Vacuums

It was a fast weekend for me. We left early afternoon Friday (Randy took a half-day at work) and drove up to Mom's for a short weekend. She works nights and was back on tonight, so I wanted to be "out of her hair" by mid-morning (noon at the latest) so she could head back to bed for some additional sleep. We didn't have anything to "accomplish"---mostly just "I've got some stuff for you" exchanges.

My three knitting books she bought me came in. I already love "Big Girl Knits". I mean, let's face it: every morning, I come face-to-face with the fact that I'm a plus-size woman in a short body. So don't mince words with me. I know I've already got a strike against me for "looking good" according to some of those strange fashionistas out there, but let's not pretend it's an all-happy occasion! *grin* Some days, I am so sick of seeing stick-women (gross!) and other days, I envy anyone who can wander into any j-random store and find clothes they like that fit. Moving on...

Mason Dixon Knitting was in this stash as well and I want to curl up on my bed with a pile of Peaches-n-Creme and just knit forever! Also, Morehouse Merino knits. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with this book yet, but it's got something else whorling around in my brain....more on that in a bit, I think.

We got our Dyson vacuum cleaner back! I can't wait to put my bad-ass Yellow Beast back to work! My back, shoulders and neck will be happier too!

When we got home, the guitar picks Randy had me order him were in the mail and a suprise package was on the front step. A while back, I won a contest on Lucia's blog. Life kinda stepped in the way and she just managed to get it out to me---and WOW did she pick well. I told her that I am new enough to sock yarns that I'd prefer she select what she wanted to share/get rid of. I've misplaced the digital camera (again!) and don't know if I can get a picture up soon. In the box was 2 skeins of "Sock it to me" in color #2499 (a bright-ish blue) and 2 skeins in color #9415 (a variegated blue/white). Also: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock merino in "Blues/Purples"!

*sigh*

Hi, my name is Anne. I love sock yarn.

(Now you all say, "Hi Anne.")

In connected news, I finished my first pair of socks this morning at three AM! (And that's after we changed the ^&%^#$%@#%$ clocks for going off &^%&^$%^#^#^ daylight savings time!). Yay! I love socks! These are a little baggy and I don't know what I'm supposed to do as far as blocking is concerned. I didn't like how "pointy" the toe was, so I elected to not do all the decreases...and forgot to add a little length to the toe before the decreases. Still, a fabulous first effort!

As soon as I've wound my new skein of "Vlad the Impaler", I'm casting on for another pair! OH! And Randy bought me two skeins of sock yarn over at Yarn4Socks before the "October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month" sale ended. (By-the-way, my appointment is for Friday to see if my lumps post-accident are still concerning. Fingers crossed.) And I splurged and bought a skein of Foxtrot and a skein of ChaCha. *giddy*giggle*

Let's see.... other news? Oh, to "Incognito", my Secret Pal: *sigh* Okay. Still, I've "met" a lot of neat new people just reading around the blogs.

We ended up leaving Mom's late because while she was on her cell phone, her house line rang and she gave me the nod to answer it for her. It was my sister, Marcey! I rarely get to talk to her; she's so busy! Still, it was really nice to hear how she's doing directly from her. *grin* I try to be the "Big Sis" that I am (all of 2 years and change) and give her support without pressure. I'm so proud of her for just being who she is and not letting the assholes of the world destroy her spirit. She is a very funny woman---I swear her monologues about her two cats have me peeing my pants---not to mention some of her other stories! *grin*

Oh, yeah: ferret content! When we go up to see Mom, we try to run any errands that involve heavy lifting, since Randy and Nicky are available. Mom's recovery from her gall bladder removal last year has not been great and I'm glad we've been this close to help her out. So, this weekend, we stopped at PetSmart in Columbia. And I finally got a squeaky toy that's loud. I'm not kidding, this sucker could be heard a block away---by me! I'm teaching the ferrets to come out from their hiding places for "belly juice" (FerreTone oil) now. I'll eventually get 6 of the 7---Kittanning is deaf, even to this squeaky. Mom got a new kitty wand toy, with the swappable tips and Maxwell loves it. I expect I'll be heading to PetSmart again later this week. We also bought three more ferret toys: a small squeaky plush, a medium sqeaky plush and a large squeaky plush we instantly named "Valentino" (he's another "Rudolf", but we already have a "Rudy"). This guy should be fun for River to drag around. *grin*

I'm so incredibly homesick, my stomach is in virtual knots. There's this crispness in the air that reminds me of Arizona...and I feel this void in my soul that is only eased because I can share it with Randy and he understands. Mom and Sis don't really understand (thought I hear them really trying, bless their hearts!). Hell, I don't understand it! I thought I was this great gypsy wanderer---I thought my veins ran red with blood and were spiced with wanderlust. Now, I ache for the scent of citrus blossoms in the early hints of spring. The smell of the exact shade of purple on the Superstition Mountains as the sun sets in the west. The taste of monsoon rain after a duststorm blows through. I am so incredibly homesick, but this too shall be survived. We will go back.

