I am sick. I am so sick. Acute abdominal pain, and some other things I’ll spare you. I was very uncomfortable last night at the guild meeting, but didn’t realize I was sick ’til I got home.

We’re only allowed to share one song at the guild in the interest of time. So I picked one. It went really well. They had some suggestions that I’ve been working on as I’ve been laying here on the couch wanting to die (’cause I’m sick). I won’t know if I like the changes ’til I get it recorded and can listen back.

I was extremely intimidated at first, and didn’t think I’d have anything to contribute, but it’s a laid back group of guys. They’re very supportive and despite the fact that they know a great deal more about music than I do (and that’s a gross understatement), I seem to have a knack for writing and they were very positive.

Yay.

Now, to make it through this stomach nightmare. I’m getting really hungry and can’t possibly eat.

I really want to get something new on the needles, something I’m excited about, something I like… but aside from being really busy with kids stuff and exercise, I’ve been doing a lot of songwriting. And my guitar teacher has started me on something completely new. Inverted chords, triads, funky picking stuff with the triads, and it looks like he’s moving me into improv/soloing. He ran me through the paces on my scales a couple weeks ago and apparently liked what he saw.

Not that he said as much. But I assume that by the direction we’re going, I passed. :-).

I joined a local songwriter’s guild and plan to attend my first meeting tonight. They meet once a month, where I’m told they teach about trying to sell your music, and then listen to each other’s songs and critique them.

I’m bringing two songs tonight (I’m not committing to actually sharing them). My first ever, and my most recent. There are about 7 or 8 in between that are in various stages of completion. I’m very happy that we don’t have to perform them live, we bring them on CD along with several copies of printed lyrics and chords for people to write on while they’re listening. It’s still quite terrifying.

Songwriting doesn’t make for much in the way of pictures, though. Sorry.

I need to get on my drum carder. I still have all that lovely purple stuff to card into batts. I’m not sure why I’m procrastinating.

There are limited hours in a day that I consider “productive” hours. The quiet hours when no one is demanding anything of me and I can get stuff done. The stuff that has to get done. I’ve been exercising 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day and it’s seriously cutting into my productive time.

And I’m really tired.

Four weeks into heavy exercise and calorie counting. Haven’t lost a thing yet. I was complaining to my sister-in-law today that I haven’t even shrunk back into the jeans that are on the smaller side of my current size. I was wearing them a couple months ago. Not now.

I am still really enjoying the exercise but right now, I want to sleep. I’m so very tired.

The yarn train to Portland was really fun. I don’t get to see my friend Katie nearly enough, and she came.

We walked all over Portland for 6 hours before taking the train back home. I was on a very limited budget as we too are affected by the difficult economy. But the stores were giving discounts, and there’s no sales tax, so it was like 30% off of everything. I bought two skeins of Noro Transitions out of a sale bin and a book I’ve wanted for years.

The organizer of the trip gave everyone two colors of yarn and a booklet of top down hat patterns to knit on the train ride. I didn’t think my colors would look good on my head, but they’d make lovely arm warmers, so I cast on to try out the Mosaic book. There’s an 11 page introduction with instructions, and I wasn’t in a position to read it while socializing in a knitting store. Fortunately, this great woman from the group was sitting nearby and gave me some pointers. (Kauni Sweater on the couch).

I later found out that she’s a teacher from Eugene that’s well known. I think her name is Joan. She saved me. I would have had a huge mess on my hands if it hadn’t been for her help. May she live long and prosper. And I wish I’d got a better picture of her.

We ate dinner at a fabulous italian place with a difficult name that I can’t remember.

Super good panini sandwiches and a creamy vegetable soup. Oh! I want more. We didn’t have time for the extensive selection of gelato, which is too bad because I’ve never had gelato. The waiter (man in the bottom center with glasses) was fantastic. Hilarious, sarcastic, attentive… and he sings. He serenaded our table quite energetically. We left him a phenomenal tip.

I’M SO TIRED!

I ordered a couple dye colors for the silk that I want to put in my purple batts. They’ve been shipped, so I’m going to start soaking my silk tomorrow so it’s ready.

Finally, I typed out a bunch of guitar drivel that I’d imagine most of you don’t care a whit about. But it’s neat for me to see it all spelled out in one place and I’m very, very proud of what I’ve learned.

