bald and folky

i'm back from old songs, it is true. i did have a good time with my mom, only slightly tarnished by marty showing up on saturday and offering to take me to the airport sunday. but he stayed in a hotel (he doesn't camp) and i wasn't required to take his offer, so all ended well on that front.
my fiddle stood the trip just fine and i learned things in each of my 3 fiddle workshops. i'm all inspired now and want to persue more fiddling. fiddling in chicago can happen, and i think it's something i should commit some of my savings towards. the tin whistle workshop made me feel better, too. it's much easier to learn!!
the music was constant and good as always and expected. i'm not the buy the cd and listen to the fiddler all day long, but i really like live roots music. it's just not as pungent when dried.
dancing was fun, too. contra is so strenuous compared to square dancing. also it's so late- the evening concert lasts till midnight and the contra is for 2 hrs after that. so bedtime at 2AM and waking up for sacred harp sing at 9 (and hot tent syndrome making time for yoga and breakfast before that) makes for a tired grumpy caitlin. i'm still not recovered.
mom's camping pals are fun. the last time i was there i felt like a kid and a hanger on, so it was fun to be a grown up and be able to make conversation and chill and be responsible and stuff. her buddy bob and his friend phil are such interesting people and committed campers, so they gave us a pretty gourmet (and dry in the face of thunderstorms) experience.
so. about mom. a couple of weeks ago she decided to do the radiation because of the chemo not crossing the blood brain barrier, and when she got her baseline scan it showed there were already tumors in her brain. she's all chipper- they're not very big tumors, radiation is so much easier and more friendly than chemo, she feels better, etc- but for me it was the tipping point of facing reality. if she was gonna beat the odds, or have the miracle grandma's praying for, or live so much longer, or have a different, curable type of cancer, she would have started showing signs of such. instead the news keeps getting worse and worse. after all the misery of chemo she has tumors in her BRAIN. it's really really sad for me, i think the brain tumors are the point where i can't be in denial any longer. her good mood changed a bit at the festival, too, when her hair started falling out again, her radiation burns itched, and she was sick one morning. i said i'd shave my head in sympathy, and she said i shouldn't, it's no biggy, but then she was pretty upset when it started falling out again. i was glad i had shaved my head. it's cool and wigs are fun. i bought a blue one and a pink one to send to my sister. they are really good at keeping the head warm on those cool summer nights.

look at what mitzi's accomplished with her scissors!

look at what mitzi's accomplished with her scissors!
Originally uploaded by unglaubliche caitlin

ok, here's a before picture. fluffy!

mitzi's new haircut

mitzi's new haircut
Originally uploaded by unglaubliche caitlin

lion cut

lion cut
Originally uploaded by unglaubliche caitlin

i wish i had time to post a before picture, too.

feed me

Lisa!'s out smoking, which of course breaks my heart every time it happens, but it's a familiar breaking. i'm so happy to have her home. i didn't realize when i was having fun being single and productive this weekend how much i missed her. yesterday night we just cuddled and watched tv and today when she came over she:
1.Brought my huge duffle suitcase with her, and anyone who carries other peoples large shit on the bus gets points
2. she brought a bottle of wine with her
3. she took the random ingredients in my refrigerator and created a white chocolate-nectarine curry and a delicious salad, too. yum!

thanks hot girlfriend!

readers readers everywhere

first i just have to mention that i've blogged more today than i have so far this year, i think. second, i was talking to mom about old songs next week, and she said her camping buddy bob called cause he hadn't heard from her if she was still going, and it wasn't on her blog, so he came to MY BLOG to see that i've mentioned fiddling. and of course, my first thought was horray new readers! and my second thought was- wait- my past 3 posts have been about my boobs. oh well. i am excited to camp with my mom. i am afraid to fiddle in public. i am so excited about taking my souldier straps on vacation though! photo to follow. also: photo of naked cat. i think i have one that combines them all. never did find camera cord. maybe at lisa!'s from when she took camera to europe? anyway, i've just re-taken pictures with iphone, so that's what i'm uploading.

