This wonderful state of Illinois has been my home for the last eight years.  It has been a good home.  But just because I live here, does not mean that I play by the political rules of this lovely state, rules that seem to have been set up back in the day of the “gangsta” and seem to still hold sway today.  During the whole Blagojevich scandal, every time I spoke with my Dad he would mention things like “you people up there” and “you and Blago…..”.  So I would just like to reiterate: JUST BECAUSE I LIVE HERE DOES NOT BY DEFAULT ASSOCIATE ME WITH CORRUPT POLITICIANS!  I did not vote for Blagojevich.  Nor did I “vote” for Burris, since Burris was appointed.  Nor do I actually live in the city of Chicago, where most of the “politiking” stuff goes on.  I live wayyyyy up in the northern burbs, almost in Wisconsin.  So I think you should associate me with Wisconsinites – who doesn’t love cheese? or butter?

I do have to say, though, that this state is never boring.

Gov. Quinn ordered an investigation Thursday into how Sen. Roland Burris’ son landed a state job, a move that follows a new Burris controversy that Republicans have dubbed “Kid Pro Quo.”

This was reported this morning, after other controversy over Burris doing some “fundraising” for Blagojevich.  What is interesting about this new scandal, is that Burris’ son was appointed as Senior Councel of the Illinois Housing Authority after he had been sanctioned with a $34,000 tax lein on his home and his mortgage company decided to foreclose.   

The only reason that I’m writing about this is because of the whole housing market crash thing.  I have wanted to purchase my own home for as long as I can remember.  The only thing that has held me back is the knowledge that I really can’t afford one.  End of story.  What angers me is the irresponsibility that other people take with their finances and then, oops, when they get into trouble, people like me (who have done nothing wrong) have to pay the price for it.  I’m not saying that I am perfect with my money, but at least I have NO credit card debt, I manage to pay my bills on time, and I DON’T purchase things that I can’t afford, like a new home.  Burris Junior – GROW UP and get a real job and then pay your mortgage just like the rest of us.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox now.  You can resume your daily duties.  Thanks for reading.

Remember the game “20 Questions” when you were a kid?  Here’s a new twist.  I’ll give you 20 answers instead.

1. For those who were tracking my knee, it is fine, thanks.
2. One class is almost done, thank goodness.
3. I’m reading Everlasting Man by GK Chesterton and it is an exhausting read.
4. I started the Baby Surprise Jacket for Lloyd and Arlana.
5. I read “101 Dalmatians” about 101 times to a 4 year old on Saturday.
6. I watched the movie “Cellular” on Saturday.
7. My Mom is upset that I haven’t written in a while.
8. My friend Karla met my friend Joanna – who is the one that taught me how to knit and subsequently my knitting habit as spun out of control resulting in a rather large stash, to which Karla objects.  Karla, meet a fellow knitter, Joanna.  I know she understands about the yarn thing.
9. It is rainy and foggy outside today.
10. I smelled spring yesterday morning.
11. I’m planning on going to hear “New World Symphony” next weekend.
12. My birthday is coming up – no big deal.
13. My parents and my sister are coming for my birthday.
14. I’m going to see “12th Night” by Shakespeare in April – and I’m EXCITED!
15. I purchased a really, really cool new gadget a few weeks ago – I bought a Blackberry Storm.  It ROCKS!
16. I had my annual physical 2 weeks ago and I’m in pretty good health.  Whoopee!
17. I would much rather be knitting right now than writing this post.
18. I am running out of things to say.
19. I wrote a poem on Tuesday explaining why I couldn’t go knit with the girls for lunch.  They understood.
20. I have a midterm in 2.5 weeks and the “prep” sheet for it has 50 definitions and 87 “possible” questions.  UGH!

I have a friend who broke her ankle one day just by getting out of bed.  (FREE TIP: if you were to decide one day to sleep in late and someone were to say to you “get up lazy bones”, here’s your excuse: it could be hazardous to your health.)

Most of you who know me know of the troubles of my knee.  I tore my ACL 8 years ago and the thing has been a constant problem.  First, I had problems convincing my doctor that there was something more wrong with  my knee that a “simple sprain”.  That took 3 months.  Then I got an MRI and sure enough (or as my grandmother would say “shore ‘nuf”) there was a tear.  Another 6 weeks goes by before I get the surgery.  The surgery happens and for whatever reason, the doctor did not prescribe therapy.  NOTHING was said about therapy.  This is what he said instead: just use it.

