Florida

Hi to all
I am flying to Florida tomorrow and will resume posting when I return.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "The nicest thing about the future is . . .  that it always starts tomorrow."

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day.  For most of us, it's just a day off work, but for many it is a time for remembrance for days gone by.  Both my mom and my dad were veterans, Mom in the Navy and Dad in the Army in WW II.  Dad served overseas, mostly in Africa , as a truck driver in the quartermaster corps; Mom was in D.C. as a pharmacy mate.  They met after the war, and were married more than 55 years when Mom passed. I don't remember Dad saying much about his service, until he was in his 70s, when he started to try to get in contact with his old buddies, who were long since beyond reach.  But what I remember was the ungodly mess it was for them to get help at the local Veteran's Hospital.  It was always some papertrail that had gone awry.  Dad's service records were among those lost in the  fire at St. Louis.  Wikipedia "The National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973, also referred to as the 1973 National Archives fire was a fire that occurred at the United States National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in Overland, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, on July 12, 1973, striking a severe blow to the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States. NPRC, the custodian of military service records, lost approximately 16-18 million official military personnel records as a result of the fire.^" 


That was a large part of the problems for him to get care at the VA, since he had no proof other than a Purple Heart, to show he had a service-related injury.  The burden of proof was on him, a virtual impossibility after so long.

So when I read about the horrible care that today's veterans are getting from the VA system, I have an inkling of what they are going through.  And it is a disgrace and a national shame that the veterans are treated this way, whether their injuries are life-altering or not.

So today, think a little while about what would have been the result if those men and women had not risked their lives and their well-being to do their duty to our country.  And while you think about that, consider supporting some of the organizations like Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Wounded Warrior Project, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  Every little donation helps.  It's the least we can do.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "It was a sad and disappointing day when I discovered my universal remote control did not, in fact, control the universe (not even remotely).

Past midnight

Well, here it is, another 3 am post.  I am sitting here , munching on a Heath bar and wondering what to write here.

The paving company will be here Monday or Tuesday to pave the driveway and the parking area, at last.  We put down $1000 deposit and then they never returned our calls, and the last time that happened (a long time ago) the company went under and took our $ with them.  But soon they should arrive, and we will park across the street on the basketball court, all 4 cars.  I think we are the last house on our road that doesn't have a paved driveway, but that is because we have had major problems with rain run-off flooding the garage (and the house).  But these people say they can fix that, we will see..

All the flowers have the place looking pretty spiffy.  The yard is unbelievably lush and it is all trimmed and mowed, including the back pasture.  As you come along our road toward the house, the slick and sassy horses playing up in the green green field make it look like a post card.  I'll see if I can post a photo here, lord willin' and the creek don't rise.  I haven't taken many lately.

June 2nd I am flying to south Florida for a visit with my BFF who has been ill.  I don't want to drop a lot of private information here, but I am so glad this has worked out.  This huge country of ours makes staying together with friends and family a continuous challenge, and there is only so much we can do with phone calls and notes.  Or Facebook for that matter.  Which I still don't "get".  The little I have seen it seems to be too cheerful (" you have new contacts !!") instead of saying, "there are other facebookers here that have too much time on their hands !"  I don't understand how my name hops up for them to "friend" from where I worked before retirement.  People I hardly spoke two words to when I saw them every day.  It's one of life's puzzles.

I haven't knitted much lately,although I have a couple of  works in process. I have been taking more naps in the afternoon than usual, and when I finish one I go upstairs for a while so the rest of the family won't forget my face.  But I have to restrict how many times I go up and down the stairs if I want to be able, for instance, to go to the grocery store.  All that will be do-able for a few weeks, as yesterday I got my once-every-three-months cortisone shot in my right knee.  Damn the shot hurts, but gosh, the result is immediate.  No limp!  I'm good for at least 2 1/2 moonths.  I DO NOT want a knee replacement.  Right now I want to lose weight (Heath bar not withstanding) which should help the knee too.  And I could utilize more of my closet, where the 200+ jeans and shirts languish.  Of which I can wear MAYBE 25% of them on a good day.  DD says she does the "bunny hop" to get into her tight jeans, where I am of the old school of laying down flat on the bed to zip.  My hopping days are over, I feel.  The jeans stretch out (love that spandex) after an hour or so, letting me draw deep breaths again.  The modern day equivalent of a corset, I guess.

