Are you there, Blog?

Wow, so much has happened since I last saw my computer. I can't add anything new or profound to the discussion of the Katrina tragedy. I feel like my words are too trite and small--"my thoughts are with the victims" is an easy enough thing to say, but it doesn't do anything other than make me feel better. I don't need to feel better, the people in New Orleans need to feel better. As far as I know right now, the agencies in charge [yes I know, let's not bicker and argue about speed right now] are in need of money, so if you can, head over to the Red Cross website and give them a bit of your hard-earned cash. It's nice to help. Let's be nice.

***Big Deep Breath***

In other news, I have gotten this far on the BabyBlanket:



This is the in-the-round baby blanket at its near-halfway point. I adore this pattern and hope this yarn (Carn Simply Soft in White) adores the pattern too, as I don't want to rip this dern thing out again. The pattern is so fun, with two kinds of stitches (dc shell group [2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc all in same space] and cluster [dc2tog, but with more spaces than usual]), so just when you get sick of one it's time to switch to the other. It's like picking up another project, but without the guilt! I hope I can finish it by November. I should be able to. Right? Right!

My beloved and I have also been experimenting with paint and pseudo-canvas. We have some artist friends and have become inspired to make pretty pictures. While at the local Michael's we saw a sight that warmed our hearts:



We saw the Bob Ross Travel Easel. You remember the happy little trees, don't you? Of course you do. I used to watch Bob Ross when I was small, lulled into coziness by his soothing voice and entranced by his hair; watching a lovely painting appear before my very eyes. I had no idea what he was doing and never had the desire to get me some paints and brushes, but I felt like I could paint if I wanted because Bob Ross made it easy.

Anti-climactically, we didn't buy the Bob Ross Travel Easel. But we've been going nuts with the cheap "canvas," easel, paints and brushes that we have, and it's been much fun. And I won't be posting pictures of my paiting experiments. Not unless I get bitten by a radioactive art bug and become awesome.

We were also fortunate to be able to see our friends Mark and Amy yesterday, which was Mark's birthday. Fortunate because they live in Chicago and we live in DeKalb, and we were able to purchase gas to drive there. Thank gods we did, because we would have missed this if we didn't:



[No kitties were harmed in the taking of this photo. No kitties were headless in the taking of this photo either (Ramona just turned her head whilst she sat upon Amy's).]

I love days off.