What Dreams Get Shattered Soon?

So far so good. I'm here for the third day in a row. (I'll try not to break my arm patting myself on the back!) I read on one of the blog advice postings that when you start a blog you need to post often. I think once a day should count as often, don't you?

I watched the 2-hour plus a few minutes extra of American Idol - here's what I think:
Lil, Kris, Matt, Michael, and Megan were OK. Note to Megan: do not dance again, ever.
Allison was awesome! She may be only 16 but her voice is about 35. She's kind of goofy before and after she takes the stage, but of course she is a teenager. When she gets out in the spotlight she's in her element. She may not win, but I bet somebody gives her a contract. I still don't really like the fake red hair, but the shorter style is better.
Alexis was good, I thought. Better than the judges gave her credit for anyway.
Danny was great. He can't dance either (see note to Megan) but he managed to pull it off. I can't figure out why, but it worked for him. He was good enough that I actually forgot about his dead wife.
Scott is blind, so he'll probably be around for awhile. Nobody wants to pick on a blind guy, but last night wasn't one of his better efforts. Michael Jackson songs and Scott just don't go together.
Anoop. What can I say? Other than don't ever try to be like Mike again. In his defense, I have to say that if the judges thought "Beat It" was untouchable and iconically Michael Jackson (I think those were a couple of the comments.) they never should have included it in the song choices. Thank God nobody took on "Thriller" or someone would have stroked out right there on live TV.
Jasmine and Jorge: It's time to go! The more I see of Jasmine the less I like her and Jorge just creeps me out.
And finally, Adam. I know rumors have abounded lately about his man-kissing photos and his gayness and blah, blah, blah. Here's the deal - I just don't care! He's hot and he's definitely got presence and a voice to die for. Do I like his hair and nail polish? Not particularly. I must admit I kind of like the "guyliner" around his eyes. (Don't tell my sons or I'll get way too much grief about that! ) Anyway, his was the best performance of the night and we all know he'll be around for awhile.
I'm anxiously awaiting tonight's results so I can either congratulate myself for being right, or yell at the TV because the voters are stupid. Speaking of voting - I did my part and spent 37 minutes hitting redial until I got through to Adam's number.

My plan to work on my novelty-yarn blanket didn't work out - not enough leftover yarn to do anymore just yet! Which means sometime soon I'll have to take a break from these blankets and make some more scarves so I can have leftover yarn for that blanket (this process is one of those never-ending loops). In the meantime, I have my blues, browns, greens, darker colors blanket to work on. It's made with leftovers, too, with 4 rows of a beige fiesta (light brown w/blue, green, and burgundy flecks) between the color changes. It could be for one of my boys - they'll accept knitting from me if it's not girly-looking (their phrase, not mine). This one will look great in a guy's place, so when it's done I'll find a guy for it to live with.

I guess I should explain about my knitting. I mentioned the first time that I'm no expert. I'm not even ambitious. I just like to knit. (Or purl. Or a combination of both.) But I only do scarves and blankets. Why? Because I don't want to have to follow a pattern and get frustrated when I screw whatever it is up. And I would screw it up, trust me. So I make up my own patterns for scarves and I never have to write anything down because they all consist of casting on as many stitches as I think I need for the yarn I have and then kniting until I think it's done. It works well for me. I do like to combine different types of yarn and see what happens, and sometimes I add buttons, fabric, jewelry, whatever, to them when I'm done knitting. I give them all names, too. Not names like Joe and Marsha, but names like Mountain Amethyst or Monet's River. The names seem to come into my head as I'm knitting. Don't laugh - the voices in my head could say much meaner things than scarf names. :o)

That's it for this time. I should get off the computer and find something to cook for dinner.

Enjoy the evening!

Sarah

Spring forward.....into jet lag

Well, here I am for the second time.

I don't know about anyone else, but this time change thing has hit me like a ton of bricks. I feel sleep-deprived and cranky, but it's only a one hour difference! So why do I feel like I've just flown across an ocean the wrong way??? I'm kind of over this daylight savings thing - we "fell back" in November and now we did the "spring forward" before Spring actually starts. Why can't we be like Arizona and just stay the same all year?
Oh, well - enough venting.

I have to admit that in addition to knitting, I'm also addicted to watching TV. Because I can knit while I'm doing it. Anyway, last night I watched one of my favorites, "Two and a Half Men" and Charlie proposed to his girlfriend by putting the ring in her glass of champagne while her head was turned. So she, since this is a comedy, turned back to the table and immediately chugged all the champagne- ring and all. I think someone actually did this a few weeks ago, only in a milkshake or something. My question is this: why do guys think this is romantic? It's a recipe for disaster! Years ago, when I lived in Italy, my friend Carla went out to dinner with her boyfriend Claudio. Claudio had gone to the restaurant earlier in the day and had them put the ring in a little dessert cake so he could pop the question later in the evening. (Obviously this was a restaurant they frequented often - if you try this at a new place you run the risk of being served your cake ringless because the guy you gave it to promptly ran to the closest pawn shop.) Anyway, dessert time came and the waiter presented Carla with her very own little cake. She took a couple of bites, bit down hard on the ring, broke a tooth in the process, started coughing, and spit both the tooth and the ring out. Murphy's law, being an international law, took over and the ring rolled across the floor and down a heating vent. Carla's eyes were watering from the coughing and the pain of the broken tooth, which caused her makeup to run, and she never even saw the ring before it disappeared. Claudio wound up paying for dinner, Carla's visit to the dentist, and for someone to come and root around in the pipes of the heating system to find the ring. They went ahead and got married a few months later but I have no idea if they're still together because Claudio never forgave me for laughing about the whole thing and making sure all our friends knew about it and Carla, being a good new wife, agreed when he banned me from their lives. The point here is: forget trying for a unique method of giving her the ring - just give it to her! If a guy wants to do something romantic he should take her away to a five-star resort for the honeymoon and make sure she gets pampered.

Tonight is the beinning of the Final 13 on American Idol. American Idol is another addiction - it started as a guilty pleasure a couple of years ago but quickly attained addiction status. So for the next three months, expect to hear my opinions about who sang what and how, and if America voted correctly. My prediction is that Jasmine will be the first to go - she's just not that good and has never lived up to my expectations.

Now for the knitting update: the baby blanket is now officially on hold waiting for more leftover yarn. So I will switch to my second blanket-in-progress - this one is being made entirely of novelty yarns. Leftovers of course. I get all these leftovers from scarves, but that's a subject for another day.

That's it for today. I hope you've enjoyed spending some time with me.

Sarah