Calico Sarah

We actually decided not to move, but I am going to have my mother help me decorate, which will hopefully help me feel like we moved, but without the stress. We have art and frames and other things all ready but have never quite bothered to put anything on the walls.

I am also trying to get a computer in the living room. I want to write up patterns and post pictures of knitted things and I just don’t get around to it when I don’t have a computer right there. At this point I need another SATA cable (inside the computer - cable to connect the hard drive) and then install the wireless card on Linux, which will be tough but worth it, I hope. I also need a new mouse and hopefully a keyboard with the letter f. Emailing people named Jeff on that machine is very frustrating.

I always make plans to organize different parts of the apartments but it never really works. At this point I need to just put away the bins and stop saying “One Day…” Our housekeeping does a good job of cleaning up after us and putting our junk in nice orderly piles, but at some point we will need to put those little piles where they belong.

I’m not crafting very much. I finished the napkins and finally sewed the lining into a small purse I made, but otherwise I haven’t done much. I’m missing all my measuring devices, which doesn’t help. I’ve been filling my time with puzzles instead. I love puzzles.

So apparently the highest gas right now (in the US) is Anchorage for $4.43. Um, yeah, it’s still $4.59 across the street. The other day O and I saw a gas station with $4.67 per gallon gas. It was exciting.

The thing I’m most consumed with right now is finding a new apartment. We decided not to buy, but now we have to decide whether to stay where we are, get a 2 bedroom in our current building or move to a 2-3 bedroom somewhere else. The big problem is that our lease is not up until the end of September but we have to make that decision now and all the apartments I can find are for Sept 1. I know. Very boring. It seems that’s all I can talk about, too, even when I can see people getting tired of the subject. Fortunately my mother has listened untiringly to the whining.

I had a post on how much I hate Splenda, but there’s really only two points there: it’s not actually sugar, it’s chemicals and I don’t like the taste. Mostly I just got worked up because I went to Jamba Juice to get Juice and they didn’t have what I wanted. Poor little yuppie.

I took a bunch of photos with my new camera but to upload them I would have to sit up at a desk at home for whole minutes of time! The horror!

Before you think I’m horribly lazy, I do carry a very heavy Mando-Cello halfway across town on the train once a week. I know, right? My parents totally shamed me with all the walking they did this weekend. They walked everywhere.

One of the departments on my floor at work moved to another floor. Since their space started right next to my cube, I only have 1 neighbor. This makes the office very quiet and cold. Now my 1 neighbor is on vacation and the next closest person is too. I feel like it could echo in here. I hate working in quiet offices. I never get anything done. I can’t concentrate when it’s quiet, which is why I watch so much TV. It’s just background noise.

Here’s a random picture of a building in my neighborhood. I think Helen took it when she was in town last summer:

My favorite cafe is on the left. It’s such a nice neighborhood. If there was a grocery store closer I would be willing to stay here for much longer. Also, I’ve found myself longing to have a garden. It’s probably just a transient thing. I’ve never kept any plants alive before, but now I cook, too, which I think would help. In this cold climate, outdoor space is not really worth extra $$ since you can only use it 1/3 of the year unless you have a dog. I was thinking of planting some basil in the park. It sells for $2.50/bag at the farmers market and I need 3 bags to make pesto. The plants sell for $3. Of course, I only make pesto about once a month, but I could freeze a bunch of it for the winter. I wish I could plant fruit. I love fruit.

Last weekend was the Printer’s Row Book Fair. This takes place every year right outside our apartment. I’ve been looking forward to it since last year. There are dozens of small tables and large tents full of used and new books. It’s heaven for me. I love the atmosphere more than the deals. Being surrounded by people who love books just makes me love them more. These are my people. Even if I had not found anything to buy I would still consider it a success. I greeted many titles that I already owned and visited my favorite shops. If I ever move away from Chicago, I hope I can come back for the book fair every year.

Of course, besides just enjoying not being sick and cooped up in the house, I also bough some books. My best find was The Glory of their Times: The Story of Baseball Told By the Men Who Played It. It is perhaps my favorite baseball book ever and I was always jealous that my dad had it. I found the 1966 edition in almost perfect condition for $2. TWO DOLLARS PEOPLE!! I just hugged it to my chest and grinned. I also bought some books for my sister, a Robin Hood book for myself (I loooove Robin Hood. I’ll have to do a post on it sometime.), a few children’s books I liked, and some other things that looked interesting. All in all a good haul.

