the proverbial cow/flat rock interaction.


• Some good ‘on location’ places to shoot photos are going to be needed, because studio shots in the same studio will all have a similar look.


• It’s not a good idea to schedule an important business meeting in the afternoon immediately following the conclusion of the photo session when one has been on the go since 6:00 am and has had nothing but coffee and water all day
  (Also? You’d think this sort of activity schedule would result in weight loss but you’d be wrong. ::sigh:: Evidently my metabolism is made of sterner, stubborn-er stuff than that! It just laughs at constant activity and zero-calorie intake.)


• Trying to limit coffee intake for health reasons and working 70-hour weeks seem to be mutually exclusive situations.

The post title refers not just to the photo above but also to some rather stressful business-related situations that have been going on in the background consuming much of my time and pretty much eliminating any creative energy on my part. Let’s just say that I’m big on contracts now. Really big. A lot.

Anyway, I think I may be close to resolving most of these issues soon. It’s not an ideal resolution for me business-wise but it’s at least workable and mutually acceptable.


PS – if anyone in the Puget Sound area knows of any great locations where I could shoot photos let me know! Private houses, historical houses, museums, farm locations it’s all up for consideration. Thanks!

I got your spinning right here...

Lots of spinning going on here at Casa del Chaos these days, unfortunately the majority of it does not involve fiber. We’ve got lots of plates spinning, brains spinning and spinning out of control but not nearly enough spinning at spinning wheels. I definitely have too much yin and not enough yarn these days!

I really need to finish my February skein for my swap pal. I have been working on it as much as possible but I’m running out of month faster than I’m running out of fiber left to spin.


Here it is, looking remarkably like the first bobbin, except thinner and shinier.

Chameleon Colorworks Merino/Tencel in Autumn
(colors not quite accurate due to flash)

I’ve been spinning this second bobbin at about 2-3 times as many WPI as the BFL in an attempt to make the finished skein look a bit more textured than my standard, plain DK-weight handspun yarns. We’ll see how that works out. I didn’t make a sample to test this imagined yarn perfection and my recent track record for envisioning the finished product based on the appearance of the singles is maybe not so great.

And someone here thinks I’m spending too much time at the spinning wheel and not enough time cuddling with a certain small terrier:

Toby works the "poor neglected terrier" angle

Here comes the sun

(of course, now I'll be humming the Beatles song all night after typing that title!)

I was certain the weatherman must have made mistake in his report for Saturday. Here’s what the official forecast said we’d be having:

Looks like pretty typical weather around these parts for February.

Instead we got this:

For once the weatherman’s mistake was in our favor! Usually it works the other way around; if sun is predicted you can bet we’ll get rain instead. Of course when rain is predicted we also usually get rain. Funny how that works.

That unexpected sun and balmy 62 degree weather (practically tropical around here in February!) made me want to work out in my garden to eliminate some of that bedraggled winter look, but unfortunately other conflicting tasks were already mapped out for the day.

Toby and I spent a few minutes in the yard snapping photos and enjoying the sun before returning our noses to the grindstone.

Toby contemplates the strange glowing orb in the sky

It's a good thing that we took a few moments to enjoy the sun because here’s what our view of the sky looked like just a couple hours later:

The weatherman has the last laugh!

Not too much to show right now on the spinning front. I’m still working on the February skein for my swap pal. The first bobbin of Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) is done and I’m nearly done spinning the bobbin of merino-tencel blend that I’ll be using as the second ply.

Chameleon Colorworks BFL in Autumn

This was the first time I'd spun BFL - very enjoyable. I'll be spinning more of this in the future. Though, not on a deadline.

SuperWool Sunday

Preparations got underway early at Casa del Chaos for SuperWool Sunday celebrations.

A quick trip to Starbucks provided the caffeine-fueled ambition needed for the early morning trip to Costco for appropriate snackage supplies for the event. Some basic amount of housework was performed in order maintain the illusion that we are not complete slobs somewhat tidy (family members were coached in appropriate intervention techniques should a guest appear to be inadvertently opening a closet door on the way to the bathroom).

Toby (aka Spazzy McTerrierpants) did his part by barking wildly for several minutes after Holly and Miss O’s arrival just in case we hadn’t noticed that there were actually guests standing in our living room. (what did we ever do without him?)

We quickly got down to business with SuperWool Sunday activities.

First we all went through the Magic Stash Box** that came home with me from Madrona courtesy of Sam. Selections were made and re-stock contributions were added to the box.

After some snacks to keep up our energy, it was time for the knitting and spinning portion of the day.

Miss O swatched for her first sweater and received some tips from Mom in how to alter the pattern to fit her swatch in lieu of knitting a second swatch to meet the pattern’s gauge.

Sorry for the sucky picture - I really need to get a scanner for this kind of stuff

After the details were worked out, Miss O cast on for her first sweater.

