FemiKnitMafia

It all started, innocently enough, with a beautiful photo of a wonderful friend by an excellent photographer:

That evolved into a simple conversation on Flickr:

And then my imagination ran away with me:

The take-away:
1) I miss these gals.
2) I am SO ready for festival season.
3) I can’t believe they still like me.

So, I’m curious — what do YOU think Manise was doing with the stick?

ETA: Perhaps I should turn this into a contest?  Since Cheryl, Manise, Beth & Laurie are such good sports (presumably… ), they can pick the best answer and I’ll send sock yarn.

I haven’t seen you in 8 years, and good god girl, you have.Grown.Up. Wow. Yeah, I was checkin’ you out from across the bar, and thought to myself ‘that girl looks like Hot. Nah, can’t be.’ I looked and looked and looked. Did you catch me looking? I think you did. When you came over to say hello, I gasped in shock. Holy Shit! It IS You! Oh.My.God. Girrrrrrl … you look good! HUGS and Hugs and hugs that last too long. Quickly turn into something. Something? You’re wearing black cashmere. It’s tight. I can’t stop petting you. This is something. Definitely something. The bass is pumping and you keep the rhythm. hot. We try to talk. It’s futile. So I watch words develop in your little touches and the way you move to the music. You’re telling me something subtle with that body. Something nice. Girrrrrl … you’ve Grown Up since I saw you last. You used to be so shy. Those 8 years of sporadic contact brought me a stalled career, a failed marriage and this AMAZing man-child. You — with your head stuck in your books — discovered dykedom, wrote a dissertation and boarded the tenure track. All before you turned 30. Yeah, that’s hot. Real hot. Smart . Hot . Dyke . with hips pumping out the rhythm. Meow.

Say what? You’re single?

Oh …

really?

As if I didn’t love Maritza enough already, look what she’s done now!

It’s Freddy the Bat!

Clearly her timing is impeccable. Now, if only I didn’t have a g-d-mn lawyer expecting a big fat retainer … sigh … and a shitload of people lining up to buy this little guy.  Grrr. Argh. Want. Want.

*** photo taken by and copyright of Maritza Soto and borrowed with permission from her Flickr photos ***

Does anyone know of a really good budget tool (ideally online)? And for that matter, I used to use MSMoney and really liked it, but when I switched to Quicken for Mac, I found it seriously disappointing and just stopped using it (bad Mafia, bad!). What do you use? We are terrible about doing a budget and keeping to a budget and paying our bills regularly, and it’s high time for a new system. Any ideas? What do you do? [and if you'd prefer to tell me privately, feel free to email: thefeministmafia AT yahoo DOT com] THANKS!

To ensure that there’s some Favorite Things Monday action, here are my Flickr Favorites from this past week.

***** THANKS a bundle for all the sweet (and hilarious) comments to my last post. There may be more malaise on the way, so if you keep it comin’, I’ll keep posting knitting pictures. Deal? *****

the first time, you were scratchy and biased

and you fell apart if i tugged too hard

in time, i learned how to twist you without breaking you

after a long bath i realized how truly dirty you were

you softened and relaxed and draped yourself across my lap

your twists less sharp, but biased still

because you’re a single looking for the way

1. Bats

Not rabid. Which makes feel guilty for having them killed tested. Before my town would finally agree to have them tested for rabies, I had to trap them. This is no small task, but I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar!

Clearly I’m a tough chica, because the local Health Dept. guys were still jumpy when I handed the bats to them in sealed tupperware containers. Pansies.

The Bat Exclusion company says we have a colony in the attic, and they’d be delighted to help me part with several hundred dollars to evict the colony. Shit!

2. Friends

Seriously, Fiber Revival was the best day ever. Go see Maryse, Cheryl, and Adrian’s beautiful photos. I taught a woman to knit, and while I was teaching her to cast on, she told me that she wanted to learn because her 3 year old son has muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease with a terrible prognosis, and she needs a hobby to keep her mind off his health problems. Whoah. All hail the power of wool.

