What's in a name?

For anyone who actually follows my blog regularly, I am making a big change to it. I will be changing the title of my blog. SURPRISE! While I do love talking about knitting and letting others know that I knit and actually knitting, I do not feel that the "Obsessed" part of my title fits me. I read many other blogs regularly that would better fit that description and I just don't take enough pictures of my progress to warrant that title. So, I am coming up with alternatives and you might get to preview them in a few days. Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving there won't be a post tomorrow,but I hope you will be waiting, breathlessly, for my new name. It will be something more fitting, I promise. :)

Why Isn't Life a Musical?

I LOVE MUSICALS. I admit it freely. Ask me which one is my favorite and it might change depending on my mood. Musicals all mean something to me, mostly because I grew up with them. When I watch a musical, I think of my mom and I love that we share the same joy for this genre of movie. For you non-musical fans, they hold little to no interest to you and may even annoy you, but there is something about them that grabs my attention. They're very comforting to me. Some musicals, like some intense movies, can only be watched once in a while or once ever, period. If we could sing what we mean, wouldn't we be able to get our points across and arguements would be solved by using this method. I bet if I told you I hated you but was singing it, you wouldn't believe me and maybe I wouldn't really believe me either, and we would actually form a friendship. It's funny how that happens in musicals. The people that should be loathes, seem to be the people that the main character forms a friendship with. Seriously! Think about The Music Man, Singin' In The Rain, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, and Chicago. Those are just a few, but that's what I'm talking about.

Currently, I can't stop watching Bride and Prejudice. I am addicted to the music, the fact that it's set in India and directed by an English Indian woman and based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I LOVE IT.


Newsies has been a long time favorite of mine and this is the reason I knew who Christian Bale was. For those of you who are fans of his now, Newsies was here before he was big and I liked him first, so there. But it's still a good musical and based on a true story, I might add. The reason I love it so much is because the principal behind it is awesome. The working class challenges "The Man" and they get all the other working class people to challenge him as well. They win. There's one part, one line, of the entire movie that always gives me chills, no matter what. "When you got a 1000 voices singin'..." Something about that is powerful to me. I can't explain it, but it just grabs me and makes me smile.

I'm sorry, but this is just pure fun. It's a classic scene from a classic musical and you can't go wrong with it. Plus (even though this clip doesn't show him), I loveDonald O'Connar. If it weren't for him, I don't think this movie would be any good. I'm sure that I've seen him in other movies, but I can't remember their names. Regardless, he was a great comedian for his time.


If you didn't get to see this on the big screen, you missed out big time. "Cell Block Tango" is my favorite number in Chicago. The imagery of the crimes these women commit, is beautiful and very passionate. They all feel completely justified in their actions and it's really difficult not to feel the same way they do.

I could go on for quite awhile with this musical theme, but I will stop with those three. It's just that musicals can speak on higher level if you let them. Maybe not all of them, but some of them do. Something about music delivers a line like nothing else. Well, you be the judge. I suppose dancing and singing your emotions aren't for everybody, but it's a good time for me. These clips are just a few of the reasons why. If I haven't converted some of you, then this is only the first installment. I guess you'll have to leave a comment to convince me to only post once about musicals. ;0

I Will Not Follow The Road To Perdition

Maybe my chi was not centered today. Maybe the stars were not aligned properly. I woke up in good spirits and I left for work in good spirits. I got to work and I got screamed at by a man who was an asshole. Seriously, he defines the word. I always forget how people are during the holidays. I mean it. Every single year it's a huge surprise to me how jerky and rude and self-centered people are at this time of year. They become irate and bitchy for no reason and, apparently, retail is the place to bring that kind of attitude. Then, I locked the keys in the cash office at 9p.m. That's the time of night when I need to be closing the store down and for some reason it just wasn't working for me. Thankfully, another manager ending up answering her phone and she was able to come to the store and unlock the door. ARG!

I know I can trust you, my readers. I know that I can trust you will not be mean to anyone in ANY retail store, no matter the circumstances. Especially, don't yell at someone because you feel you are "entitled to something". THAT DOESN'T WORK. Nobody is entitled to anything. Ever. Be as nice as you can be and you will be surprised how much people will be willing to do for you. This is the beginning of my annual "Holiday Spirit" talk, so if you don't want to read from this point on, I understand.

This time of year is a reminder that we should be kinder to one another and give back to people. That doesn't mean you should do that selectively, but hold that feeling with you in all aspects of your life. If someone's having a hard time or being given a hard time, give them a break. Do something to help them or constructively educate them, not berate them. Please remember that even if you don't celebrate any particular religion or this time of year doesn't have a spiritual meaning to you, it doesn't mean you're exempt from polite behavior. Please remember that we are all on this planet together and no matter the circumstances we know each other or how well or little we know one another you've touched someone's life. Make it meaningful,but not painful. Please.




Now, I will move on from this because I've been holding it in all day. Now, I will show you some of my Halloween costume.

Okay, so it's a portion of my costume. I was supposed to be a butterfly and it didn't work out how I wanted it to. I found this tutorial to create some butterfly wings. It's a great tutorial and very easy to do. I promise. But.......I wanted to make these (after clicking the link I realized you see the homepage and not the wings I wanted, but I can't get it to work, so just imagine). I had my heart set on them and I messed them up. Currently, it's too late for me to show you the final outcome of my wings and my husband is sleeping so I can't exactly sneak into the bedroom to see if they're there. I will let you know that some people thought I was a fly or an insect of some sort. Someone even thought I was the Angel of Death. Yeah. But the best part was walking all over the store and people seeing my pinwheels spin as I walked. Wouldn't you know it, it was a very windy day that day. :)

Harry Potter......pumpkin?

This post is delayed by about a week, but I still feel the need to post it anyway. My husband and I attempted to carve a pumpkin this year. The experience was good times for us both, but we have to have separate pumpkins next year. Yup, "His and Hers" is the way to go. I asked him what design we should carve and he suggested Harry Potter. I was very excited about that becuase he's reading the books for the first time and it's something we can share with each other. I started searching online for Harry Potter templates and found one that wasn't too complicated, but complicated enough that it looked like Harry.

Let me chronicle the pumpkin massacre, so you can follow along his demise.


He's so happy that we've just butchered the top of the pumpkin's head.


I, clearly, love a good slimey pupmkin.


Maven is looking on with concern on her face and we've hardly begun carving.


I am still impressed with the amount of goo inside the pumpkin, but I'm thoroughly excited about having fresh pumpkin seeds to bake and put lots of salt on.


Okay, so it's not all bad. We chose the side of the pumpkin that had the largest surface and it happened to already have a pumpkin scar of it's own. The pattern also got a bit smushy, so the left half of his face is folding in on the right half. Very special. He's "Special Harry".

Better let him have his moment.

We didn't feel like we accomplished what we planned, so Jake carved a big lightning bolt in the side...in homage of our special skills. Maybe next year Harry won't have a mental look on his face.