Holly worked on Miss O’s birthday sweater for awhile (Bed & Breakfast Pullover, Interweave Knits Winter 2003, in Beaverslide Yarn) and then got to work spinning sock yarn from her Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks to Shoe spinning kit.

This is where the internet needs ‘Touch-O-Vision’. This Beaverslide Yarn really needs to be touched to be experienced! It’s absolutely glorious. And the colors have great depth too.

Oops! I forgot to take a picture of Holly's spinning until was starting to pack up her wheel!

And I worked on finishing my Brocade Wrap (Jamieson’s Shetland Knitting Book 2, page 94, in Elann Peruvian Highland Wool yarn)

not in Beaverslide yarn unfortunately

I am still undecided as to whether to keep knitting one or two more repeats to use up all the yarn or follow Miss O’s sage advice to just bind off and finish it at the end of this particular pattern repeat (each repeat is 24 rows). I’m thinking at this point it may be the latter. This project has been in progress for too long.

Only too soon the day was over. If only every Sunday could be SuperWool Sunday!


Hey, did you know there was some big football event today with a similar name? Eerie.

**The Magic Stash Box is a box of traveling yarn (or several boxes in this case) that moves among group members. When it arrives at your house you go through it and remove the treasures that you want and then add your unwanted treasure contributions back to the box before shipping it off to the next person on the list. It's great fun.

Butt-kicking virus: 2, Denise: still 0

(Actually, the butt-kicking virus has mutated into a nasty sinus and lung infection but I blame the virus for starting all of this crap anyway)

My Madrona experience ended with a 102 degree fever and a 3 hour visit to urgent care on Sunday.

The good news is that I don’t have pneumonia. Thank goodness or I would have never heard the end of it from Mr. CPA, who was none too pleased with me for not coming home earlier as he had suggested when he found out I was getting sick again at the hotel. I tried to explain that I had not been quite that sick until later Saturday evening, but the fever and non-stop coughing fits weren’t really helping my credibility much at that point.

So no Madrona report until I’m recovered as Mr. CPA is being very strict about the 'resting', which means zero computer time when he is home because he does not think sitting in my office at the computer contributes to my getting better. (I’m sneaking this in quickly while he’s at work). But go see Vanessa’s review of the absolutely wonderful Rovaniemi mitten class that we took until I can write up my own - besides, her samples, as usual, are done and mine are not.

Mr. CPA hasn’t had to worry too much about me sitting at the computer while he’s at work because I have quite a busy daily nap schedule courtesy of my new codeine-based cough syrup. The early, mid, and late-morning naps are followed by the early, mid, and late-afternoon naps, leaving me very little time to contemplate doing anything other than watching the first 10 minutes of any bad daytime television program before nodding off into my drug-induced haze again.

I must be feeling somewhat better as this is the second time today I’ve been non-comatose for more than 20 consecutive minutes.

That’s all for now. The informer (otherwise known as the youngest son) will be coming home from classes any minute and I’m not up for another lecture tonight about not taking care of my health.

And I'm Off...

Okay, off to Madrona to meet up with Vanessa tonight.

I'm horribly overpacked and yet I have sinking feeling I've forgotten something rather important. But as Holly reminded me recently, as long as I remember my pants I'm probably okay!

Full report and photos when I return!

Butt-Kicking Virus: 1, Denise:0

You know how after you’ve been sick for awhile and then you start to feel better? How even though you’re not ‘all the way’ better you feel really GREAT just because of the comparative difference to how not great you were feeling just recently?

That was me Saturday. I woke up yesterday feeling terrific. Got up and puttered at some chores and went to the gym to work out like we do every Saturday (well, almost every Saturday – we’re not saints).

I had an excellent workout at the gym and did 4 miles on the treadmill plus nautilus. It felt like the upcoming week held some promise for making significant progress on this:

At some point in the afternoon I started feeling a bit tired but just attributed it to the workout. However, by about 5:00 pm it was becoming clear to me that there might be another reason because I suddenly felt like I’d been hit by a really big bus.

Somewhere around 8:00 pm, knitting on this:

K1-P1 rib diagonal multi-directional scarf

Took come concentration. This pattern is not exactly the nuclear rocket brain surgery (to paraphrase Manolo). Definitely not a good sign.

This morning I’m running a fever and feel worse than I did last week.

Oh, and filed under “Things that would have been good to know yesterday”
Mr. CPA told me this morning that per his doctor, breaking a sweat when you have a virus can cause the virus to rebound. Has anybody else heard that? Not that it helps now but it could be useful for future reference.

Any other time would be bad enough, but I have less than 5 days to shake this off because on Friday morning I fly out to San Diego for the TNNA Winter Trade Show . I have to spend weekend manning a booth and I absolutely, positively cannot not be sick for this.


I'm ready to consider almost anything. Please send me your best tips for treating a bad virus so I don't have to resort to wearing the onion necklace!

