if i didn't already have a legal name, i'd petition to be called amelia bedelia. i really think there's an uncanny resemblance between us...our fascination with tights, our incurable clumsiness, our naive flightiness, our penchant for taking things too literally...and our unparalleled ability to get ourselves into embarrassing situations. imagine this, if you will.

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last weekend, i started learning how to crochet. unfortunately, my technique was imperfect and i kept ending up with hats that were fit for a barbie's head instead of a human's. my friend max thought they were best as cell phone beanies. you get the idea. i couldn't make my hats any bigger, no matter how many stitches i 'added.' so i decided to bring my yarn to a meeting with my coworkers yesterday to get some advice on how i could advance to making human hats. i got a few guiding words, and i went on to my next stop, which was the district office. per usual, i had a multitude of things to pull out of my bag and put into my bag before leaving my car, and all that packing and unpacking had to be done in haste. i was taking extra special care not to lock my keys in the car which i'd done the day before...i finally slammed all my car doors and started walking with determination (and, okay, maybe a little attitude - i was feeling stressed!) towards the district building. about sixty feet away from my car, a man on his cell phone glanced at me strangely: 'you're dragging something,' he said, flatly. it took me a minute to compute, but when i finally did, i looked behind me and sure enough, trailing clumsily out of my bag across the entire parking lot (which was full of cars and district employees) was my crocheting yarn. my face started to glow with embarrassment, and i quickly quipped, "i didn't wanna lose my way back to my car! ha! i needed a trail!" i laughed, painfully, as i said this and the man said nothing; he just looked away. i retraced my steps, every few feet gathering up an armful of yarn until i reached the endpoint: my green crochet hook which was lying right outside my car door. it seemed to be saying to me 'na, na, na, na, na!' i am pretty sure i also heard it laughing maniacally, very quietly, just like a crochet hook would. sigh.

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so, call me miss bedelia from now on, if you will. i deserve it :)