Amidst all the bleeding cow blanket sadness, I have found so many kind and helpful knitters. I've gotten tons of suggestions from the knitlist and blog readers, and from Cindy at Apple Laine. And this morning I received a very nice note from another Cindy, at Mission Falls. Rather than paraphrase, I'll just be lazy and paste it all in:

"Dear Betsy,
Thank you for contacting Mission Falls.
We are truly saddened to hear that you are having unpleasant results with our 1824 Cotton. As you found from the others you asked, "issues" are not a common problem with our yarns. However, as with all things in life.... "stuff"  happens. Unfortunately, once colours have run it is almost impossible to reverse the effects. I wish I could offer some "magic fix" to help save all of your work and the lovely gift for your cousin's new born.
To help us find out if this is a chronic problem with a specific dye lot, it would be helpful if you would provide the following information:
1- dye lot number
2- approx. date purchased
3- name and location of the store you purchased the yarn through.

It is our policy to replace any problematic yarn through the originating retailer. If your purchase was made in the U.S. our American distributor (Unique Kolours) will replace the yarn.

Once again, we are truly sorry that you have had this unpleasant experience with our 1824 Cotton.

Regards,
Cindy
Mission Falls

ps-- we were doing some "brain storming" in the studio and came up with a possible way of saving your creation.... however... you will have to imagine an unorthodox cow! Using a cold water dye (such as Dylon) colour the blanket say.... purple.... the black cow spots will stay black and the background will take on the colour of the dye. The designer of  Moo (Mags Kandis) originally wanted the cow to be purple and not so "pedestrian". Just a thought...."


I think I am going to first try the Synthrapol and see if it manages to help. If not, I may go and do the purple dye thing. It would be funky and different, and purple is still good now that I know it's a boy. It may not be what I intended, but it would be better than a dirty-looking blankie, and better than no blankie at all!

Speaking of all this, go take a look at my new baby cousin! Can't do a direct link, so go here and click on Joshua Samuel, October 14th - last time I looked he was the first link. How cute will he be wrapped up in an ivory or purple cow blankie?!

Busy weekend coming up. Apartment-looking tomorrow morning, Wendy and Nik's housewarming in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon. Then on Sunday Leanne and I are headed up to Rhinebeck for the NY State Sheep and Wool Festival! I'm doubly excited because I don't see Leanne much these days, and what better way to get together than over some nice sheep and wool?

I've gotten some encouraging words from various knitters regarding the bleeding cow blanket (now that would be a hella baby gift, eh?) situation. Several people suggested the Synthrapol that I've already ordered, so I have high hopes, tempered by reality. Another nice person told me of a Land's End sweater that bled the way my blanket did, and the advice she got from them was to wash it several more times, and she said eventually it got the excess dye out.

I also got a note from Cindy at Apple Laine, which was where I got the yarn from. She told me to check the dye lot, because she recalls one dye lot in Mission Falls' history which bled, and wants to see if I got that one. But I recall when I ordered the yarn, she held onto my order for a few days because she wanted to get a new dye lot to replace the bloody one she had. Still, I'll check when I get home and see if I saved the paper with the dye lot info. I know you're always supposed to, but I am not always so perfect (aren't you shocked?!). She offered to refund my money or replace the yarn, but I feel bad if she's going to be out money for something that isn't really her fault. She said she'd send me whatever products she has that she thinks might help the problem. What a nice person.

Anyway, I am going to try everything and cross my fingers that this poor little blanket survives. I wonder if I would re-knit it if it doesn't? Yipes. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. It turns out we're not going to make it to the bris on Monday because of work and Ryan's school, so I will have a little extra time. Am I crazy enough to do this thing again?

After suggestions from Jen and also Stephannie on the KnitList, I ordered some Synthrapol. I read several accounts of good results with this stuff and dyes that have bled, so I am crossing my fingers and waiting for it to arrive. Oh I really really hope this stuff works!