Usually I vaccinate the horses on Memorial day weekend, but it helps a lot if I actually order the vaccines ahead of then.  More likely this will be a June effort, and it is easiest when the farrier  comes to trim their feet, with them already brushed and and in the cross ties.  The cost is far far lower than what the vet charges, I get it for $25 each and $25 dollars shipping (on ice), and it takes about 30 seconds per horse.

One of the horses has a wart-y growth in her ear.  Her dam (mother) also had one, which spontaneously resolved after months of benign neglect.  The reading I have done on the condition all agree that it is better left alone, as cutting them off, or freezing, etc. only serves to bring them back, bigger.  The sources say only take extra care when haltering or putting on a bridle(as if), as the horse becomes head-shy sometimes. I don't know how I would tell, she's been head shy since day one.  Literally.  When she was born, I watched as she got to her feet and stood up and wobbled over to mom/s milk bar.  When she was ready to lay down again, I went quietly in and did what the "horse imprinting" book suggested, touching her ears, running my hand over her, etc.  The next day she wouldn't let me touch her, hiding behind Mom.  It got worse day by day, until she had to be shipped off to a trainer's because she was so wild after weaning.  He worked miracles on her, at last I could halter her, brush her, pick out her feet, etc.  She went to him as a 3 year old to be broken to ride, and DH rode her a fair amount.  I rode her Once.  She is crazy as near as I can tell, and you watch, she will be the last to go.  Her brother, a bay,  two years older and out of a different stallion, isn't marked like a paint, but is a dream to handle.  Unless he is in pain, but I give him a pass on that (stone embedded in his foot for instance).

Well enough horse lore, I doubt anyone has read this far.  I still plan on shooting some photos to add here, so check back.  It is back to bed now.

Bumper sticker of the day:  "I've reached the age where 'happy hour' is a nap."

Nighttime Ramblings

It is 12:15 am here and I am fighting off a really low feeling.  I still get these even with my 4 anti-depressants, but they go away pretty quickly as a rule.  But nighttime is the worst, I wake up from the dregs of a nightmare and there is nothing to distract me that I can do quietly except come here in my computer room.  With a stink bug, brrrr.  Still no sign of him, yet. 

I have been getting emails from my former therapist.  She moved out-of-state almost 1 year ago, and I really miss her.  She set me up with a really nice therapist, but it isn't the same, and I stopped therapy for a while, if not permanently.  The emails from H are really nice, and it is safe to say we communicate as friends rather than just therapist/client.  But nothing beats face-to-face; I don't think Skype will replace actual encounters, other than for the most superficial purposes.  Still, I may play with it, the MacBook has a built-in camera that makes me look like a plump Martian with a very wide nose.  Truth will out.

Jim Butcher has a new Dresden files book due out at the end of this month which I have pre-ordered.  I will force myself to leave it alone on my Kindle until my trip is underway, it should make the flight go faster.  There is also another Odd Thomas book out in Dec., which is a long way from now.  Unless I have the two books confused.  It will be a surprise, anyway.  I have to start my trip in Pittsburgh, about an hour's drive from here in WV.  It leaves at 4:45 pm, so I will have plenty of time for cold feet to set in.  But there is always Xanax just for this kind of anxiety. 

 This post has been written over most of the day, a little here and there.  Soon it will be dinner time and I have just finished my nap.  Oh well.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "I've taken a vow of poverty.  To annoy me, send money."

