Button Up Your Overcoat

'Cos it's snowing again! It's snowed twice since we put the spring weed n' feed down on the lawn. In typical bureaucratic fashion, this week is the week that my town cleans the streets so gosh darn it the streets will be clean! Instead of a salt or sand truck, the street cleaner just passed by, looking silly with the falling snow. Did I mention I've got a big deal thing going on tomorrow? Did I mention executives from places like Houston are flying here today. Welcome to Minnesota folks. Don't worry the weather will change tomorrow. In April we never know whether to wear our parkas or shorts. Sometimes you need both withing 48 hours of each other. I wouldn't have it any other way.



Last weekend I decided to pull an old UFO out of the closet and finish it. It was on the cover of Vogue knitting a couple years ago, an orange seed stitch cardigan knit in Brown Sheep Burly Spun. None of my LYSs carry this yarn so I had to special order it. It was the most I'd ever spent on yarn at the time and I was excited about knitting the sweater in my choice of color not dictated by what was on hand at the store. I think I abandoned it because of the sorta crappy instructions for shaping the sleeve caps. I had to make notes now to do it correctly and I'm sure that it would have scared the crap out of me three years ago.



My biggest concern about the sweater from day one was finding the super cool buttons that were pictured on the cover. I also knew that if I found them, they'd probably cost $3-$5 apiece, officially making this the most expensive sweater I've ever knit. But Saturday I scored big! The local Hancock Fabrics is shutting their doors. I'm sad about this, but I was a happy shopper on Saturday as their special of the day was all buttons, 70% off. Being kind of a button-a-holic anyway (I have my grandma's old buttons, I save all buttons, etc.) I was thrilled.

The big purply blue button in the middle is for the sweater in question (obviously there are more than one) but if they are practically givin' em away I'm buying more. I'll hopefully post a picture of the finished sweater this weekend.

You've all probably noticed that RC is living up to his standards. Yes, my immediate family are a family of hunters. He owns a ton of non-feral cats and two dogs in real life so before you light up your torches and grab your pitchforks. . . . . You weren't really expecting unshaved legs and tree hugging here though, were you?

OMG

Okay, if you are easily offended, look away. This morning in our staff meeting there was a lot of discussion about an event that we are hosting this week. I've been in charge of the planning and execution of the event, so I was a little worried that someone was going to try tossing something new on my plate concerning this soiree. I was right to worry. My boss, really the nicest guy in the world, says "why don't we all wear ribbons on our lapels so that people know that they can come to us for questions." Sounded like a great idea and once again leaving the filter between my brain and mouth off, I said "sure, I can do that!".

Later this afternoon I realized I've never made one of these ribbons. I googled charity ribbon and came across a site that had me in stitches the remainder of the day (PREPARE TO BE OFFENDED NOW). I'm all for supporting charities, causes, having opinions but honest to God, I had no idea that just about every cause now has a ribbon. Here are some examples that had me laughing like an idiot at my desk (I'm sure people heard me laughing alone in my office and are figuring that I have finally gone around the bend).

Did you know?

1. Orange ribbons are for feral cats? I don't know if they are for or against exactly. . .
2. Silver ribbons-elderly abuse. That's all it says elderly abuse. I've gotta say I am against elderly abuse although my dad would argue this (he can dish it out but he can't take it now that he's old)
3. Teal is for a variety of things including sexual assault and food allergies. So now if I see someone wearing a teal ribbon I'm going to wonder if they are the victim of a horrible and violent crime, or just lactose intolerant (not that lactose intolerance sounds like a picnic or anything)
4. Purple represents domestic violence (against), religious tolerance (for), and Pagan Pride. I did not know that there are a lot of Pagan Pride activists out there, but I certainly am hoping for an invite to their next big rally.
5. My personal favorite: Black: mourning, melanoma, anti-gangs, anti-terrorism in Spain, narcolepsy, POW-MIAs, primary billiary cirrhosis, and Amish support.

Number 5 has left my husband in a quandry. He's for Amish Gangs with narcolepsy.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is time for really tearing things apart and giving them a good cleaning. Just make sure you put things back together when you are done.

She looks a little sad because we woke her up with the camera. The hole in the side of her bed? She chewed it. She is nothing if not adaptable.