I'm still pretty miserable over the blanket debacle I posted about below. I wrote to the knitlist and to Mission Falls for advice. We'll see what happens. Maybe I will try some of that RIT color remover, although I am afraid it will remove the black dye from where it's supposed to be black. It says it's OK to use on garments that are white+color, but that if a garment bleeds on itself, that means the dye is not colorfast so it may remove all the dye in the colored areas, not just the bled-on stuff. I think if I can get a hold of a packet of it, I can test it out with a small swatch of the black yarn (I still have enough left for that) and see how it goes.

Oh, and Ivete is 100% correct - even though it totally sucks, I would rather have myself be the one crying over this than have poor Jill wash it and think she ruined it when it would've happened anyway. And if worse comes to worse, I can always use the suggestion that Jackie made - pretend it's supposed to look "vintage."

Oh well. Boatloads of work to do today. Better get started and put blankie-horror out of my mind.

As I just posted to the knitlist, I am on the verge of tears. I finally washed the Moo blanket, and the dye ran. I used cold water, put it in a sweater bag (so it wouldn't snag) and used Woolite dye magnet in the water, and it still ran. Now it looks OLD. It might not be totally obvious that the dye ran, but it looks OLD. When it's dry, I think it will be even less obvious that the dye ran but it looks OLD. I am just so upset. If anyone has an idea of what I can do, I'm all ears.

Oh, and I should shut my stupid mouth about apartments. The one we liked so much seems like it's not going to happen now. Whatever. It's amazing how the day changes from hour to hour.

It was a busy weekend, and filled with good news, for a pleasant change!

The best news is my cousin Jill gave birth to the recipient of the Moo blankie in the wee hours of Monday morning! Joshua Samuel showed up around 2 a.m. with all the requisite parts in the proper places. I'm hoping to be able to go to the bris, which will be next Monday, and present the blankie. I wonder if I ought to bring a little something for Zachary, the big brother? He's 3 1/2 years old and I wonder if he will feel left out?

Second runner-up is probably my friend Kate getting engaged. Kate is a junior art director where I am working now, and I used to work with her fiance, who is an account executive at the agency at which I was freelancing before I came here. Both of them are really nice people, and I'm so happy for them! The engagement took place during their week-long Paris vacation, so that gives us that special I-got-engaged-in-France bond.

Continuing on, my friend (and maid of honor) Diana found an apartment yesterday, which is excellent news. It's on the upper west side near Columbia University, and it's going to be her first apartment, so she's excited and nervous.

At the same time Diana was looking, Ryan and I looked at a few apartments and found one not too far from where he lives now (10 minute walk) that we really like. It's just south of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, so technically it's Cobble Hill, not Brooklyn Heights.

It's a nice big floor-through on the first floor (up one flight when you get inside) of a brownstone, and it's got a big livingroom and bedroom, with a dining room in-between, separated by 2 sets of french doors. There's also a little office off the bedroom, and a nice-sized kitchen. Lots of great details, too. Not a lot of closet space, but Ryan has a HUGE armoire, and I think we can make it work.

We're pretty sure we want this place, but nervous about only having seen a few others. So Ryan's going out this morning with another broker (we went out with 2 yesterday) to see if there's anything comparable. If not, I think we're going to start the lease process. Of course, it's a slight gamble as we don't have a solid closing date yet for his place, but I have to move by December 1st anyway, so it's got to be done.

Closing out the good news, Diana and I finished off Monday by going to RK Bridal and picking out a color and style for the bridesmaid skirts! It's the skirt on the right in this picture and that is actually the correct color, I believe - it's called Amethyst, and it picks up the darker shade in the purple Artfibers yarn beautifully. I am really pleased that the skirts are cheap - only $69 on the store's "no frills" plan. You give them measurements, they order the skirts, and you pick them up or they send them, and you get the alterations done yourself. Since Leanne is out on Long Island, Lisa is upstate, and Kristy is in Hawaii, this definitely makes sense. Like I said, I'm very happy to save everyone some money and hassle.

