And, behold, she is not dead. I wish I could be around more, but work is stupid. What can one do? I miss you all horribly, and hope to soon be able to catch up with your lives. Meantime, hope everyone is doing well, and wish you all the happiest returns of the season(s).

I'm updating mostly to show off some of my latest projects, many of them for gifts, as you might imagine.

( work work work )

I've been much too absent for much too long. I miss almost all of you almost as much as you deserve to be missed.

We've been to Newfoundland and back: it's very pretty, and there will be pictures. But there is nothing to do there. And I've lived in Saskatchewan, so I know from nothing.

I'd like to start by apologising for not being able to comment on, or even read most of, your posts. Time is not on my side.

That being said, I'm going to post some pictures, because that's what I do, damnit.

A month or more ago my cousin was in town, and she painted us a picture as a wedding gift. Yes, you are correct in recalling that we are two weeks shy of our tenth wedding anniversary. ( She's a slow starter, but a strong finisher. )

Whilst in Newfoundland I finished knitting my ( first pair of socks )

And what post would be complete without ( cat pictures? )The best part of the Ted shots is how utterly derivative it all is. I mean, cat playing with yarn? What next? Sad-eyed children?

Sorry, sorry, I know many of you on my list have all ready been killed/maimed, but ( here's more cute. )

Want to see pictures of the newest member of our family?

( Warning, lethal cuteness behind this cut )

But, man, what a hectic few weeks it has been...

Working a tonne - more than usual, even, what with covering vacations. But, considering the heat, it's nice to be in the air-conditioning.

Been almost entirely off the computer of late (as you may have noticed). My boss sent a memo which decried the amount of time people were spending on the internet, and the questionability of some of the site visited (which, sure, I used to spend a lot of time on-line, but I always cleared the cache and erased the history afterward, and I doubt my boss is tech-savvy enough to trace where I've been). He implies that we are being spied upon/tattled on (honestly, 'you are being critically watched by other staff' - how the fuck else would one take it?); as a result, rather piquedly, I've stayed off.

It did make me realise that I probably was on-line too much, though. I've been using my time to read (finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as well as What Love Means To You People), knit (finished a sock! started the second!), cross-stitch, and write letters (a certain NKS should be expecting a rather large envelope).

It has also made me realise how very much I value my on-line friends (my real-life friends can go hang... I joke). If I've missed anything (other than your own charming selves), or will be missing anything for the foreseeable future, please do e-mail me.

We've added a new member to our family; Ted, born June 7. He's a lovely little mostly black with a white undercarriage and moustache. Will post pics shortly.

Have read several interesting magazine articles lately, and would love to put my thoughts down, but really don't see when I'll have time.

My cousin and her family are visiting and I spent yesterday and today with them (before going to work) and am again reminded why I don't have children. And it's not that her three aren't perfectly charming (though Brian became confused when the boy, 10, was talking to him about video games - he's a very big boy, and Brian thought he was talking to a backward 14 year old instead of an intelligent 10 year old), but they are always there. A parent very rarely gets any downtime, and I need a lot of it. And the noise - the older I get, the less I can tolerate noise.

Yesterday I had my 400th workout at the gym. Woo!

Okay, I hate to post and run, but I have to go.

See everyone intermittently.

On the 13th of July kelmendi and mosquito_larva got married.

It was a lovely, joyous ceremony. kelmendi's mother performed the ceremony, and her pride and love were heartwarmingly evident. The ceremony itself was was short, with lots of singing and laughter. (mosquito_larva got tangled up in her vows and got the giggles - I told her, and firmly believe, that every marriage should begin with laughter)

Brian had the opportunity to make their cake. ( They wanted a Seussian landscape )

To go from the specific to the general and then back again...

I would love to have had some people who are against gay marriage - like, say, my parents - see this ceremony. To see the love and fellowship and rightness surrounding this relationship. I have to wonder if someone could say to the face of the happy couple that they have no right to be married. (I know, I know, they probably could...)

How can people look at ( these lovely people and say that their relationship is wrong? )

Many thanks to Mr meegiemoo for the photos.

If You Ruled the Land . . . by wackyweasel
Your first name:
How you gained your rule:	Military coup, of course! They never saw it coming . . .Walked in and took the throne while they were at lunchRightful heir!!Strategic poisoning . . .Mind controlAsked for it really nicely, 'pretty please'No idea . . .
Your title is:	Your Highness - mmm grandeur!
Your symbol is:	the cat, because cats are fluffy and nice
You rule from:	a mountaintop mansion
At your side is:	your Royal Chocolate Carrier
Your enforcers, troops, and guards are all:	centaurs! They should NOT be so hot . . . oh well!
Your most popular law is:	Free alcohol to pretty people if they sit with ugly people
Your least popular law is:	Banning of people being better-looking than you
Your worst enemy is:	those awful clashing tapestries in your great hall
Your popularity rating is:: 76%
Your chance of being overthrown is:: 24%
Quiz created with MemeGen!

