Alice’s Restaurant

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant...

My friend has been doing something called Blogtember with her blog. It’s kind of a game with prompts to follow every day that tell you what to write about. My friend is extraordinary! She’s doing a great job!

So when I read her blog the other day, it was creative writing day. The instructions were to write a very short fictional story that started with the sentence below. Since I sometimes I write little stories, and I enjoyed hers, I thought it would be fun, even though I’m not participating in Blogtember. I’ve written a story on my blog once or twice before. So here I go!

"To say I was dreading the dinner party would be the understatement of the century." 

All I could think about was getting out of these work clothes and into something more comfortable. It had been such a stressful day. I was so tired, both mentally and physically. I just wanted to stay home.

I slipped off my shoes and stretched my bare feet as I found my favorite slippers. Next was the dress, which I carefully put back on a hanger so it wouldn’t wrinkle and I could get one more wear out of it before I had it sent to the cleaners.

I went in the bathroom to find my sleep pants. They weren’t really sleep pants but I wouldn’t wear them anywhere except to bed so that’s what they became. They were soft t-shirt material that felt good next to my skin. The well-worn Eagle’s tour shirt was flung over the shower door and I grabbed it and pulled it down over my head. It felt like velvet on my weary body.

I wandered to the kitchen and glanced at the clock. I had about two hours before I had to be there. It would take me thirty minutes to get ready and about twenty minutes to get there. That left an entire hour that I could relax before I had to get busy.

I looked in the fridge to get a beer but then I decided that I might smell like a brewery when I got there. Since I really didn’t know all of the people who were coming I didn’t want to make a bad impression. So I opted for wine instead. One glass of wine wouldn’t hurt and I’d be relaxed and ready to socialize.

I grabbed my goblet, my knitting and the remote and settled into my comfortable recliner. I never thought I’d be a recliner type of girl but that’s what I’d become. Every night I’d make my nest, gathering everything I might need and putting it within arm’s reach. Then I’d kick back, turn on the television, find a movie or good show and knit until I had enough energy to move from the chair to the bedroom and go to sleep. How exciting my life had become.

There was an old black and white mystery on and I draped a blanket across my lap and started in on my latest project. Knit one row, purl one row; the rhythm was relaxing and familiar. It was no brainer knitting and I didn’t have to pay attention.

The ringing of the phone startled me. I fumbled around, searching for my glasses that I thought I’d been wearing. Sometime or other, without realizing it, I’d put them on the table. Hurriedly I peered through them to see who might be calling. My heart fell as I glanced at the screen. It was 10:30 pm. I was supposed to have been there at 7:00. Caller ID said it was my friend. I didn’t answer.

I swallowed the rest of my wine, turned off the television and went to bed.

My friend Kathy has the right idea!

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant.
Walk right in it's around the back...

I’ve got the knitting bug again! Then only trouble is I have a few things started and nothing finished! It does keep things interesting though!

Just a half a mile from the railroad track.
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant...

Today I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything...

I just wanna lay in my bed.  

Don't feel like picking up my phone  

So leave a message at the tone. 

Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything… 

Well, not anything I don’t want to do. How about that? I’m tired! I’m not tired like a normal tired. I have no energy for anything. By the time I get home from work I could just go to bed. Add fixing supper, cleaning up after and other little chores and I’m exhausted. I’ll look at the computer for a bit, knit some if I’m lucky and go to bed. It’s as early as 10:00 pm on some nights. That’s not like me at all!

The past two or three weeks have been really busy. Lots of travel, a funeral and the everyday fun at work makes for long days. I decided to take all next week off. Of course I’ll spend most of it getting ready for Thanksgiving, but at least I can start and stop when I want. No 5:30 am for me for a whole week! One thing that irritates me though is that now Tuesday is an early release day. Those going to work get to leave at 1:30. So I take one of my comp days, worth 8.5 hours and I feel cheated. It should only count as a half day off. But work isn’t fair. And it never will be. I’d have to take the day anyway because I have to go to the doctor with my husband for one of those “turned 50” procedures. Life isn’t fair. And it never will be.

We had a trip planned for Thanksgiving, to the mountain house. It’s pretty there and there are actually ‘seasons’. It would be nice but it’s far. We’d have a great time and we’d put off coming back home as long as we could. It would lead to starting another week being tired. So we will stay home and have family over to enjoy the day. There’s a lot to be done to get ready for the holiday but I’m comforted in knowing I can do it, at my own pace, without having to report to anyone. I don’t even have to get out of my pajamas if I don’t want! I can have a glass of wine. I can knit a row or two. And what if I decide to take a nap in between? Heck, I might just do that!

No, I ain't gonna comb my hair 

Cause I ain't going anywhere 

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh… 

I have a bad habit of keeping things in the plastic store bags they were placed in when bought. And if I don’t already have them in a bag I tend to put them in a bag. So today, while rearranging some of these plastic bags I ran across a couple of projects that I finished knitting but never finished.

Remember to check out Our Creative Spaces to see some great projects!