That's it for the good news at the moment. Hopefully it will keep coming for a while. On the slightly bad news front, I think I will not make it to Stitch-n-Bitch tonight. I just realized during my morning status meeting that it was Tuesday, and I just have too much to do tonight. Laundry, etc. I can't wait until things calm down a little so I can get back to some serious knitting. I need to get those pattern request forms filled out so I can get started on the bridesmaidy tops!

I only managed about 2 pattern repeats (8 rows) of the girlie-pink scarf last night, but I got a ton of wedding stuff done! I was chatting on the phone with Ryan, who was just escaping from a grumpy mood, and somehow I caught him at the right moment. I had seen a cool invitation that I wanted to show him, and he looked at it and thought it was really cool. We had been talking for a while about designing and printing our own invitations, but hadn't really gotten anywhere. I was partly just looking for inspiration when I showed him this one that I liked.

We ended up looking at a bunch of invites, and deciding to go with the ones I showed him first. We found several places you could order online, and Invitation Hotline had the best prices by far, so we bookmarked it. Can't actually order them until we move and know our new return address for the reply cards!

Invitation chatter led to talk of favors, and Ryan really got into it. It was really fun for me, because I haven't been able to interest him in this stuff before, but I guess I had to wait until the time was right. I had found this really cool site with personalized labels and when I showed it to him, he nearly flipped! We are going to end up using these round ones in lilac and mint. The labels will go on top of little round boxes, which we are going to fill with Altoids. Gee, how will we ever find a witty copywriter to write something clever for the top of the boxes? It was fun to look at all this stuff with Ryan, and have him actually be interested. I was so wound up from the excitement that I had trouble falling asleep and was up until 1. What a dork!

Today it's raining like crazy, and I got another dorky thrill out of wearing my new cloud boots in the pouring rain. I'm sure I looked crazy, with my nice pinstriped suit pants (I have an interview at lunchtime today) tucked into those, with a red raincoat and rainhat, plus an umbrella, but the joke's on anyone who laughed because I got to work dry and happy!

Tomorrow I'm out to Long Island for more weddy stuff. The salon where I bought my dress is having a trunk show of tiaras from this Australian designer, and they called to say there were some that would be great with my dress. Who knows, they may be ridiculously overpriced, but it can't hurt to look and try things on. Ryan's got plenty of thesis work to keep him busy, so I will also be going shopping for bridesmaid skirts with Diana (my Maid of Honor) on Monday, while the office is closed for Columbus day. I might even be able to start on one of the bridesmaid tops over the weekend, if I can get the pattern request form filled out and sent to ArtFibers early enough.

Awfully quiet around here lately. I guess I'm just not as exciting when I whine about work. Sorry!

Didn't get to knitting last night. First I had to pick up my portfolio from someone, who said they loved my work and would keep me in mind, but their client was insisting that the person they hire have TV (commercial) experience, which I do not. Oh well. The office was down at Chelsea Market, which is this great building that has a whole bunch of yummy food stores downstairs. I got some fruity-veggie treats at the Manhattan Fruit Exchange, then some nice sole at The Lobster Place. I was strong and passed up the brownies at the Fat Witch Bakery, and I want some credit for that!

Once I got home, I had to wait before I could cook, because a friend from work was coming to see my apartment. I guess I can let the cat out of the bag and tell you that we officially have a signed contract for the sale of Ryan's apartment, and a closing date of December 1st. That means I can move when my lease ends - hallelujah! So Jose came over and loved the place, so I'm going to put him in touch with the landlord. This way everybody will be happy. Unusual, eh?

I finally got to sauteeing my fish and baby artichokes around 8:30, and boy was it yummy yummy. It's the first time I have really cooked in so long, since I pretty much boycotted my kitchen during the hot weather. The air conditioning just doesn't make it around the corner into the tiny hot room with no ventilation. Yes, our new apartment (when we find it) will have a better kitchen - it's a non-negotiable item.

