We had a lovely Solstice celebrating our 24th anniversary on the 21st and then yesterday celebrated Christmas with a few friends. Santa was good: I was gifted with a pair of nice comfy sheepskin slippers that should last me the rest of my natural life and some lace-weight yarn, the pattern for knitting it up into a triangle shawl, and a shawl pin for once it's knitted up. The really great thing is those few gifts made me feel loved and special beyond words.
I started knitting gifts for my sisters in July and they were received in time for Christmas and they liked them a lot! Yes! Simple, handmade gifts are still the best.
So, did you receive a gift that made you feel loved and special too? I sure hope you did!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Gadget Lust
The other day I found myself with one of my sisters in Lowes. She's doing a major house fix 'em up. That's what she's calling it. I call it remodeling. While Margo was looking for a new fridge, I was over in the tools department and having my usual Pavlovian response: gadget lust. Tweak, tweak, tweak. Found the perfect tool for hubby on our 24th anniversary this year - a multisocket wrench by Black and Decker. A few years ago, I scored big when I got him this tripod flashlight from Stanley. He uses the heck out of it. I think this wrench will be just about as big a hit with the dear man of my heart.
Friday, December 04, 2009
A Horror Of Selfishness
In Albuquerque, Christopher Raines murdered his 9 month old daughter with a gunshot to the head to keep his girlfriend, Ashley Trujillo from leaving him. It's reported that he asked "Was it worth it?"
Horror barely begins to scratch the surface of what I feel.
His actions confirmed, of course, that Ms. Trujillo was right in wanting to leave him. He'd threatened their child before, holding a gun to it's head. But this time, he pulled the trigger making good on his threat.
There is something fundamentally wrong with him. People are reported to have made the usual responses about him - nice guy, didn't see it coming, yada yada yada. I say bullshit. He was raised to be that way. Probably by omission, but he was raised to believe using threats of violence would get him what he wanted and no one ever attempted to change those beliefs.
He was raised to kill his daughter. I put his beliefs and attitudes squarely in his parent's hands. They did not teach him that he doesn't own another person. They did not teach him that relationships can end. They did not teach him that there are options when men and women break up and children are involved. They did not teach him. They failed. They inflicted him on the rest of us.
Local news says Christopher Raines was assaulted by another inmate following his arraignment. Good. He deserved it. He confessed to what he did when he called 911 before his arrest. He deserves everything he gets from the courts and from prison life. I am praying right now that when all is said and done, Raines gets life without possibility of parole. Part of me - the small, dark, and spiteful part -- wishes on him things like extended stays in solitary confinement; fellow prisoners, guards and staff so contemptuous of him that no one will lay a hand on him (depriving him of the sensation of human touch); and add in a really, long healthy life so that life in prison for him means 80 or 90 years or even more.
How selfish he is! His girlfriend was clearly miserable enough to want out of the relationship. He made her unhappy. She was ready to move on. But, no. According to Christopher, she couldn't have her daughter and be with someone else. Murdering his daughter clearly proves Ms. Trujillo was right to want to be away from him, that she was thinking wisely.
Horror barely begins to scratch the surface of what I feel.
His actions confirmed, of course, that Ms. Trujillo was right in wanting to leave him. He'd threatened their child before, holding a gun to it's head. But this time, he pulled the trigger making good on his threat.
There is something fundamentally wrong with him. People are reported to have made the usual responses about him - nice guy, didn't see it coming, yada yada yada. I say bullshit. He was raised to be that way. Probably by omission, but he was raised to believe using threats of violence would get him what he wanted and no one ever attempted to change those beliefs.
He was raised to kill his daughter. I put his beliefs and attitudes squarely in his parent's hands. They did not teach him that he doesn't own another person. They did not teach him that relationships can end. They did not teach him that there are options when men and women break up and children are involved. They did not teach him. They failed. They inflicted him on the rest of us.
Local news says Christopher Raines was assaulted by another inmate following his arraignment. Good. He deserved it. He confessed to what he did when he called 911 before his arrest. He deserves everything he gets from the courts and from prison life. I am praying right now that when all is said and done, Raines gets life without possibility of parole. Part of me - the small, dark, and spiteful part -- wishes on him things like extended stays in solitary confinement; fellow prisoners, guards and staff so contemptuous of him that no one will lay a hand on him (depriving him of the sensation of human touch); and add in a really, long healthy life so that life in prison for him means 80 or 90 years or even more.
How selfish he is! His girlfriend was clearly miserable enough to want out of the relationship. He made her unhappy. She was ready to move on. But, no. According to Christopher, she couldn't have her daughter and be with someone else. Murdering his daughter clearly proves Ms. Trujillo was right to want to be away from him, that she was thinking wisely.
Christopher Raines sold out on humanity when he put a .45 bullet in his infant daughter's head. No one will ever be able to say he's a good man again with a straight face. He isn't. He is an evil man. He is a vicious man. He is a cruel man. He is a merciless, petulant man. He is a ruin of a man. That's what his parents gave to our society. And yet a civil society will treat him with more tolerance and mercy than he ever showed the girl he said he loved or the child she bore him. Yay for us.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Bits O'Tids
Lemme see.
Known issue with moderating posts with error bX-qbu1yh. Sorry Bacon, your comment would be posted otherwise.
I've finished knitting two pair of fingerless mittens, a beret, a lace scarf, and a shawl - projects I started back in August. Gave one pair of the fingerless mittens to one of my sisters already. I even put pics of them up on Ravelry. Felt like I'd invented sliced bread when I worked out thumbs with a lot of help from Crazy Aunt Purl. I have a cowl/coif that is nearly done after intermittent work over the last 4 weeks which will be great for winter wear. The lace scarf was horrible and I'm keeping it because there are too many mistakes and I didn't want to tear it out & start over after the sixth restart. I'm not that patient.
Thanksgiving was good this year. My sister (the one I gave the mittens to) has been trying to get me to enter Albuquerque's Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I think she has hopes that I will become a runner. Not a prayer. I have bad memories of running in combat boots with shin splints for my Air Force annual fitness eval back in the mid 70s. But I did enter the 2 mile walk. I can walk for dayz. Came in 28th out of 49 with a time of 35.29. I'd already guessed that I'd been somewhere in the middle, but seeing the formal results, I was pleased with my performance as there were younger women in their 20s and 30s who finished 5-7 minutes after me. On the other hand, there were some ladies, a bit older than me, who finished as much as 11 minutes before me. I think they were part of a group of race walkers who were announced.
Watched Obama's speech at West Point tonight. I'm not surprised by the decision and I'm glad he took his time making it. Is it the right one? I don't know if it's perfect yet it seems like its reasonable given the morass he inherited from Bush & Cheney last year. We shall see, but I do know he's not gonna please everyone with his decision.
There have been around 800 Smartfortwo cars sold in Albuquerque. I still like the one whose license plate reads "BITESZ." Bite sized indeed. Cute cars. After all these years of driving and stuff, I've never gone to a car lot and taken a car I liked for a test drive. Money matters being the way they are though, now I suppose they'd want to pre-qualify me as a "potential buyer" complete with credit rating before they'd let me do that test drive. Heh. Sometimes I think the Luddites had a clue.
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