Betharoopie's Songs of Snarky Love

I recently participated in a CD exchange for Valentine's Day and totally forgot to print out the song list for the CDs. The one thing they all have in common is having something to do with the emotions surrounding love - even if it is just a song I associate with a memory of love. Here they are, in alphabetical song order:

All You Need Is Love--The Beatles
Always Be--Jeffrey Gaines
Amie--Damien Rice
Angie--Tori Amos
Annie's Song--John Denver
Another Night (Radio Mix)--Real McCoy
Beautiful Girl--Peter Droge & The Sinners
Beth--Kiss
Black Coffee In Bed--Squeeze
Blue--The Jayhawks
Breakfast at Tiffany's--Deep Blue Something
Bring Me Some Water--Melissa Etheridge
Caged Bird--Alicia Keys
Careful--Guster
Celebrate Me Home--Kenny Loggins
China--Tori Amos
Crush--Dave Matthews Band
Crystal Village--Pete Yorn
Dagger Through The Heart--Sinéad O'Connor
Diggin' On A Road--Sonia Dada
Dirty Work--Steely Dan
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind--Joan Osborne
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me--Oleta Adams
Don't Lie--Black Eyed Peas
Eleanor--Vigilantes Of Love
Evangeline--Matthew Sweet
Fall At Your Feet--Crowded House
Galileo--Indigo Girls
Girl All the Bad Guys Want--Bowling For Soup
Girlfriend--Matthew Sweet
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy--Jason Mraz
Goodbye To Love--The Carpenters
Gravel--Ani DiFranco
Groove Me--King Floyd
Have A Little Faith In Me--John Hiatt
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You ?--Chieftains & Van Morrison
Head Over Heels--The Go-Go's
Here In My Heart--John Berry
Home--Michael Bublé
How Good It Can Get--The Wallflowers
I'll Cover You (Reprise)--Tracie Thoms / Jesse L. Martin / Cast Of Rent
I'll Have to Say I Love You In A Song--Jim Croce
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me--The Jayhawks
I've Got A Crush On You--Sarah Vaughan
I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)--Stevie Wonder
I Could Write A Book--Harry Connick, Jr.
I Want To Hold Your Hand--The Beatles
I Will Follow You Into The Dark--Death Cab For Cutie
In the Meantime--Spacehog
In The Mirror--Yanni
In Your Eyes--Jeffrey Gaines
It Had To Be You--Billie Holiday
Last Beautiful Girl--Matchbox Twenty
Let's Fall In Love--Louis Armstrong
Light Of A Clear Blue Morning--Allison Moorer
Long Sweet Summer Nights--The Thorns
Love Of My Life--Queen
Luckiest Man Alive--The Finn Brothers
Me And Bobby McGhee--Janis Joplin
Melissa--The Allman Brothers Band
Memorize--The Bacon Brothers
Misery--Pink Feat. Steven Tyler
More Than Love--Los Lonely Boys
My Kinda Lover--Billy Squier
My Sweet Lady--John Denver
Never Felt This Way (Interlude)--Alicia Keys
No Matter What--Badfinger
Now that I know--Shannon McNally
One Step Closer To You--Michael Franti & Spearhead
Piece Of My Heart--Janis Joplin
Reminiscing--Little River Band
Roses--Outkast
Second Hand News--Fleetwood Mac
She--Elvis Costello
She Talks to Angels--The Black Crowes
Shower The People--James Taylor
Solsbury Hill--Peter Gabriel
Somebody To Love--Queen
Something In The Way She Moves--James Taylor
Soulshine--Warren Haynes
Sweetest Thing--U2
The Blower's Daughter--Damien Rice
The Grass Is Blue--Norah Jones
The Heart Of The Matter--Don Henley
Time--Tori Amos
To Make You Feel My Love--Garth Brooks w/Trisha Yearwood
Too Much Love Will Kill You--Brian May
True To Myself--Ziggy Marley
Tupelo Honey--Van Morrison
Turn Me On--Norah Jones
Unsent--Alanis Morissette
When I Was A Boy--Dar Williams
Winter--Tori Amos
Wish You Were Here--Pink Floyd
Without You--Adam Pascal / Rosario Dawson
You'll Accomp'ny Me--Bob Seger
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away--Eddie Vedder
You Had Me--Joss Stone
You Oughta Know--Alanis Morissette
Your Body is a Wonderland--John Mayer

Catchin' Up with the Camera

Alrighty, then. First off, some pictures of the progress Joe made last week...