It's still a bit early to look for December 1st rentals, but we will probably call/visit some of the Brooklyn Heights brokers over this long weekend so at least they can keep their eyes out for us. I'd be willing to take a place for November 15, and pay the half-month of overlap, if it's a good plac. It would certainly make moving easier since we could do it somewhat gradually.

I was so swamped yesterday I didn't even get to post! Horrors! Spent the day mostly in another writer's office, trying to figure out some of these new projects. Total nightmare work. I really feel like I am in over my head. I am sure I can muddle through it, but it won't be comfortable. And I know if they were hiring someone new to work on this account, no way would it be me. Heavy science, which I have the intelligence to handle, but not the experience and background in this area. So frustrating.

But enough whining. Stitch-n-Bitch was fun last night. Jenny, my new knitting friend at work, came with me, and got to meet tons of new knitty friends. I can't believe how big a crowd there was! Probably about 30 people altogether. I barely got to speak with Jackie, though I did get to say hi to Deb and her cute little daughter, Alix. Ryan showed up around 8 to meet me for dinner, and Alix was so excited to see him. Those two are utterly adorable together, and all the stitchers were commenting on it. Yes, my boy has a touch of baby fever. So do I, but we're definitely holding off until we've been married for a while.

I started working on a scarf made from the Anny Blatt pink angora I bought a few weeks back at Knitting Hands. I'm using the feather and fan pattern that was in the recent Knitters Review article on knitted lace. The pattern is surprisingly simple, and really pretty when it's worked up. My only complaint right now is that the angora sheds like crazy. I'm hoping after I wash and block it, it will calm down. My winter coat is a black shearling, and I can just see it covered with little pink hairs.

Well, that's about all the time I have for fun. Now I must place my nose back on the grindstone.

I'm back at work after a really fun Homecoming weekend up in Syracuse. It was great to see my old roommates, and to get reacquainted with everyone after such a long time. Ryan was a big hit with all of them, and vice-versa. We had two group dinners which were very enjoyable, and we got to go to Faegan's - one of my old on-campus drinking haunts. There were lots of alumni around who looked familiar, and a few whose names I even remembered. Of course there were also a few that we decided to duck because they just were too annoying to talk to. Bad Betsy!

The only real low point of the weekend was watching the football team get trounced by Pitt. Aren't you supposed to be able to beat the team you schedule for homecoming? Well, looks like someone at SU Football didn't quite get the message. No matter - we were there for the company, not the game.

On Sunday, everyone left by lunchtime, so Ryan and I went off on our own for the day. We drove out to Green Lakes State Park, which is a favorite of mine. The lakes (two of them) are wonderfully clear at the edges, and a pretty turquoise/green color where the water is deeper. These photos are the best I could find online, and I don't know if they really convey the true beauty of the place. We took a walk around all of Green Lake, which is apparently three miles. It was so nice to be out in the peace and quiet. Definitely a good break from city life. Syracuse in general is pleasantly low-key.

Now we're back home and back in the swing of things. I am awaiting the barrage of work to come, and trying to enjoy the peace while it lasts. Tonight I am going to find some sort of stitch pattern to use for that pink angora scarf, as I really need a project to work on right away. After scarfdom I will probably move on to the first of the bridesmaid tops - I think I'll start with Kristy's (Ryan's sis) since I will see her at Christmastime and possibly not again until weddingtime.

