After a LONG absence...

Well my computer's broken. BROKEN. Like there's a little blinking question mark. Apparently the darn thing has lost its hard drive. (How do you LOSE a hard drive?) I should be motivated to fix this. Instead I feel like giving up the Internet entirely. I've gone without a phone. I've gone without TV. Heck, I've gone without a computer, too.

But I'm addicted! I can't check all the blogs I read...those knitting sites...environmental news...church politics... I didn't realize how much time I spend on the Internet. (But evidently my friends did. Faries asked me how I was surviving without it. Not well, Faries. Not well.)

Linda moves next week. :-( My love goes with her and the hope that she will be happy in her new place, with lots of peace and quiet. (Or noise if she wants! It's up to her.) I hope living alone is GREAT... and a wink goes with that. At least there will be no Roxie to poop in the path to the dumpster. Good luck, Linda!

ROXIE UPDATE: No pillows eated at the new house yet. No shoes eaten. Roxie has managed to accumulate one ball of barbed grass in her ear, one major ear infection, hundreds of ticks and fleas, and a new leash. Not to mention lots of new friends at the vet's office. I wonder if they have caller ID. I wonder if they have to cast lots on who will answer the phone next. I just give them my name and Roxie's name now. I don't bother with the greeting. They probably already know. I feel like the panicky mother. I shall never be able to have children. One broken bone and I will, seriously, drop DEAD.

KNITTING UPDATE: Well, I have been productive here. Everything's finished on the fun fur and black shawl except the fringe, and it finally has a recipient (the same person that I started it for, but I thought wouldn't want it--she likes it!). I hope that I can get it blessed tomorrow. (My cue to quit typing and go work on it...I'm ignoring the urge.) I actually have the baby blanket FINISHED and ready to deliver. Of course, the baby should be about ready to WALK by now, but at least he'll be warm. I also helped Danielle make a fuzzy blue-and-white hat on the Nifty Knitter. I've started two more projects, too: Tricia's pink shawl and a purple chenille blanket. On the NON-KNITTING CRAFT FRONT: I've started the mural on the wall in my new bedroom (Mom's visit this weekend will speed that process, hopefully). I have painted two silly girly pictures for the bathroom or somewhere else where fluffiness is acceptable (powder room? we don't have one). I helped Carlyn start a quilt.

I seem to be on an art boom. I'm glad. I think I might even sit down to write a story. I read before bed last night. I really don't have THAT much free time. Maybe Roxie's illness is making me stay home more. Maybe I'm losing friends. Oh well. Active hands are happy hands. Or something like that.

I've written several days worth of posts here, so that I should have caught up.