Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Eye, yi, yi! And other random meanderings

I try not to whine about my stupid problems with Graves but yesterday really sucked. One of the characteristics of Graves that differentiates it from other thyroid disease is it does strange things to your eyes. In my case just my right eye, which is unusual (of course I have to have an unusual disease in an unusual way!) but correctable. After I finish treatment. If it doesn't correct itself. I feel like I look weird all the time and that is usually the worst of it. Yesterday my good eye went buggy and I couldn't see very well. The medication for this is basically a medicated Vaseline that you squirt in your eye so as to make your blurry eyes even blurrier. So yesterday I spent the entire afternoon and evening sitting on the couch. I couldn't read. I could see the big t.v. well enough, so I watched t.v. with my son and knit. Thankfully I was knitting the sleeves of the $9 cardigan so I could have done that in the dark.

Today I am sending my final SP and OSSP packages. My Secret Pal has resolved to try felting so I'm hoping that my final gift will inspire her.


It's a Lucy bag. Practically obligatory here in MN, I'm not sure why. I've filled it with Cascade 220 and enough Twisted Sisters hand dyed cotton to Picovoli (in case the whole felting thing doesn't work out for her) I have a pin in the shape of an Orchid that I'm going to attach to the front. Even if she doesn't carry the Lucy as a handbag, it makes a great project bag. I hope she likes it. She has been so much fun to buy things for and I'm glad I can finally reveal myself. The cloak and dagger knitting thing has been killing me!

The Noro Kureyon scarf is for my One Skein pal. It's cheating because it uses two skeins, but I don't care. It was fun to make and I hope she likes it. She has two sons who play sports so I'm thinking a scarf will be welcome come football season. I also got her a big funky skein of chunky yarn, a skein of Trekking and a skein of Noro. My one skein pal doesn't blog very actively, so it's hard to know if she has liked anything I've sent, but I'm hoping that something in my packages has been fun or useful.

I also included a package of colored pencils in each package. Two reasons for this. One, they are nice for designing; two, I always crave new school supplies in August.

For years and years we are programmed to buy school supplies and new clothes in August. All of the sudden we are adults and cut off. I've never made the adjustment. I want fresh, untouched notebooks, sharp pencils, a new box of 64 crayons, for God's sake I want a protracter (I can't recall ever using one, but dammit, I want one!). And clothes. I want woolly sweaters and corduroy pants even though it will be too hot to wear them for a couple of months. I want new tennies for gym class and a pair of brown "good" shoes for everywhere else. I want Levi's cords and a really big comb to stick in my back pocket. Oops, I just had a late 70's flashback there, please forgive me. Okay, I don't want that, but I certainly want fall clothes. I want to fall asleep worrying about whether or not my best friend Becky will be in any of my classes and hoping like hell she will have the same lunch hour as me. Anyone else go through this in August?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't say that I do. I think it's the brutal cost of paying for all those obligatory school supplies that drains me of any desire.

However, office supplies...oh boy, do I love me some colored paper clips and lavendar legal pads!

Chris said...

Hmm, maybe you could knit with protractors...

Sorry to hear about your Graves woes. Autoimmune diseases SUCK.

Lucky secret pals! It will be fun when they receive their gifts and we can find out who they are, too.

Sheepish Annie said...

Ha! "The Big Comb!" I'd forgotten about that little fashion accessory. The Lucy Bag looks great...your pal will love it.

renee said...

As usual, you and I are on the same page. I LOVE to go to Target and look through all the school supplies. I have something of a fetish for office supplies, so school supplies are kind of in that category. I satisfy it by buying school supplies and donating them - it sounds so noble, but it's really just me wanting to buy school supplies.

I want to buy new clothes year round, so I guess that doesn't change much. But fall is definitely my favorite season and I think that's in part because in my mind it's still a time of new beginnings, so many possibilities.

Guinifer said...

That Lucy bag rocks - I'd love to see it with the pin.

I am so with you on the back to school thing. Nothing frustrates me quite so much as having new "Fall" clothes, and it doesn't get cool enough to wear them until the end of September! The agony!

Kelly said...

I am sure she will love the bag, it is so cute.

Tipper said...

I feel exactly the same way come fall, right down to the corduroys (though I always think "pink"). I always liked school, so I'm always a little sad that I don't get to buy a new binder and paper and pens each year.

Deb said...

I just bought myself a few new "school supplies" just for grins!

Sydney Harper said...

Sorry that your Graves disease is acting up.

Those sound like great gifts!

I always want to buy school supplies this time of year too. I still do buy pens and notebooks in the fall.