Joe removed most of the plaster in the bathroom - you can see the lath, and underneath that, on the exterior wall, is brick that needs to be removed. Back in the day, brick was used as insulation and fire retardation. The problem is, it's pretty crappy insulation.

Joe, after I'd taken one too many pictures. Taking down plaster is nasty business. Lots of particulate you need to avoid breathing.

Now, on to what I did yesterday. The cats and I did plenty of this...

And I also did a good bit of this...

Most of my knitting yesterday was on Clappy, but I can't show you that. I'm almost done, though! Once I started drinking some wine, however, I thought it safer to work on something that wasn't too important. Top left is my entrelac experiment, bottom left is a cloverleaf pattern, but I think I'll rip it out - looks too funky on size 10s (the only needles I had available downstairs - alas, I was too lazy to just get up and get some others). On the right is a simple moss stitch. I had experimented with the Roman Stripe Pattern Stitch that I saw on Knitty Gritty not too long ago, but it didn't rock my world with this yarn.

Watched a few movies - Something New was a total chick flick, but it was very enjoyable. Plus, Simon Baker? Total hotness. Also watched The Lake House. Didn't want to like it, but I did. Of course, you totally have to suspend disbelief, and the story definitely has its holes. But a very good knitting movie. And, as much as people like to bash Keanu, he's really easy on the eyes.

Also got to see a CLASSIC yesterday that gave me nightmares as a kid. Still gives me the heeby-jeebies...

Today is pretty much more of the same, plus of course Oscar-watching. Call it the weekend of guilty pleasures.

Friday! Whoohoo!!!

You cannot beGIN to imagine the joy that is coursing through my veins right now (which of course is a sure sign that the Voldemort of my world will try to squash every last happy sparkle). But that doesn't matter - because I MADE IT.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings I worked on finalizing the reports for my volunteer group so the transition to the new treasurer would be final. Wednesday night was my last meeting, and it was certainly a meeting from hell. Went from 7pm until about 10:30 and ended with people screaming and walking out. Let's just say this isn't the FIRST time a meeting has gone like that. But I handled it all in stride this time because...IT WAS MY FINAL ONE. Went home, had a stiff drink, and slept with a smile on my face.

Thursday night had a meeting in the Village - I'm on several local government committees, and it's a great way to learn more about your community and connect with people. I enjoy it. I'm a total joiner in that respect - I think I got it from my dad.

Work has been holy heckwads, but no matter how painful it may be today, it too will be OVER soon. Nine point five hours and counting. Going out to dinner with good friends, then Joe will be getting ready for a business trip.

WHICH MEANS...tomorrow I'm going to be what I like to call Productively Lazy. Meaning, I'll do chores, but only those that can be done while watching TV or movies. Laundry. Dishes. Opening mail. Paying bills. Picking up clutter in rooms that have TVs (in all honesty, those are the only rooms that have clutter...kind of...). And at some point on Saturday it'll be all about the knitting, the beer, the lap cats, and a chick flick movie. I'm working hard on Clappy but also having fun on my first entrelac experiment. I got some really pretty, on-sale cotton when I was last at my LYS, and I thought I'd try some dishrags of different stitch patterns. Then, when I got the recent Interweave Knits, I thought it would be a good time to just expose myself to the technique - because these socks totally rock.

Sorry no pictures - haven't even hooked the camera up to the PC to download lately. But this weekend is catchup time. Here's a totally random picture that I have at work...a few weeks too late. It was taken in our driveway a few years ago. We have a groundhog who lives under our house - I call him Homer. I haven't seen him come out yet this month, so I'm not so sure that an early spring is in the future. He's kind of handy to have around - he eats maple saplings and mulberries. But he also eats certain flowers and our neighbor's tomatoes. Me, personally - I kind of like having our own little marmot mascot.