Spring?

Just two weeks until I fly to Ft. Myers to see my friend for a couple of days.  This is a busy time for us, doing all the spring maintenance and such, although having DS to help is a huge benefit.  I told DH that having the property lines surveyed, the manure pile removed, the plantings around the house, a new driveway poured, will convince the neighbors that we are moving.  But no, it is just maintenance/sprucing up and such. 

I have a great new knitting project under way, but it will take me a while to get it done.  I plan on starting it before going to FL, and taking it with me for times when my BFF needs to rest.  I bought double the amount of yarn in the directions, so I won't run out.  I would imagine it would be nice to do on the plane, but the needle/hook would probably be confiscated a security.  Like a terrorist is going to be knitting up a little pair of baby booties while he waits to, I don't know, terrorize?  " I've got knitting needles and I know how to use them!"  I guess it isn't really funny to minimize the security part of flying these days.  I'm just weird.  The time we flew to San Diego, I left my boarding pass in the gray tub along with my jacket, etc., and as a result I got the "scan the entire body" even as I pointed at the pass right there in front pf us, on the opposite side of the glass.  The people that fly all the time are so slick, whip off the shoes, computer in a pan by itself,  carry-on on the belt, I feel like I am holding up hundreds of people as I fumble along.  I am flying business class, and supposedly have an expedited security check point, we will see.  I will try my best to do what is required without feeling pressured to do it faster.  When I flew to San Diego 2 years ago, at our tiny little airport (2 gates) the security guy opened every bag and swiped them all for explosive residue.  He did it in plain sight of  all of us, on the opposite side of a glass window, If I had realized all my undies were going to be scrutinized by everyone on the plane I would have put them together in a ziplock bag.  One woman with feminine products in her suitcase was mortified.  Oh well, nothing that hasn't been seen before.

Back to bed, it is 4 am here, and writing in the blog is what I do when the insomnia strikes in the wee hours.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "If things get worse I'll have to ask you to stop helping"

playing with ketchup

I am booked on June 2nd to fly to Florida to see my BFF.  The worst thing is, I have to fly out of Pittsburgh to get a non-stop flight, which frees me from having to change planes 3 times and be 12 hours getting there. The non-stop is a 2 hr 30 min flight, and I fly business class to assuage my claustrophobia.  Pittsburgh is about an hour's drive from here, and my plane departs at a decent time, so DH won't have to spend an entire day getting me started on my journey.  My return is June 6th, which also is my wedding anniversary, the 44th one.  Not too late in the day, so that is OK.

My DS has been a huge help around the place.  Yesterday he planted an arborvitae near the front steps.  That will make it 4 times we've planted right there.  First was honeysuckle, which grew like kudzu, and in season attracted about a million bees.  Not that I have anything against bees you understand, but having to duck under the honeysuckle vines as well as the bees kinda made it interesting for visitors.  Like Jehovah Witnesses.  Next we planted an arborvitae  and it too grew to majestic proportions and blocked the steps.  Last of all we planted an evergreen (the type stumps me now) and the whole thing browned up. dropped all of its needles and died.  So we have now planted a new arborvitae, max height 15 feet, max width 4 ft, and we planted further out from that corner.  It better live, it was a 6 ft tree, and too much $$ to let it croak. We moved another browning off evergreen to a better location, I hope that helps.  The 6 Canadian hemlocks that we bought from a guy selling them from the back of his truck, the whoe bunch for 20 bucks, freshly dug up out in the woods somewhere, have tripled or more in size and look to be on their way to true tree-dom.  Go figure

I sent off my burgundy knitting swap package Friday, and although the swap will continue, I have decide to withdraw.  It cost me around $30 each month ($10 of which was postage) and I can buy a lot of yarn with $30 a month.  It was fun at first, but colors like burgundy were hard to find.  I bought all mine online; they included a stuff sack, apron, mitt, potholders (these were hand knitted), a notebook with matching pen in burgundy ink, scissors, a travel mug with MOM written on it, and of course yarn.   I am sure it will all be useful.  And it cost too much, all my fault.

