It's 75 degrees outside

what the hell am I doing in the office?

I need a wireless laptop. I think I'll go sit on the porch and knit for a while - enjoy the awesome weather.

I'm going to Muscle Pump and Cardio Jam again tonight - I hope I can do the steps a little better this time. I don't want to be known as the no-rhythm-havin'-whitey forever!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Name the knitting store...

Many of you know that I have a pipe dream of opening a knitting/yarn store. Be my own boss, knit a lot, teach others to knit, build a community.

So, for today's blog entry, let's have a name the knitting store contest.

Names I have bandied about (in no particular order):
Chit's Knits
Here Knitty Knitty
Sereknitty
Knittery

C'mon people - get creative! What can you add to this list?

Give us the opportunity.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a HOW. (Hater of Wichita). I feel like the HOWs deserve they're own acronym because their sentiment is rampant, and you can see their ramblings every day in the Opinion Line. I won't bore you with a sampling here, but typically the calls consist of people complaining about what a hick town this place is.

Sure, I've complained about Wichita before, and I'm sure I'll continue to, but you know what? It's a nice place to live. Adam and I are young, we own our own home (and didn't have to spend a half-million dollars to do it), and my work is 12 miles from my house, and it takes me exactly 15 traffic-free minutes to get there.

There's a community of young, hip, socially conscious people in town. Okay, so we're definitely not the majority - but we are out here in the nooks and crannies.

Right now, what's frustrating to me about Wichita is that no matter how many times it comes up in a council meeting or someone writes a letter to the editor of the Eagle, we cannot get a city-wide recycling program up and running. So many people in this town just don't care. How do we get the movement going? I know the recyclers are out there.

Every other Saturday, I take all my stuff to Pro-Kan recycling. And I mean, ALL my stuff. They take everything - paper, glass, plastic, cans, magazines, junk mail, plastic supermarket bags, cardboard, cereal boxes, tin cans, everything. Adam and I never have a full trash cart anymore. And every day that I go to the recycling drop-off, every available drive-up space is filled.

It's not just do-rag wearing twenty-somethings like me - there's TONS of senior citizens, lots of people my age, and everywhere in between. No matter what time of day I go it's like this. Obviously there are people in Wichita who do want to do their part to keep the planet chugging along at least a little longer.

How can we get this town to be a little bit more like our neighbors to the North? No, not Canada - Newton.

In Newton, recycling is mandatory. In fact, you only are allowed a certain amount of trash that isn't recyclable. They seem to be doing okay up there. I'm sure there were naysayers in the beginning, but we need to stop thinking about the people complaining, and start thinking about the benefits.

Less trash in the landfills, less fighting about where to put the new Sedgwick County landfill, right?

Go Green!

Bears that blow kisses

This post won't really have anything to do with bears that blow kisses - it's just that I saw one tonight as I was leaving good old XHS, and the phrase struck me as slightly interesting. You could sing it to the same melody as the line "bells will be ringing" in that Don Henley Christmas song. Come home for Christmas? I don't know - something like that. Normally, I'd look it up so I could be accurate, but I'm just too lazy for that tonight.

I think I'm just going to go to bed. It's been a long week, and I'm glad it's Friday. I get to sleep in tomorrow, go to the Y, do some recycling, and other random, mindless chores.

Here's a question to ponder - in what sort of atmospheres do most bloggers work?

Like, right now, I'm in our back bedroom/office, lights off, my face illuminated by the iMac screen. Are bloggers honing their crafts in offices? On laptops in coffee shops? Outdoor in the warmer climes?

I feel as though the tone of my posts changes depending on if it's early in the day, late in the night, music on or off, etc. Gosh, that's starting to sound like a master's in journalism project of some sort.

Oh crap. I forgot to bring home the cheesy puffs photos. I'll definitely post one or two as soon as I bring them home - they are pretty hilarious and somewhat disturbing.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Okay, we all know it: I love love love Grey's Anatomy.

That said, tonight's show was not the best.

First of all, we all knew that Meredith McWhinypants wasn't going to die. (Not that I want her to, it just wasn't that much of a cliffhanger - the title character's life hanging in the balance).

Think about it: Kotter never died. Mr. Cooper survived all of "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper." Joni and Chachi kept on lovin' one another. The title character isn't going to die - not in the third season, anyway.

