So, I'm not in such bad shape.

I went to work today and the paralegal in the cube next to me in the cube farm, who is 16 years my junior and RUNS regularly, was creaking around and complaining because she'd been PAINTING all weekend (she just bought a house). I am much older than she is. I am not as sore as she is. Perhaps this is a comparison of Pilates/stretching vs. running. She looks like she's in fantastic shape, but she was one hurtin' little puppy, groaning every time she stood up. I look like I'm in only middling shape. I'm just a little twingy, and already much better than I was yesterday.

I also had an Epiphany while talking to her. We were talking about the painting we had to do, and I realized that I had probably another six hours of painting JUST on those Fucking Louvered Closet Doors (hereinafter FLCDs) and I really don't want to spend next weekend painting too. I want to touch up the baseboards and call it a day on the Girl's room. She's coming on the 20th, (she's applying for jobs and needs to be there for interviews this week) and I want to have the guest room cleaned out of all the superfluous stuff that was shifted there from her old room, so she can enjoy the comfy futon and TV in tidy serenity. Right now, it's not even navigable.

FLCDs are the Devil's Own Closet Doors. They are a nightmare to paint, especially if you are doing a drastic color change. Every little louver, every little corner of every little louver, requires more attention than a coronary bypass. They suck. And I'm talking to my cube-neighbor about this, and the lightbulb popped on - why put myself through it? Why don't I Just Take the DAMN DOORS DOWN! The carpet guys will take them down to lay the carpet anyway, I can beat them to it. I can buy some nice raised panel doors instead. They are cheap. They can be primed and painted in the time it will take me to get one friggin' louvered panel to look okay. Death to 70s-80s louvered closet doors! Next it will be death to cheap flat hollow core doors, and nice raised panel doors will go up in their place, but not until I get a vehicle capable of hauling them home.

Knitting - yes, I still do it. I cast on a leper bandage last night, and I'm contentedly knitting back and forth while watching TV and getting sleepy. I will do the same tonight. I'm doing these from the kitchen weight cotton, per the link in yesterday's entry. When I do them in bedspread cotton, those babies will be crocheted. Crocheting is so much faster in fine gauge. These bandages are the ideal "knit yourself to sleep" project, or the "It's a really good movie and I want another glass of wine" evening. Per Bev's Country Cottage, they are needed in the millions - either the fine bedspread cotton, or the heavier kitchen cotton. Get on the bandage bandwagon!

Oh, and on the subject of Knitting in Public, I didn't catch up with the thread on Knitters Review until tonight. I have my own funny twist - remember I said I was going to bring my knitting to the mediation, and I managed to walk out the door without it? Boss was disappointed, he wanted me to bring it, he thought that would be really "cool." Apparently he had this mental picture of me indifferently knitting though negotiations as a psych-out tool on the other parties, or something. Next time I definitely will plan ahead and bring it. I can see the value of calmly knitting and throwing in my two cents - I know knitting calms the people who watch me do it, I've heard that often enough. And there's also that "PSYCH!" thing - a lot of paralegals, especially in public legal proceedings, tend to be very high-strung, all about proving themselves, ooh, ooh, let me jump for you, just tell me how high, it's sooo damn tiring to watch. I am so low-strung I'm pleasantly comatose until I need to do something, and it would only add to the effect to sit there knitting until I kick in my contributions. After so many years of these road shows we have our performance art down, knitting would add that little garnish to the plate.<