The Moving Madness

This may be my last post for a few weeks, so I'm making it a doozy.

Movers are coming to our house on Monday. That's four days from now. It seems like I should be stressed about this move. Someone I don't know is coming into my house, rummaging through my things, tossing them in boxes, tossing the boxes into a truck, probably while standing on my record player, and careening across the country to hopefully arrive at my new house a week later. But I can't seem to muster much concern.

What am I worried about? I'm worried that my yarn will get messed up. Yes, someone is coming into my house to break my dishes, tear pages out of my books, break my furniture, and stand on my record player*, and I'm worried about my yarn. I have spent several nights thinking of ways to keep my yarn safe.

To some knitters this might not seem strange. After all, it's yarn. But my stash isn't that spectacular. I don't have THAT much yarn and a lot of it is acrylic that has been handed down through the generations. And to put this is even better perspective let's look at my yarn storage "system."

See all those bags? There is yarn and projects and patterns in those bags.

Oh these bags too!

Don't forget this bag!

Wait, what's this sitting on my desk?

And back here on the record player?

And on the table in the dining room?

And in these boxes stacked in my closet?

Seriously? How can this get messed up? It's bags and boxes and baskets scattered around the house. And it's yarn! The movers could drop a box full of it and it would be fine. They could smash the box and it would bounce back. Seriously! What do I think is going to happen?

I'll tell you what could happen. It could get put in several different boxes and it could take me a couple of days to find it all. That's what could happen. That's what I'm worried about. So, I have found a solution:
The Steamer Trunk!

Ta Da! Such a relief. Ok. So it didn't all fit but I feel like I did something. Now I can find something even more pointless to obsess over.

* These are simply worst case scenarios I have come up with to try and make myself take this move seriously. But I can't make myself believe that any of these things are going to happen. Except the record player thing. But it didn't do much damage before, so what could be the harm if someone stood on it again?

Knitting Update
I have finished the seven inches of ribbing and have started the stitch pattern! Now I just have to make it through 12 1/4 inches of that. I'm not even through one ball of yarn and I'm already worrying that I didn't buy enough yarn. I could have bought 16 balls and I'd still be worrying.

I only have 94 rows left on the baby blanket. At two rows a day that's just over a month. I'm so industrious.

Local Flora
Almost every day James has to listen to me complain about how hot it is down here. Sally has lost so much hair she's no longer white. She's pink. But the heat does seem to produce particularly lovely plants.

These showed up in the front yard last week.

I already have roses.
I think this hosta is adorable. It's mint green.

And the Canna Lilies are going like gang busters.

Last week I had about 10 white irises blooming but I didn't get a picture of that.

American Idol
Goodbye Paris! Can I call 'em or what?

I was thinking about our remaining top four last night and I'm not very enthused.

Taylor Hicks: He needs a band. If he had a band on stage with him, his antics wouldn't look so manic. He'd have someone to interact with and reign him in.

Chris Daughtry: He shouldn't be here. This is a pop singing competition and in this competition he's boring. He could do so much better than this. He needs a band. He needs original songs. He needs to be allowed to yell a little, mumble, mess up. It makes the songs interesting. It gives them character. How many of us listen to our favorite rock band because the lead singer has a beautiful voice? We don't. We listen because we like the songs and we like the way the lead singer takes liberties with proper vocals. It makes the songs real.

Elliot Yamin: I like Elliot. He sings well, he's a decent performer. He does ok. Clearly, I'm not exuberant and fanatical about him but if he won that would be fine. Unfortunately, I think he's going next week.

Katherine McPhee: Katherine is my favorite. I think she has a beautiful voice. Unfortunately, she's not a reliable performer and I am not confident that she'll make it.

Since I'm most likely going to miss the next two weeks, I've tried to figure out who the top two will be, but I'm at a loss. It'll be such an exciting surprise when I tune in for the 8-hour marathon season finale concert extravaganza.

You know one thing I haven't missed this year? The music videos. Those were absolutely ridiculous.

And Finally
A picture of Sally.
Isn't she precious?