So, last weekend got completely crazy and we ended up NOT getting Scruffy. We DID, however, get runny noses, a fever, and a cough that still isn’t completely gone, so we have that going for us. (Scruffy is still there. I still check on her every day. The only problem is that she is classified as Medium-Haired, which means I would either have to go back on the Zyrtec (or the booze) if we welcomed her into our home. Believe me, we’re weighing options and making pro/con lists and I actually got my Xanax prescription refilled today for the first time in 18 months, and that’s sort of a monkey of a different color, but I’m coming completely clean with you right now. And I don’t think I necessarily need Xanax, because going through 24 pills in 18 months doesn’t really classify me as needy, but it’s nice to have them around. Like a funny cousin you get to see only once or twice a year. Or a special cake you eat only at funerals or something.)
I’ve been really REEEEEEEALLY irritable over the past week or so, too. And for the first time in a LONG time, I’m going to sort of censor myself, because the folks with whom I’m irritated actually know about Fluid Pudding. (Have I ever told you that no one in my extended family knows about this site? Why is that? Why do I feel like Fluid Pudding has to be a private thing? It’s not like I really get all puhrivate over here, do I? No. I really don’t. I don’t think my secrets would interest you in the least.) Anyway, I’m in one of those moods where I sort of want to jump in the car and drive east or west (or north or south) for a few hours, check into a cute (or not so cute, really) place with a blanketed bed and knit, read, jot silly things into a big fat notebook, and sleep my weekend away. I will leave my dwellings for yarn stores and pecan pie hunts. I might even wear sneakers. I will definitely wear a hat in lieu of hygiene. Sounds dreamy, no?
Good News: Next week I’ll have a finished sweater for you. It’s my Delphine! AND, I actually know enough about knitting now that I was able to spot an error in the pattern. And this excited me in the same way that I get excited when I find a misspelling in a novel. (And, yes. I submitted the error and the author is sending it on to a tech editor, and I’m now only three degrees of separation away from H.L. Mencken.)
When I was in high school, I set a goal of learning to play all 27 Chopin études. To date, I can (just barely) play two of them. Last night I broke down and purchased the études on iTunes. It felt like I was closing a chapter, and as a result I’m feeling a bit mopish.
Who’s up for a retreat?
29 responses so far ↓
1 JP // Feb 19, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Oh, it is like there is something in the air…I’ve been living in Frustration Nation (to put it mildly) and my family can’t really stand me right now.
Your retreat idea sounds lovely. I’ll pretend that I can knit all wonderful…even though I can barely knit a scarf. And oh the knitting errors I can make there!
I wish us both smoother days ahead…
2 Jenn // Feb 19, 2009 at 4:43 pm
No one in my family knows about my blog at all. I don’t know why I haven’t told them about it, I just don’t want to.
You should drive east, we have lots of yarn stores here!
3 Kara // Feb 19, 2009 at 4:49 pm
First, hope that things get better soon (including the complete disappearance of the plague).
The Scruffy thing, though? I am assuming you have had experience in the medium haired cat arena before, but I’m still going to share. :) Louis the Fancy Cat was a long haired boy and I swear there was a lot less fur and dander in my house with him than there is with Ziggy. Also, Mindy has Mildew, the magical medium haired cat who no one with cat allergies seems to be allergic to. So maybe Scruffy is also a magical medium haired cat? :) I bet it’s a girl thing.
4 kristin // Feb 19, 2009 at 4:58 pm
But see, if you didn’t have the Xanax, you would TOTALLY NEED THE XANAX. Before a trip across the country a few years ago, I was getting my Xanax prescription refilled. It was about 7:30 at night and the 12 year-old pharmacist wouldn’t fill it because the doctor forgot to put dosage instructions on there. And I was all, dude, there are no instructions. I just need to take them when I have an anxiety attack. AND IF YOU DON’T FILL IT, I’M GOING TO HAVE ONE RIGHT NOW.
And he filled it.
5 Kate // Feb 19, 2009 at 5:03 pm
There is something in the air…I feel like I have horns growing out of my head.
My family doesn’t know about mine either…no real reason…but it’s probably good b/c they’d realize how irritated I really am sometimes and that could cause problems.
Go on your trip! Just do it!!
6 liz // Feb 19, 2009 at 5:29 pm
xanax, breakfast of champions. My husband just sent me an email reminding me to get my scrip filled!
I”ll meet you halfway for a retreat. Surely there is yarn in OKC. If not, then at least there is good pie!
7 Alyce // Feb 19, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I’m on board the retreat train for sure. Come to Santa Fe. We may have a population of only 70,000 year-round residents, but we have 6 yarn stores.
8 Meghan // Feb 19, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Ok, I think there is some kind of global conspiracy going on. I’ve felt pretty much that exact same way all week. I’ve had the urge to ditch work so I can watch hours upon hours of West Wing that I have stored on my DVR (thank you Bravo!) and eat cheerios with banana sliced into it, and then work on the blanket I’m knitting. I hadn’t thought of getting into the car to just drive, but now that you mention it I want to do that, too.