final tally

i should be heading over to hugos- we decided to do video games and dinner instead of paying for the movie- but i wanted to let you know i sorted the worms and pitted the cherries. so all i have to do is clean the bin, clean the house, do laundry and bake the clafoutis tomorrow. before lisa! comes back at five. i think that should be do-able before 5. since after 5 i will be otherwise occupied.

these are the people in my neighborhood

status report:
it's 1:30 now. i have:
-cast on and knit the first 6 rows of my ishbel shawl
-coated one of my knitting needles with clear nail polish hoping to fix the kitty teeth marks that are snagging my yarn
-showered, breakfasted
-made plans with ch for the 7:10 showing of away we go
-leashed my cat and took her outside
-brought her back indoors for transportation plan #2
-got mitzi in the cat carrier, the cat carrier on the granny cart, the whole assemblage downstairs, and pushed to the pet place.
-bought amaretto
-chatted with a neighbor

doing pretty good, right? the bug problem is the real project for today, however. but i have lots of time and lots of podcasts.

anyway, nothing makes people look at you like pushing a yowling cat down the street does. and everyone's out today because it's hot hot hot and there's a big sidewalk sale (that i pushed my cat around) a fellow square dancer was cutting the storm damaged branches off his trees as i was walking by, and we chatted and it was so nice. and then of course there's everyone i want to be friends with friending me on ravelry. i also ran into an old aquaintence on the bus, a friend of a friend, when going to lexie's party last weekend. i hate talking to strangers on the bus, but it's always so nice when i run into people i know out and about. it makes me feel like i'm part of a community. and that i have friends. these are important things to me.

more boobs

so after i read lynne's comment at lunch yesterday i had to measure mine, too, to see if it was all in my and lisa's head. but i wasn't going to just pull out my measuring tape there in the break room! after work it was a gazillion degrees (and i was pressing fucking pockets at work, so that sucked something terrible) and i couldn't wear socks a minute longer so i bought sandals (ok, strappy heels) at payless. then i bought pizza and booze for knit nights UFO party where if lynne would have been there i would have TOTALLY measured my boobs, or even if i was knitting a sweater, but since i was knitting socks it didn't really make any sense, so i had to wait until i was home, which wasn't until 12:30 to pull out the tape and discover... i have WHOLE INCH too! and when you're talking about such small numbers, that means they're like, 3% bigger.

but i shouldn't type anymore because it's saturday, and my list, it is long. shave the cat, move the worms, destroy the bugs that have taken over the apartment, find the camera's uploading cord (WHERE could it be?!?!) and bake a cherry clafouti (after i buy amaretto). think i can get it all done AND see a movie with ch? we will see!

me again!

see this is why I blog! this is why I could never stop, even though I keep trying. I tweet something, and it's there and gone, and whatever. but I'd forgotten the joy of getting an email from haloscan saying I have a new comment. ah the joy! so I blogged for amy, and now not only did I get a comment from the hot lynn, the comment is about her hot boobs! oh yeah! I mean, everyone else feel free to comment about your hot boobs, that's just great, but i'm on the train right now and I'll get to see Lynn & her (clothed) boobs in meatspace! which is the best I can do, really, with lisa! still in NYC.

just for amy

knowing she checks here just about every day makes me feel like such a bad blogger. and really, i have no excuse. lisa!'s in new york for the week, and i can't seem to get anything done but dinner. i'm frantically trying to learn to play my fiddle before old songs next weekend. and my boobs are growing. i know. no idea what's up, but i've prbably gone up half a cup size. i'm a FULL A now. i doubt anyone would notice besides me and my girlfriend... but who else needs to? i'm happy with that!

mobile again

I'm so happy to have a new phone. although I think this is the first time I've blogged in the go. it's pretty exciting. but I did want to say as soon as possible thank you for such kind comments. also to clarify that everyone here has been nothing but supportive, I don't want any reader to think they are the one I was talking about. I do know that when I read such things on others blogs, I often don't know the right thing to say. if you feel that way, I can assure you, you said the right thing, cause really there only is one thing to say: geez, that sucks. or something along those lines!