So I found out yesterday at work that I two things in common with a colleague I didn’t know very well. One, she just got engaged, and two, she’s a knitter! How cool is that? She told me she had stumbled across Bonne Marie’s site, and I was amused and told her it was only a matter of time before she found my blog. Then I realized that I have spent a lot of time the past few weeks talking about how I’m looking for a better job. Hmm. The debate in my head was between taking those posts down, or just trusting that she’s not the type of person to blabber, because she’s nice and there’s just no point in it. I went with the latter. So, Jenny, if you read this, please be discreet! Or I’ll tell everyone here that you love it when people smoke in your office when you’re not around. J

In other news, I’m headed up to Syracuse for my Homecoming weekend. Very much looking forward to seeing my best friend, Lisa, and several of my other roommates. Actually, I guess it’s all four of the girls I lived with senior year, but I’m really only looking forward to seeing three of them. That’s mean, isn’t it? Oh well – it’s the truth! Our flight leaves at 6:15, so I’m leaving the office at 4, and we arrive around 7:30. Did I ever mention the ridiculous price I got on those tickets? They were $98 round trip each! That’s cheaper than it would be to rent a car and gas it up for both ends of the trip from NYC. We’re renting a car up there for something like 50 bucks for the whole weekend. Gotta love those upstate NY prices!

Packing for this weekend was amusing. You’d think I were going to a third-world country, I was so afraid of forgetting something. Dunno why, except that since I am the only one living in the city, I feel this pressure to be extra-fabulous this weekend for all the girls, who are mostly suburban Mom’s now. Isn’t that ludicrous? Oh well, it’s true anyway. I also decided not to bring any knitting. The flight is only an hour and 15 minutes, and I have two books with me. I may finish my re-reading of The Two Towers (and by the way, I have the super-groovy circa-1965-or-so version that my Dad bought back when it first came out in paperback, not the movie star new versions. It really bugs me when they reissue a book cover with movie stars). If I do finish that, I can start The Fourth Hand. Since I don’t have a particular project on the needles at the moment, I decided to just skip it and make things easier going through security, since we aren’t checking anything.

Today I’m supposed to find out about that fresh hell that may break out here at work. Let’s hope it gets scaled-back or the timeline gets pushed out a bit. If there’s anything to say, I’ll say it later. If not, I’ll see everyone on Monday!

Hey, have you ever wondered if those vacuum-pack Space Bags on TV really work? Well, this is my full-queen size down comforter, a feather pillow, and a fleece blanket:



It's great fun stuffing those things and vacuuming all the air out. I used to have a cheaper kind where you didn't use the vacuum, but most of those have ripped by now. These were bigger and stronger, and I'm impressed with the amount of stuff I was able to pack into them. I pretty much got the bulk of my summer wardrobe into two of the large bags. Well, those two large bags plus two shopping bags of stuff I decided does not need to stay in my life any longer.

Yesterday's interview went pretty well, though it's always hard to tell what they really think of you. Thing is, I'm not sure I really want the job, because it sounds like I might be busy but bored. And I don't think it's what I want to do for a longer term, so I would just end up looking for something more interesting again in a year or sooner. I think I might be better off staying with the boredom I know, as opposed to having to get accustomed to a whole new variety.

I did drop off my portfolio at the other agency I had mentioned, and had a nice (informal) chat with the HR person who was recruiting me. I think I got in good with her because I opened her eyes to a quicker way to commute to her office. They just moved into cool new offices a month or so ago, and she had been taking a somewhat roundabout subway route from her place (she turns out to live right near Ryan) - the route involved a really long and annoying transfer from one line to the other, and took her a really long time. I told her about the "A" train, which is about 2 blocks from her house and goes straight to the stop a block away from her office. She was intrigued, and I know that right now she is loving me for saving her that time! Hopefully she and her creative director like my portfolio as much as my subway knowledge and decide to meet with me.

I also just set up an interview with a third agency. This is through a headhunter, but I spoke directly to the creative director to set up the time. He seemed really nice and had a good sense of humor, so I'm looking forward to that interview next Wednesday after work.

I wrote those first few paragraphs at 10am, and didn't get back until 2pm to finish. We had this most ridiculous timeline meeting for a bunch of projects that may or may not actually happen, but if they do, everything needs to be finished by November 27th to be submitted to the FDA for approval. We're talking brochures, letters, sales sheets and a whole ton of other esoteric shit. The kind of work that under normal conditions would be 4-5 months worth. Absofuckinglutely ridiculous. I was almost speechless after this meeting. We'd need at least 3-4 other writers, and even then it would be a nightmare to get this stuff done. We're talking late nights and weekends. Shit shit shit. I am hoping some of these other opportunities pan out, because I do not want to work like that. Even if we get it done, it will be a greatly compromised product we produce on such a short timeline, so it's hardly worth it.