Have a lovely weekend one and all!!!

Rough Week, Light on the Blogging...

Lots going on - will catch up later this week or weekend. Suffice it to say I'm just plain tuckered out. Weekend was work on the house and making and drinking beer. I'm resigning from my position at the volunteer organization tonight, so I've been preparing for that transition, and my paying job has been crazy as well.

Thanks for tuning in - will be starting beer socks and Mom Socks #2 soon. Almost in the home stretch of Clappy, which is driving Mom crazy because she wants to know what it is. You'll have to wait for Mother's Day, dearest!

Joe has an update...

Valentine's Day

Well, we survivied. But not without much whining on my part. Here's a pic that Joe took mid-day (while he was working from home, I might add):

Basically, it started as snow in the evening, switched to sleet/snow mix in the morning, became more icy mid-morning, then switched over to snow in the afternoon, stopping around 5pm with about a foot of accumulation. Add some winds into the mix, and you have the drifts that welcomed me this morning:

But it's all good. One of the amazing things (to this Southern gal, at least) is how quickly the roads get plowed once it stops. Granted, while it's still snowing, it's pretty crazy (like during my drive home yesterday), but I have to admit it was kind of fun plowing my badass truck up our hill that had about 6-7 inches of unplowed snow. At least I knew if I got stuck I could get out and walk.

We then went to 88 Charles Street, one of our favorite Montgomery restaurants, where they have the BEST Steak au Poivre (for Joe) and Gnocchi Bolognese (for me). Not to mention the bottle of decent Shiraz, excellent salad, and desserts (mmm...tartufo). After the white-knuckled driving, the constant stress during the day about getting home, and then such a lovely meal with my honey? I was out like a light at 9pm. Didn't even catch Lost live, which is a rarity. Then again, catching up this morning and starting the day with a decent Desmond fix wasn't too shabby. Mrrroww...

This sucks...

...donkey balls.

Observations and rants:

1) Northern folks need to learn how to take a snow day every once in a while.
2) I push paper, keep files, and calculate numbers for a manufacturing facility that doesn't make anything that saves people's lives or helps in an emergency. So why am I here?
3) I do love my badass truck. What I *DON'T* love are stupid people who think that 4-wheel-drive means drive-fast-in-snow-and-ice. I trust myself behind the wheel - I don't trust the soccer mom on the phone passing me in blinding precipitation. I will wave to you as I drive past the ditch you swerve into.
4) It's chili day at work. A half dozen crock pots in the conference room, cornbread, chips, cheese, and hot sauce await.

Plates!

Certainly, that's not something you hear/read often...BUT...

This is what we ordered when we were at the Rhinebeck Crafts Fair back in October. We ordered a set of plates from these lovely folks (scroll down to the 2nd name under Ceramics - Pam & Greg). The small plates arrived a little while ago, and the big plates came tonight.

Uh...YAY!


As most of you know, Joe and I are pottery whores. We don't care much for china, crystal, or anything fru-fru. But pottery? Yeah. You betcha. We're there...

Now we have the "good china" - Yay! Care to come up and eat with us? :)

Umm...

Help?

I'm surrounded by WIPs!

My life is filled with unfinished things right now...

Here's the half-finished back panel of my sweater. I'm kind of doing the striping however the mood strikes me - I just have to keep good notes to make the front match up.

Making Joe a sock from my SP9 Spoiler's sock yarn. It's my "take anywhere" project. It also reminds me that I have to get back to the LYS soon and get me some more small needles (I have plenty in 3-5, not so much with 1s and 2s). After I get more of those, I'm all about the socks-in-progress.

A suprise for my mother. I don't think she reads this blog much, but just in case, I'll speak in code to my knitting friends...it's often refered to as "Clappy." I'm on the 5th of 12 repeats in the straight row section. It's A LOT of fun, but this particular yarn (Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs & Butterflies - Mother Lode colorway) tends to split a bit. Good thing I have dull bamboo needles.

Oh, goody! I actually finished something! Purple socks for my sister-in-law. I made it with Patton's Classic Merino, because her feet get really cold and I wanted a nice thick sock. Standard sock pattern - k1p1 ribbing for the cuff, k3p1 for the rest. They always knit up nicely and quickly.

