1) Total number of books I own?

Seriously?  I have absolutely no idea.  I am constantly finding books that I've shoved into a purse, under the couch, behind the bed, etc.  I'd say a couple hundred in my apartment now, but my parents have a few boxes in the attic of books from my childhood.

2) The last book I bought?

Weekend Knitting.  But I returned it; there were only a few patterns that I could even attempt at my skill level, so it wasn't worth the $$$.  Before that I bought German for Dummies.

3) The last book I read?

I'm reading "Therapy" right now.  It is a mystery novel, not a self-help book.  Before that I read "Quentins" by Maeve Binchy.  It was not nearly as good as her other books.  I'm in the process of reading Howard Zinn's "A Peoples History" but it gets tough at times, you know?

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?

A Wrinkle in Time was the first book that asked me to stretch my imagination

The Stranger taught me that it was okay if I didn't understand what the author was trying to tell me because there is no 'right' interpretation of a book, and sometimes finding something you don't understand can be more significant than finding something you do.

Much Ado About Nothing is by far my favorite play; I've read it countless times and find a new bit of Bill's genius within it every time.

One Hundred Years of Solitude showed me that I actually had no idea how far my imagination could stretch.  It also showed me how the right amount of the absurd could be mixed with the right amount of the mundane to create pure beauty.

Stitch N Bitch might seem like a silly choice, but it gave me the courage to pursue the one artistic outlet I have.  I might spend an entire day busy as hell at work and in the end feel like I accomplished nothing, yet a few hours with some yarn and needles makes me feel like I have made a contribution, and hopefully something will survive for a few decades after I am gone, giving me a taste of immortality.

5) Tag 5 people and have them fill this out in their blogs

Done!

This past weekend I finished a purse I've been doing on-and-off for a while.

Before felting

After felting.

The colors in the second picture are more acurate.  I didn't mean to taper it at the top, but I guess using the two yarns together made the body fuller.  Here's a pic of my coworker, Debbie, 'modeling' it:

I used it for the first time yesterday; a girl at the farmers' market thought I had an animal in my basket.  Unfortunately, I started sniffling yesterday.  By the end of the day I was very congested and had a sore throat and itchy, watery eyes.  I'm hoping this is just some 24 hour thing and not an unknown sensitivity to wool that is showing up because I've been using so much of it lately.  I've worn wool in the past, but it was much more processed than this wool.  We'll see. 

How's about some blasts from the past?

Alex on the way to Thesis Party '04               Cameron

Roy                                                             L-R; Jess, Matt, Paul, Becca

Stacie                                                           Ben and Aaron

Sophia and Cass                                         Zach

Roy es triste                                                 Moliere

I say this with all the love in my heart:  I have the stupidest dog in the world.

My poor Bonnie has major issues.  She was brought to the pound when she was a puppy, but because she had worms they couldn't let anyone adopt her.  When they finally got rid of the worms, she wasn't a little puppy anymore, and bless her heart but she isn't the cutest dog in the world.  She stayed at the shelter for three years until it was decided that Kasey needed a playmate. 

Since Bonnie was in the shelter her whole life, she is very insecure about feeding issues.  She won't eat standing at her bowl, but gets a small mouth full of food, hurries off to her bed to eat it, then goes back for more.  It takes her an hour to eat a cup of kibble.  She also won't eat treats when you give them to her.  She takes the treats back to her bed, sits with it in her mouth for a while, sometimes puts it down to lick it, then eventually she eats it.  If we want to mess with her, right after giving her a treat we hold out another one.  She stands there with the first treat in her mouth, trying to figure out how to get the next one.  One day she ran to her bed, set the first treat down, started towards me to get the second one, then ran back to the bed to make sure the first one was okay.  This went on for a few minutes before I finally gave the second treat to Kasey.  If we really want to mess with her, we'll give her a treat while her bed is being washed.  She just paces around, looking for it, and eventually begins to drool.  One time while this was going on we put a dishcloth on the floor, and she layed down on that to eat her treat. 

Bonnie also has extreme trust issues.  She won't come to her if you call her.  If she hears you call her name, she assumes it is something bad and runs away.  This is annoying in the house, but a pain in the ass outside.  If she is taking too long to do her business and you make the mistake of calling her in, off she goes down the street.  The only way to get her to come to you is to open the treat jar or give Kasey attention.