Soon, one hopes, I'll be around enough to actually post.

It's not necessary at all, at all.

But...

The 13th Warrior, Batman Begins, Constantine, Clone High - but if you spend more than $20 I'll kill ya.

New journal! serasempre prettied things up for me. It's Peggy's Cove, to which I will someday take everyone on my f-list.

In other news.

You may recall previous rants about the ridiculousness of Sunday shopping in NS. That is, we don't have any. By which I mean, retail stores over a certain square footage are not allowed to be open, which means that grocery stores and hardward stores and clothing stores are closed.

Brian and his friend Pat went to Superstore today - they are using a loophole to open on Sundays - and the place was packed. Tell all these people that Sunday shopping isn't wanted.

Anyway, he and Pat were out for breakfast this morning, which is a Sunday, and were complaining about the utter stupidity of the Sunday shopping ban. Pat went to pay, and whilst Brian was getting up the older lady sitting at the table next to him struck up a conversation.

Woman - You're wrong, you know.
Brian - Excuse me?
Woman - Sunday shopping is wrong; it shouldn't be allowed.
Brian - What are you doing right now?
Woman - That's different!
Brian - You're right, it is different; it makes you a hypocrite.

YAY! Because people need to go out to eat on a Sunday (or go to the movies), but they should not be allowed to buy a freaking head of lettuce or a toilet plunger.

HAPPY CANADA DAY

Or Dominion Day, as the case may be.

Check out the new icon serasempre made for me! I hope to have a new journal background to match.

The Lord's Day

I wish people would just fucking let stores open on Sundays.

And, also, I would like it if government officials and op-ed writers would stop saying that Nova Scotians don't want Sunday shopping. Because the parking lots of the open grocers were full today. Besides, HRM did have a majority for Sunday shopper. The only reason it didn't get through was because the small towns and country voted against it. And do you know why? Because their grocery stores are small enough that they are open on Sundays. People don't get that there is not a single grocery store or hardware store open in Halifax on Sundays. (I discount Pete's as a specialty store)

Overheard on the bus yesterday (I left my MP3 player at home):

Girl - You know that old saying, 'there's no I in team'?
Stupid - What saying?
Girl - 'There's no I in team'.
Stupid - What do you mean?
Girl - You know, T-E-A-M.
Stupid - That's how you spell time.

So I bashed my head against the window until I lost consciousness.

But the capper? When I got to work I discovered that I did, in fact, have my MP3 player with me.

Remember, everyone - there is no I in time...

The video from knittinghelp.com isn't loading for me.

I'm just about to turn the heel, I've done the purling and then the turn, so now I'm about to start the knit side and...

Gah, I just use the same DPN, right? But the feed yarn is on the wrong needle. It's on the left needle, from where I am knitting off of, and not coming...

Okay, you know what? Overthinking this... I'm just going to knit.

Please ignore my blather. I'll post a pic if I get this sock done.

meegiemoo 's husband went to the Toronto Zoo and took some great pictures. The great thing about this shot? A minute later they were humping. The best thing about this shot? They're both male.

Someone made this icon - and I stole it - but I don't know who, so I can't credit it properly.

In other news, I am entirely boring and have nothing of note to write about.

Happy Birthday, Ali.

You deserve the best of days.

So the Harper government, in all their glorious hypocrisy, are weaseling out of one of their campaign promises. They promised that they'd allow a free vote on gay marriage and that they'd bring the matter up shortly into their government.

They are planning to bring up a vote, but the vote is going to be to decide if they should reopen the gay marriage issue. In other words, they're going to vote on whether they should vote.

It's a weaslley way to get out of their promise. But, you know, they had another out. They could have allowed the free vote and, assuming they won and banned gay marriage, when the first challenge case came to court and the law was struck down as being unconstitutional (which it would be), they could bitch about the all-too liberal court system.

But here's the thing: If gay marriage gets banned, what happens to all the same-sex couples who have all ready married? Would they suddenly not be married? Would their marriages get grandfathered in, but no new marriages be allowed? This is not a horse that can be put back in the barn.

Here's another thing: Women don't have to pay to change their last names upon marriage (except in Quebec, and good on them); men always have to pay to change their names. So does it stand to reason that a lesbian couple could both change their names when they got married? And that when two men get married neither of them can do so for free? How long before that sexist piece of work gets challenged? I really do think (and the stats from Quebec back me up) that fewer women would change their names if they had to pay to do so.

I must say, however, that I'd be very tickled if Jane Doe and Judy Smith got married and they both changed their names to the other and we ended up with Jane Smith and Judy Doe. That'd be hilarious to me.

meegiemoo DO NOT LOOK!

Now big enough to see! And meegiemoo can look!

( If you want to see meegiemoo's birthday cake (which Brian made) and birthday gift (which I made) click here )