And the biggest WIP - our bathroom. Due to the pipe-freezing incident earlier last week, we realized that this was a good time to move this project up the list of priorities. This weekend we've been gutting the room, and here are some observations (both past and present - corresponding to the numbers in the picture):

1) The original siding of this section of the house wasn't removed - not typically a problem, but Mr. Bonehead basically ripped up certain parts of the siding (really sloppily) to accomodate the electrical boxes.
2) Just to the right of this pipe is a singed 2x4 - Mr. Buttmonkey soldered the pipe fittings AFTER installation and caught the wood on fire. He also put up drywall immediately afterwards - there were singe marks on that as well.
3) Original brick "insulation" still in the walls
4) Shower flooring had no support around the drain, so every time you stood in it, more pressure was applied to the pipe fitting, causing it to leak in the pantry below. We haven't been able to use that shower for several years.
5) Toilet plumbed to hot water. Something we learned to live with until we were able to redo the bathroom. But still - Mr. Crudmuncher was responsible for that as well.
6) See something there that doesn't belong? Pipes, electrical wiring, and no "blue board" behind the shower? We're very lucky that we didn't have any leaks, shorts, or fires.

And that's our little part of the universe this weekend. Now I'm going to pay bills and watch some DVDs in the background. I picked out a good selection - The Professional, Reservoir Dogs, and Fight Club. I'm not in a violent mood today, am I?

Day Off!

Yeah, I was so totally ADD this week I figured I just needed to take a day before heck broke loose with the audit next month. So I went around looking at sample bathrooms (we're gutting ours this weekend), Freecycled some items, and now I'm just hangin' out with the kitties.

Upstate pics are here.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Gettin' the Pics Up...

Okay - so long overdue it's embarrassing...

Thanksgiving pics are here.

DC / Alexandria pics are here.

More to come. After I get some sleep...

100th Post and Catching Up

Wow. 100 posts. I'm really full of myself, aren't I...

Let's, see...the last few days:

Friday - Great day, feelin' good, get through the work day then realize it started bleepin' snowing, and I have the skateboard car today (vs the badass truck), and of course tonight I have to go to the grocery store because we're going upstate for the weekend. Crazy bread-and-milk freaks causing a Friday night traffic jam at Shop-Rite.

Saturday - Yay! Going upstate with the Connors! Clam steam, games, much food and wine, and *I* wasn't the sloppy drunk this time! Pictures to be posted soon.

Sunday - Darn those Connors and their evil alcohol ways! Sleepy. Cold. Very sleepy. Drive back, crash, bail on a potentially groovy Super Bowl party. Watch the game, feel "eh" overall about the commercials, then crash again.

Monday - Cold. Cold. Cold. Cats clinging to us like velcro. Good news - all the work that we'd done the last few years paid off with the pipes not freezing in the crawl space. Bad news - we have a Death-Star-reactor-sized column at the core of our home that allows really cold air to freeze the pipes INSIDE THE HOUSE. Downstairs has water, upstairs does not. Joe balances precariously on a ladder that's on top of stairs in order to insulate pipes. Yay Joe - no one has to take a sponge bath in the kitchen.

Tuesday - Cold. Have ADD at work. Cold.

Which Word Confuses You?

Here's a hint:

If, after more than two years of volunteering my precious spare time to basically sit in a room with multiple Type A personalities and mentally bash my head against a brick wall, and during that time what was once a passion to help became a slowly festering sore of hostility towards anything involving that worthy cause, after countless phone calls interrupting my paid work day for ridiculous reasons, after staring at the ceiling night after night, my stomach in knots about the responsibilities that I have placed on myself and that others have shoved in my direction, after putting myself and my husband farther down the list of priorities for far too long, if after all that I decide that I need to step down...

Calling me a half-dozen times within twenty-four hours of my emotional and painful resignation? Asking me to reconsider, not because you need me, but because you don't want a certain other individual to be involved? Bad-mouthing other people and complaining about what's going on...?

Is NOT helping your cause. It only makes me realize I made the right damn choice.