Absent Minded Professor (or why I knit mice)

Folks, I'm turning into my worst nightmare. Today, I have lost my tea (lost my TEA!) five times. I set it down, I do something else, and then I have to spend five minutes figuring out where I set it down. I heated up some lunch, and then forgot I had heated it up, worked for another hour, realized I was hungry, and found it (cold) in the microwave. I can't concentrate on a single knitting pattern that doesn't invovle needles larger than 5s and straight knitting and purling. No patterns. No colorwork. No decorative edges (this is why I still have a sock incomplete, a mitten almost finished, and two fingerless gloves that only need decorative stitching). The only thing I can knit right now? Mice. Knitted mice. See? Here's one (pre-felting):


They take half an hour to knit, then I have to felt them up, stuff them, and voila! Happy cats. I made three today. They are a compulsion (and a good way to use up the scraps of manos that I can't bear to throw away).

Proof that I'm nuts? My best friend from college, Melissa, is getting married on Thursday (Nov. 9). This is a kind of sudden thing... it's a city hall wedding (no, she's not knocked-up; just impulsive) taking place in New York conveniently the same week I'll be in Philly (I'll be in Philly from Nov. 8 - Nov. 13... these dates are important). Unfortunately, I can't go even though I'll only be two hours away because I have to give a colloquium at my University. But a few days ago (Nov. 2), she sent out an e-mail to all of us girlie friends asking about the possibility of doing a "bachelorette" party on Saturday. This is what she wrote in her e-mail -- "on Saturday." And I'm thinking, "Hot Damn! That works out perfectly! I'll be in Philly... I can just hop on the train and be in the city and even if I miss the wedding, I'll make the bachelorette party). Anyone catch the flaw in logic here? I spoke to Melissa yesterday, early evening, and told her my plans to come to NYC on Nov. 11th. She seemed a little confused and then said something I didn't understand about how we could have dinner and drinks with another friend of ours that night. I figured "Ah, Melissa! Crazy and loveable. She's so distracted with wedding stuff, she didn't process that her bachelorette party will be that saturday." Yeah. It wasn't until my mom pointed out tonight how strange it was for Melissa to have her bachelorette party AFTER her wedding that I realized that I'm totally insane. Her bachelorette party was yesterday. Sigh.

If you stuck with me through that ramble, you're too kind. I'm a little off my rocker. These grant applications are killing me. If I have to sit in my cage, oops, I mean office, one more day I'm gonna scream. And I have to sit in my office for two more days. I keep trying to remind myself that in a week, I'll be on a plane to Hawaii. But there is just too much to be done between now and then (insert sound of head being hit against desk here).

Thank you all for your kind words on yesterday's post. It means a lot to me to know there are people out there willing to listen to me ramble and offer advice on all things knitting and personal.

P.S. I made a dinner that comes out of a bag and says "just add water" (about as complicated as I feel like I can handle) and I burned it. Oh god, I better finish these applications before I burn the whole house down!