So, I've neglected my poor little blog for a bit.
In my defense, I'll say I've been busy. I went on vacation (at the beginning of May) to the Black Hills. LOVED IT! (I have pictures, but am too tired to mess around with posting them right now)
I saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial (which I was surprised to learn was commissioned by the Lakota), went to Wall and shopped at Wall Drug, saw the Badlands (my favorite place in SD), went to Rushmore Cave, which is a big cave full of stalactites and stalagmites. Amazingly enough, I, a sworn claustrophobe and acrophobe actually went on the tour. I managed to make it thru the cave without curling up into a fetal ball, screaming, and rocking back and forth with my hands over my head. Outwardly I was very calm, but inside I was screaming in terror. I was almost to the end of the tour when my mind started to think about earthquakes (in South Dakota??!) and cave-ins, so I was a bit anxious to get out of the cave, but at least I didnt panic.
Also went to Deadwood and Sturgis. In Deadwood I went to the Midnight Star, which is the casino that's owned by Kevin Costner. I was thrilled that Costner's slot machines were generous enough to give me a $100 jackpot to go along with the $30 that I was able to accumulate before the jackpot hit. :)
On the way home we went thru Custer State Park, nearly got t-boned by a HUGE American Bison (buffalo) that wandered (ran) down the hillside towards the road we were on. Ironically, after we dodged the bison we drove a little further down the road and encountered a sign that said "Caution. Large Animals on Road"... The day after that we also saw Scotts Bluff and Chimney Rock in Nebraska...dodged some tornados on the way back to Omaha and then came home in time for the vision problem that I've had since last August to finally start to resolve itself to a point where I'm almost happy with my vision now. (knock on wood it stays that way...or gets even better)
I got a late b-day present! (my b-day was May 24th). My dad bought me a new bed. Not that I didnt have a bed before, but it was just a bedframe, and a mattress and box spring. My dad took us to Nebraska Furniture Mart last week, and I picked out my new bed (not a new mattress, I kept the one I had) It's really nice. It's a Captain's Bed...which just means that it's got a wooden pedestal base that has drawers (four) under it, and a nice headboard/bookcase.
Finally! I have storage! (not for yarn) I could have gotten even more storage if I got the pier that goes with the headboard, but alas...when we bought this house, I had the misfortune to get a bedroom with a funky shaped wall on one end where the bed goes. The pier (two TALL cabinets with a bridge and mirror thing that goes over the headboard) wouldnt fit in my room because of the funky shape of that wall. :(
My room feels much bigger now because I had to do some serious re-arranging of my junk....err...valuable things.
When I moved a piece of furniture this morning to vaccuum in preparation to the bed getting delivered, I discovered the last evidence that I ever had a dog. Under the bed, I found a towel that had been half chewed, a huge pile of dog hair, and a lone ancient dingleberry. (Ummm...how to explain dingleberries?? Hmmm...probably too much information, but my dog had hair that would collect things in it, and when he'd go potty, the hair would catch things, and they'd stick around a bit until they dropped off...again, probably too much information)
Strangely enough, the sight of the dingleberry, the chewed up towel and all that black hair I found under the bed made me wish TinyMonsters was still around. *sigh*
It's going to shock my friend that got mad at me when he visited last week because there was no where to sit in my room but on a footstool that day. He'll freak when he sees how clean my room is and the fact that I'm bringing my late-uncle's chair downstairs to keep in my room. So there'll be someplace to sit now (as long as I'm not storing dirty laundry on the chair)
In my little world of crochet and all things yarn-ish, I've finished a couple of projects. I did a couple more of those pineapple shawls, a giant granny square afghan, and I've done some more practice on the knitting that I've been teaching myself. I went out and bought myself an Addi Turbo circular needle. (got my sibling one too while I was at it...my dad forgot to get the sibling a present for a holiday) I REALLY like the Addi Turbo! It feels really neat to my fingers, and almost makes it feel like it's easier to knit. I'm going to have to eventually get myself a whole set of those needles in all sorts of sizes. I havent made anything with the turbo yet, just playing around with scrap yarn for now.
Well, I'm off to try out the new bed, and see if it's any more comfortable than it used to be (I had the delivery guys haul off the box springs, so now I've got a firmer mattress) I sat around on it earlier, and it didnt feel too bad. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep more comfortably now.