The farrier comes in June, so that will be the day the horses get vaccinated.  Assuming I remember to order the vaccines. They are 25 dollars each, plus 25 dollars shipping and last time I  didn't have the syringe on the needle tight enough and all of the vaccine sprayed out, so I had to order another dose.  But it beats having the vet do it, as long as they are otherwise healthy.  After they were trimmed and wormed (apple flavored!) we turned them loose in the upper pasture, and the farrier and his wife just stood and watched them as they kicked up their feet, galloped around tails up and snorting.  I swear they know when they have an audience.  They are 23 and 21 this year.

Gracious, this whole post is about money and how much I spent; I didn't mean to come across as so mercenary.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "As long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I am totally flexible."

Robert Bob

N's Brother died last night, and there is both sorrow and relief for N and his sister.  Grief because he will not be around to lend his humor and insight with us, and relief that he passed quietly and with no pain, after so long.  DH cannot go to KY without an 8 hour drive, but knows his back will take only so much, even sitting while DS drives.  To fly takes even longer, as the routes are anything but straight forward; for example, there are 4 plane changes.  DH turned 70 last month, and feels especially sad that his brother didn't make it that far.


This is a substitute for my bumper sticker for the day, as I am dieting and not getting anywhere.  I see my GP doctor next week.

Family

This is a photo of DH (center) and his sister and brother, taken in 2009.  I have photos taken more recently of the brother, but he looks awful.  He is now on Hospice care, drifting in and out of consciousness at his sister's home in Kentucky.   You can see how tall and heavy he is, and I don't know how his sister can cope, even with hospice care and health aides that come in.  So this is a bittersweet photo, as we wait to hear that he has passed.  The waiting is very hard on everyone.

Bumper sticker of the day:  "Life isn't tied with a bow . . . . but it's still a gift."

Cure All Cancers

Please share.

West Virginia Beauty

This beautiful scene is at Hawksnest in West Virginia.  I was there once for a conference, and my photos were nowhere near as beautiful as this. A lot of WV has breathtaking views, and unspoiled areas that few people ever see.


I'm tired today after a bad night of almost sleeping, but not really.  I finally ended up on the couch, my bedroom was so stinky from a plumbing problem in my bathroom that was fixed (for now) but the memory lingers on.  Owning a home is one long series of problems, it seems, now that our home is 35 years old.  We have done all kinds of improvements and repairs over the years and I am tired of it all.  However, there is no alternative for now.  Readers that are longing for "a place of their own" are advised to think carefully about what they are taking on before mortgaging their life away.

I think I will try a nap, and see if that improves my outlook.  To one and all, here and there, I am thinking of all the anguish you are dealing with, and hoping that all is resolved soon and for the best. 

Peace.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Always be yourself because the people that matter don't mind ... and the ones that mind don't matter."

Knock offs

I like to use looms to knit on, these are the round or narrow plastic looms with pegs on it that you wrap the yarn around.  There are a couple of manufacturers of them, but if you look online or in looming books, the main ones used are "Knifty Knitters".  I have read that the company that makes these (based in Provo Utah) was discontinuing them.  So I have a set of the round looms, but I wanted to get a set of the long narrow ones, which a number of patterns call for.  I went on eBay and found very few sets available, but there were a couple that were listed.  I won the bid on one of them, not realizing until I went to PayPal to pay for them that they were located in China.  I don't doubt that the Utah ones were actually made in China too.  Anyway, it has been 2 months or so, and they arrived today in the mail, all held together in rubber bands and tissue paper inside a big bag that was tightly taped together.  They look fine; but there is no name on them and the "how-to" instructions are without any brand name.  I think I have inadvertently bought a knock-off.  I have had a lot of opportunities over the years to buy name-brand merchandise at what had to be knock-off prices, and I never buy them; I feel it penalizes the original seller and causes them to raise prices to cover the costs of "outing" the pirates.  That having been said, I can't think of anything to do to  mitigate this error on my part.  They may break down while still new, and that will be my penalty for not paying attention to this.

