I was in the car today for 6+ hours. I drove just over three of those, and by myself. Mom drove part because she was grateful that I was taking her and because she just plain sympathetic to my cause.
Mom wanted to go up to her dad's house in Griffith so that she could plug in the converter box to his television set, for the digital conversion that the government pushed back until July-ish, even though everyone has decided to convert anyway, leaving me without a television with its friendly VCR companion. My TV and VCR are having a trial separation. I hope very much that they can reconcile.
It's the TV's fault. He's cheating on my VCR with another box. The box is slick and sleek and smooth; it has no tapes for programs, it just knows. It's shows come from the air, or God, or both. I don't know, no one has explained it to me in words I can understand. They said something about signals, though I don't know what kind. Hopefully not the kind that make your teeth glow in the dark. But I bet all ours do already.
Anyway, I had to drive Mom because my car has been in the hospital with a Mystery Noise for a few weeks, getting Car Surgery. I think it is having a belt transplant. I may have to buy special anti-rejection oil. I hope my car place carries that. I will have to ask next time I buy windshield sealant to keep the car from letting rain in on my lap. I seal it every year, though it lasts only about three or four weeks. Instead of being left at home with no car for days on end, I thought I would drive her there (3-ish hours) and then drive home (3-ish hours), wait until Saturday morning and then drive back (3-ish hours) then home with her (3-ish hours, more if we stop at the mall).
I am trying to get Dad to volunteer, in a gesture of Valentines-inspired romance, to drive up to get Mom, then come home with her. This would allow me to not end up having been in the car for a combined 12 hours (or perhaps 13). I know he won't do it, because it would make me happy. Making me happy would cause something in Dad to rupture, spilling out anti-matter from the core of his being. As this anti-matter leaks out, striking the matter of Dad's being, the combination of negative and positive will result in an explosion that will blow a crater in the earth, enough to toss the planet out of orbit. Then, the moon, now also thrown out of orbit, will be drawn into Earth's gravitational pull, killing those of us that are left alive after the first explosion. Of course, I will be dead already, because the initial explosion, so near to my being, will kill me instantly without the long wait the rest of you will have. Sorry.
Mom and I stopped at Sheep's Clothing in Valpo, which is one of my favorite yarn stores, something I would rather not have blown up. I ended up leaving with two skeins of Malabrigo (I have a thing going on with this yarn right now, I need to go on Celebrity Rehab or something, only not for celebrities. As I am clearly not one). I got lace-weight this time so that I can knit something from my new book, my final Christmas present. It was back ordered; I ended up getting it Tuesday. I am patient if I am holding yarn.
Then we picked up a pizza at Rosati's, the best pizza I have had outside of Italy. We took it to Grandpa's and he asked us why the heck we brought pizza, as he had already had pizza earlier in the week. Then he ate some with us. We asked him if he liked it, and he said, "it's okay," which is close to yes while still remaining close to no. But he ate it. I took the rest home, to eat for my next three meals or so, if I can keep it from Dad. He always eats the food I want.
I then tried to find free wireless internet so I could download something on iTunes for the ride home. I did so, then drove my last 3-ish hours through heavy traffic in the dark, although this time I did not nearly die.
And when I came home, Dad was nearly unconscious from exhaustion (but he stayed awake to see me) and my dog and cat were so happy that they both curled up on the sofa with me, Darcy with her head leaned against my legs and Myst curled up on my lap. I felt loved. They endured physical proximity to each other for a full 20 minutes while I finished my Test-itessa, the lone Digitessa sock made of sucky yarn.
I remembered I hadn't done a blog, and I wrote this over the last half-hour, stopping for a moment to call Paul only to discover that I have all the bars my phone can have if I sit in this chair, right in my family room. Not at the window, in fact, a long way from the window, and at the window I only have two bars, or three if I'm lucky. How about that! It's really a big deal.
Pictures of yarn, the near-death blog, and another trip to Warsaw for tomorrow.
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