bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Homesick

i kind of have a love-hate thing for the country of my roots. my parents, both born and raised in france, emigrated to the united states as young adults. the met in nyc, married, had us kids. when i was 13 we moved back to france and i vowed i'd came back, which i did to go to college.

the rest of my family stayed. so since graduating from college (god almost 20 years ago) i go back to france on average every other year. around this time of year.

and it's odd. when i'm here, i miss it. i miss the beauty of the countryside, the distinctly parisian smell that's an odd mix of metro train rubber, gauloise and fresh baked bread, the insanely good "sandwich au jambon" that's nothing more than half of a baguette, cut lengthwise, slathered in butter with a paper thin slice of pink salty ham inside. when i'm there though, within a day i find myself jonesing for an extra large dunkin donuts coffee that i can carry around, getting all annoyed at how convoluted the simplest things seem to be there, ashamed that when i do speak french now i sound like an american from boston, and angry at how pig-headed, resistant to change, and "comme il faut" the french seem to be.

for the past couple of days, i've been thinking a lot about france. maybe it's all of these french knitting blogs i've been reading, or it's because for the first time i've been able to watch the Tour on TV. or maybe it's just my biological clock (not that one) that's telling me it's time to go home.

Shove It!

to hear the media (especially katie couric who grates on my nerves more and more each and every friggin' day) talk about theresa heinz kerry and her infamous "shove it" remark, you would think that she was afflicted with tourettes' syndrome. it's a good thing i'm not thinking of having a future in politics. in heinz kerry's position, i would have been too tempted to tell that journalist to, "get the *$%#$ away from me you right wing nut job."

anyway. i haven't mentioned it but yes, the democratic national convention is in town. and let me tell you, i've been able to make it to work in 35 minutes as opposed to an hour. it's like driving in on a sunday night! as far as i'm concerned, we can have a convention here every single day. hell! invite the republicans!!! true, i haven't ventured downtown but i think i may tonight. J has sent me back to live in the city for a few days. he asked me if i wouldn't mind staying in boston until saturday so that he can just buckle down and finish what needs to be done to the house without me being a distraction (which really means that he wants to finish things his way without me going into project manager mode and nagging him.) i said fine. i can do some packing AND live like carrie bradshaw, without the fabulous wardrobe (and the slim figure, and rich boyfriend, etc.) one last time. anyway, i haven't really listened to many of the speeches -- i did catch some of bill clinton's but that's because i love him and always will even if he did cheat on his wife and lied and i wish he could be president again -- because it really is just a bunch of bullshit. i'm a bit of a cynic and i just can't get all gung ho over words. watching the DNC is like watching the academy awards, without the possibility of seeing Jude Law and without the fabulous clothes, with everyone talking about the future, and how great everyone is and how they love everyone that's here and *puke*. (and what is with the wacky hats?) i just want the election to be here, and for everyone to go out and vote for kerry because i want bush out. he's a menace. i've been voting since i've been old enough to vote and NEVER EVER have i ever felt that if my candidate did not win, we'd be up shit's creek. i feel that way now. and i'm terribly afraid that too many americans are still too stupid, selfish, or rightwing freaky to do the right thing and vote for someone who's college GPA was higher than mine. (again another example of why i can't run for political office).

"why am i running for office? because the other candidate is an idiot, thank you. and needs to stop smoking crack."

*abrupt topic change*

i really really wanted to make this post about knitting. i had downloaded some pictures of completed items and everything. but somehow between home and work, i managed to "lose" all of my pictures.

so i'll post them this weekend.

*sigh*

L'As Des As

first of all, is this not an amazing photo? i wish i could take credit for it, but that would be wrong. i borrowed it from yahoo's coverage of the Tour de France.

so Lance won. L'equipe, the french sports daily, referred to him as the Ace of Aces. as a proud american (well i used to be more proud), i too was pretty psyched, but as a first generation american of french parents, i feel their pain. i can imagine this is how canadians feel when rogue teams from florida win the Stanley Cup. somehow, an american from texas (blech!) winning the tour 6 times in a row ... just feels wrong.

my paternal grandfather owned a bicycle shop and my dad was an amateur cyclist when in his teens and early twenties. so when we moved back to france, the month of july was pretty much "tour month" and i lost access to the remote (when we finally got one). and in france, the tour is on 24 hours a day. starting in the morning, there's the recap of the previous day, then the pre-pre show, then the pre-show, then the whole friggin' race, then the post-show, the post-post show, the recap during both the evening news and the late news, and then the recap of the recap -- just in case you were sitting under a rock all day ... this goes on for 3 weeks. today, i'm thinking that my dad feels just a little bit sad. papa, don't be sad. thomas voeckler is waiting in the wings.

Good Grief

You are Charlie Brown!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
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shit, i've definitely got to get a grip.

Panic Button

my realtor just called to give me the low-down. the P&S has been signed and i have to be OUT of my apartment by August 13th.

that means that in 3 weeks J and i have to paint 3+ rooms and schedule someone to come in a redo the floors (all 1600 sq feet) and then move my crap in.

i'm not sure if that sounds like a lot of time or not. i'm just concerned about not being able to get someone to do the floors in time. maybe i should look into getting a larger storage space.

i have been knitting by the way. and crocheting. i will post pictures ... soon. i promise. once i stop hyperventilating.

Stop the Insanity....

the senate voted 48 to 50 in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage today. although this is good news in the short-term, in the long-term it brings to question a couple of things.

1. why is it that it took rachael's blog to bring this very important impending vote to my attention in the first place? true, i don't read the newspaper every day cover to cover, but c'mon i watch the news every morning! why wasn't this a bigger deal? jesus some dead tiger (poor bobo) got more news play!