3. Grad School

I got a decent score on the GMAT. I got in, as of today. They offered me a merit scholarship, and I negotiated for a shitload more. Classes start on Saturday. Yes, as in 4 days from today.

4. Wheel

I bow to the beauty of Craigslist. Antique wheel - $50. She’s wicked cranky but functional, and she has a story to tell (like me!).

I returned from the seller’s house with a fresh bantam egg, german shorthaired pointer paw prints on my capris, slate-colored arabian horse drool on my shoulder, and baby chick pee on my left hand. Her home is idyllic! More details later.

*so sorry that i’ve been so terrible about emailing lately.

The event went really well. We made more money than last year, and the leaders and donors seemed pleased. Despite taking Friday off to recuperate, the rest of the weekend sucked ass. A few glimmers of sweetness here and there, but mostly ass. So I’m focusing today on my favorite things … literally my Flickr favorites. I’m copying Ashley, ‘cuz I love me some Ashley.

Click on the mosaic to see the photos individually.
make your own with fd’s Flickr Toys.

And for those that enjoy Little Man stories, here’s one:
We’re in the children’s section of Borders last night, and I’m once again searching for this illusive book called Art that I flipped through many moons ago, regretted not buying, asked the help desk about several times (go ahead, try asking them for a book called “Art” that resides in the kid’s section - there are 18,000 results in the 4-8 age group alone) and have been searching for ever since. Meanwhile, Little Man dashes to the plush section, plays with Curious George and Blue and other harmless plushies for a bit. Fine, great. But then he discovers the gigonza pile of Bratz dolls.

LM: Mommy, look at these dolls! Aren’t they cool?

Mafia: No, I don’t like those dolls.

LM: Why? They’re cool!

Mafia: I don’t like them because they’re dressed like porn stars they don’t look like real girls.

LM: [walks away]

… mere moments later …

LM: Mommy, look at these dolls! Aren’t they cool?

Mafia: No dude. I already told you. I don’t like those dolls. They don’t look like real girls.

LM: But Mommy, that’s OK. They’re pretend only.

Mafia: [ummm ... shit ... how do I explain sexualization-of-children to a four year old? ... ] Hey look! It’s the Art book! I finally found it!

Yep, all of this was 70% off. It was almost immoral.

That’s 8 skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere and 1 ball of Reynolds Odyssey in a color that I’ve been ogling for months, and it cost me just over $30. Meow.

ETA: Sorry for being unintentionally vague.  I got this haul on Saturday at Three Bags Full in Newburyport.  The shop is closing and Saturday was literally the very last day, so everything was 70% off.  I didn’t expect to find anything, considering that the shop started with 20% off sale pricing many weeks ago and has been slowly offering better and better prices.  But it wasn’t totally picked over.  Hooray!

Every once in a while, I long for a job that requires physical labor. I dream of leaving my cushy desk job to pursue carpentry, landscaping, or my favorite fantasy job — masonry, specifically stone masonry. Perhaps it’s the quilter in me, but I love building something beautiful out of small ordinary items. I love the process of selecting the next piece, and of moving pieces around until the colors and shapes blend just right.

The problem is: while I’d love being a professional mason, the business would fail horribly. I’d spend way too much time standing back and squinting at the job, and my projects would take forever to complete. And as I discovered this weekend, I do not enjoy horizontal stone projects.

First stop — Saturday evening — the entire clan of Wifey’s gay sisters (there are now 4 out of 4 on that side of the family) plus partners (me & one other) gather to install a small flagstone patio in my step-father-in-law’s teeny Boston backyard. Yes, that makes 6 lesbians, one small urban backyard, several shovels, dirt, stones, one tamper, and several tattoos.  [stop drooling]  With little or no drama, a couple hours later, there was a patio. We still have to buy and plant a truckload of irish moss to fill in the space between the stones, but that’s a project for another weekend. Even without the moss, it’s pretty.