This post brought to you by the makers of OTC pharmaceuticals

I have succumbed to a yucky virus.

I suspect it was brought home by Mr. CPA since he is also sick (courtesy of a very dedicated, presenteeism-oriented co-worker at the Dept. of Health*).

Either that or common upper respiratory viruses (virii?) have mutated in a way that allows for person-computer-person transmission.

Because I’ve noticed that quite a few of the bloggers that I read on a regular basis have also been sick lately: like Vanessa , Stephanie , Kerry and Jessica.

(I’m sure were some others but my virus fogged brain refuses to assist me in retrieving that information)

I know that some of the time frames seem too distant to be related to my infection, but that could be due to the fact that I got a bit behind on my blog reading over the holidays, delaying my initial exposure. Or there may be a longer incubation period in this new mutated virus-transmission scenario. Yeah, that’s probably it.

Anyway, stay tuned for the heartwarming tale about ‘the pumpkin that time forgot’ and possibly some spinning and knitting content.

I’m sure the suspense will be killing you until then. Off to nap now.


(* Dept. of Health? I think not!)

Only Six?

Antique Chinese Basket with Dicentra Designs fiber

(because this is a serious fiber arts blog)

Vanessa tagged me with the “Six weird things about me” meme back on December 14th, right before our electricity and internet access went out in the big PNW storm . I tried to wiggle out of it since I was so late catching up, but Vanessa insisted I pony up with all my amazing weirdness.

It was incredibly not difficult to think up six weird things. It was, however, challenging to get the list down to just six things. I suspect it might be impossible much harder to come up with a list of “Six things about me that are not weird”

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I can make my eyeballs jiggle back and forth really fast. A skill I discovered around third grade. So if you were to look at me while I’m doing this you would see my eyeballs quivering. Not surprisingly it tends to gross people out (not nearly as rewarding at my age as it was in third grade). Must be an inherited tendency because my youngest son can do it too.


2. I can pop my left hip out of the socket. I don’t do it much any more because after I showed my doctor once she said, “Hmm, interesting. You probably want to stop doing that.” (I have hyper-mobile ligaments so all my joints move more than they should, allowing me to do fun things like bend my thumb down to touch my forearm).


3. One of my ears gets really red when I’m concentrating intently on a task. Which ear is dependent on the type of task I’m working on: If I’m working on a left-brained task involving logic or math, my right ear is red, but if I’m working on a more creative right-brain task my left ear is red. I don’t remember if they’ve ever both been red at once.


4. Seeing someone cry makes me cry – even if I’m not sad. Actually, sometimes just having someone tell me a story involving someone crying can make me cry.


5. I still have one of my baby teeth. It never came out because there was no tooth behind it. I worry that one day I’ll bite down too hard and knock it out because there are no roots on baby teeth. I also never got any wisdom teeth. (This may come as no surprise to those who actually know me.)


6. A co-worker and I regularly donate blood at work during donation drives (this is not the weird part). To make it more interesting, we race to see who can donate their pint in the shortest time. We’ve gotten to the point where the ‘pretty close’ time from the clock the blood bank uses on-site isn’t close enough. We’re seriously thinking about investing in stopwatches for accuracy. Amazingly we can’t seem to get other people to join our Competition Speed Blood Donation Team. (the blood bank staff seem quite amused – I hope they’re not quietly discarding the ‘crazy people blood’ after we leave)

I guess #’s 2 and 5 might count as 1.5 things each since I managed to throw in an extra factoid in each of those items. But that’s basically your six things. Basically. (extra points if you know which cult movie classic I stole that last line from!)

Hmm, my list seems to contain a number of body-based oddities. I’m not sure that just looking at me would make one automatically assume I’m a freak of nature, but seeing them all lined up in print does kinda make it seem that way.

I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t already been tagged. I will be a non-rule follower (quite uncharacteristic for me) and not tag anyone myself. Ooh, such a rebel!

K2Tog

My husband and I celebrated 22 years of wedded bliss last weekend. Our actual anniversary was the day after Thanksgiving but we were so busy with family and the holiday that we both forgot. Though, even without the Thanksgiving excuse, this is pretty typical for us. One of us usually remembers the next day or so and we have a good laugh over it.
Here we are enjoying an anniversary dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Mercato:


We were planning to impose on the waitress to take our photo but serendipitously some good friends of ours were also having dinner there and they volunteered to act as official anniversary photographers.

Mr. CPA and I are best friends and even happier together today than the day we married (and we were pretty darn happy that day too!).
And to the wonderful man who for years has put up with yarn, knitting needles, patterns, raw fleeces, washed fleeces, carders, spinning wheels and other assorted fiber arts related items all over the house (including our first really small house) I would like to say:

Thank you for the 22 happiest years of my life – here’s to 22 more (and then some!). Oh, and sorry about the kid mohair in your waffles that one time…