This weekend is filling up fast so hopefully I’ll have some stories to tell. Gas hasn’t even gone up here, even though it has everywhere else, so I haven’t had much to say.

Since I haven’t come up with anything new and interesting to say in a while, I thought I’d let you know about the most expensive gas in the country, which is being sold at a BP a block from our apartment. Last week it hovered at $3.39/gallon for the weekend and then went up to $4.45 on Tuesday, $4.55 yesterday and this morning it is at $4.59. Boy am I glad we don’t have a vehicle. Oh wait, we do! Since we don’t use it that often it doesn’t affect us as much but it’s impossible to sell since the mpg is 24. Besides, it’s pretty.

I dreamt last night the I woke up this morning and the whole street outside our window was torn up. There was a sinkhole on one end of the block where a car was falling in. I think it was a combination of talking about the Printer’s Row Book Fair that is outside our building in July and the sinkhole that opened up in some small town somewhere.

In real life, RIP camera. I turned it on last week and all I got was static. It still showed my pictures, but I think the lens is cracked or something. It is 3 years old and only has 3.2 pixels so I’m not too upset. We bought a video camera that also takes pictures but had to send it back because the memory card slot didn’t work. Maybe soon I can take video.

Yesterday I talked to my friend Shante for the first time in a while. She’s so sweet. I could hear her little boy Nalen making little noises in the background. I haven’t seen him since he was 24 hours old and now he’s almost 9 months!

There can’t be anything better. Good game on television, Yummy lentil soup and a large glass of milk. Practically perfect.

I discussed waste and recycling with a good friend recently and I’ve been trying to pay more attention to the garbage I am creating. I made myself a lunch tote (it’s adorable but I don’t have pics yet) and I try to bring my lunch 4 days a week. I also bring breakfast most days. This also has the advantage of saving money. I’m going to start bringing reusable bags and have plans to make napkins for use at home and the office. I’m not going to go crazy with it - I still use tissues and toilet paper - but I’m paying more attention.

The one thing I haven’t done is recycling. I don’t think my building has a recycling program - which is actually illegal in Chicago - but even if it does, they probably have only limited recycling, and I’d like to recycle paper. There is a recycling drop off center 2 miles from us, but recycling is heavy, especially since we use a lot of glass containers. We have a car at the moment, but it seems a little backwards to drive to the recycling center. It would create more problems. We could also use our cart system (Have I explained this? It’s excellent) but it’s pretty heavy for that far. Anyone have any suggestions?

It tried this and it worked.

Oil hit $113 today…wearing pajamas!

Makes me think of Oil as an old man pottering around his house with a cup of coffee and a book. $113 is the name of his nephew and he only hits him with his broom when he’s wearing pajamas.

Sadly this webcomic does not have a feed, since you know I am addicted to them.

By now you all know all about how O and I had Mono last summer and it ruined our lives. Well, it ruined our health and he lost his (contract) job. I was still having trouble with my asthma and general weakness at the end of the year so I joined the gym in the building I work in and got a personal trainer. I feel better every week and I can tell that my stamina is increasing.

I went to visit Minneapolis last Labor Day weekend and we went on a bike ride that exhausted me completely. I had just gotten to the point where I could stay awake for 10 hours straight so I’m not sure it was the best idea. We rode from my parents house to the Minnehaha Falls and back, which is about 5 or 6 miles roundtrip.

Now to my point. Yesterday O and I drove the bikes out to a park with a paved bike path. The day was lovely, the park was a little dead and a little crowded but we had a blast. We rode about 10-11 miles and I was not pooped like I was last September. We stopped a few times for water but for the most part I just kept going. Part of it might be because my bike is a lot better than the one I used in MN but I am glad to know all this work is worth it. I just wish we could get to these bike trails without the car. Anyone know of any trails we must see in the Chicago area?

ps, I upgraded to a new version of wordpress and although it is very cool, some of my plugins don’t work and the link function doesn’t work.