Sarah Jane Humke

Lobster-Mama

Sarah Jane Humke

August 27, 2008

A number of random ass things to discuss today…..

Random bit #1 I am officially the lobster-mama of lobster-mamas today. I was outside in the Florida August sun from around 10 to 2. Yeah, I know, dumb. In my defence, I didn’t think that it would take that damn long! Also, it’s not as though I put a baby in a tanning bed. I guess that living in Florida sort of skews your view of things, but I didn’t think that people still USED tanning beds! I mean, why are those things still allowed indoors when all smokers need to go outside pretty much anywhere now! Anyway, when I was home, in Iowa, I saw women going to use the tanning bed….in August. Iowa is still a ways behind in some areas I think…. Anyway, I digress, I was outside a tad too long and now my face and a little of one arm is pink. I blame it on London. I won’t be so quick to make fun of the VERY pink Brits that you see everywhere along the coast of Florida.

Random bit #2 My fear of the medium brown Billy bookcases being discontinued at Ikea. Well, putting it out there seems to not have helped. I went to Ikea last night to put my mind at ease, figuring that it was only an weird European thing, not anything to do with Ikea US. Well, I had a very nice guy there try to look them up in the computer when I couldn’t find them in the catalog. They weren’t in the computer! At all! I bought 2 and will go get some of the doors to go with them with the next paycheck. There are times that I am glad that I am anal retentive about weird things and this is one of them.

Random bit #3 I saw a lady yesterday driving a rascal (you know, one of those little motorized chair/scooter thingys that it only seems really fat people use) with a little red wagon hooked to the back of it with a big red dog in the wagon. I almost drove off of the road laughing and REALLY wished that I had a camera phone.

Random bit #4 Wilma, my cat of many years, suddenly decided that she wants to be an inside cat again. This after probably 8 years of roughing it outdoors. She just walked in like she’s been doing it all along. currently, she is hissing at the cat food (I think that it smells like Jiji, of whom she has zero experience) and sleeping. Odd, but nice. I haven’t liked having an outdoor cat as I know that it is generally not healthy for them. Tomorrow, she may decide to move back outdoors as she is going to the vet!

Random bit #5 I am scared of the yard. It is big.

R.B. #6 I am looking forward to “them” taking away my husbands passport for awhile while he is home. Is that bad?

R.B. #7 I have infected at least 2 other people with the crochet bug. BTW, tomorrow night is the Altamonte Springs Happy Hooker group. We meet at Panarea at the corner of 436 and Maitland. Be warned, we are rowdy and loud and are not a “nice little group”.

That’s all the randomness that I can handle today! Sooner or later, I will figure out how to post pictures here. Watch out world!!

20′ or 40′? What do you think!

Sarah Jane Humke

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August 26, 2008

So I recieved an e-mail today from the very nice international moving lady. I had e-mailed her asking how much more a 40′ container was compared to a 20′-er, which is what I had been getting quotes on. The difference? $500. That’s it. Here I was totally stressing out about which books I would have to leave behind, and it’s only $500 difference between all of my books and me losing more of my hair over this. The amount of Rogaine it would take, not to mention storage costs, make it well worth the difference in price. I was sort of starting to stress over (anyone who knows me is going to laugh their asses off at this one) filling a new house. Ok, so here’s the reason for the stress. An example from one house (that seems to be fairly representative of the houses in our range and area) that we looked at: 4 double bedrooms, conservatory and study, 3 reception rooms……and on and on. That is a lot more roomage than we currently have in our lovely cracker cottage. So, anyone not busy in Feburary to help fill a 40′-er?

So, it appears that I will have to do some serious delayed gratification on the ol’ spinning wheel. First off, there was a whopsie in the shipping, and the extra bobbins that I ordered were for a single drive wheel not a double drive one. So, I am awaiting the arrival of the correct bobbins. I also feel the need to do a little bit of sanding to this bad boy before I begin oiling it. Just a final go over, you know what I mean? Still, it is one more step. Then, the obvious oiling part will take probably at least a week, more if I actually have to do any work or school work. So, my fantasy of coming home and sitting down at my new wheel and spinning up some of the fibers that I got while abroad will just have to wait. Call me Miss Delayed Gratification.

I have been so bad about my snail mail correspondence of late. Well, not counting postcards. I have always been pretty good in the postcard department (although it is looking as though the Moroccan postal service is not) as I seem to be able to find down time more often when I am traveling than when I am at home. I blame it on cleaning. I need a housekeeper. Or two, maybe….

Ok, I am going to go listen to NPR to see if there is some sort of storm of doom out there to sock it to Florida again. I need to know if I should stock up on the kitty litter and milk bones.

Things that Worry me right now

Sarah Jane Humke

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August 25, 2008

I figure that if I get them out in the open, they cannot come true. So, I am getting them as out in the open as I possibly can (with maybe the exception of having Susan Stamberg read them aloud at 8:30on a Tuesday morning). I mean, what is more out there and in the open than on the freaking Internet I ask you?! So, here goes the list. No snickering, they may seem crazy to you, but you are not in my position (unless, you too are moving to the London area in about 6 months with 3 [possibly 4] cats, 2 dogs and 3 parrotlets and a whole passel of books. If you are in this position, I so want to talk to you and maybe we could start a support group…).

The List

The pet posse will be “detained” in a Gatwick never-never land for weeks due to someone forgetting to staple two papers together in the correct manner or some other trivial thing like that.

That the pets will actually be harmed during the flight over to England.

The container containing all of my worldly possessions falls off of the ship in the middle of the frigid Atlantic during a “perfect storm”.

I will slowly freeze to death in England and/or die of consumption.

They confiscate my yarn stash thinking that surely no one who is not planning on opening a store would have this much yarn. I try to convince customs that no one would buy so many non-matched skeins of the ugliest ombres and variegated acrylics that I could find, but the customs officer is color-blind, thus does not understand this.

I start speaking British.

I start spelling British.

I start cooking British.

I find that I am allergic to England.

The new house is in/on/too near to a graveyard.

Ikea discontinues the brown Billy bookcases.

I cannot find a job.

I cannot get into grad school anywhere.

I cannot have a baby (if the above two turn out to be true).

I somehow manage to not graduate.

I cannot find another hooking/stitching group that will accept me as the foul mouthed insane person that I am.

Nobody will come to visit. Ever.

My hair goes even more insane than it usually is in Florida since I will be wearing hats along with the humidity.

I will start liking knitting.

I won’t be able to find ANYTHING, ever AGAIN!

No one will ever read this blog.

Someone will read this blog.

The rest of the year is going to be rough, I think.

Pass the bamboo G hook will you? I have some scrapghans to work on.

Home again, home again oh how the grass has grown.

Sarah Jane Humke

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August 24, 2008

I’m starting this blog now, so that my friends will have a chance to become acquainted with it before I leave for England. I am, ever the thoughtful friend am I not?:-)

Today is the first full day that I have been home in over two weeks. It is strange to be home again, after being so many different places. It feels as though I am already starting to leave it, like I am already disassociating myself from this place that I have spent a third of my life. However, I did miss it deeply. Both the place (ummmm… comfortable bed….) and the people that are here made me ache for home.

Be sure to check out the website : http://chrisandsarahjane.com/ for the pictures.