Maritzia’s Thoughts

The Blogging Chicks blogroll has it’s 2nd carnival up.  Be sure to check them out.  There’s a nice cross section of women bloggers there, including your’s truly.

Another blog I’d like to offer up for your perusal is Joseph’s Left One.  He’s an ex-mormon who writes of his disillusionment in such a way that you feel everything that he feels.  I highly recommend it if you like good writing.

We ran the roads a good bit yesterday.  We went to Marilyn’s Yarn Store (if you’re in the Bellingham area, I highly recommend them.  Very helpful and informative, especially if you’re new to knitting), and I got a nice skein of blue lambs wool with a skein of red silk for accent for a project I’m planning to felt.  I’ll let you know how it turns out, since I’m pretty much winging this.  There’s not really a pattern so I have to figure it out as I go along.

Then we went to the bookstore where I picked up The Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, as well as some gardening/cooking/crafts book that were on the bargain shelf.  After all, you can never have too many books.  And to underline that concept, I stopped into the library to pick up 6 books I reserved.

Really, isn’t the internet a wonderful thing?  I can go on-line, search the library’s card catalogue, reserve the books, and when I go in, the books are sitting on the shelf waiting for me, and I can check myself out at a self-checkout station.  I love technology, especially when it makes it easier for me to get books!

Lastly we went to a Futon store, but my goodness is their stuff way overpriced.  If I’m going to pay $1500 for a sofa that turns into a bed, I’ll go buy a reallly nice hideabed sofa for that money.  We’ll keep an eye out on garage sales to see if we can find a futon cheaper.  I’d really like to get something better for the mother-in-law to sleep on when she’s visiting us.  At the moment, all we have are a couple of foamies that we put on the floor for her.  But since we actually like for her to visit, we’d like to encourage it with a better place for her to sleep.   Hence the search for a futon.  Someday, we’d like to have a small house out in the country with enough land that she can have her own little cottage right there.   That would be our ideal.  I’m very lucky that I have such a great mother-in-law.  I’ve heard so many MIL horror stories, and mine is just a doll.  Her lifestyle and ours really mesh well, so that when she’s here, it’s not much different than when she isn’t, except that we get to play Canasta!  Which, unfortunately, she usually wins *laughs*.

When we got home yesterday, I set Wiebke up with a blog on my domain.  She’s always wanted to write, and I thought this might help encourage her to do so.  I don’t know if she’ll make it public or not, but I do hope she writes *nudge, nudge* (yes, I’m pretty sure she’ll read this *laughs*).

Well, that’s all that’s fit to print.  Have a beautiful and blessed day, all.

A couple of things running around in my head today….

First…for you Pagans out there…the Pagan Unity Campaign.  I actually had a survey last week that included Wiccan under the religion question.  It’s a start, but it kind of ignored every Pagan out there that wasn’t Wiccan.  I answered “Other”.  Still, remind your representatives that this isn’t an entirely Christian country.

Next…yes, it’s time for more of my vaguely spiritual ramblings….  Yesterday I was watching Little Buddha on On-Demand (love, love, love On-Demand).  Anyway, when they were telling of the Buddha’s enlightenment, I was struck by the similarities with Jesus.  Both were assailed by demons trying to tempt them away from their path.  Both were following a “middle path” as it were.  Buddha said that enlightenment lay in the way between the extremes.  Jesus talked about the balance between the needs of the law and the needs of humanity.  And why, you ask, do these things strike me as important?  I guess, being raised Southern Baptist and all the stress among the evangelical churches about their way being the only way…well, it seems to me that the way of Jesus (which is not to be confused with the ways of his churches) is not all that afar from the ways of some other religions.  And if that is the case, why the insistence that all of us others are going to hell. I’ve always been fascinated by the differences and similarities of the various religions.

On the pet news, we had Bluebelle spayed last week.  She’s made a fabulous recovery, but has rediscovered her innate whineyness.  As a puppy, she would whine incessantly whenever she wanted something.  We had sort of broken her of that these last few months.  But after her surgery last week, we were, of course, much more attentive whenever she whined, so now she is back in the habit again.  Poor puppy.  I hate to ignore her, but that seems to be the only way to break her of that particular habit.  She’s even gotten to where she’s barking at us during meals again, which we had also broken her of.