On a side note, I didn’t ask the proper questions, so I totally take partial blame (if blame were something that could be passed around) and know that this is in part my fault.  However, there are times that being single and “strongly independent” can be hazardous, especially when it comes to health care.  I’ve been privileged these last few years to have people around me who were willing to stick up for me (and to me) and help me make some health related decisions that I was in no position to make by my self.  But I’m digressing.

Back to the knee.  After said surgery I moved here, to the wonderful Northern Illinois plains where snow and ice are habitually a part of the winder season.  With an unstable knee I have problems staying vertical, which is bad because I inevitably fall on the …. broken knee.  Yup, not the good knee, the bad knee.  Each. And. EVERY. Time.  All that slippin’ and fallin’ paid off because I had a second surgery on said broken knee to clean out some debris floating around.  The wonderful thing was the complete difference in doctor care and follow up that I received, which made a complete difference in how I walk today.  It was a wonderful experience.

Then, last night, life worked the wrong way for me.  I have a class on Wednesday nights from 6:00 PM – 9:20 PM.  We took a 10-minute break at 7:45 and I got up to use the restroom.  As you all know, women sit.  When I stood up, the knee went pop, and then there was pain.  Folks, that’s the way life works.  You can do some innocuous, innocent, daily task, one that you’ve done a thousand times before when all of a sudden life takes a turn for the worst.  Now I can say that going to the restroom could be hazardous to my health.  At least I get that much.  Please – no sympathy.  That’s just how life works sometimes, ya know?

Sorry for the delay in posting but I’ve been one sick puppy.  :- (  I took a sick day last Wednesday because my sinuses were whipping me around.  The nurse practitioner gave me a prescription and told me to also “rinse my nose out” 3 times a day.  I have to tell you that putting water up ones nose to “rinse” it out seems very counter-intuitive to me and cannot even fathom the person that said, “oh, hey, I wonder if putting water up my nose will clear my sinuses out”, but someone had to because there is now a market for the Neti Pot (see article on WebMD here).  Now, six days later, I believe that I am more stuffed up than last week and my throat hurts, which is usually a sign of tonsillitis (sp?) or worse yet, another cold.  Oh will this ever end?

On an up note, I received the Ty-Dy yarn that I ordered and boy-o-boy is it ever scrumptious!  I have to say that it will be PERFECT yarn for Arlana’s baby sweater. 

On a second up note, I received an honorable mention in my friend Jane’s blog (she’s a bit new to the blog-o-sphere) and thought I would return the favor. 

On a third up note, I have no papers due this week or next, which should make for a much less “frantic” week than the three previous.  Maybe the lag in papers will allow me to get the rest that I need to kick this thing out of my body.  Hope so, ’cause this sick thing is getting old really, really fast.

When someone says “I’m high” most people immediately think of drugs.  Now, I’m not saying that they shouldn’t – drugs are a major cause of “high-ness” in this country and could be argued by some circles to be an epidemic.  No, I don’t think we should change our immediate impression of this phrase at all.  But I do think that we knitters need to change the connotations (as much as possible) to include that euphoric high that comes when purchasing new yarn.

For the knitter there are all sorts of feelings and images that course through our minds and bodies that produce the same euphoria as someone who is stoned out of their mind. (I have to add here that I’ve NEVER been high in my life, and if this is the feeling that happens with “getting high”, I can now see why people would choose to tank their lives, sanity, relationships…and all the rest, just to attain this feeling.  I am glad that I have alternatives that produce the same euphoria without the dramatic negative effects of ruining one’s life.)  For the knitter, one of those things is the PURCHASE OF NEW YARN.

New yarn has creative potential.  There are an infinitesimal number of projects that can be produced.  There is the entry of a new colorway that brightens up everything.  There is the anticipation of what is to come.

So yesterday (on a Sunday, none-the-less, shhh, please don’t tell God) I purchased some new yarn and, whew, boy, was it exciting.  I can’t wait for it to arrive.  My cousin Lloyd and his wife Arlana are expecting their first child in April (an exceptional month to be born, I must say – good choice on their part) and I have decided to make their new daughter a Baby Surprise Jacket, but with a different colorway than Gabby’s jacket.  Here is a picture of the yarn that I bought.

Click on the picture to see other colorways in this WONDERFUL cotton yarn.

Now, image a little baby girl.  She will most likely have an Asian look to her (Arlana is of Chinese descent), have dark hair, dark eyes and probably a darker complexion.  Won’t this be GEORGEOUS?  I thought so.

(I also picked up a skein of this in sock yarn…I’ll be known as the “matching cousin”, but I don’t care, it was too good to pass up)