As well as being insecure, Bonnie is a bit of a kleptomaniac.  She likes to steal things from around the house.  She'll take your socks, your undies, magazines, rolls of toilet paper, and pretty much anything shiny.  She stole my favorite pair of tweezers and several sets of headphones.  I told Mario about this, but he didn't believe me, so we set a trap.  He took off his socks and put them on the floor right next to the couch.  After a few minutes, Bonnie came by to get some love and saw the socks.  She sniffed them, looked at us (we pretended not to watch her) and then snatched them and ran off to her bed.  She also likes to chew on wood and has eaten several sets of coasters.  You will now find stone coasters in the living room.  The 3 year-old next store has picked up on her affinity for wood and now gives her sticks whenever he sees her.  She eats the sticks. 

She also loves anything salty.  If you give her a pretzel, she will suck on it for while before eating it.  Her favorites, though, are peanuts in the shell.  She sucks on the shell and then eats the nuts.  This thing she has for salt also causes her to lick humans.  She'll like your hands, arms, legs, whatever. 

Bonnie also hates going through doorways.  She pauses to psych herself up before going into a new room.  She loves to eat bamboo when we take her out in the woods, only to through it up as soon as we get inside.  She falls asleep in the most contorted positions, makes crazy old people moans when she gets up, and likes to attack naked toes.

But, I love her to death.  At least she's not like my sister's dog, Henry. 

I went to court yesterday for the ticket I got in January for allegedly running a stop sign.  I sat for three and a half hours listening to mini-trials and guilty pleas for domestic violence, hit-and-runs, DWI, DUI, possession, illegal guns, theft, battery, and the list goes on and on.  When I finally was called, the officer in my case wasn't present due to "extenuating circumstances" and so I have to go back in October.  FUCKING OCTOBER.  The prosecutor told me I wouldn't come back if I made a deal, but I told him "No, thank you.  I'll see you in October."  What a nuisance.

Ugggh....I sliced the top of my index, middle, and ring fingers on the foil seal on a tub of soygurt.  No only does it hurt, but I look like a total dork with three big bandages (no small band-aids) on one hand.  Everyone keeps asking what happened, and I feel so stupid when I tell them that I hurt myself opening a little tub of soygurt.  That's right, handy enough to fix the toilet with a knife, yet uncoordinated enough to injure three digits tearing foil off of plastic.  Another reason I cannot have children.

The heat index today is 105-110.  Who wants to come for a visit?

I'm thinking about giving embrodery a go.  In particular, I think I might order the stitch kit from Sublime Stitching.  There are so many really great patterns there; if I am successful, I just might have a new addiction.  I guess that's what I get for giving up other *ahem* unsavory addictions.  At least I can leave my stash of yarn and whatnot out in the open

Okay, I have to share.  I just did business with a man named...........Harry Beevers.  I'm serious.  And it gets worse.  He's a Jr.  There are at least two of them.  WTF?  Who would do that to their child?!?

I know most of you will probably roll your eyes at this, but I found it terribly interesting:

Date Palm Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seed

By STEVE WEIZMAN
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli researchers have germinated a sapling date palm from seeds 2,000 years old, hoping its ancient DNA could reveal medicinal qualities to benefit future generations, one of the scientists leading the project said Sunday.

Sarah Sallon, of the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem, said she and her colleagues used seeds found in archaeological excavations at Masada, the desert mountain fortress where ancient Jewish rebels chose suicide over capture by Roman legions in A.D. 73. She said they were the oldest seeds ever brought back to life.

The palm plant, nicknamed Methusaleh after the biblical figure said to have lived for 969 years, is now about 12 inches tall. Sallon and her colleagues have sent one of its leaves for DNA analysis in the hope that it may reveal medicinal qualities that have disappeared from modern cultivated varieties.

Sallon said the tree shares its horticultural name, Phoenix Dactylifera, with the mythological Phoenix bird, which the ancient Egyptians and Greeks believed was reincarnated in a flaming nest at the end of its life. Date seeds were placed in the tombs of Pharaohs as a symbol of immortality, she added.

"It's thought that the tree was named after the Phoenix or the Phoenix was called after the palm tree because of its incredible powers of rejuvenation, because in a way it never died," she said.

© 2005 The Associated Press.

To all my friends who make fun of my PBS addiction:

I fixed the toilet at work today!  Thanks to the many episodes of Ask This Old House I have watched weekend mornings, I have almost memorized the mechanics of home toilets.  Since this is a small office, we don't have any shmancy commercial toilets, but a normal one that kept running and overflowing.  With the knowledge I gained from ATOH and a butter knife I was able to stop the leak and thus stop the overflow.  I RULE!