Now, I just have to convince Mark that we really, really need another cat!  *laughs maniacally*

I’ve started knitting again.  I’ve gotten a little bored with crocheting, and as I hadn’t knitted since I first learned in college, I decided to take it up again.  So, I got myself a book and retaught myself the basics.  I’m working on a rib knit scarf for practice from some old Red Heart I had lying around.  I’m about half finished with it, and will post a pic when I’m done.  It’s not that good, at least the first half of what I’ve knitted, but my stitches are slowly getting  more even.  I’m thinking of making my sister the cable knit afghan in the How To book next.

Not a lot happening. The long weekend was good. I really needed the extra day off.

I got a little bored with Shards of Dalaya. Mark doesn’t really like to play, and without someone else to keep me company, I started losing interest. Mark is doing a free trial of Eve Online. I beta’d Eve and didn’t enjoy it that much. Was a little too impersonal for me. But Mark likes RTS games, so this is something that he enjoys. I think it’s the programmer in him. I’m currently playing a free account on Anarchy Online. I don’t know if I’ll upgrade to a paid account or not. The level of dudishness is quite high among most players. *shrugs* I’m really torn about what I want to play. With Vanguard out of the picture, I’m not sure which direction to go in. I won’t play another Sony game. Maybe D&D Online? I’ll probably keep playing AO for a little while. The thing about this game is that with the back story, there’s a huge potential for roleplaying. I just don’t know how to find that roleplay community.

In other news, I’m teaching myself to knit again. I’ve always been an avid crocheter, but I’ve been a bit bored with crocheting lately. So, I got a book this weekend and am teaching myself to knit again. I’m currently working on a ribknit scarf just for practice, until I get comfortable again. Then I might make an afghan for my sister. Or a scarf for my boss. He’s up for a job in Chicago, and if he gets it, I might make him a scarf and hat for a going away gift. God knows he’ll need it in Chicago. *shivers*

I’m of two minds about him going. I really want him to find a better place for himself than here. He’s not really appreciated here, and this place isn’t a challenge for him. The extreme they take things to in the area of community governance makes him crazy. He’s the kind of guy that likes decisions to be made and not to waffle forever because you want everyone to be happy. Sometimes, someone has to be the bad guy and make unpopular decisions. And no one here wants to be that person. And, of course, there’s the problem that this city is just *so* incredibly white. I mean, really really white. He’s black, his wife is cuban, and he’s afraid to have his kids grow up without sufficient rolemodels of color in their lives. So, if he gets this job in Chicago, I’m happy for him. But, it means real flux for me. I’ve had this happen before, when as an assistant you get a new boss. It can turn out to be good, but on the other hand, it can be a complete disaster. To have a successful boss/assistant relationship, you have to have a certain report, which I don’t have with many people. I’ve had a great one with Val, so I’m not looking forward to him leaving me.

In the health news, I had more bloodwork last week, and it looks like the numbers have stopped going up just on the low side of normal, so it’s likely I’ll get my PICC out next week (hooray!). I’m so tired of wearing that sleeve to take a shower and not being able to life things. I’m ready for this interval in my life to be over. And once I can say officially that the anemia is fixed, I can start annoying doctors about my thyroid dose. First thing I’ll do is see my doctor of record. I’ve been seeing the nurse practitioner, and she won’t even talk about increasing my thyroid dose. So I’ll see the doctor, and if she’s of the same mind, I’ll send letters out to all the doctors on my insurance taking new patients and see if I can find someone more compatible. My energy levels are still very low, and I have got to do something about it.

On the college front, I got my transfer report this week, and it looks like I’ll have all but 2 classes of my core curriculum covered, and I have more than enough classes to cover any and all electives. So pretty much all I’ll need to take are my major requirements. I’ll make an appointment with one of the advisors in the Psych Dept over the summer and talk about what exactly I’ll have to take and start planning classes. I figure for now I’ll take 1 class a semester. I don’t think I have the energy levels to do more than that and work too. But it’s a start! It’s a start.