*sigh* Well, that was slightly depressing.

So, alpacas. Is this a phase every knitter/spinner goes through: I want to have an alpaca ranch/farm. I have no clue what care they require, what kind of work is involved or even how much it would cost to start up a small farm. But, I'm the research girl, so those questions will have answers soon. Still, it's interesting. I want to take my textile work to the next level. That of course led to "open a yarn shop" or "alpaca ranch". Sure. That's logical. *shakes head no* Neither of these would happen until we return to Arizona, so plenty of time to learn and research.

But what about my writing? Am I going to continue that? I don't know. I've been kinda out of the loop a lot lately. Losing Octavia Butler this last February really impacted me---more than I would have expected a stranger's death to do so. But her writing touched me, made me strive with my own writing to reach a pinnacle I could only see from below. Now, I learn that this last June, Jim Baen died.

For the longest time, I've dreamed of having Baen Books or Tor Books publish my novels. In that time, I've watched as the science fiction departments have shrunk worse than even a horrible Disney device could manage. More and more, I find myself tossing books aside in frustration because of typos, poor copyediting and even worse author editing. Story problems that an unpublished "nobody" like me would get rejected for are floating past all the editors and heading to press. I find myself questioning whether I have a chance in this environment. And Randy said something very appropos tonight: People either can't/won't look forward or can't afford to spend nearly $30US on a single book. (And for the quality we're starting to see, I understand that!) Should I continue investing my time and energy into a field that may no longer be willing to pay for my talents?

The number of potential editors who might pay for my writing is significantly lower than the potential number of customers who might buy my handmade works (shameless jewelry plug, future spinning products, which of course would require a HitchHiker, etc.). So, despite my stirrings of writerly creativity, I'm ambivalent about where to go with that.

I think.... "Heat of Ice" has never made any publication rounds. I'm going to print up a clean copy, put a cover letter together and get it sent off to one of the pro-paying magazines. Tomorrow. That's at the top of my to-do list. Unfortunately, the wait for these things is usually pretty long, so I'll need to send it and forget about it. Something I've never been terribly successful at doing.

In the meantime, I've got some design ideas for some knitting patterns I want to create. I've got plenty of socks to knit up. I've got a secret pal to spoil and Christmas to organize. Whew.

As you can see, I've had a lot whirling around in my head. I promise to not write too many rambly posts like this that wander through so many topics with no real order. This sample of Anne's mind brought to you by the letter K (for Knitting) and the number 3 (the size needles I used for the socks I just finished).

That's all for now.

We bought a Dyson back in February. Yes, we bit the bullet and paid that much for a vacuum cleaner. We got the DC15 "The Ball" (the yellow one). I was thrilled with the manueverability of this thing. Even on my bad Fibro-days, I can still get this thing around furniture and corners.

One thing few people consider when vacuum shopping is the noise. I'm hard of hearing and I find most vacuum cleaners annoying. This one? Not at all. Even the ferrets aren't bothered by it. A couple of them like to war dance with it and threaten to attack it, but instead of watching the furbabies flee, they actually come out of the woodwork to investigate it!

I've had it for a while now. Why the fuss today? It seems there might be a short in the connection to the beater-bar. I've done all the regular checking I can and I don't see any problems. So, I called the company. I've never had a company treat me so nicely before. I'm serious. The gentleman I spoke to (why didn't I write his name down?!) was so kind. He was suprised to hear a DC15 was having a problem, but was immediately supportive in wanting to "get this fixed" for me. We covered the possible solutions (either ship it to their NY repair center or I drive it up to my Mom's to get it repaired). We chatted about the reasons we're both thrilled to be owners and the "tests" we've put our machines through.

I suggested they add a "For A Friend" card to make it easier for new owners to share the good news about Dyson. He liked that idea and I could hear his keyboard clicking away. *grin*

In the end, he said I'd been so nice and so understanding about problems cropping up and all that he was going to send me an accessory! How nice is that?

Any other Dyson owners out there? Chime in with a comment. What's your favorite part of owning a Dyson?

That's all for now.