We have survived the last gasp of winter earlier this week, when we had a lovely snowfall.  That is, it was the kind that sticks to the trees and leaves the roads clear.  But along with it was a 25 degree low that night, and our jonquils, ready to bloom, froze, even though they were covered.  Drat.  Every fall we resolve to put in more bulbs than the bunch next to the steps, and every year we forget until spring, when everyone else has loads of flowers and we have 12 or so.  If we don't plant bulbs this fall, then we probably won't even have that many.  And to be really strange, it is time to mow now, and some of the neighbors have done that today.   Strange weather.

The horses have been outside mostly this week.  We have been unable to find a source for wood shavings to put in their stalls, and so they need to be out as long as the weather is not brutal.  They have cover to go to where we feed them hay and grain, and although they don't have the brains to come in out of the rain, they could if they wanted to.

One of our neighbors recently got two beagle pups to train for hunting (what?  I don't know.  Rabbits?) and they are in a kennel with a dog house nearly all the time.  When they see anyone - the kids playing, other dogs, etc. etc. - they bark.  Not really bark; they howl.  It is driving me crazy.  The odd thing is, we borrowed the kennel when our Newfs were puppies, so the one-year old pup wouldn't get too rambunctious with the 10 week old one.  We alternated who was in and who was out, and moved the kennel every couple of days to be in the shade and on un-trampled grass.  We really appreciated the use of it, but the neighbor has yet to move the kennel to a fresh spot, and about half the time the pups have their doghouse upside down.  I'd like it if they moved them to the back of their property, so the howling would be muffled somewhat, but I know that won't happen.  And just so you know, our dogs have about one acre fenced and none of it near the neighbors, and they don't bark unless someone is in the driveway.  If then.

Back to the laundry.

Bumper sticker of the day:  "Wouldn't it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for 10 minutes and come out wrinkle free and three sizes smaller?"

P.S.  I changed the font here, as I found the original too hard to read.  I think I like this one, but I'll have to get used to it.  What do you think?

Do you remember?

When all the girls had to wear skirts to school (no minis either)

When kids could ride their bikes home after school.  Without helmets .

When no one warned kids of anything except "don't talk to strangers"

When milk cost $1 a gallon

When the Sunday comics were 4 pages long, both sides

Telephone party lines, and the guilty pleasure of eavesdropping

The automatic outward fling of the driver's right hand if there was a sudden stop and kids in the front seat (no seat belts or car seats)

Hand turn signals

Stop signs everywhere instead of traffic lights

When girls wearing shorts didn't have to decide whether to pull them down to cover their butt, up to cover their muffin top or just pick the seam out of their crack.                      

When you cashed your paycheck and put the money in envelopes for each bill to be paid.

Hula hoops, and the one the neighbor gave us.  I bet it really wasn't too big for her son.

When bullies were a fact of life and you learned to avoid them at all times.

Remember when coffee cans opened with a metal key fastened to the bottom of the can?

When Bic pens left blobs of ink when you wrote with them


Some of these have hugely improved now, so no, I don't get too nostalgic for the old days. 

Bumper Sticker for the day:  "Yet, despite the look on my face, you're still talking."

                                                                                                                                                                      

Moving along

I spend so much time reading the Knitters Paradise forum that I don't have time to knit.  But I received some lovely yarn that has inspired me to get going again.  If I actually finish something I will post a photo here.  I know, you are breathless with anticipation, right?  I forgive you if you're not.

