The Kitchen Table

Off the Needles

Since I'm all kerfuffled about posting these days, it seems, here is a quicky to show what's cast-off, woven in, and done.

An Irish hiking hat for Grandpa who's chemo-d head needs a bit of soft warmth this winter. Nice, don't you think? I modified the pattern a bit (one change was deliberate, one was accidental). More info on ravelry in my projects.

A tasty scarf for the wife of a high school friend. Six plus feet long, about 9 inches wide. I'm happy with how it turned out. Rumor is, she is, too. Two people from my NY knitting group gave me scraps to liven it up. Sweet.

Rabbit, a blur in his new Milo. Note to self: mark the right side of your projects so that you remember where you are. You have two small children, after all. It will eliminate the need to frog. 

Officially, Milo will be one of his birthday presents. It's a rich, dark burgundy brown color. The yarn is, wait for it, Lion Brand. Yep. Superwash Merino. Natch.

Happy Hack Hack Cough

This about sums up our past week. Bama went down with a massive fever and some vomiting, followed by broken voice that she whispered through, into an ear infection. Mister took her to see our pediatrician, along with a dozen other kids, on Christmas Eve. 

In the meantime, Rabbit and I tried to stay on teh side of the healthy while Bama and Mister struggled through the week. He has, so far, not succombed to his usual winter bronchitis (or, if we're really lucky, pneumonia). I'm not a very good co-pilot when he's sick because I am up every few hours in teh night, and less sympathetic in the day. I'm working on it. But, Mister says he loves me anyway. :)

The ham I picked up from Dickson's Farmstand is still uncooked, adn we never picked up the crab from Whole Foods. It took me a few minutes, okay, a couple of hours, to adjust ot our new Christmas plan: we're all sick and we're not eating anything but soup. By Christmas Eve, I was down, too, with a sinus infection that kept me up (I've taken three or four hot showers a day just to clean out my nose). And Rabbit was heading south fast.

By Christmas Day, Bama was on the mend, thanks to antibiotics, but the rest of us ... last night, I headed to NYU ER because of my own ear infection. So painful I couldn't sleep. In and out of NYU in about 15 minutes and then I took a long, ridiculous walk a mile in the cold to an all-night pharmacy. I thought my ear would split open. 

It's been a rough week with no end in sight. The sitter came today so that Mister and I could loll about in our cave of a room. Me, with my ear to the pillow hoping for more draining and less painful hiccups, and Mister resting his lungs. Upstairs, Bama and Rabbit are, despite feeling crummy, playing with each other, playing with their Christmas presents, and eating broccoli for dinner. 

Here's hoping for a healthy New Year! 

 

Quick, Get Me Some Sage!

I play Dungeons & Dragons once a week with engineers from the company Mister used to work for. Mister was asked, but declined and said, my wife will do it.

D&D: It's so silly it's awesome. 

Round One, I played a gnome thief with terrible thieving and sneaking skills. Seriously, in almost every instance, I failed to open a lock, pick a pocket, and when I tried to shoot a (ginormous) spider, I shot someone in my group in the back (with an arrow).

The glory moment came when all but one of our party were wiped out in an attempt to break into a fortress. The one who survived, our magician, was off learning spells. The retelling of the whole fight was hilarious. Could it be funny to anyone who doesn't play D&D? Here we are, four of us trying to overtake a fortress. Smooth walls guarded by wizards and fighters. While trying to eavesdrop on the guards,, I tripped and rolled into the tower. Then a rock squished me. I set off an alarm, which sent out fighters and mages casting arrows and spells until the others in my party fell one by one. As if that weren't enough, we were all eaten by a dragon.

Seriously, who talks like this?

A shot of the worst pile of dice ever. Need to roll high? You'll roll a three. Need to roll low? You'll hit an 18. There's not enough sage in the world to smudge the crappy rolls from these things. Of course, I could go buy new dice, but that means finding the store and getting there. With Rabbit and Bama.

The players were given a second chance. I came back as a centaur. Centaurs are perfect for me because they are, as a race, a little prickly. I am, in general, a little pricky. No need for acting!

I'd like to thank Dr. Nobody for introducing me to the geeky joys of D&D.