They need the ends worked in and probably would benefit from blocking. But the knitting is done!

Montego Bay scarf

Couple of dishcloths.

Chianti shawl

Something with a ruffle...I forgot what it's called

I know there are more, some I’ve probably even forgotten doing, and I’ll find them…eventually. Then I’ll have a big blocking party. Who knows? If I got to it before Christmas I might even have some shopping done!

I'll be lounging on the couch, 

Just chillin' in my snuggie… 

I’ll be watching corny Christmas movies, knitting and relaxing. Because today, I just don’t feel like doing anything.

Yes I said it. 

I said it I said it cause I can. 

Today I don’t feel like doing anything...

Sick And Tired

I took a ride on a February morning,
Just getting over it and dealing with the mourning,
I started thinking out loud: I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired...

Yawn…I’m just too tired to move. I feel like it’s the first week or so of daylight savings time. I’m so sleepy I can't get up and get out of bed. I hit snooze then guess what? I’ve dozed enough that I have to really hurry. I think all day, how tonight I’ll go to bed earlier. Do I? No.

According to my doctor I need to sleep at the very least, seven hours a day. Yes, really, that’s what he ‘prescribed’. As an extra incentive he said sleep will help me to lose weight. I wonder.

But I don’t have time to sleep. I have things to do. There’s driving. There’s work, then chores. There’s supper, and dishes. There’s computer time. There are favorite shows and movies to watch. There are books to read. There are plans to make and dreams to dream. There are phone calls to receive and return. There is knitting to do.

I know there are ways I could operate more efficiently so I could get my seven or more hours of sleep a day and not be so tired. Unfortunately I’m not going to become some superwoman who plans menus, color codes, files, makes schedules and charts, and gets it all done. Actually I’m positive that no matter what, my closets, my house and my life will never be free of clutter or stress. There will always be something I didn’t get to. I’m no “Real Housewife of Crane County” in any shape or form.

I’ll rest a bit…yawn…then I’ll make a list…yawn…so that…yawn…I can be more competent…yawn…and productive, tomorrow…yawn…and get to bed…yawn…at a decent hour…yawn. Yes I’ll do that right after CSI…

I'm burning out now,

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It’s been hot the past couple of days. I finished the brown cowl and I’m still knitting but I’m starting to wonder about some summer type patterns. Here's a quick picture. I'll post more later.

Knitayear isn’t a problem though. Day 326 is February 20. February has flown by! It’s Sunday and of course I didn’t get things I’d planned to do done. I did get some more yarn sorted and put in the cabinets. I will be really glad when it’s all organized and nice. I did a few other little things that didn’t really amount to much but it was something. I’m tired but that seems to be the norm lately. I googled reasons to be so tired but it was kind of depressing so I quit looking. But today was a good day overall and I chose a rainbow ribbon with some black in it. I’m especially fond of ribbon yarns for some reason. Day 327, February 21, is just another manic Monday! We had meetings all day. I chose some of the brown boucle from the cowl I was working on. Day 328, February 22 is a busy day. I’m finishing up some stuff for tomorrow for a presentation. I have an observation and then night class. My intern was very nice and invited me to his house to eat with his family. His wife fixed dinner, including dessert. I usually don’t bother to eat on night class nights. I chose a multi-color alpaca from my first WHIBSIB for today. February 23, day 329 is the birthday of a friend from college. I don’t know why on earth I remember that. It’s also the birthday of a girl I went first through twelfth grade with. That’s even stranger. Isn’t it weird the things that you remember? But ask me what I wore yesterday and I won’t know. Anyway, I had a presentation at a school district. It went well and I was relieved. I can breathe a bit easier now. I chose pink fun fur for the day. And finally, day 330, February 24, and this month is almost over. Does time pass more quickly the older you get? It seems that way a lot of the time. This was a catch up day in the office. I didn’t catch all the way up but I made a small dent. It’s a stressful time with cuts at our state agency and in education in general. I wonder if the governor doesn’t want to ensure that Texas is the dumbest state in the nation. I picked up carry out at JC’s for supper and went in and ordered so I could have a bellini. Worth it for sure! I picked a variegated cotton with purple, pink, yellow, green and blue yarn.

I drove home while exhaustion was setting in. Maybe bedtime will come earlier tonight. Who am I kidding? It will be 8:00 by the time I get there and I haven’t done a thing yet.

That left me all alone,

But I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I started thinking out loud: I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Thanks for The Memories

Thanks for the memory,
Of things I can’t forget.
Journeys on a jet.
Our wond’rous week in Martinique,
And Vegas and roulette.
How lucky I was…

“Oh yeah, I remember that. She had on a blue dress and she was talking about how she liked the summer days.”
“What? No, it was a blue dress.”
“It wasn’t a red dress, it was blue. Yes it was summer.”
“It was not fall. It was summer. And she had a blue dress. Not a red dress.”

It always amazes me when I talk to someone about something that happened a long time ago and they have a complete different memory of the event than I do.

