obsession, obsession, obsession!

Now I know what the writer of January One meant when she said visions of squares were dancing in her head (or something like that!) I keep thinking of my blanket squares and how they are going to look. I've been taking pictures of every stage, just to have a record of what it looks like with each color added. It's a sickness, lol. Here is what it looks like right now. The pink is going to be 20 rows, so I have a few more rows to go. After that, I turn the work again and start with the teal, which requires 17 rows. After that, I will use black to make it an even square. I'm thinking of adding another color. I'm using Carron Simply Soft Brites yarn, and they have a very nice orange that I think will go with the other colors nicely. I usually avoid orange, but I think it could be a nice addition to my random blanket of many (bright) colors! I'm going to check on it tomorrow. I tried to find it today, but the only store I know of that carries that particular type of yarn is closed on Sundays.

But you don't want to hear about knitting all the time, do you? That's the thing about my obsessions. They consume my life and it's all I want to talk about. I'll try to do better. I did manage to write some today. I worked on After the Storm; finished four pages, in fact, and the story is moving right along. It's really better to write this story when it's not hurricane season. The YA story is still in my head and I'm still making notes on it and working on background. I've never done any world building before, and it's an interesting experience.

Rhea and I saw Children of Men last night. I'm not sure how it did in the box office and I haven't read any reviews, but I really thought it was a good movie. Notice I didn't say I enjoyed watching it. There's a reason for that. It's an extremely painful movie. There were many moments when I just wanted to scream "ouch" for the characters. Clive Owen really committed to the role. He's an amazing actor. I wish he had been the next James Bond. He's hot, too... lol. But back to the movie.. it was very thought provoking. It shows what a world without children, a world without a real future would be like. It's staggering to think about.

A friend told me that she wants me to join her in trying eHarmony. I'm not sure about all that. First of all, the last online dating experience I had didn't end all that well, and second of all, it's just so expensive! I'm not sure I'm ready to pay $20-50 per month to get a date. I'm just not in "that place" right now. I know plenty of people who are in "that place" and they have had very good relationships as a result of online dating, but I'm just not there yet. Should I be in that place at the age of 30? I'm just not sure. I kind of defy the norms of age, since I was married and divorced before the age of 23. And why do we even have age norms? Why should we be married by 25 and have children by 30? Or is it only in the South that there are age norms like that. I think in larger cities people get married much older than they do in small southern towns. I wish I could be there instead of here.

My mom is having surgery tomorrow. It's nothing serious, but I'm taking her to the doctor's office and bringing her back home. She's not supposed to do anything for a whole week, which is going to be really hard for her. I've already decided to do everything I can to make sure she follows the doctor's orders and stays off her feet for the entire week. I don't want anything bad to happen post op, so I'm going to take care of her. I'm off tomorrow to do just that, and for the rest of the week, when I do have to work, I've put together some things for her to do while lying on the couch. Let's just hope she actually does lie on the couch. She can be stubborn that way.

I wrote letters today for my soldiers. I'm currently writing at least 5 letters a week, between my official adopted soldier, my three letter writing team soldiers, and any TLC requests that come across during the week. I'm sending out five tomorrow, in fact. I can't describe how happy it makes me to send off these cards and letters. It really makes me feel like I'm doing something to help. I know I'd feel awful if I was over there fighting and nobody from home was writing me letters or sending me packages. That's why I'm doing this.

Anyway, that's what's going on around here. I'm going to bed very soon, because I have to get up early.. (5 a.m.!) to get my mom to the doctor's in time for the procedure. More later.