Oh well. I am going to go and enjoy the quiet while it lasts.

Well hallelujah, I finally made it back to Stitch-n-Bitch last night! I was more there for the bitch part than the stitch part, as it turns out. I brought my pretty pink angora but forgot a book of stitch patterns, and I kind of futzed around with it and came to no good conclusion so I just ripped it. But I chatted with everyone and had a good time before I left early, around 8:30.

I was just so tired when I left Java-n-Jazz, and when I went home I dyed my hair and was practically tipping over, I was so sleepy. Of course, I had trouble falling asleep, and at around 4:30 a.m. I was awakened by hot breath on my neck and a warm tongue in my ear. No, this isn't TMI - the breath smelled of cat food and the tongue felt like sandpaper. Why oh why does my cat love me so much when I am sleeping?

Interview today is at noon, and I wore a sort of less-suity suit so that people wouldn't get too suspicious. Not like I am that concerned really. I think a lot of people are covering their butts around here by interviewing, etc. At least, the smart people should be. The agency isn't in desperate shape or anything, but there are a lot of people with little to do right now, and they have gotten rid of a few of them recently.

I'm getting excited for my weekend. Ryan and I are flying up to Syracuse to meet a bunch of my college roommates and friends for Homecoming. Ten years. I can hardly believe it! I'm also psyched because at the 11th hour we managed to get rooms at the Sheraton that is basically on-campus. Originally it was booked and they put me on the waiting list, which I thought was a joke. Apparently not! Of course, it's twice the price of the other place we had reserved, and twice the price of a normal weekend at the same hotel, but it's worth it to be right there and not have to drive. Particularly if we re-live our most common college memories, which are not particularly conducive to driving!

Hmm, that reminds me that I ought to let my boss know I need to leave here an hour or so early on Friday to make my flight. Yeah, like I have any work that would keep me here!

Forgot to post my latest wedding-related purchase. I found this at a thrift store on my way home Monday afternoon - the tag inside says Bloomingdale's, and it was eight bucks. I know I have looked for similar purses there in the past and they are usually around $50, so I'm pleased.



That's all for now - think good thoughts my way at noon, Eastern time!

Inertia is really tough. After a full day of sitting on my ass at work with little to do, I come home and...sit on my ass some more! Really, it's a problem - I can't seem to motivate to do much of anything when I get home at night, and thus my apartment never quite gets clean. I do a little here and there, scrub the tub one day, sweep, but never that down and dirty make it all pretty cleaning. But I am going away this weekend and really want to return to a nice apartment, so I guess I will find the time somehow. Apparently if you don't leave with it clean, you cannot return to it being clean. Shocking!

Well, one agency that looked at my portfolio wanted someone with more pharmaceutical experience. Fine. I have an interview tomorrow, and another place to drop my book off afterwards. Plus another hit from Monster on my resume. We'll see if anything comes of it.

Stitch-n-Bitch tonight. Damnit, I am going! I am probably going early and leaving early, but I am going! I don't have anything in progress to work on, but I am bringing that pretty pink Anny Blatt angora that I bought a month or so ago, and I will start playing with stitch patterns for a girlie scarf.

Now I'm off to another meeting.

I forgot to mention how much I love Knitty! Amy has done a fantastic job, and so did all those who contributed designs and articles. I enjoyed perusing it during my downtime on Friday. I'm finding myself particularly drawn to the Topsecret sweater for myself, though it may have to wait a while. I just love the lines of that one! But all the projects look fantastic, and I'm so proud of all of you!

