Works in Progress
Wavy scarf for Christmas present in Manos del Uruguay (mostly on the shuttle, so it's slow going)

Current Obsession
Head.Must.Stay.Above.Water.

Last Google Search
Airline prices from Sacramento to Memphis - my parents have both sold their houses!

Woo-Hoo!
We have tickets for the Old 97's on October 16! Happy anniversary, honey!

Loving
My Netflix queue, which saves me from real TV

Munching
Burritos with home-cooked pintos, sharp cheddar and spinach

Cooking
Roasted peppers with crumbled queso fresco

Garden stuff
My poor garden - totally neglected and dry.

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Many thanks to:
Diaryland
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Artwork � Lian Quan Zhen

Previously...

i got a new attitude - September 24, 2004

- - September 22, 2004

- - September 20, 2004

Is this thing on? - September 20, 2004

- - September 15, 2004

2003-05-28

2003-05-28 - 7:37 a.m.

Sometimes I wonder why my life seems so busy. I'm single with no children - how stressful can it be? And then I realize that because I treat life like a walking project, there's always something to be done. Take last night. I spent a half-hour washing a new shirt with Synthrapol before dying it Maroon Brown. (Double-click; the image will enlarge.) To fix the color, I mixed up a batch of soda ash and mixed it in about two hours later. Then it was washed by hand, again in Synthrapol, squeezed and laid out to dry. Why do all this? Because the shirt was $4 but cream-colored. Cream and/or white and Kaetchen just don't mix. Besides, the number of work-quality outfits I have left is dwindling. Last weekend's Great Closet Cleanout left me with 6 thirty-gallon trash bags full of donations for WEAVE. Weight loss good. No appropriate work clothing bad.

In between dyeing steps, I spent half an hour on the elliptical trainer, then 45 minutes on pilates. Finished Me Talk Pretty One Day (and yes, everybody else in the free world has already read it). I dug out the antique abalone beads, which look something like these but are flatter, prettier, you name it:

and realized that I don't have nearly enough of them to use solely on the tank, so I ordered a bunch more from Shipwreck, even though they're new and won't quite match. This will be the most expensive damned tank ever.

I cleaned out the 15-gallon tank** and replaced the filter medium, threw away a dead blueberry gourami whose air bladder was infected (fuckety fuck) and fed everybody in the house, including myself. I washed dishes and cursed environmentally friendly dish soap, which sucks.

Went to take a bath, the then cursed again when I remembered I'm not allowed to soak the tattoo. Showered instead, flopped on the bed and started to knit. Realized I need to switch to smaller needles in about four rows. Started digging for the size 6 24" circs. An hour later, I was still looking for the damned needles. It's time to clean out my craft room.

Found the needles finally and went to bed, shaking my head at the evening. Woke up at, wait for it, 4:00 a.m.. And I mean wide awake. So I got up, worked out, made lunch, and drove to work.

I'm already laughing at the day, which'll be a doozie. It's 8:05 a.m. and I'm ready to go back to bed. Around 3:00 p.m. I'm sure to hit punch-drunk status and start giggling madly. Watch out, co-workers, here comes the crazy lady. Anybody have a pillow?

Thank goodness Maroon Brown looks damned good on me.

______

**Has anybody else had trouble with the filtering on Eclipse 15s? I find the water flow isn't significant enough to turn the biological filter wheel, which leads to the carbon being overused and insufficient filtration and oxygenation for the tank. I've called Marineland; they assure me that everything is fine. I've replaced the impeller, but no luck. Finally I caved and put an ugly corner filter in the tank, just to keep down the diatoms. Anybody with a better idea, feel free to send it my way. Thanks.



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