We went to visit my only living aunt and uncle on Sunday.  She is on hospice, with COPD, and caught a flu bug three weeks ago that landed her in the hospital for three days.  Then a stomach bug, for another emergency trip to the hospital for fluids, etc.  Both have taken a real toll on her stamina, and she is now on hospice care, and although her Alzheimer's is still there, she was pretty sharp during our visit.  Her coughing made me hurt, just to listen to; and my uncle is looking so tired himself.  They get a fair amount of visiting aides/nurses/and even her doctor once a week (who knew doctors anywhere still make house calls?) but day-to-day it is up to my uncle to be there. 

I know I don't want to go by inches; my grandad had a heart attack while painting his eaves, and was gone immediately.  My mom and dad just slipped away, but both were in sad shape by then.  When I show up at the pearly gates I want St. Peter to say "Wow! You look great for your age!"  Old joke.

We also put spring flowers on the graves for my parents and sister and aunt, Now if only the weather would match the flowers.  So far all we have are tiny green stubs peeking out of the ground. 

My DS got laid off last week.  It is a long tale, but I won't bore you.  The new regional director started this week, and tomorrow DS is going to talk to him.  I know he is nervous, but if he can relax he is very well-spoken.  At the minimum he will find out the main reason he was laid off.  Poor business?  Uncertainty about his position's duties?  Any information will be welcome at this point.

However, there are a lot of job opportunities in the area right now, so he should be able to find another position.  Lots of new construction in the area, and all the ancillary jobs that creates.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "A walk in the woods helps me relax and release tension.  The fact that I am dragging a body should be entirely irrelevant."

Swap packages

I have been doing monthly swap packages on the Knitting Paradise forum.  This where the coordinator pairs up knitters and each one makes up a package to send their package in that month's color.  This month the color is brown.  I am finding it really hard to find brown things in any category (other than chocolate and yarn) and not much in a tan color either.  I have been picking things up even before the swap partner has been chosen, and I think I will need every bit of the month to finish it.  It is fun, though.  There is a suggested price range also, but I never pay too much attention to it.

I have been under the weather this week, fighting off a cold/flu and finally feel half human today.  We have all shared it in the family, and we all sneeze and honk together.  Yesterday C broke his glasses, and last week R broke hers.  Coincidence?  Maybe not.  Maybe broken things are contagious too!  You never know...

Tomorrow I will finally find out my lab results from January.  Presumably if there had been something dire someone would have called, right?  I will see.  I called the dr. office yesterday to give them a heads up on getting the results, and they called yesterday to confirm my appt., and to let me know the results are in my folder.  I don't remember what was tested.  Or why.

I got a DVD on loom knitting yesterday.  I watched the first demo on making a hat, and I didn't find much new there.  I am hoping the rest of the lessons cover some of the stitches other than ssk, which is all I have been doing on the loom so far.  I have two books of patterns, and the diagrams of the advanced projects is confusing.  Hoping a visual reference will clarify things.  I also got a box of yarn today, 17 little skeins, just the thing for making stripes on a hat or scarf.  Meanwhile I finished my latest scarf on the knitting machine, and it looks good if I do say so myself.  Then I lubricated the knitting carriage and the needle bed and now the carriage just zooms! across the bed.  No more sore shoulders for me... I also leveled the bed, added another clamp to prevent it from shifting, blew the crud out of the needle grooves and checked for bent needles (there aren't any).  Now I am making a cover to go over it so it doesn't collect more cat hair.  But I must be careful to not make the cover too cozy or they will sleep on top of it instead on the window ledge.

Firefox just crashed, must tie this up for now.

Bumpersticker for the day:  "I'm not always sarcastic; sometimes I mean it." crashedfor                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Laundry

I hate to do laundry.

By the time I get it sorted, washed, dried, hung up or folded and put away, the dirty clothes hamper is full again.  Rinse.  Repeat.

So guess what I am doing today?

