The Knitting Fiend

Jussi tagged me… the wench!

People may not have noticed, but I generally avoid describing myself or discussing anything other than knitting or blogging. Now, I must. Yikes!

10 years ago: I had moved from Richland, Washington where I worked for Pacific Northwest Laboratory, doing research on cleaning up radioactive nuclear waste to Ames, Iowa, where I worked as an assistant professor in ISU’s AEEM department. My husband took a job at AmesLab.

5 years ago: My husband didn’t like working in Ames Lab, primarily because it was too small and isolated. We also both wanted to be nearer our families. He took a job at Argonne. We decided I would stay at home and just run the homestead. We now live a 10 minutes drive away from his parents, and brothers. My mom and sisters are 40 minutes away. Not a tough gig for me, that’s for sure!

1 year ago: I was spending my days knitting, reading, gardening and blogging at this Alas, a blog.; it’s headed up by the intelligent and talented Barry Deutch.

Of course, I now blog here. I had loaded Wordpress up for my knitting blog, but was neglecting the knitting blog and my site. Those of you who visit regularly have probably noticed I avoid discussing politics on my knitting blog. I made a rule for myself; I am so tempted to break this rule. (Yes. I have a cushy life that permits lots of blogging.)

Yesterday: Worked on getting an RSS blog/news aggregator up and running at my blog. This involved a lot of cursing — more cursing than machine knitting. I’m pretty happy with the way it works, especially once I figured out how to get it to “cache”. (Which means “how to run it without creating a burden on other people’s servers.) Now, I can visit the aggregator and easily tell if one of my favorite bloggers has published a new article. (Hhmmm… I may need a “political blog” aggregator I keep private. )

On the “Suzy Homemaker” front, I also made a “prototype” seat cushion for the chairs Jim made over the past month. Oh, I had to medicate two cats who have summer colds! Oh, Chicago is having it’s worst drought ever; I watered the lawn, which involves moving the sprinklers around.

Today: I’m going to the dentist. I also need to make 5 more seat cushions. Oh, and I sent some advice to someone about getting their web site up and running.

Tomorrow: Hmm…. I’ll be needing to think of a new project to knit!

5 snacks I enjoy: Chocolate. I just love chocolate. I also love ice cream. But, I try to avoid eating these too often. Luckily, I also like sliced red or yellow peppers, carrots and tomatoes.

5 bands/singers that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs:
Jimmy Buffett.
Do knowing all the lyrics in musicals or light opera’s count? Well, I have to list those, because they are the ones I know:
The Mikado, HMS Pinafore, The Music Man, Sound of Music and Phantom of the Opera.

Things I would do with $100,000,000:
Gosh, probably waste it!

That’s a serious amount of money. I’d give some to my family so they could waste it.

Then, I’d fund college scholarships and graduate fellowships with certain targeted requirements. I’d also set up some educational programs in El Salvador.

5 locations I’d like to run away to:
The Gulf of Fonseca, El Salvador. (Because I was born in El Salvador.)
Lake Como, Italy.
The Upper Penninsula in Michigan.
The Florida Keys.
The French Riviera.

5 bad habits I have:
Ignoring housework.
Blogging.
Adopting cats.
Eating candy.
Watching too much tv.

5 things I like doing:
Knitting.
Singing.
Drinking nice wine.
Sitting at the beach.
Informal dinner with lots of family present.

5 things I would never wear:
Thongs. (Too uncomfortable.)
Corset.
Crinoline.
Head bands.
Slips.

5 TV shows I like:
Lost.
Rumpole.
Girlfriends.
Desparate Housewives.
Dancing with the Stars. (But the competition is over, darn it!)

5 movies I like:
Gone With the Wind.
Casablanca.
The Lord of the Rings. It’s a trilogy, so I’m done!

5 famous people I’d like to meet:
Actually, I don’t really want to meet famous people very much; as a result, my list is odd.
P J O’Rourke. (I stole this from Jussi’s list!) I want to see if he is constantly drinking!
Warren Buffet.
Jimmy Buffet.
Liesel Pritzker. Ok, she’s not very famous. But if Jussi named Paris Hilton, I’d just as soon name the really rich hotel heiress.
Joan Collins. I’ve seen her interviewed and I have to say, she seems intereting.

5 biggest joys at the moment:
Eating dinner on the patio with Jim.
Watching my dahlias bloom.
Going to plays at the Noble Fool or the Chicago Festival.
All the outdoor festivals! They are constant during summer.
Reading other people’s blogs.

5 favorite toys:
IMac.
Weird little plastic cat toys.
Knitting machines.
The cats?
Our barbecue. I guess it’s not a toy, but we use it for recreational purposes. Have you ever held a cheese race?

Now that is over, I am tagging:
It looks like most the people whose blogs I visit have already been tagged. I’m not going to tag anyone!!!!