In This Way, I am Like the Dog

This morning, the Butcher locked his keys in his car, so I had to meet up with him in his work truck to hand them off. It was all I could do to not play hookey and ride around with him all day. It smelled slightly of burning oil. When he went over the speed bump, he flew up in his seat until the seatbelt caught him and sent him back down into the cushions. And the whole thing sounded like a burping dragon. Not to mention that the drive shaft hung low, like a dachshund’s belly, which is probably not that safe. But it seemed like a good day–driving around in that smelly thing, in the sunshine.

I keep thinking about that dude at the store, able to size someone up before he even gets up to them. Able to remember numbers he’s heard just once. And how that didn’t maybe seem like that great a life for him, like it hasn’t actually been a benefit.

Did you know someone broke into The Goddess & The Moon and stole jewelry? I feel like it takes some kind of cosmic chutzpah to rob from a woman who can curse you. Not saying that there aren’t people in Nashville who can’t lay or remove a curse more powerful than T. could lay. There may be. But I do believe that, unless you already know one, you’re not going to find him or her. T. has to be the most prominent powerful magic worker in town. So, if she does succeed in cursing you, you pretty much have to go back to her to get it removed.

That’s pretty hilarious. “Hi, I’m the guy who stole all your jewelry. And then my life went to shit. Um, what would it take for you to fix that?”

Ha ha. Notice how my brain is thinking about this stuff in order to skirt right up to the edge of things it is not allowed to think about. I’m on to you, brain, on to you.

I know some of you will be excited by this news. I figure the rest of y’all will be tickled by the comments. My favorite is, “So just the one, small and non-prehensile tentacle then?”

This morning, my dad said, “Between your nephew’s card counting skills and your public swearing, it’s as if my dad has come back from the grave.”

Blocks A… Or Block As are Done

I forgot how quickly this part of the afghan comes together compared to the month of tucking tails into squares that precedes it. As you may recall, there are four blocks each of five different kids of blocks. So, all Block As are done. And it just took two days of lollygagging and half-assing it. I’m excited about laying it out and just comparing it, color-wise, to mine. Because I am a nerd.

This is the trick of the afghan. There’s a long kind of tedious part that, if that were the end of the afghan, wouldn’t encourage you to make another, but then you finally get to piece things together and it looks so nice and you can’t wait to see what happens next and then it’s like “Woo, look at this amazing thing I made!”

Did I tell you how we picked these colors? I had the yarn left over from the last afghan, so that was already set. But then Rachel sent me her wish list on… um I forget… maybe Etsy or Pinterest? Anyway, it let me get a wide view of colors she liked, and then I tried to match it with what was available in the yarn I’m using. Neither orange is quite right, which I’m a little bummed about, because she likes this really awesome orange that just isn’t matchable in this yarn. And I was worried this bright one looked a little too emergency road-hazardy.

But now I’m really liking it.

I don’t know how long I will continue to make variations of this afghan, but for now, the work to pay-off ratio is still really high. It looks so good, starting about now, that it’s hard not to sit around and wonder “What if I did one that was all shades of blue?” “What if I did one that was all variegated yarn?”