Oh, Yes. The Universe Does Indeed Seek Balance

I should have known better than to crow about my wonderful weekend. I should have known better.

Monday just pretty much kicked the weekend's ass - in a not-good way. (p.s. It appears that we shut down Blog Poll with so many responses. Or it could be just a coincidence. But I wasn't even able to see the final tally, as the website seemed to be down when I got home late last night. Damn. When last I looked, the Mountain Mohair -- in spicy golden brown, not green as some people seemed to think! -- was in the clear lead. I think it's in the lead with me, too.)

Well, I finished the bag and it came out kind of cute. Not exactly what I'd imagined or envisioned when I started it, but kind of cute anyway. Not sure if I will ever use it, but it is pretty to look at. Here's what it looked like prefelting:

And here it is, in a photo with my felting jeans and my Cari mug, after three runs through the washer. Three runs which, I'm just hoping, since the universe has indeed shifted, have not ruined my washer. That sucker shed like a muthah. And it needs a bit of a shave, I think, but it's cute. Its rotund shape will probably prevent me from actually ever taking it shopping, but in the end it was sort of modeled after the French Market Bag. It started out as one of these, but I stopped it shorter than this pattern, and did the handles similarly to the FMB.

This is what it might look like after a shopping jaunt down a French street, I suppose.

Of course I should have a baguette, a piece of cheese, a big sausage, and a bottle of wine to complete the tableau, but I didn't have them handy.

I do so love how that Manos felts (the bronzey-colored stripe and tops of the handles). I wish the striped part was wider. the handles came out fantastic, because I doubled the yarn there. I did not double the yarn for the stripes, and I wish I had.  It was much thinner than the Lamb's Pride Bulky which makes up the rest of the bag.

Anyway, fun colors, fun knit, and a nice little item. I wish the colors matched something in my house, but they don't. The colors match my clothes, not my decor. But it doesn't do any good for them to match my clothes if I don't intend to carry it around, now, does it? Hm. A dilemma.

Then the day went straight downhill from there. I turned on my computer to do some work that an attorney requested "sooner rather than later." His words. I was going to whip it out yesterday before I hit the road for my evening (ick) deposition. I looked. I thought I saw SMOKE. I looked again. I DID see smoke. Coming out of the software key in one of the USB ports. The software key is required to run the court-reporting software. This is not good. I moved quickly to remove it. HOT! Nearly burned my fingers taking it out. And it stayed hot for a LONG time.

We won't even get to the more basic question of did this fry my computer overall. I turned it off, and that question is too frightening for me to ponder at the moment. I immediately got on the phone to dial the number for the software company. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring. No answer. Highly odd.

Then it hits me.

They're based in Stuart, Florida. In the middle of a Class 4 hurricane at the moment.

Stay tuned for further developments on that one.

So then I went on a fairly long drive and took a boat across the lake for an evening deposition of a doctor for which one of the attorneys was almost an hour late. But I couldn't be too angry at him: He had driven over seven hours to get there, and he was still good-natured, polite, and looked freshly pressed.

But I was exhausted, anxious and cranky when I finally got home at about 10 p.m., at which time I learned that I must still have a little left in the bank on the good karma thing. I came home to not one, but TWO, BIG.FAT.BOXES from my Better Pal. I am actually a little red-faced and embarrassed at her generosity on so many levels.

The one that impresses me the most is that she took a risk and went outside the box in making a gift choice. When I answered my questionnaire, I talked about a couple of kinds of pottery and other vintage things I collect.  My Better Pal said she doesn't know anything about pottery, but she went to a shop and asked the owner's advice about a piece of pottery to buy and send me. That, I'm telling you....well, I'm having a hard time keeping it together, because that is so very touching and so very thoughtful. Huh? How 'bout THAT, people?!

