Friday, June 19, 2009

The devil's plaything

That is what they used to say about idle hands; they are the devil's plaything. I have no talent for idle hands myself. I am not saying my hands are always productive, I am just saying they are always active. If I do not have something to do with my hands I will eat &/or make annoying tapping, snapping noises &/or shuffle papers &/or surf channels &/or & so on.

Apparently I am not the only one in my family with devil's-plaything disease. Yea, it is a condition, like restless leg syndrome only you do not have to be overweight to have it; also an over-the-counter pill like Tylenol PM will relieve the symptoms temporarily. But the best cure is to do something, anything with your hands. You could knit (like mom), bind quilts (which I have finally started to do) or.......whittle. Just like Lewis Black always said we could.

My brother started whittling ...uhhhhhmmmm... a while ago. I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to give him something sharp, but that ship has sailed. He now has a collection of blades that would make a neanderthal drool.

For the longest time he made mostly chess pieces. At least that is what he told us he was making. We did not care what he was making so long as he was not the unabomber. We were not really all that worried he was the unabomber; the first bomb was sent when he was not even a teenager & he has a great disdain for copycats. Still, you have to wonder about a kid who starts listing his life's ambition as 'to rule the world' in elementary school.

Now it is little objets. My parents have an emu sitting on an egg, my sister a red wolf & we got this guy.

In addition the devil's-plaything, my brother also has two dogs. Well, one dog & another that is visiting. For a year+ by now. Apparently that is also a family disease.

// I have previously taken some flak for implying everyone with RLS is overweight. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. I can say that I took a quick look at several (more than 5) "fact sheets" & the first non-prescription prevention &/or cure was always lose some weight. Aside from the pharmaceutical spokesmodels, I have never seen a person who claimed to have RLS that did not also outweigh me by at least 150lbs & usually more. & I am not the skinniest person you ever met. I'm just saying.

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