2007 Walk A Mile

Last night, my husband and 6 year old son took a stand against sexual violence against women. They participated in the annual Walk A Mile in Her Shoes in Winder GA to raise awareness about rape and the Piedmont Rape Crisis Center. Both have volunteered to do this with no arm twisting from me--well, Hubby's arm is a little sore.

With the serious stuff behind, I gotta tell you, it was a blast. Hubby was attired in his three inch red heels adorned with chicken feathers and white pom poms and his Carmen Miranda hat. A timeless combination that will never go out of style. My son was similarly dressed in matching chicken feathers on his Mary Janes he stole from his sister's closet. His Hawaian lei was the finishing touch to his ensemble.

The crowd of 45 people included 12 male walkers in women's shoes. They included law enforcement, business men, parole officers, high school guys and more. All voted for Most Gaudy Shoe, Most Painful, Best Drag, and Mr. Walk A Mile 2007 before the walk began in downtown Winder. The Biggest Blister was judged by after the walk because as all women know, blisters show up after you walk in heels. Mr. WAM 2007 was judged by his answer to the question, "Why do you walk?" or "Why should you be Mr. WAM?" The guys had no clue that they had to answer a question and in front of God and country and local newspaper. It was very amusing to say the least.

The walk wound through downtown Winder (such as it is) with a police escort. All the men held signs condemning rape and violence.

Hubby won Mr. Most Gaudy for the fourth year in a row. But, to our complete and utter amazement, my 6 year old answered the "Why do you walk?" question without hesitation. "I walk with my daddy and to help people who are hurt." He was crowned Mr. Walk A Mile 2007. My little boy will be in the newspaper in drag with a flashing tiara on his head and smiling. I'm so proud! Also of my 3 year old daughter who walked the entire mile.

This is my dear hubby, the Weasel, posing for a picture after winning Mr. Gaudy in the first annual "Walk A Mile in Her Shoes" sponsored by the Piedmont Rape Crisis Center in Winder, GA (Formerly VISTA, Inc). This is the fourth year for Walk A Mile and he's won three years in a row for Mr. Gaudy. My children and I will be heading to Hobby Lobby for truly ugly decorations to glue on his shoes. Check back after 4/28/07 for this year's picture!

It's Spring in Georgia and there's pollen everywhere!

Yes, it's been several weeks since I posted. However, the pollen here in Georgia has me sneezing green. It's turned my black cat, Francis the Fat Feline, green. My two dogs are, can you guess? Blue b/c my dogs are always inside and my cat is an outside pet.

Hubby built a yarn winder for me by himself! My son directed the task. It works beautifully. Here are the directions and supply list.

Materials:
--Lazy Susan hardware (I used a 6” X 6” one, they do come bigger) Found in hardware store.
--(2) ¾” X 1½” X 2’ piece of lumber (I used poplar, you could use pine)
--(2) 6” X 6” pieces of wood for base. (I used leftover plywood that happened to be faced with poplar)
--(4) Shaker pegs
--(8) ¾” wood screws (round head)
--(4) 1¼” wood screws (flat head)
--(4) felt or rubber pads, ½” to 1” in diameter
--Wood glue

1. Cut a notch in both pieces of lumber with a table saw so they fit together flush in an X pattern.
2. Drill holes in each arm of X 6”, 8”, and 10” from center. Use drill bit the same diameter as base of Shaker pegs.
3. Cut pieces of wood for base to fit base of Lazy Susan.
4. Sand and stain all pieces.
5. Glue X pieces together with wood glue, let dry.
6. Varnish all pieces and let dry. 2 -3 coats should be good.
7. Place X on table so top is facing down. Place one 6”x 6” base on X so corners of base piece are centered on each arm of the X.
8. Screw into place with 4 1¼” screws (one screw into each arm). Screw X and base to lazy Susan hardware using 4 ¾” screws. Screw second wooden base to the other side of the lazy Susan hardware.
9. Glue felt or rubber pads to bottom of base.

Good Luck! I use my swift at least 4x a week.

It's Good Friday today and I have only three days left with my Lenten obligations--Forty days of charity knitting. Four scarves for the Soldier Connection (local charity in Loganville, GA that sends care packages to deployed soldiers). I have knitted about 12 chemo caps in Lion Brand Fun Fur yarn for www.headhuggers.org. One in particularly was splashed with holy water b/c it was, well, possessed.

I was innocently knitting a blue fun fur cap early last month while chairing a church blood drive. I was almost finished--I had two stitches left when a large plastic pink My Little Pony flew through the air and beaned me on the head. Immediately, the needles slid out of the yarn and the cap came apart to all the way to the third row. In my haze of not trying to poke the four year old boy who tossed the pukey pink thing, the yarn twisted around my feet causing mayhem in the blood collection room. After the concussion eased, I patiently rewound the yarn and restarted the hat two days later while waiting to pick up my daughter. It immediately fell underneath my car seat and when I reached to get it, I beaned myself--in the same bump. Unfortunately, there is no patron saint of yarn or frogging so I couldn't pray to them. The next Sunday, I threw holy water on it. I didn't want to give to some cancer patient without exorcising the Demon of Frogging.

My next projects are to use up my increasingly huge stash of yarn. Also my knitting group, the Knit Wits, will be visiting an alpaca farm on 4/14. I'm bringing my kids so it should be entertaining. Let's just hope there's no Demon of Alpaca Spit nearby!!