9 Nichole // Feb 19, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Two hours west. Delicious pizza. And ice cream. Or you could head South, and I could meet you at Opryland.
10 Angeline // Feb 19, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Wow…the etudes….wow. Maybe you could substitute the Debussy etudes? There’s not so many of them!
11 blackbird // Feb 19, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Drive here.
Call when you are close.
I’ll take a leave of absence.
12 Shmoo // Feb 19, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I’m so into a retreat, especially if you will share the Xanax.
13 Monkey // Feb 19, 2009 at 10:08 pm
A weekend of pie, knitting and no responsibilities? Calgon- take me there now!
14 betsy // Feb 19, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I would like a retreat too please.
(I already have the yarn, and also the prescription.)
Unrelated, but I imagine you have heard this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100239360
15 Angela at mommy bytes // Feb 19, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I never deluded myself into thinking that I could do all 27, but I did learn 4 that I can remember. Started with black note (#5?), did the easy one (#3?), and then did the first one, and the one in F minor (#7 or 8? I ought to have gotten out my book to check before writing this comment). My kids are starting piano lessons tomorrow, so maybe this will get me off my duff and learning them too!
16 Karen T-H // Feb 20, 2009 at 12:12 am
A., head south for the Wine Trail Tour of southern Illinois! You and JKH72 could leave your matching children with Grammy, roam the trail while discussing your former careers as scoopers at BR!
Miss you, been gone, back soon, write you soon.
17 Jane // Feb 20, 2009 at 1:00 am
Wow. You are a knitting Yoda. Look forward to seeing a pic of the Delphine.
Sorry you are feeling cross.
18 The Coffee Lady // Feb 20, 2009 at 5:19 am
oh, let some other bugger play the etudes for you. Isn’t that what you DESERVE?
19 Alli // Feb 20, 2009 at 7:55 am
Maybe it’s global warming! Several of my girlsfriends and I have been feeling that same way. Sometimes it’s nice to know you’re not alone in your freakouts – even if your immediate family thinks you are.
20 Scott // Feb 20, 2009 at 9:20 am
The Debussy etudes is a good idea but the Gary Busey etudes… now that would be an accomplishment. Just sayin.
21 Fluid Pudding // Feb 20, 2009 at 9:57 am
Scott—How about a little “I’m Going to Pull Out Your Endocrine System” in the key of F#?
22 Gail // Feb 20, 2009 at 10:11 am
I and several of my friends were feeling the same way so we got together last night and played cards and drank. It worked wonders.
23 Clair // Feb 20, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Thought I was the only one feeling the need for a retreat right now. How about that. I think you should all come west. The weather’s not too bad this weekend and we can play outside.
24 Nikki // Feb 20, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Yes, please. My husband is embarking on 5 consecutive Saturdays of show choir contests (he teaches high school… he’s not actually, you know, competing), leaving me and the kid to our own devices all weekend every weekend. After being left to our own devices all week every week. A nice restorative pre-insanity retreat would be perfect. I like pie. And knitting. And naps.
25 Mrs. Kennedy // Feb 20, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I love Chopin, I never learned to play any of his work — organ lessons FTW! — so I’m really impressed you got through two.
26 Brinski // Feb 21, 2009 at 10:28 am
Ok, nice to know that it’s not just lil’ old clinically depressed me. Maybe it’s the post Christmas/pre-spring anxiety or cabin fever but I have really been feeling the need to get away too. Somewhere warm, sandy and Pina colada-y would be nice. When I see those Corona commercials I want to climb inside the TV, I swear!
I could be glib and say that Kansas City is a nice place for a retreat…but its not.
27 Carole // Feb 22, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I’ve been having fantasies about retreating to Big Cedar Lodge at Table Rock Lake and eating waffles drowned in syrup from their breakfast buffet!
I share in your excitement regarding the catch in the knitting pattern! Yesterday, I caught an error in the Dr. Phil colomn in Oprah magazine and I I felt so very clever and went into a long fantasy about being a NYC editor where that would cause heads to roll and I was yelling–NO mistakes EVER–in a Joan Crawford wire hanger tone.
28 kimblahg // Feb 23, 2009 at 2:07 am
I’m down with the retreat! And not a “blogging” retreat- just a drinking, eating and hot-tubbing retreat.
29 Velma // Mar 4, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I am super-late to the RSVP for the retreat, but I’m feeling the need. (Or the Ned, which is bringing back all sorts of feelings about a long-ago middle school crush.)
I have to say, I’m pleased to hear about your family privacy thang, because I often feel like an incredible freak for keeping my blogging so secret. I have a great family, no major psychological issues, but nobody in my real life except my best friend, a cousin who also blogs, and my husband knows I have a blog. (And my husband doesn’t even read blogs.)
Anyhoo, what was that I heard about a retreat?
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