Rockstar

Well, my arm is feeling better little by little, though it is still very sore and I wake up feeling stiff and arthritic. On my doctor's orders I'm not allowed to life anything over five pounds with my right (read: dominant) arm for two weeks, and that means restricted duty at work. Did you know a gallon of milk weighs about eight pounds? A super-supreme pizza, in the pan, weighs about that. I asked the cook to weigh one for me, out of curiosity, and it was seven-point-something-small pounds. That's a heavy pizza! I can't do part of my side work right now, either, since I can't carry the ice bucket in one arm (it's too large around) and I can't lift everything I need to fill the salad bar. I do my best, though, and pray that my coworkers don't want to kill me before my two weeks is up. Also, I can't work the cut table because it requires far too much movement and lifting.
I think that next time I go shopping I'm going to pick up a bottle of vitamins; it's something I have been considering for a long time and finally decided to go through with. I'm not a big fan of taking pills, and four times out of five I'd rather suffer through my colds than take anything for them. But I keep thinking things like, "What if I had fallen differently? What if the table had hit me at a slightly different angle?" And the answer is that I could have broken my arm, or done something equally horrible to my shoulder. I don't like milk plain, if I drink it it usually has to be with chocolate syrup in it or in a bowl of cereal. I know I don't get quite the right balance of vitamins and minerals and healthy things from my every day food, though I do tend to eat pretty healthy. I beat myself up a lot. I used to say, "I play hard." But that's not true, I do everything hard. I am an extreme sort of person that way. Walking isn't walking, it's balancing on the curb or skipping cracks in the sidewalk. I don't run, I sprint full-out. My bike goes over more bumps and holes than is probably good for the rims. Weak bones and vitamin deficiencies are not conducive to letting me continue to do those sorts of things.
Vitamins are not a bad thing.
Just keep telling myself that, and I'll start getting into a routine of taking them.


In other news, I had to rip back my Evenstar shawl. I realized that one of the wonky stitches (kfb7-k3tog) was a stitch off-center on the first needle, and that all the subsequent repeats of the pattern were also off-center. I was without a lifeline, and drowning in dread. So, I sucked it up, removed the circular, and hoped for the best. Sitting peacefully on the couch (Kobold was on the floor with his new bone and Patrick was asleep) I carefully began to pull out the cobweb stitches. It took me almost an hour and there were a few heart-stopping minutes, but I finally managed to rip back to the start of the pattern. I need to even out the stitches and figure out where the round starts--though I have a pretty good idea of where that is--but I am back at round 1, my dpns at the ready to start over. Clue #2 came out on Friday, and yesterday I picked up the copy that my mom printed for me. Now that I don't have to wrestle with the cast-on, I think I can catch up fairly easily. I also need to post on the ravelry group.
I always forget to do that. I joined ravelry mostly for the patterns, and I usually end up forgetting it exists until my mom asks if I've seen such-and-such's post, or if I had joined so-and-so's group.

In other-other news, Patrick and I went to Petsmart yesterday to get another bag of food and some more toys for Kobold. Because he is, like, 100% herding dog, he's really freaking smart, and he has a ton of energy. We shave a lot of that energy down by taking him out on regular walks and runs, and we play with him a lot. But at the end of the day, we can only do so much. And he's so smart he gets into trouble. So I did some research online about German shepherds and Border Collies, and people who own them said that they learn tricks very easily, and like to show off for people. The more complicated tricks you teach them, one woman said, the more brain power they're using on getting you to praise them and the less likely they are to tear up your house out of boredom. One guy said that for his Shepherd he'd made a toybox, and over the course of a few months had built up a little store of various toys. Every week or two he'd cycle out the current toys for other ones, so that his dog would have "new" toys to play with and he wouldn't get tired of the ones he had.
These were both great ideas, and so I brought them up to Patrick. He agreed, and we got him a new rope thing and another bone. He enjoys playing tug of war with the rope thing. The bone is... well, the bone is his kryptonite. He will do anything for that rawhide lump. It's doggy crack to him, I swear. He whined when I took it away because he kept trying to bury it down the back of the couch cushions. He insisted on taking it with him when I took him for a walk. He goes crazy for this bone. We've decided to only give it to him when he's being very good, or else he'll be done with it in a matter of days.
We've also taught him to sit, lay down, roll over, and stand. Patrick wants to get him to play dead.

Em and Jim are coming down tonight to have dinner since they didn't show up for my dad's birthday. We're going to a local Chinese restaurant that we frequent. The people there know us by name and they often stop and chat with us when they aren't busy. Everyone who works there is very nice. Patrick and I are going as well, since we both have today off. I'm excited, I haven't seen Em and Jim in a while, and despite what I say to her frequently, I do love my sister.

Oh, and one last thing. I was chatting with my female coworkers about a month or two ago and we were talking about how we miss out prom dresses. There's nowhere for us to wear them. I relayed the conversation to my mom, and she told me about Prom Dress Parties, where girls will gather, all dressed up, and have a general good time. I have been thinking on this idea for a long time, and I think I'd like to host a prom dress party/high tea. Any thoughts?

Here's hoping your weekend wraps up well.


Sometimes I walk a little faster in the school hallway
Just to get next to you
Some days I spend a little extra time in the morning
Just to impress you
Guess you don't notice
Guess you don't need this
Sad you're not seeing
What you're missing
On the outside shying away
On the inside dying to say
I'm unsual, not so typical,
Way too smart to be waiting around.
Tai chi-practicing, snow board champion,
I can fix the flat on your car.
I might even be a rock star.
~Miley Cyrus, "Rock Star"