I Just Don't Understand It

Now that Open House is over, I started to plan a relaxing summer. I wanted to get away for a while, since I haven't taken a vacation for a few years. Look what greeted me when I opened my mailbox today.


Yay. Yipee. Whoo-hoo. Don't get me wrong. I believe in doing my civic duty; I have served on a jury before and reported for service. However, I have lived in my house for almost seven years, and I've been called for jury duty every year, save one. This is a random drawing of names? I don't think so. Out of 671,791 registered voters in my county (and probably twice that registered with the DMV), I fail to understand why my name always comes up! My sister lives in an adjacent county and has never been called to serve; she does, however, manage to laugh at me whenever I get the summons. What a sweetheart (she's older, it's to be expected!) So now I have a decision to make - report for service and miss the last week of school, or defer service and put in long days (jury duty + writing sub. plans + commuting) during the school year?

I wonder if I can take knitting needles into the court house? Hmmmm......

She Who Sleeps on My Head

Shortly before Christmas, I sprained my sacroiliac joint, or as my chiropractor put it, I sprained my butt (not like you really needed to know that). I started getting adjustments and he sent me home with exercises, orders to stop sleeping on my stomach, and a very fancy pillow that cradles your head and makes it easier to stay on your back when you sleep.

When he sold me the pillow, my chiropractor told me that he had to chase his cat off the pillow every night. "Oh that will never happen to me," I thought, "My older cat sleeps at the foot of the bed and the new one is too afraid of alpha cat to sleep with me." Yeah, right. One week later, I wake up, roll over, and am greeted with this:

Good-bye fancy pillow, hello expensive cat bed.

Happy Earth Day

Back in the early 70's, when Earth Day began, I remember filling gelatin capsules with soil and seeds as a school project. The kids in our school must have made thousands of those little seed pills. If I remember correctly, they were going to be scattered along the highways in Oklahoma, where I lived at the time. I often wonder how that went, since we moved shortly afterwards.

Growing up in the 70's and 80's I was always interested in nature and the environment. (Must have been due to watching all those commercials where the Native American chief had the tear running down his face.) As kids, we spent most of their free time outside, rolling around in the grass, climbing trees (and falling out of them), exploring the woods and creeks. We were great garbage collectors on our expeditions; only we thought the trash we were picking up was treasure. I still remember picking up a crumpled up tube of VO5 and thinking, "Wow, this must be valuable." I was a first-grader! What do you expect?

I was a real tree-hugger; I used to get on my imaginary soapbox and rant about polluters and deforestation to anyone that would listen. I was so involved that I almost took a job with the California League of Conservation Voters--that is, until I found out I would be going door-to-door all by myself. Having just graduated from a woman's college (where you learn what can happen to a woman alone), I decided that would not be the best thing for me.

Still, I try to go green. I recycle and try to make smarter choices with the things I buy. (I love the reusable shopping bags from Trader Joe's, but these Envirosax look cool too.) I use mass transit when I have a choice. I know I can do more, but at least it's a start. My hope is that if people can begin by doing one or two small things for the earth, it will snowball into bigger actions. Because it's going to take all of us to change what is happening.

Testing the Waters

It was inevitable. After all the blogstalking I do, I figure it's about time I come out of the shadows and start one of my own. I was just invited to join in the Knitter's Coffee Swap (yay!) and found out that this really isn't too difficult to do. So here goes...

I am a divorced mother of two...cats (the only grandchildren my mother's going to get). I could have had a teenager, but instead I have a sixteen year old tabby, with the ridiculous name of "Little Girl." When she was a stray living on my patio with her siblings, we just referred to her as that little girl cat; nothing else seemed to stick. She is, perhaps, the best cat I've ever had, probably because she's so faithful and follows me around like a dog.

This is Zoey. She came into my life last Christmas Eve, when I followed my sister into the Milo Foundation, an animal rescue organization. She must have seen the "sucker" tattoo on my forhead, because the minute she saw me, she was out of her bed and head butting the cage door. By the time she reached her paw out of her cage to grab me, I was a goner. Talk about false advertising: I take her home thinking she will cuddle with me and be a lap cat, then she turns out to be a big dork (she plays soccer with her kibble). Of course, that only makes me like her more. To her, I am only the can opener.


Me? I knit. I teach. I craft. I write.