I think there's something in the water. People are going batshit all around me.

So, as most of you know, the rest of my Erzulia celebrations didn't quite go as planned.

Since
         91 = Celebrate Erzulia with style every year; and
         92 = Blog about it;

I guess I'd best catch up while I can still remember anything about last week other than the trauma.

(Please hold for more moving light problems....)

(The above message kind of describes how my last week has been going, actually.)

Ok. Here we go:

Day 3: Jewelry. Now, I don't usually wear much or any jewelry to work, as it's easily caught on things (lights, table saws, etc.). But I was doing a little research on Erzulie the night before, and learned that in her non-Ge-Rouge aspect (ie, the nice Erzulie) she has three husbands, and therefore wears three wedding rings. I don't have ONE wedding ring, much less three. I do, however, have a ring that's special to me. It's a wide silver band with three small inset stones - two peridots, which are my birthstones, and a garnet (which feature prominently in another family heirloom ring... but that's another story). When I bought it a couple of years ago, it fit my right ring finger perfectly. I've gained about 12 lbs. in the last two years, though, and now the only finger it fits on is my left ring finger. I have a bit of a thing about not wearing any ring on that finger other than a ring that denotes a relationship contract, etc. etc., and so I really don't wear my special ring anymore.

But during Erzulia? In honor of a loa with three husbands? Hell yes.

Day 4: Day 4 was meant to be Dancing day. That, however, was Thursday, and those of you who have read my FB note know that Thursday didn't turn out the way I had hoped. It seems that Erzulie was having a bit of fun with us, and made it Scrambling day instead.

Day 5: Beauty. Having gone home late and fried the night before, and not sleeping well, I hardly felt prepared to be beautiful Friday morning. However, years of depression management have taught me that sometimes, faking it helps. So, since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I took a long shower. I blow-dried my hair. I put on a little makeup and trimmed my fingernails. I wore my favorite sweater. It wasn't much, and I'm sure that no one else noticed, but it was enough to get me out the door in anticipation of another hard day.

Day 6: The last day of Erzulia and opening night, and therefore a day for Flowers. I think I've mentioned before that I nearly always prefer a flowering plant to cut flowers. As everything seemed to be going swimmingly at work (see FB note for how THAT turned out), I left work during my break and headed to Lund's across the river, where I got a small but very pretty cyclamen with nearly-white petals that deepen into a dark fuscia at the stem. I've never had a cyclamen before, so we'll see how long it takes me to kill it. :)

Actually, all of these ensuing posts will probably be short ones... the tech of doom is upon us, and I shall see neither light of day or internet until next week some time. Never fear; I am making time for the festivities, but the blogging about them shall be a bit tricky.

Today, all you need is Love. Specifically, two loves.

One, I am a loser of a daughter, because yesterday was Mom's birthday and I let the day get away from me without calling her. I got so caught up in the whole cooking thing that when I looked up, it was 11pm. Or 12am eastern. So yeah. Lame daughter award. Anyway, tonight I scarfed my dinner and used the rest of my break to call her. She gave me a pass, since she forgot mine a couple of years ago, but I'm still glad I could take a few minutes to let her know I love her and that I WAS thinking of her on her special day. I have a big plan for next year (her 60th), so I'm hoping that I can get some people to help me with that.

My other new-found love is the eos. It's a loaner and like all things worth loving it's pissing me off right now, but also like all things worth loving, I can see its promise and am hoping to coax it into behaving better over the coming days. Trust me, it's really brilliant, even if it doesn't look like it right now.

Want to know what Erzulia, is? It's the best damned holiday ever!

Today, I'm celebrating Luxury, mostly by default. Usually Monday is my Dancing day, because it's dojo day, but class is canceled tonight due to the snow, so I made another choice.

I'm looking at a LONG week at work this week, so if I'm going to have luxury, it's going to have to be on my one day off. I had to brave the snow today to get to the grocery store, so I decided that the luxury in my day would revolve around cooking. I don't get to cook very often, because working in the evening cramps that lovely cooking-all-evening-with-a-glass-of-wine thing that makes it so enjoyable.

The bread is on its second rise now.



Tonight's dinner menu includes New York strip steak and braised brussels sprouts risotto.



I got myself a treat to last the whole week:



And before I braved the snow, I put on these:



Because nothing says 'luxury' like hand-knit knee socks on a cold day.

So, I finally got over my trepidation of 20th century technology, and signed up for on-line bill pay.

I think I rejected this idea when it was new and companies were still charging you for the convenience of paying straight from your bank account, and then never really revised my thoughts on the matter. I liked the conscious act of sitting down and paying the bills because it made me think about how much money we were spending, about how much of a difference it was going to make every time I turned the heat up instead of putting on another sweater. It seemed to me that without the hassle of writing checks and procuring stamps every month, it would be too easy to just pay it and forget about it.

I've finally come to terms with the fact that most of my accounting is done on-line now -- that I'm more likely to check my balance on the computer than I am to keep a checkbook register or even a quicken account. I've also come to terms with the fact that I tend to get super-busy and forget about paying bills until one or two of them are late. Now that my credit card company is charging 30% APR, that's not a mistake I can afford to make anymore... not paying off that bill on time and in full gets really expensive really fast. Being able to do this on-line means I have finer control over how that gets paid and when.

You may all commence the head-patting and tongue-clucking now.

Ok, this one is kind of cheating, for two reasons:

#1: I have actually ice skated once before, about 15 years ago. This was not my very first time on skates. However, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to remember anything that I learned in about an hour half my life ago, so I let it slide.

#2: I'm not sure you could call what I did this evening "ice skating."

These two minor details aside, I strapped on skates with Sara at the Depot this evening. They were offering a "free admission, free skate rental" deal for Guthrie employees, so we took them up on it. By the end of about an hour and a half, I was feeling pretty confident in my ability to go forward and turn left. I didn't try going backwards; I'll save that for the next time.

We had a ton of fun, and I managed not to fall down. I spent an awful lot of time thinking about how ice skating was just like judo, though. (It totally is! Don't cross your feet! Keep your weight over the middle of your arch! Bend your knees and relax! Just like judo!)

Anyway, while no one will ever confuse me with Nancy Kerrigan, I feel like I accomplished something. As Sara said, "if I had to escape alien abduction by fleeing across White Bear Lake in the winter time, I feel confident that I might make it." Good enough for me. As long as those aliens don't ice skate.

See how much scarf is left? See how much yarn is left?

http://scott-lynch.livejournal.com/235113.html

He's looking for a graphic / website artist.

There's knitting once a month at Merlin's Rest. Why did no one tell me this?