I Blame the Knittyboards

For what, you ask? This: Seriously - if it weren't for the Knittyboard, I would not have known that Smiley's had discontinued Cotton-Ease for $1.99 a skein. OK, I guess I also have to blame Kris, because when I said something to him about a discontinued yarn that I like being available for about 60% off what it went for retail, he told me that I should stock up. So I did. Hee. That would be 20 skeins each of the 7 colors that Smiley's has. Yes - 140 skeins of Cotton-Ease. That should last me for a while. I figure once I decide what I am doing with all of it, I'll eventually swap some of what I am not going to use. In other news, I totally missed last week's "Does It Float" assignment for Blogstalking. The week just sort of got away from me. So, I am being better this week. Bezzie's son Chunky declared that this week, we should take pictures of our feet. So, here are mine, complete with fresh polish! Feet are strange. I find that people have very unique relationships with their feet. I've spent most of my life wearing cheap shoes from Payless et. al, and not thinking twice about it. I have a friend who has problems with her feet, so she tries to be careful about what shoes she wears (not that she doesn't wear cute shoes - she just buys ones that are better-constructed as a rule). Lately, I have become addicted to my Birkenstocks. I have three pair (brown Bostons, taupe Arizonas, and black Rios), and I have worn them almost exclusively since I got them. When I was born, my feet were misshapen. They turned in. I don't mean they turned at the heel and I was pigeon-toed, I mean that my feet actually bent about halfway between my heels and toes. So, for a while, I wore a brace on them. I don't remember it, obviously, but I think that there have been some long-term consquences from the brace. Most people, when they stand, put their weight on the pads of their toes. My big toes curl upward, so I actually stand on the knuckles of my toes. You can see what I mean in the picture to the right - I am not curling my toes. They just do that. Almost every pair of shoes I have has a little spot above the toes where my big toenail rubs against it. Plus, it is murder on pantyhose. (Yet another excuse not to wear them. Hee.) I have noticed, though, that the way my Birks fit seems to have lessened how much they curl. I'll be interested to see if that continues as I keep wearing them. Random thing from last weekend that has been bugging me. Thursday night, we went to see our friend Hillary in a dinner-theatre show. She is understudying at a production of "Beehive" at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre south of DC, and she was guaranteed a certain number of performances. Thursday was her first, so we of course wanted to be there. If you aren't familiar with "Beehive", it is a revue-type show that focuses on female singers and groups from the 1960's. Through the show, each of the women in the cast takes on a variety of different roles. Toward the very end of the show, Hillary does a bit as Janis Joplin. Not an easy person to replicate, realistically, and Hill did a great job. After the show, we waited to say hello to her, and right before she got over to us, two women stopped her and said something. She looked a little puzzled, and when she told us what one of the women had said, we knew why. This woman (who didn't know Hillary from Adam), took the time to stop her to compliment her on the show, and then felt the need to add "Janis wasn't my favorite, though." WTF?!?! If you want to deliberately stop a performer to compliment them on a show, why the hell would you feel the need to criticize a portion of it? Honestly, I did community theatre for years, so I know that not everyone is going to enjoy every show. I'm ok with that. But really, unless you are an actual critic, why the hell would you feel it necessary to say something like that to someone who has just worked her tail off to entertain you? Grr. Other than that, still making progress on the Christmas knitting, along with a project for my CASP. None of which I can show here, of course. *Sigh*