My guitar teacher gave me 16 new barre chord positions to learn yesterday. In truth, he gave them to me nearly a year ago, but brought them to the forefront this week and told me to get on it. I kind of know 6 of them already. Here’s the list, if you’re interested…

And times them by 2, because I have to learn them in both Root 5 and 6 positions.

Diminished (I know root 6)
Augmented (sort of know root 6)
Augmented 7th
7+9 (sort of know root 5. Root 6 is painful)
Major 6 (know root 6)
Major 6/9
9th (ok, I know both of these)
13th (know root 5)

I already know

Major
Minor
7th
Minor 7
Major 7

Dang. I thought that list would be longer. Well, I know a bunch of open chords and their variations as well. He didn’t give them to me, he made me find them on my own by learning key signatures and finding the appropriate notes to add to the chord- Suspended 4, Suspended 2 (or added 9), Major 7, and 6. I don’t have all those memorized for every chord, but I can find them relatively quickly.

There are a few more he wrote in my book about a year ago that he hasn’t pushed on me yet

7 suspended
7-9
minor #7
minor 6
minor 7-5

And then there are the scales, root 5 and 6. Fortunately, the different roots are relatively similar to each other for scales.

Minor Pentatonic
Blues Scale (really cool)
Major Scale
Major Pentatonic
Dominant Scale
Pure Minor
Harmonic Minor (also really cool)
and the Dorian

Hee hee. I know all those.

So maybe, if you’ve made it this far and are still reading (wow, you’re dedicated), you understand a little bit better why I say he kicks my butt most weeks.

I love him. If you recall, I chose him a year ago because his bio on the internet said he’d been teaching for over 40 years. I figured he had to be good and he totally is.

I hope he never retires.

My son, who has spent the majority of his life hating showers and baths more than thumbscrews (figuratively speaking of course), has suddenly started asking for baths. (Previously, he’d scream and kick the entire time every time and after some attempts at getting him “over it”, we decided that for the sake of maintaining the mental health of everyone involved, he didn’t get washed very often).

We’re quite stunned and so this morning when he asked for another bath, I agreed. He likes to take long baths, and since I knew I’d be hanging out in the bathroom to supervise for an extended period of time, I brought something to do.

My brother plays some neat stuff on the guitar, but can’t write lyrics. When he was here on Wednesday, I had him record two of his songs into my laptop, and yesterday morning I wrote a couple verses for him that he happened to love. (Surprising, since my tendency would be to write songs from my perspective. Writing for a 26 year old guy who doesn’t want to “sound like a girl” is kind of challenging).

I also had to sing it so he could get a feel for the timing and placement of the melody. Currently, I am trying to finish it. In the bathroom. While my son takes a bath.

It’s going rather well, I must say. And I feel ridiculous, writing and recording a rock song in my pj’s, sitting on a toilet (lid down) in headphones with a mic while my toddler bathes.

But it’s funny, so I wanted to share.

Oh, and my brother’s hat is still too short, so I get to rip the decreases yet again, and add a half inch. Happily, I don’t expect to make this mistake again.

That’s how much snow we have. I can’t remember ever having this much snow here. It’s beautiful, and I’d be completely happy, but my mom is planning to fly in this afternoon and we’re going to have to brave the roads for 20 +miles each way to get her. It makes me very nervous.

Our gingerbread houses were fun.

(And I totally blurred you, I-S-F)

They didn’t end up as ornate or colorful as in years past. The kids and Nate lost interest rather quickly, and I think it had partly to do with the fact that the icing was too stiff and hard to squeeze. I didn’t know that ’til later. Also, we were pretty tired. But the husband half of our internet shy friend was diligent for hours.

Nate made an aquarium,

complete with candy cane filtration and wafer cookie florescent light fixtures. And they’re even goldfish!

There were two kid houses going. The first collapsed before I got to see it.

The second was condemned and abandoned because apparently, the workers were leaning on it. They refocused their efforts on fort building in a bedroom.

I spent much of the night chatting with my internet shy friend and my brother, and humoring him with my pathetic solo attempts on the guitar. Tho’ I didn’t get any pictures of me playing, just my brother.

