I picked up the wretched clutch again

...and I figured out what was wrong with it - the stitches were twisted. So, after a bit of untwisting (and I think a bit of frogging as well), I fixed it. Hopefully the diamond pattern will show up. I probably should've practised the diamond pattern beforehand with some scrap yarn, but I didn't think of that at the time.

The Calorimetry is close to being finished - I have a few more Row 7 repeats to do, and then the Row 8 stuff, and the bind off. And sewing on the button, of course. I'm not sure what button I'll use - maybe I'll use the other purple button. Or the other star button. Speaking of buttons, I should get one of those bags o' buttons from Len's and start a button jar. My mom recently moved her button jar into a dish for easier access.

My dad bought cannoli from our favourite bakery today, because he and Mom were craving it, thanks to Phantom Gourmet. So I had three Sicilian cannoli. Yum :)

Oh, and Mom thinks that Dad was faking the headache to get out of going to church because he said that the loud TV volume wasn't bothering it. No comment.

Feeling loads better.

I'm not as stuffed up today, which is great. I should be well enough to go to youth group on Wednesday.

The past couple of days have been pretty nice. I think the weather's finally turning spring-like. Last night it was raining, which I thought was great. I went outside in the rain, wearing my hiking-style boots, to bring in a couple of dog toys that found their way outside. Smiles came with me to 'help' - in other words, I picked up the toys while she danced about in hopes that I would throw one. The ground was pretty soft, and I got mud and stuff on my boots, so I gave them a wash when I came back in.

Katie came over yesterday. She got me and Dad a T-shirt each in St. Martin - she was over there... last week? My shirt's quite pretty. We had turkey for dinner, 'cause Mom and Dad bought a turkey (or several??? I can't remember) on sale. I went back for the last of the Brussels sprouts.

We didn't go to church today because Dad had a really bad headache this morning. I'm not complaining, because it means that I can stay in my pajamas.

Oh, and I e-mailed Holly, since I haven't e-mailed her in ages.

I have to go eat soon...

Afterwards

So Nathan's visit went well. He offered to help me get rid of the remnants of the biology program, but I declined.

I think I miss actually talking to my brother. One time at Grandma and Grandpa's house - it was for a party of some kind, but I can't remember for whom - we just sat in Grandma's kitchen and talked, with their little radio on. They have this little TV with a radio built in. Pretty nifty. Nathan was put to work putting trays of hors d'oevres (I'm probably spelling it wrong) in the oven and then taking them out and serving them - I think Aunt Patti made him do that. I wouldn't put it past her. Anyways, we just sat on the floor and talked. Normally my brother is a social butterfly, but at family functions he often prefers to socialize with only a few people. So today we all chatted pretty normally - me, Nathan, Mom and Steph.

I thought about something else today, too. Before I get into that, I should probably say that the dojo where I got my black belt was not the dojo I had originally started karate at. The dojo I started at was a place closer to our house, and it's in the same plaza as a good fish-and-chips place. We left after I got my red belt, though, because we didn't like the way the instructors - namely, Mr. M and Mr. C - were teaching the classes.

Anyways. What I was thinking about today was a particular evening at that dojo. In the class, all of the boys, directed by Mr. M, had to briefly leave the class because they had all thrown their coats on the floor of the men's change room. While they were attending to the mess, Mr. V had us girls go through our katas (katas are patterns of stances, blocks, kicks, etc, and are pretty much imaginary fights). I was thinking this evening that Mr. V really took us seriously in that class - in all the classes he taught, in fact. That was something neither Mr. M nor Mr. C ever did.

That memory makes me feel awesome.

In other news, my nose hasn't been dripping as much today, which is good. I have thus far watched two discs of Are You Being Served? - one disc yesterday, the other disc today. The whole series is seven discs long, but I think the seventh disc is just special features. So that's cool :) I had a book due back to the library today, and didn't return it today, but I'm not too worried. I have change to pay for fines.