A photo of the lovely bounty:

It's a vintage McCoy beanpot/cookie jar! Three skeins of Reynolds Lite-Lopi in my favorite colors, a box of Dante truffles (with a name like that, they gotta be great), an adorable mold (for ice cubes, butter, etc.) in strawberry shapes, and if that's not enough already, five little Chinese boxes with gifts in them. I'm pretending I have not already looked inside, although I really have. I'm going to "forget" what's inside and look inside again over the course of another few days, and be surprised all over again. 

Seriously, have you ever? I truly hope the Better Pal for MY Better Pal treats her as well. That is some seriously good energy she has sent out here.  Seriously good. May it come back to you in threes, my dear!

Here's a closeup of the McCoy:

Comments

[Lauren]

That bag is adorable!

[Aarlene]

Oh, NORMA!
Well, it was to be expected, seeing as how you TEMPTED FATE and all.
sheesh, some people never learn...have a great weekend then they've gotta BLOG about it. ;-D
You do know that once the magic smoke leaks out of your computer it's broken, dontcha?
Hope your key thing still works but given that you were crowing about your mail too ...tsk tsk tsk

[k]

I love that bag. I bet you end up carrying it, just because. or is it time to redecorate? I don't know about computers, but I'm thinking smoke is a bad thing. Overall, still a goodly chunk in the plus column.

[Laurie]

That bag looks great. I'm crossing my fingers for the computer issue. Based on past experience, I'm not going to hold out optimism. At least Secret Pal came through. Marvelous gifts!

[margene]

That is won great 'better pal'! So far the pals are living up to their name;-)
Your Manos bag is great looking. You could carry home a feast in it. I use my bags mostly for 'display' around the house. That may all change with decluttering issues, however.
The term 'burnt toast' keeps running around in my head...hope it's not that bad, grrlfriend.

[Vicki]

Oooooh, McCoy... how very sweet and wonderful!

[Kathleen]

Wow Norma! That is some goregous pottery! What a thoughtful pal. And the bag is cute but I admit, I don't use any of the bags I have felted either.

[Kim]

Oh dear......it's that yin/yang thing that happens. At least it is not all bad....that is a great pal you have!!!

[Nathania]

What a rollercoaster of a day! Glad there were good parts too. Fabulous gifts from your Better Pal. Looks like she hit one out of the park with that gift!

[Tanya]

Your bag looks great but something you said struck fear into my heart. Please, oh, please tell me that you put your tote in a pillowcase or bag so that it didn't shed into your washer. If you didn't, your washer is going to surely need its drain cleaned out otherwise you might not see it live too long. I don't mean to intrude but I don't want you kill your washer.

Tanya

[Cara]

YAY for Better Pals and Manos!

[Tish]

I love the colors of the bag! Do you put your feltees in a pillow cover before you toss them in the washer? I use a cotton, zippered pillow cover and it keeps the lint in the washer to a minimum since most of it stays in the pillow cover. It helps keep my washer (and therefore my husband/chief washer fixer) happy. PS- has the Seuss mitten found a mate? Can a star-bellied sneetch sweater be far behind?

[Judy]

That bag is darn cute! I think Kim is on the right track with that yin / yang thing. Good luck...

[JaneJ]

Hi Norma, Phoebe and I were very flattered by your kind comment.

[jpt]

Computer bits that are too hot to handle sounds Very Bad Indeed ... will keep my fingers crossed (for said bits, and for your support people to have a disaster recovery plan that works!).

You put your finger on the part of felting that intimidates me the most: fuzz. Do those zippered pillow cases really protect the washing machine, or is that the felter's equivalent of throwing salt over your shoulder?

[Libby]

Norma - you are the luckiest girl in the whole wide world with those secret pals and random acts of kindness and better pals and all sorts of stuff going on over there!

Best of luck with your computer - mine fried last week. I had to borrow this one - luckily it's a work computer, so it's not that bad.

[Sharlene]

I love the bag but I lust after the McCoy!!! What a thoughtful gift! :)

[Anne]

Ooooo - now SHE is a keeper!! So... was the 'puter totally fried? Have you dared to turn it back on?