God, I needed tortilla chips to soak up all the cheese oozing out of the TV on that show tonight. Good points made, I suppose, but easy on the schmaltz factor.

And what is Izzy's deal with George? She's the one who fell in love with, got engaged to, tried like hell to save, and basically killed a heart patient, and she's hammering Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley as the king and queen of bad choices? I would have thought Izzy'd be the hopeless romantic type, even if she didn't like Callie.

I. Heart. Callie.

Callie for class president - she can kick Izzy's butt.

In other news...great and rough day at school. Kids did great at contest - nine are going to state. I just can't get past the ones who didn't get their stuff done and haven't felt the need to apologize for letting everyone down. We had a great worknight tonight, complete with an Eato-Cheeto contest - The winner did chubby bunny with 38 (!) cheesy poofs in her mouth at once.

Yes, I was in the contest. No, I was not the winner. Yes, I'll post a photo or two once we get them downloaded tomorrow.

I've got to go to bed if I have any chance of going to the Y at all tomorrow, because it's going to have to be in the morning. I've got to score three more games tomorrow night, but I think they're the last.

Senior Citizen Sorority House

You know that feeling? The one you get when you first see your Mom or Dad or other adult you know and trust and love fall and get hurt, or have something horrible happen to them?

I've had that feeling a few times in my life. Once, I was rollerblading with my Dad - yes, my dad is that cool, he used to rollerblade with me - and we were going down this big hill. I think something got caught in one of his wheels and he fell. Hard. On his back. He didn't cry or anything like that, but it scared the crap out of me. Probably because I was worried about him, and also because I knew Mom would be pissed if he hurt his back, since he has to help lift Jayne around. I don't remember how old I was then.

Then, when my Grandpa Sax died, I was 16, and it was really hard to see how sad my mom was. You just think about your parents being indestructible, and when you finally realize they're not, there's a paradigm shift that is scary for a young person.

Well, right now, both of my grandmas (they're the only grandparents I have left - both of the pas have died) are living in a care home. The same one. One, most likely permanently, the other, just until she's rehabbed. No, not for drugs like Britney and Lindsey and all those crazy types. She really hurt her shoulder. I talked to her on the phone tonight, and I'm sure she's doped up with painkillers, and her speech was kind of slurred. That was weird. I don't mean she was weird, just that it was unsettling to hear her in that state.

When my Grandma Jarsulic first moved into her apartment (it was sorta like assisted living) we joked that it was the Senior Citizen Sorority House - activities all the time, floormates, meals served together. About the only thing they didn't have was a sleeping dorm. Bingo and arts and crafts whenever you want! Now it seems like it's a little more serious. I know it's tough, and it really makes me not look forward to being old.

Meanwhile, my poor mom is taking care of her 29-year-old daughter, and her own mom AND mother-in-law. Bet that's not what she signed up for when she took early retirement.

I guess one moral of this story might be: "Be careful how you treat your fam-damily, because they might be the ones taking care of you and making all the decisions someday."

Who knows. Enough of this, I've got a basketball game to watch. Go Cats - beat those damn Hawks!

By the way, played Cranium with Stacey and Eugene this weekend. Any game that requires the participants to mold clay, draw with their eyes closed and play charades is all right by me...Hint.Hint.Gift idea alert.

I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

Okay, say what you want about John Hughes/80s movies, but they will be at the top of my personal list for a long damn time.

It's past my bedtime, and I need sleep, I've got a big day tomorrow of doing housework and other not-so-fun stuff, but "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" just started on Comedy Central. Yes, it's edited. No, it won't be as good as the original. Thank God for the DVR (sound familiar?)

Record Remainder of this Event? Yes.

Meanwhile, I'll be drifting off to dreamland with FBDO on, and the sleep timer running.

Who couldn't love a movie that includes this line (among many, many great others): "I mean, it's kind of childish and stupid, but then again, so is high school."

No one's won Contest No. 1, but we'll begin Contest No. 2: Post your favorite line here, and the two other people who might read the blog can guess the movies...Must be John Hughes-related (so, technically, "Uncle Buck" counts).

By the way, one of my friends has a birthday coming up, in fact, I think it's tomorrow, according to Facebook. Happy Birthday, Tim!