The temperature here is a stiff 15 degrees, after 55 yesterday morning.  I want to go to somewhere warm, but that would only make returning worse.  So I crank up the space heaters and sit with my knees nearly in them.  At least we finally got propane for our tank, it is used for the furnace and the stove, and the bill was $$$$ and the driver said he was about to run out and return to the gas facility to fill HIS tank next.  Next year we will be sure to top off the tank in the fall, and not have to worry about a bitter winter and running out.  If we had lost power this winter in one of the storms, I don't know what we would have done for heating; the thermostat and the fan both need electricity to make the furnace work.  I think we have a  kerosene heater we could use; otherwise, it's all of us in the local Ramada  Inn.  Including all the house cats.  Let's don't think about that.

I spent several hours reading the knitting forum, and I feel constrained somewhat from saying here on the blog what I think about various posts on the knitting site, because my signature there includes a link to here.  Just in general terms, then:  A lot of the posts are of photographs of knitted or crocheted projects, with some variety of "What do you think?" as the post.  And everyone says, wow, great, lovely, etc., often several pages of this, including requests for the pattern.  But what I think about some (not all) of them is EWWW, tuck it away from the light of day and pretend it isn't there.  And rip up the pattern too.  But of course that is too too mean, hence the Wows.  And when I read posts about how ungrateful some family member is about the amount of work it took to make, say, an afghan, that gets used for a dog bed, and so on, I think, HMMMM.  I wonder if I and the giftee have the same thought.  Anyway, I don't see the attraction of knitting in purple and orange with highlights of fuchsia,  unless it is for a dog bed.  There.  That's what I'd say if it wasn't so mean.

I personally spend a lot of time matching the pattern to the yarn.  When  I used to make some of my clothes (back in prehistoric times), I finally figured out that the best fabric and colors to use were the ones on the face of the pattern envelope.  If it was shown in solid fabric, don't make it in a floral.  I also learned that the feel of fabric is pretty irrelevant to the actual dress, because (of course!) no one goes around feeling the fabric of a dress.  Except me, and then I don't buy it if the thing itself is ugly.  And there is a lot of ugly clothing out there, believe me.  I like to shop at a super discounted store where there are returned items, product overruns, discontinued things, all for half price or less.  And so I see a lot of rejected clothing and wonder what they were smoking when the designer came up with some of these things.  Or who got the kickback.  Hit it with an ugly stick.

Well, the dryer is dinging at me, so back to laundry.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Don't let your mind wander, it's too small to be let out on its own."

 

Extraordinary Lives

I found this on the knitting forum I follow and thought it would bear repeating here:

Make the Ordinary Come Alive

Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is a way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.

By William Martin | Illustration by Hasebe Yutaka

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Live so your memories will be part of your happiness."

Damned snow is back.

I hate to blog about the weather, but this season is really getting to me.  We had heavy icy snow Sunday night and the roads on Monday were incredibly awful.  My son stayed home, he had brought some work home on Friday and worked online.  My daughter, who works in a family medicine office, had her dad drive her to and from the hospital.  They had 35% cancellations for the day.  I cancelled my ortho appointment and finally got in for my cortisone shot this morning.  Relief, it is like magic how fast it works, but only at 3 month intervals.
 

 This is a 'light' snowfall from last week.  The wind chimes got a work-out too.

 This is AllWhite sitting in the snow instead of cuddling up in the heated garage. 

I'm wearing my Alaska sweatshirt today, I think we got their weather and they got ours.

Bumper Sticker for the day:  "I know I am supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting hard to find any."

It's spring, right?

We are having an unusual type of weather, warm and sunny.  All the snow has melted, slowly enough to not overrun the drains.  Cold weather is supposed to return next week, but meanwhile I am grateful for this reprieve.  We actually went shopping for an hour or so, not just to the grocery store for need-it-now food.  The horses' stalls are clean and they are outside for the first time in 2 months, poor babies.  That also means C can clean the stalls without the horses in them, a big benefit.  And we have enough dog food, cat food, horse food, bird food and people food for a while.

