"I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

...but I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime..."

I escaped today. My son is wonderful, my husband is so sweet, but after a few nights "on-duty" without my partner's help, it was agreed that I would get to take Saturday afternoon "off."

BIG sigh.

So I hopped in the car after cleaning up lunch and making sure that my boys were all set (hey, I'm still a Mom here...) and headed straight to a yarn store. Big surprise. And Big Country. That was the start of my adventure today. "In a Big Country" by Big Country - a wonderful "oldie" from the 80s that totally gets my heart rate going and must be heard loudly from a car radio to be truly appreciated. I remember listening to it with headphones while on a roadtrip across Wyoming with my 'rents back in my teens. Big Country in Big Empty Wyoming with mountains in the distance...so cool.

Anyway, so, yes...start off with the coolest song for a beautiful day off and you've got the makings of a nice afternoon. I sang loudly and you should be happy you were not in the car with me.

I headed to Needlework Unlimited to be 1.) wowed by their stash, 2.) search patterns, and 3.) maybe, possibly, buy something? Well, #1 was achieved, to say the least. They have everything I've been thinking about, talking about, hearing about and hadn't even heard of until today. I felt like I was in a yarn museum. Objective #2 didn't work out so well because their patterns were all over the store and so were the 20 million other yarn-aholics who were there today. I felt too crowded and too rushed to really sink into anything. Thus, #3 did not occur. (Whew!) I did get a cable needle though...and I did have a very fun time fondling the yarns. You must be a Knitter to appreciate that.

The cable needle is for the new sweater for Jackson's dedication for which I've been searching out patterns recently. I've settled on "Trellis" from Knitty and it's a darn cute little cabled cardi sweater. I'm having a time with the gauge but am determined to get it right and pull this sweater off in just five short weeks.

To do this - this is where the "me" time really kicked in today - I ended up at a coffeehouse to just sit and knit. I know! Can you believe it?! I actually - for just a moment - remembered what it was like to be cool. Don't worry, I didn't actually think that I was cool today, just remembered it from a long time ago. But I was stoked to be able to use my iPod again (can't exactly plug into headphones with a little one all that often), drink a decaf mocha and pour over the charts in this pattern. Sort of reminded me of studying Dakota language in college, but that's another story from another time...

Anyway, I had a good day. And the sweater is potentially getting going. I've ripped it back twice already to try out different needle sizes...I may just have it now. Updates to follow, you can be sure.

Tonight I leave you with the lyrics of "In a Big Country." If you don't know the tune, this will read like a strange poem. But if you also are a fan of old 80s rock, you'll instantly get the drumbeats that start it off going in your head and will be happily transported back to a time when hair was big and MTV actually played music videos... (I did not take this photo, I found it courtesy of Google Images. But it's exactly like my roadtrip from decades ago with this song in my headphones...)

I never seen you look like this without a reason
Another promise fallen through,
another season passes by you
I never took the smile away from anybody's face
And that's a desperate way to
look for someone who is still a child

Refrain
In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered
I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert
But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime

Refrain

So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert
But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime

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This just in: You can view Big Country's music video for this song here.
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