A little less gross-feeling today...

I'm still stuffed up and groggy, but last night I was pretty alert and stayed up late enough to watch U2 on Letterman. They kicked ass :)

So today is my brother's birthday. He's supposed to come over after lunch. I didn't get him anything, and I'll probably be hiding in my room as much as possible. And I don't feel that awful about not getting him something - after all, he re-gifted an anime DVD to me, which I think I can only play on my computer, I can't figure out how to put it on my hard drive, and it's one whole season of Naruto with no, like, episode selection or anything, so I'm not gonna sit through several hours of Naruto to figure out where I left off. I'll just borrow the box sets from the library.

I wound up not going to youth group last night, as I had predicted. I was probably still contagious, and neither Jeff nor Stephen want us to come to youth group sick, because they can't get sick.

Anyways. I was going to give Nathan two pennies for his birthday, but Mom told me not to, because it's 'just nasty'. Bleh. I'll just hide in my room, reading Blood and Chocolate and listening to either David Bowie or Gavin Rossdale. And I have an excuse - I'm sick! ;)

Blech

Okay, so I'm not literally wasting away, but I certainly feel like it.

I got some writing done, though. I started some Labyrinth fanfiction and worked on my Harry Potter fanfiction. I read a bit of Blood and Chocolate, too, but not a lot.

My right nostril is dripping, which isn't very pleasant. On the upside, U2 are on Letterman this week (I missed them last night, though... damn), and I have the entire DVD set of Are You Being Served? out of the library. I don't think I'll be going to youth group tomorrow, though... dammit.

Oh, and I've also been in love with this song lately...

Back from the dentist's

So I went to the dentist's to get my new flipper (removable fake tooth). It feels odd, because it's shaped to fit over my new bone graft, so it feels HUGE in my mouth. I'll have to get used to talking with this new flipper - my k's are a little weirded out. Hmm, I wonder what eating will be like with this thing...

I'm still feeling gross, but my dad and I stopped at Shopper's on the way back to get ear drops for Mom and cold medicine for me, and we got a pack of DayQuil and NyQuil liquid-caps, two in one. I very much prefer the liquid-caps over the syrup. I hate the taste of the NyQuil syrup.

Anyways. My teeth look yellow next to the new flipper. Looks like I'll have to start using that whitening mouthwash...

I managed to read a bit of Blood and Chocolate. I like it so far. I also added text to a photo (which I may need to either fix or re-do), and ate half an enchilada, among other foods. So yeah... not a very productive day.

Coronation Street is on in about half an hour! Yay! :)

Sick :(

Yup, I'm sick again. My nose got stuffed up yesteday, so I took some Nyquil before bed. Boy, did that help me sleep. I woke up with a sore throat, so I took a throat lozenge that is NOT a numbing one! Yay! I hate numbing throat lozenges. They make my throat feel like it's sticking together - if anything, they probably make my throat feel worse. But the one I took is non-numbing, kinda like Halls Fruit Breezers.

My throat's better now, but I'm still stuffed up, and my right nostril runs sometimes, and I sometimes sneeze. I generally feel like crap.

Plus, I have an appointment at the dentist's to pick up and try on my new flipper. Whee.

So we wound up NOT going to the silent auction, and I didn't go bowling with the youth group because the alley that they were bowling at was too far away. Damn. So my weekend was spent at home. I hate having nothing to do on weekends.

And now it's Monday. I have a cold, I still have to get my dad to help me clean off the shortcuts and crap for Human 3D so that I can reinstall it...

But, on the upside, the library added the new items to the catalogue last night, including Milk. So I reserved that and a bunch of other things. Not many CDs that I fancied, though, and only one knitting book I felt like reserving, but there were a couple of National Geographic DVDs that I reserved. I put Dante's The Divine Comedy on my list, but I didn't reserve it. I wonder how it is.

Oh, and the library has one copy of the first Return to Labyrinth graphic novel! Yay!