Let's See: No Snow, Much Cold, Cats, Knitting. But Not Cats Knitting

The good news is that the expected storm shifted away from us and I saw no snow yesterday or today; I can't be sorry about that. I will admit, however, that I had been looking forward to working from home today, and not being freezing cold all day, so going in made me crabby. To have to wear two shirts, two jackets (with the fleece zipped up to the chin, and collar turned up to break the breeze over my ears, honest to god, before I gave up and put on my hat), long johns, and both wrist-warmers and fingerless gloves, while sitting in front of a space heater... I'm working from home tomorrow, I told my boss, and she was fine with it. Fortunately.

It didn't help that I was so tired. It simply isn't practicable for me to go to sleep at 8 every night, but I wonder how much of a difference an extra two hours of sleep a night would make? I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last night, anyway; it was hard to switch my mind off, between blogging about depression and another George episode.

I don't know about George. He can be sweet and he can be a demon. I get that he and Carlos need to make peace between themselves, and when I'm home I try not to step in and "rescue" Carlos all the time, but honestly, Carlos can barely come out of the bedroom without getting jumped, and sometimes he doesn't even have to step out of the bedroom. I get that George wants to play, but Carlos will hiss or growl when George charges at him, and George doesn't seem to recognize what that means, and of course when Carlos runs, George follows. I know that it's natural, but hey, so is poison ivy, or lions killing gazelles. Natural isn't always good.

And that's not even getting into when George turns on me. I can understand that if I pick him up to get him away from Carlos, he doesn't want to, so he'll try to bite. But last night, he was winding around my legs, seeming sweet, and then decided to attack them instead, and what the hell? Then this morning, when I let him out of the office, I got back in bed, and he decided that he had to attack my foot, which wasn't even moving, but he apparently felt it was taunting him through the blanket, or something. Or last night, when he sniffed at his water bowl and then turned away from it, so I thought maybe he wanted fresh water, cats can be funny that way. I brought him fresh water, and he sniffed it and then tried to turn the bowl over. What the hell?

I don't know what he's thinking, obviously, and I know the whole depression thing is a factor in how I'm dealing, or not dealing, but he's not making things easier. I don't want to give up too soon, I'd hate to give him back, but is it going to work? Can I leave them alone together for over a week, other than the pet sitter coming in, and not damage Carlos by it? I feel so bad for him, my baby. When I do shut George away, Carlos walks around warily for a while, looking around corners, then is so pathetically happy to curl up with me, and purr, and have his ears scratched. Sigh. One day at a time, right?

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I made some progress this weekend on the knitted duck feet booties, but not as much as I'd hoped to. I'm at another very fiddly part, and with my threshold for frustration being so low right now, I put them aside when I started getting wound up by them, and picked up something else for the sake of my sanity. In fact, I finished the current purse sock, and cast on the second one, but I also cast on a new sock. See? Crappy-lighting-picture?

I wound up this yarn, some Happy Feet I got when Windsor Button Shop was closing, in super-spring-greens-and-yellows, and started the Down the Rabbit-Hole pattern in them. I like the ribbing, it's nothing complicated, but instead of a K1P1, you knit through the back, which gives a nice little twist to it. Then the pattern is a simple one with a traveling line, easy to see where I am. I just got a pair of Karbonz needles to try--ooh, carbon fiber!--and was ready for some more color. Not that I don't like the cornflower blue of the purse socks, but ... well, I'm not a monogamous knitter, and there's nothing wrong with that.

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It wasn't a completely non-productive weekend, even aside from knitting. I ran the dishwasher and emptied it, and hand-washed a bunch of dishes. I also dirtied more, making up a comforting batch of chicken-and-stuffing. I did a bunch of laundry, and put away the delicates after they hung to dry. I went to the library and Wilson's, put gas in the car, had dinner with friends.

I also watched the Bruins, who almost completely sucked Saturday afternoon, then kind-of sucked but pulled themselves together Sunday night. They're finding re-entry after the Olympics a rough ride, but hopefully it will get better. Soon.

Along with the new needles, I got a replacement for the laser pointer*, since the little one I got as a cat toy was small, cheap, hard on my hands, and died pretty quickly. I got this one, which is much easier on my hands, the button can be pressed for more than a second without denting my finger, the light doesn't flicker, it takes a standard AAA battery, and goodness, but the cats go bats for it. Like, I don't want to use it late at night because the noise of the thundering herd could disturb the neighbors. I also have to be careful not to send George at Carlos in pursuit of the red dot, but I've played with Carlos when George is in solitary, and he likes it too.
*Also a book and more magnesium powder; I like to shop locally, but sometimes Amazon just wins.

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Why is it that the holiday calendar on my Google calendar tells me when Thomas Jefferson's birthday is, but not St. Patrick's Day? I mean, I know when it is ... but I know when Christmas and the 4th of July are, too, and it lists those. Weird.

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Theoretically, spring will come, and the weather will get warmer. I certainly want to believe it will happen. Despite the fact that, according to the weather man, the temps, in the 20s this week, are 20 degrees below average for the time of year. (Isn't that awesome to know? Sooo helpful, not.) And when it warms up, assuming it does, we'll see how my mood reacts. For that matter, whether it's warmer or not, we spring forward this weekend, which will add an hour of daylight, and maybe that will help.