2. why was this vote even this close? it was 12 votes short of a 2/3 majority, so that's somewhat comforting, but c'mon people. that's still too close.

3. finally, why are valuable tax $ being wasted on making an amendment to the constitution that would ban people from getting married? what has happened to our country that makes it ok to do this?

as someone now ensconced in a traditional marriage, i cannot understand how having ted and fred (or gladys and alice) saying "i do" in any way threatens my marriage or my future family. can anyone explain this to me? anyone? bueller?

ok i'm done.

thanks rachael for keeping me in the loop.

oh and HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!!!!!!!! let's have cake!

In 1962 ....

courtesy of amber, who happens to be much younger than me...

In 1962 (the year you were born)

John F. Kennedy is president of the US John Glenn becomes the first American in orbit when he circles the earth three times in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7 Cuban Missile Crisis occurs when Soviet offensive missile build-up is discovered Cuban Missile Crisis is averted when President Kennedy and Soviet premiere Krushchev agree to remove missiles Maryiln Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles home The drug thalidomide is recalled when it becomes linked with severe birth defects in thousands of children worldwide Pantyhose becomes available for sale in U.S. department stores Jim Carrey, Sheryl Crow, Jon Bon Jovi and Tom Cruise are born New York Yankees win the World Series Green Bay Packers win the NFL championship Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley cup Lawrence of Arabia wins the Oscar for best picture The Beatles release their first recording: the single "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You" Johnny Carson debuts as host of The Tonight Show

What Happened the Year You Were Born?
More cool things for your blog at Blogthings

wow, that's history baby ... pantyhose...wow

sorry, no knitting content today either other than to say i got the latest issue of family circle easy knitting in the mail yesterday (i always seem to get my knitting mags weeks after everyone else), and it's poncho-rific. i think i may have to start my winter knitting early.

Be Careful What You Wish For

so i'm back at work. and can i just say that i need a vacation. this whole lazy days of summer thing is a myth. if there's a time of the year that i'm lazy it's january and february. since graduating from college a gazillion years ago, summer is never "slow" for me. last year at this time i was trying to plan a friggin' wedding AND work on a house. this year, still working on the house ...

the house ... that must now be finished IN A MONTH.

after only one day on the market, my place sold. my realtor said it was magical...the buyer is a rich doctor from Modesto CA only in town for a couple of days to buy a place for his college aged son who goes to Boston College. my apartment was number 20 on a list of apartments the man, his son and his son's friend had visited over the course of 2 days. the sun was shining and the bikinis were out by the pool much to the joy of the boy and his friend. and apparently my place was the nicest they had seen all day. finally, mine was also the only one that could potentially be empty by their closing date of friday, august 13th.

good thing i'm not superstitious.

Please Do Not Surf for Porn

so i'm officially on vacation. the apartment is on the market. the professional cleaning, although heartbreakingly expensive, was well worth it. i'd still be cleaning and it wouldn't look half as good. in fact, the apartment is so pretty and clutter free that now i don't want to sell it. oh well. the sacrifices one must make for love.

today i went to sturbridge with the intent of going to old sturbridge village but once i got there i decided to bag the village and just drive around. then i went home to take a nap. now i'm at the library. i love the library. i'm blogging from here because we are having computer difficulties at home. i've agreed to not search for materials that might be objectionable to children and their parents. i must be careful about what i write. when i'm done here, i'm going to go see what they have for knitting books in their stacks. so cool.

on a totally different topic, i'm quite excited about john edwards as vice-presidential candidate. i think it's pretty ironic that the GOP keeps referring to his lack of experience. hmmm isn't that like the pot calling the kettle a kitchen utensil? no matter. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

alrighty then. this again is a boring post. and i apologize. please do not leave me....i implore you.

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming Up For Air

hey. it's been awhile. and i feel totally out of the loop. i haven't even knitted a stitch in over a week. THE HORROR!!!

the west coast in a flash trip went well. i left for union city, ca on tuesday afternoon. worked wednesday. hopped on a plane for LA wednesday afternoon, had a nice expensive dinner in santa monica with my boss and our program director from our funding agency (which was a little odd i have to say since i've never really "socialized" with either), then worked on thursday, and caught the 4 o'clock back to boston. i did have a celebrity sighting ... which happen to me only in the airport ... but this one was kind of good. standing in line through security right in front of me was Bill Rancic -- the guy who won The Apprentice. what always surprises me when i see celebrities in real life is how much smaller they appear in person. he's no midget but he's pretty average in height. he seemed so much taller on TV.

since i've been back in town, i've been "on vacation" but what that really means is that i've been sorting, throwing out, cleaning, packing and getting my place ready to be put on the market TOMORROW AT 5PM!!!! today J and i went over to fix stuff and bring the rest of my boxes to be stored (the clutter boxes mind you. i still have plenty of stuff in the apartment but now it just looks like i live like a normal person and not a pack rat). the cleaning people are coming tomorrow. i bit the bullet and decided to have the place professionally cleaned. windows, waxing of floors, everything. a few numbers ....

9 -- number of windows that will be washed at 15 bucks a pop
45 -- bags of trash ... no kidding ... i went through a 45 bag box of heftys. i'm ashamed.
37 -- knitting and crochet books -- this does not include the magazines some of them dating from 1980 (purchased originally by me, not through ebay 6 months ago)
6 -- maximum number of boxes that fit in my mini even with the back seat down

that's about it for now.

in 24 hours i'll be able to be a normal human again....well one that lives out of suitcase and a storage room 4 miles away. i need a vacation!