Next stop — Sunday — It’s 10am and I’m already bored. All spring, we’ve discussed putting a stone patio underneath our pergola, but haven’t had the time or inclination. Yesterday, for whatever reason, we decided to install the patio. I started digging and Wifey drove off in search of stones. We dug and leveled and toiled and measured and arranged and re-arranged. Many hours later, Wifey went back out for 4 more stones, and I was left to work on leveling everything. Perhaps I was sun-fried, but I could not get the stones level. Under any circumstances. It was horrible. After an hour, I nearly threw myself on the stones. Luckily Wifey came home, sent me inside with Tylenol and Diet Pepsi, and Little Man asked me to play with blocks (mainly I just laid on his bed, moaned, and encouraged his castle building). While I wallowed, Wifey finished the job. We still need to move the excess dirt and plant a flat of creeping thyme that will grow the fill the space between the stones, but for now, I keep standing back and staring.  Isn’t it pretty?

Perhaps I’ll stick to vertical stone masonry from now on.  Anyone need a retaining wall?

* if you’re interested in our veggie garden, there are tons of new pictures in my Flickr garden set.

I’m so delighted today, I can barely contain my joy. This post will be an honorary Favorite Things Monday post, because I’m just ooozing favorite things.

1) Hooray Massachusetts. How I love thee! Thanks for allowing me to legally harass on a daily basis legally stay married to the woman I love.

2) Your comments.  Truly. Wonderful. Heartfelt. Appreciated.

3) As I mentioned about a year ago, I’m a professional fundraiser, and one of my clients is the primary force behind this victory. Simply stated: I raised a lot of money so that Arline Isaacson could eat/sleep/breath gay marriage lobbying. So this feels like a professional victory too, one that I’m very proud of. This picture (stolen from the Globe site) makes me weak with joy.

No matter what you may read, these two women are the power behind this victory. Arline Isaacson (the one who’s weeping) is the co-Director of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, and Norma Shapiro is the lobbyist for the Massachusetts ACLU. They’ve been lobbying on this issue together for years. In addition to the current-day consulting I’m doing, I worked very closely with them professionally about six years ago, so I know first-hand how hard they work, how powerful they are, and how much this means to them. The Globe wrote about the power of everyone who called, emailed and visited their legislators, and clearly, that won the day.  Thanks to MassEquality for that!  But I happen to know that Arline & Norma played a huge role in this victory and that they’re too humble to highlight their own impact. So I say — Thank you and Congratulations!! I’ll be calling donors tonight, and I plan to ask a particularly helpful donor to buy Arline a weekend at a spa. She really needs a weekend away.

4) In celebration, I got a wee present for myself. Additional background: I was supposed to start teaching again in 10 days, but my class was cancelled for under-enrollment. Yet, I’m teaching another summer class that starts in late July, so I have a small window of freedom. Yippee! A little freedom + a historic gay marriage decision + Little Man’s need for a quilt + my guilt about ignoring said need for a year = a little of this

a little of that,

a little of this,

and a heaping pile of that,

which will also become pj pants for me. I’ve been absolutely lusting over this Hippie Bus fabric for months.

5) Hello Yarn Adrian’s Ireland vacation photos. I’m mere moments (and a sugar mama) away from buying three plane tickets to Ireland. In the meantime … does anyone know if Ireland has a right-of-return policy*? You know … just in case another Republican wins the Presidency?

*[it does, but I miss it by one generation. hrumpf.]

6) Soulemama’s newest creation. I really want those little green trees and the plump green apples. Must find that fabric, despite it being sold out on Superbuzzy.

7) Kat’s amazing photo of the Boston Public Garden. The delight of waiting for Kate Gilbert’s Marina Piccola sock pattern, which I intend to make for my SockPal using Sophie’s Toes in the Fresh Air colorway.

See? I told you I was bursting with joy.  Have a great weekend y’all!