I don’t know why I’m even telling you this, it’s probably my “full disclosure” personality, and I have been laying off the guitar except for that night… but between that and my sudden decision to take on some Christmas knitting I’m having to rely on Aleve again. I ache.

Veronica had an unfortunate encounter with a shoveled sidewalk the other day. A well meaning adult tried to stop her sled at the bottom of the hill and sent her flying face first into it.

In person it looks much, much worse. She’s healing well though. We’re keeping it lubed with antibiotic ointment.

Lastly, Liv knit a hat with her handspun!

We’re so happy for her. And very proud.

… get up and do something else for awhile. It’s supposed to break the cycle of trying to get to sleep. It usually works for me.

I can’t sleep. I’m really tired. My alarm is set for 6:45 tomorrow morning, and that’s currently 7 hours from now. Not horrible, but I really do need 8 hours to be a fully functional human being.

It’s been a busy week. I think part of the reason I can’t sleep is that I’m excited about and therefore can’t stop thinking about some of the things I’m doing.

I’ve finished Liv’s mitts.

Carded and spun up yarn for Veronica’s mitts. (I over agitated the wool and alpaca whilst dyeing. They’re a little felted. Plus, there’s too much silk in the yarn, the pink of the silk dulled the green tremendously, but I’m still interested to see how it knits up. Nate thinks it’s pretty. I have more of the dyed fiber to card and spin for a hat for myself at some point. I’m hoping there’s enough).

I dyed mohair, with much fuss, for more wolf yarn.

Carded up and spun a test batt for a sweater with one of the gorgeous gray lamb fleeces I have. It’s so silky. I want to knit with it.

Knit half the neck of Clark’s sweater. I’m going to have to rip and reknit it, because the row gauge is off and the neck doesn’t decrease fast enough.

Read the first Chrestomanci book. It was disturbing and Gwendolen should die a hundred deaths. But I’ll still read the next one.

Met my Health Group goal for the week by exercising twice. I can hardly walk, which means that wretched illness of September had to have eaten me alive. I was in great shape in August, and that wasn’t THAT long ago.

All this in addition to helping out at school Monday and Tuesday as usual. (Ooh, ooh! I saw the bat lady Monday morning. How cool is that? She had live bats. I came face to face within inches of them. They’re SO cute). And two evening school events, and the district Cross Country finals.

But I think what I’m the most excited about is that I’ve started recording music again. It’s soooo much fun. And takes soooo much time. And is soooo hard. I spent a couple hours on it today, and don’t have a keepable track yet. But I’m close. I can’t work on it more ’til next week because I’m going to Portland with some friends for an overnighter tomorrow (Friday). But I can’t stop thinking about it. Hearing instrumentation and harmonies in my head.

There are many pictures I should take and post, but I haven’t had the time, and right now, aside from being very tired and hopefully about to go to sleep… there’s no light.

I hate flash pictures (my own, that is) a smidge more than I hate posts without pictures. (Again, I’m speaking of my own. You all can do whatever you want with your blogs. No criticism from me. But as for me and my blog… I like pictures).

Aaand I need to go to bed. I’m driveling. Have a great weekend! I’ll set up a post to show up Saturday for Health Group in case someone wants to check in.

I had my first physical therapy appointment this morning. Chris said that I am very inflamed, and would be a good candidate for the steroid shots. He also said that my left arm is much worse than my right. He did some sound wave stuff, and then massaged and pushed on it for the rest of the time. I brought my guitar, in case he wanted to see how I was holding it and such, and…

I can’t play it. At least until my appointment next week, but I’m sure it’ll be longer than that. I’m sad. I’m in the middle of writing another song, and it was going really well.

I didn’t even bring up knitting :-). Not that I’m doing much right now, my fiber time is more spent on spinning and dyeing right now. Speaking of, I have some bombyx and some tussah noil soaking to dye.

So, I have to ice my arm a lot. Do some mild stretches, and we’ll see what he says next week.

I’m closing up my guitar, and will try my bestest not to cheat.

Sigh.

My floor is sticky. It’s always sticky. Which is why I don’t mop very much, because whether or not I mop, it’s sticky. Oh, I do know how to mop. And after I mop, it’ll be beautifully, lick-ably clean until someone that isn’t me walks into the room, at which point….

instantly sticky.

