Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down....

It's just been typing and more typing here at the desk. That and chasing Dog as he orders me around. I swear, he hates it when I sit down to type. I'm supposed to be writing for money today, but I am not feeling it. Ordinarily, I would consider this a problem, but since I have my research done, all that's left is the writing I'm not going to worry much. It's actually quite funny that I regard that as the worst part, as it generally takes less time to write the articles than do the research. Maybe I'll review my research today and write tomorrow. Granted, I'll have a long day tomorrow (volunteer obligations until 3, then writing probably until 7 or 8) but it means I'll be able to finish the hat for my aunt I'm working on. And, honestly, all I want to be doing right now is knitting. I suppose I could motivate myself by saying I can knit tomorrow if I write today, but...eh. I have to baby sit in two and a half hours, I wouldn't get as much writing done as I'd like so I'd still be writing tomorrow, and I wouldn't get to knitting until Friday, when I'm planning on playing hooky and going to the movies, instead. I can write this off in my head as time efficiency: Once I start writing, it's faster to just keep on writing than to change tasks. So I'll spend less time, overall, if I just...do all the writing in one go tomorrow and knit today.

See how good I am at explaining things away?

In other news:

Sorry, got all artsy for a minute. Snow! We have snow!

Now, I know this is hardly news as it seems everyone is getting snow if they are located in the lower 48, but, you know, it's not the most common thing around here. Typically, we only get a couple of inches per month, maybe a foot or two all told, all winter long. The snow started on Thanksgiving eve and has just...kept going. I think we've only seen the ground since the point where the snow started for maybe two weeks, all told. We're not even halfway through winter yet and already it's getting old.

Eh, whatever. Anyway, I bought my tickets for the local symphony today at their buy two get one free sale, which is actually just 1/3 off, isn't it? I've been chewing my nails waiting to have the cash all together in one place for the past week so I can get these tickets. I'll probably end up going more often, on an 'as needed' basis, but I wanted to get the sale price to make sure I get to go to these three concerts at the very least. So now I know that, if nothing else, I at least get to see the Vivaldi concert. And Beethoven and Mendelssohn, but they're just icing.

Now I just have to be patient and wait for my first concert, the 29th. That's the Beethoven. I like Beethoven. Bach is best, imho, but Beethoven is a bit of alright, too. At least they took the majority of the scheduled Mahler off the calendar--blech. I hate emo, and if Mahler is anything, he's early emo. Unfortunately, it also means that the primary reason I decided not to spend the cash renewing my season tickets in the first place is no longer--I could have renewed, kept my seat and paid less for more events. Bummer. Ah, well, we all spin the wheel of fortune and sometimes we hit the 'lose a turn' spot!

And just because it's pretty:

And also, a big thank you to my mother's friend, who gave her hash browns to my mother for Dog's enjoyment:

You'll never see this, Gertie, because no one in my family knows I blog and therefore you'll never find it, but hey. Dog loves you anyway.

Busy, busy, busy.

I have been knitting and doing stuff, I promise, I just haven't been online to tell you about it. Mostly because I'm still not entirely over the whole labyrinthitis thing, partly because I'm up to no good, so to speak. Ok, ok, it's more like I'm doing a bit of authorized fanfiction, and it's taking a lot of time. I want to get it right, and it's so hard to know how to do so! Anyway, there's some other stuff I've been up to.

For firstly, I knitted a hat.

I was surprised to note the red yarn was self-striping--I just thought it was random. Huh. I frogged it twice, actually, and got tired of frogging it and just finished the damn thing already. Bastard yarn.

It's actually an inch shorter than it was supposed to be, but I ran out of the red. Ooops. Whatever. It's still sort of Rasta, as you can see, which was the intent, and I'm sure once I block it, it will fit better.

For secondly, I rescued a kitten.

His name is Pippin. He was going to go to a friend of my aunt's, but the friend weenie'd out, so he's staying with my aunt. He's mostly staying with her because her elderly cat loves him, and she'd do anything to make him happy. So, Pippin stays.

He also looks rather studly in the hat. When we found him, in the alley between the houses I work in (ha! An actual alley cat!) he was gray. All over. As you can see, several baths have helped. The fur is growing back in where he had burrs stuck in and when I say stuck in, I mean imbedded in his fur. We had to shave him down in spots to get them out. He's got some sort of burn on his back foot where he'll never grow fur again, but he really doesn't seem to mind. He talks a lot, and he's a bit of an attention whore, but he's sweet. He doesn't like dogs, though, which broke my dog's heart, as he loves kittens. Oh, well, he recovered from the rejection easily enough.

Rasta Dog says: Eh, mon, I gots de Malibu, you have de pineapple juice?

Ok, so the true effect is lost by the fact that I had to cut portions of this picture out and it was quite....awkward, but you get the point.

Oh, well. Best to be getting back to my research and writing.