I'm actually feeling sort of lame for not contributing to Knitty in any other way than throwing some off-the-cuff taglines at Amy when she requested them. And I like the tag she chose much better than any of the ones I came up with, so I don't feel one iota of disappointment over that! But I feel like I ought to have been a part of this, and the only reason I wasn't was my own lame-osity. Maybe I will try something for the next one.

Truthfully I think wedding planning and better-job searching have taken over a bit, putting knitting on the back burner. But I don't intend to let it stay there. Of course, once I start the bridesmaid tops, those will certainly have me back to knitting up a storm. But it will be mostly the same storm, over and over again with different necklines.

Well, I have failed in my bid to complete my oh-so-groovy hat for the RedLipstick hat show. The idea I had was going to take way too long, so I tried to modify it, and I hated it. Just thought it looked stooooopid. If I had been truly obsessive, I might have sent the boy away for the weekend and sat home trying to do it all, but I just couldn't. I wanted to go out and have some fun. Had to help clean up and make his apartment beautiful so we can sell it. You know the story. Girl dreams up hat. Girl tries to make hat. Girl spazzes and gives up on hat. Happens every day.

Maybe someday I will complete the hat the way I wanted to, and I will post it for all to see. In the meantime, I am putting it in the deep-freeze. Sorry to everyone who expected to see something cool - you'll just have to read instead.

Ryan and I cleaned up and prepared the aforementioned apartment for an Open House on Sunday, and it seems to have gone well. A few possible offers, but I won't get too excited over it until there is something more definite, because that's how I got disappointed last time. It would be great to get this over with, though. November 30th is getting closer and closer.

Still bored here at work, though they say new projects are coming. Uh-huh. We shall see. Like the apartment deal, I am skeptical. My Tuesday interview got pushed back to Wednesday, but that's fine.

Other than that, not much new. This week's plan is to make it to Stitch-n-Bitch tomorrow, and spend the other nights getting my house in order. I have been a real lazy bum about cleaning and stuff lately, and it's showing. I think the boredom at work brings on a general lethargy, and when I get home all I feel like doing is watching TV and eating Oreos. Lovely. I think we'll be back on track this week and I'll be the fabulous, exciting me again, just in time for our trip upstate this weekend.

Just came back from dinner with Ryan, and found a cute note in my building's elevator. It was from a girl named Erika, who lives in the building (there's about 60 apartments here) and she's looking for people to vote for her to get invited back onto a TV show called "Focus Group" on ESPN.com. We wrote back a little note saying we'd vote, and I just did. Won't you vote for Erica?

Hair status: curly! With the rain we're having, no point in trying anything else.

General status is bored. Bored bored bored. I haven't had more than three hours of work to do all week. I am so disappointed that this has turned out to be such a blah job. I mean, I was not expecting glamour and excitement, and I did take this job because it was a good entry into a new industry (pharmaceutical advertising vs. consumer) that is very lucrative. And at the time, no one else was ready to hire me, and this job was paying $10k more than I had been making before being laid off.

That said, I am still bummed to be looking for another job so soon. It makes my resume look pretty crazy, with a lot of short stints here and there. And I have only been here since March, which means prospective employers will be definitely question my stability. Hell, I'm even questioning it these days. But really, I was hired to work on a project that got postponed until 2004, and have been tossed around from client to client ever since. Yuk.

I have an interview Tuesday at a place I interviewed at before I started here. Back then the creative director liked me a lot, but felt I didn't have the necessary pharmaceutical experience. These days it seems I might. We'll see how it goes. I think there are other more attractive options out there that are also possibilities, but I'm going to check this out, too. At least I am in a pretty good position, as I don't seem to be in danger here.

Very happy that the weekend is nearly upon us. The realtor is having another open house at Ryan's place, and we hope to find a buyer so we can get to making moving plans. My lease ends 11/30, so it's getting a little nervewracking!