So I don’t mop. (One of my friends literally mops 5 times a day. I’d go insane). However, half of my dining chairs don’t slide anymore. They’re gripping the floor. It’s very inconvenient when I’m bustling about, cleaning up or setting out dinner and a chair is in the way (because they’re always in the way. They’re never pushed in and tidy unless I do it, at which point someone other than me comes into the room and then they’re all over the place again), and I go to move it out of the way as I pass, half thinking about it, and it doesn’t move and I crash into it.

This has been going on for some weeks now. I’m done.

So, we’re going to the store today to buy new pads (the things that stick to the bottom of the chairs to avoid scratching our floor. They don’t work as far as avoiding scratches go, but they do effectively reduce the scratching). Then the girls and I will mop the floor, change out the pads, and have sliding chairs again.

Hopefully for a number of months.

Please.

Many months.

Hayden came over last night for the last time.

Two of the three of my girls cried for close to an hour after she left. One quite forcibly. The only reason I didn’t is that I’m clinging to the fact that we’re going to dinner in two weeks. I’m just stalling.

It’s so hard. Aaaand, here I go again, so we’re moving on.

I’m officially an LLC! Tweedy Batts, LLC to be specific. Mwahahaha. I WILL figure out how to dye, and I WILL get set up with a fiber distributor to get my exotic fibers to blend, and I WILL make lovely batts.

It’s just taking forever.

In the meantime, I’ve begun a project I’m excited about. You won’t be able to tell how incredibly delicious it is in pictures, but it’s all I have to offer.

It’s the mohair I bought at Black Sheep. I wolf spun some and plied it with a smooth alpaca/merino single, washed it, and knit a swatch.

It’s gorgeous and unbelievably soft. I’m going to make a sweater for myself out of it. I know I keep saying that, but I really am. This time, for sure.

Liv is playing Lisa Loeb on her guitar right now. I’ve been working with her, and she’s doing really well. She said she’s trying to get “crispy fingers” like me.

And so goes another day of summer.

I told them they could make granola today. I think that should come before we mop the floor.

I, I, Palindrome. I, I, Palindrome.

I honestly don’t know how to type that out, but it’s a They Might Be Giants song.

I, I, ‘m 33! It has to be a lucky year. 3 is lucky, and I’m TWO of them!

We’ve been pseudo celebrating for days. It started Friday, when we went out in search of the guitar I thought I had picked for myself. I’ve been eyeing it for a couple months. I’ve gone in and played it a dozen times (or so it seems). We went in on Friday and it sounded atrocious. I have no idea what happened. The manager said something about their humidifier going caddywompus, but still.

So we left. I was deflated. I’d been searching for a guitar for a year and a half and hadn’t found “the one” yet. Then I thought I had, and I hadn’t.

But we got ice cream. It was the beginning of my birthday.

Saturday, Nate and I went on our date. We got our new eyeglasses adjusted (Nate has glasses! Remind me to tell you about it. If you live locally and need glasses, I can totally tell you where to go) and then decided to try the Guitar Center in Seattle to see what they had. And I came home with an amazing guitar.

It’s the same model as the one I thought I was going to buy, but this one really sounds incredible.

I had it set up yesterday, and the four guitar builder guys in this indie shop I took it to raved about it. It rings like a bell. It sings. (It resonates like crazy, has very even tone, and is all-around awesome). So now, I FINALLY have my own guitar. I’m giddy.

Saturday afternoon we went to the girls softball game, then to a big family dinner at Tres Hermanos sponsored by Nate’s grandma. (Not for my birthday, but it was still a party).

Sunday, we had the big family gathering at our place.

Monday, well, wasn’t exactly a party, but I got my guitar set up, played with my brother, and went on a fun walk with Veronica and Clark. Plus, there were leftovers from Sunday. So food was good.

And today is the actual day.

I want to knit more on the shawl. I have a guitar lesson. I’m hoping to hit an indian buffet for lunch if I can manage it. Hayden is coming over tonight for our usual Tuesday Knit Nite.

Good times.

Added-

The girls made my breakfast shake and toast for me while I was in the shower. They added half of a can of orange juice concentrate from the freezer. My brain’s kinda buzzin’.