My mother doesn’t forget anything. She can tell you what I wore to school on my first day of school in first grade. I might remember if she told me, but I don’t know for sure. She knows every place she’s lived by address, everyone who ever gave her a present and also everyone who ever said something she interpreted as bad. She’ll tell me something that happened and she’ll say something like, it’s John Brown, you remember, he lived over by the school and his cousin was Jim Green. There were two kids in the family and they had a blue car. One time both kids had the measles. Well, he married Jan White the other day and they moved to where the Anderson’s used to live…and I won’t have a clue. She’ll add more details. I still won’t have a clue. But in her defense, it’s hereditary. Her mother never forgot anything either.

I, on the other hand, have apparently developed very selective memory. I have too much real stuff to think about to remember some of the trivial things there are to remember. A friend of mine called one day wanting to know what happened to our friendship. I didn’t really know anything had happened. I was busy, she was busy, and we just kind of drifted apart. She started in talking about when we did this, when we did that, what I said, what she said…none of it rang a bell. I felt kind of bad but I didn’t know what she was talking about.

My youngest son was here for a visit. I asked him why he thought people remember the same event differently. He said it was a matter of perspective. I agree with that. But I also think that personal experiences play a part. Everybody sees things slightly differently. Even something seemingly with only one answer can be interpreted differently. I have a brown car. My husband thinks it’s silver. He says it looks different depending on the light. The color on the owner’s manual is burnished bronze. If we saw a car, just like mine, in an accident and were questioned by the police, I’d say it was a brown car. He’d say it was silver. One person's brown may be another's silver.

 When people begin to talk about events, things can really get rearranged. Some details get lost, some are added, and some are completely changed in the conversation. It reminds me of that game we used to play as kids, where the first person whispers a sentence or phrase into the ear of the person next to him and they whisper to the person next to them and so on until it’s the last person’s turn to say what he heard. When you ask him what the message was, most of the time they say something completely different than what the first person whispered!

I read an interesting blog the other day that told about people imagining themselves performing an action, and later believing they actually did it. Have you ever had a great idea about doing or even about how to do something, and suggested it to a friend? Days or weeks pass, you see your friend and they tell you about this great idea they had and what they did. But it was really your idea. If you even suggested it was your idea in the first place, you’re shot down. They would remember distinctly that it was their idea and you aren’t anywhere in the picture. I wonder if that’s how memories of the same event get distorted. We adopt the stories we’ve heard and make them our own.

Memories are formed through associations. Sights, sounds, smells, and impressions are tied together to form a relationship. The relationship helps form the memory. Think about a smell you associate with ‘home’. When you smell that certain smell, all kinds of memories are awakened. Mention that same smell to a sibling, and a whole other group of memories, which they have associated with that smell, come about.

Your memories are your experiences that become a part of your identity. These experiences make you who you are. Your mind keeps a scrapbook of things that happen. I think memories contribute to your personality as well. I think remembering certain things can make you act differently than you would have acted had you not remembered. Regardless, you can't know who you are if you don't know who you are. If you don’t know where you've been you can’t tell where you’re going, if you’ve already been there or if you even want to go. Now remember the time we went to Martinique. What? We’ve never been to Martinique? Well, as I remember it…

And thanks for the memory,
Of summers by the sea.
Dawn in Waikiki.
We had a pad in London,
But we didn’t stop for tea.
How cozy it was…

Day 194 of knitayear, October 11, I headed to work to head to Andrews, a town about sixty miles from my house. We heard a great speaker. It was also knitting night. I felt refreshed and I was glad I went to both. I used blue variegated cotton because it reminded me of water and freshness. On day 195, I was tired out by the end of the day. It was October 12, and I was tired and it was my late night at work. The session was okay, I think I was just still tired from the weekend. I chose peach and black cotton. It’s pale and seemed like a tired color to me. October 13 was day 196. I am amazed at how dumb people can be. I don’t know why, and I should be used to it now. I picked a shocking hot pink velour yarn. I wasn’t shocked but it seemed fitting. Day 197 is October 14. I’m getting a bit apprehensive about the trip. I have some brown thread left over from the Citron and that’s the color I used today. Day 198, October 15, is my day off. I’m carefree until later. I have the kids for the weekend, all three of them. I’ll enjoy the calm while it lasts. Sure enough, confusion when I bring them home. I found a loopy pink/brown floret yarn that I used. It’s got little puffs on it that stick out. A little crazy after they get here! October 16 is day 199. I’m a little overwhelmed, to say the least. The kids are good, just busy, busy. I have some rust colored ribbon. It’s pretty but it reminds me of being inundated for some reason. And I am. Day 200 is October 17 and it’s beginning to get a little crazy around here. I’m tired and they are still busy. It’s fun and I wouldn’t trade for it. We watched the Munster’s and they aren’t convinced it’s a funny show and not a scary show! I picked a furry orange yarn. It’s winding down. Mom and dad are coming soon. This weekend we made some memories. I won’t forget.

And thanks for the memory…