I sit here at my desk this morning with straight hair again. My straightening iron (purchased on eBay for way less than the retail price) came yesterday and I couldn't resist trying it out right away. Not bad! I got kudos from the girls here at work, and I am sure I will get even better at it as I get used to it. Of course, it started to rain on my way to work and you would've thought I was the wicked witch of the west, I whipped out my umbrella so fast!

The rain also gave me a chance to wear my cute new raincoat, which I got over the weekend in the "happy red" color. Who could resist? I still have my big London Fog trenchcoat with the wool lining for serious rain, but this makes me feel way cuter, and isn't that important on a rainy day? What I really want are these boots - the ones with the clouds on them are my favorites. Unfortunately the online store they refer to - Styletrek.com - does not seem to exist. Going to do some research on this one, as I do believe cute rain boots will really improve my world. Please nobody mention to me that we're in the midst of a drought.

Had a wedding nightmare last night. In the dream, for some unknown reason, we were getting married very suddenly - either that or I had slacked off completely and it was already June and nothing was done. Everyone was there, but unprepared in some way. And my hair was a big rat's nest, and no one was there to help me fix it up. Suddenly they started telling me that it was time to walk down the aisle, and I was sitting there trying to figure out how the fuck to put my tiara and veil on, and my dress was wrinkley and I had no makeup on, while the photographer was snapping away. Yipes! As you all know, this is highly unlikely to happen to me.

Stomach is still not very happy. She's better than the past few days, but still very touchy. I had buttered noodles for dinner last night, just to keep her calm. I think I will blame her for the aforementioned nightmare.

Been futzing a lot with my archives and archive template. I finally managed to make my archives reappear, but only after I changed my template temporarily, then changed it back. Unfortunately, when I changed back to my original template (I had saved the html code in another document - a good idea for those of you who have to do this, so you don't lose anything) it didn't change my archive template, so I have this other weird template for archive stuff. I'm trying to sort it out and get it back to normal. But now at least if you want to read my wisdom from days gone by, you can.

That stomach problem I had yesterday really ruined the day. I only ate some rice for lunch, and still when I got home last night I had really bad stomach pain. Around 10:30 I ate some buttered noodles, and I finally got to sleep around 12. Woke up this morning really tired and dehydrated, but without stomach pains. I think I will take it really easy on the food today, just in case. Really all I want to do is crawl back under the covers, but I didn't want to use another sick day. I figure I may need those later.

One of my headhunters is sending my portfolio out today, which I am pleased about. Then I have to get it back so I can bring it to the other agency that wants it. I feel sort of bad about wanting to leave here, because honestly it is a pleasant place with good people, but I am so bored with the work and lack thereof that some days I think I might actually chew my own arm off. And then I would be at a serious disadvantage when it came to writing, so I must go.

I finished most of the components of my hat last night, even though I didn't make it to Stitch-n-Bitch because of the aforementioned stomach pains. Now I just have to figure out how to put it all together and get it to Staceyjoy on time. Well, the second part is easy. The first is more confusing, as I had to change my plan a bit when I realized it was sort of stupid and unrealistic.

Would you believe I haven't finished weaving in the ends of the Moo blankie yet? I am trying to pass it off as superstition (wait until the baby is actually born healthy before I finish) rather than laziness. Is it working? I did get several good suggestions from the Knitlist (yes, they do occasionally talk about knitting, when carpal tunnel and cats eating wool become boring to all) about how to keep the dye from running from the black to the ivory when I wash it. And several people said they have used the same yarn and colors without problem, so my confidence level is much higher now.

On the wedding front, nothing much new. People are so amazed when I tell them my wedding is June 15th and I have already booked the location/caterer, band, rabbi, photographer/video, decided on bridesmaid colors and bought my dress. Well, what's the point in putting all that off and having to settle for choices that are less than what you want? Still, it's uncomfortable when people look at me like I am some anal-retentive psycho-bride. Then again, anyone who's done it themselves generally understands and doesn't do that.

I am babbling. Yeah, that's what you're here for, but this might be even too much for you. Done!