I even went through Walmart without buying any yarn, yeah me.  I am still trying to store the yarn I already have in some way where I can see most of it.  Someone suggested a shoe storage container with a zip-up clear window, if I can just figure out where to put it.  Right now the bathroom is the one with the most floor space, but it is too humid in there for yarn.  I try to actually discard and re-purpose things, and not just "churn" the contents.  I am trying to decide what to do with the jeans that are too small, should I keep them while I am dieting (sigh), or get rid of them?  My entire closet needs a major overhaul, but I am short on enthusiasm for such a project.  Maybe a little at a time.

I have my Color Wheel swap package for the Knitting forum I follow, nearly ready to ship, I just need a longer box.  This month's swap color is gold, and I lucked out finding some nice stuff at the local discount store (in addition to yarn), similar to TJ Maxx.  I hope it pleases, I always overspend the limit and have to prevent myself from buying every neat thing I see.  For one thing, the box needs to have only unbreakable stuff, and things that are not too heavy, as shipping costs are really pricey.  I know the USPS is constantly raising their cost, on stamps and on parcels, and yet maintaining that they need to raise them even more to keep running.  If they stopped giving mass mailers such discounts, maybe we would save trees from being cut down to make the paper which we throw away as soon as they arrive.  Grumble grumble.

The weather has prevented me from getting my hair cut, it is the longest I have had it in years.  Well,  the shortest was  the bald look I sported during the chemo.  It is still thinner than it used to be, I guess some of it just didn't recover after the chemo ended.  When it is long-ish the way it is now, the thinness especially shows.  Maybe this week I'll get it cut, now that the roads are clear.  Have a little me-time.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "If your car could travel at the speed of light, would the headlights still work? "

(Cut to the chase -- yes they would.  Really.  But what would you see?)

Computers and other gadgets

This little  MacBook laptop is getting a little temperamental as it ages.  I shouldn't be surprised, as it is around 8 years old, but I am quite fond of it.  Not, however fond enough to put money into it.  2 years ago I replaced the hard drive with a 500GB one, which is ridiculously large.  At one point I had the drive partitioned into mac and windows, so I could run windows programs (mainly Family Tree Maker) on it.  But the latest versions of that program now run on the Mac (I am told) so if I want to I can install it again.  It seemed so weird to have the familiar windows opening screens on here.

I hear that it is now possible to buy a new computer (HP) for $150 less, with Windows 7 installed instead of Win8.  Because win 8 is such a dog.  My desktop is running win7 and I quite like it, once I got used to it, replacing a win xp that went haywire.  We at least have found a place that recycles old computers, cellphones, printers, etc. so they don't end up in a landfill somewhere.  And for free, no less.  Now if I can only find someone who will take 500 books or so; maybe if we take them to the library, a box or two at a time.  There are even  more in the attic, but I don't want to think about them.

I got my latest swap box from a fellow knitting knut, aqua this time.  It was great, and included more YARN! of course.  I have revamped my secondary stockpile of yarn to hold more, separated by boxes so that I can remove skeins without having the entire pile fall down on me, probably smothering me, how embarrassing.  Of course it is 2/3 full already, and I am still open to more acquisitions.  A lifetime supply already.  It is hard to explain to non-knitters (or crocheters, etc.) the lure of a warm fuzzy hank of lovely colored yarn, but the truth is I had collected a fair amount of yarn even before I learn to (poorly) knit.  Now I machine knit, which zooms through yarn at an amazing clip, once the fiddly pattern making is selected for the row.  I still try to knit by hand, I made a pair of mittens, but the quality of my knitting is really poor, dropped stitches, twisted ones, uneven tension so there are big and little stitches, you name it.  And of course it is really slow going.  I am currently experimenting with looming, it looks like a kids' toy, but can produce some lovely things once I get the hang of it.  It is faster than handknittting (for me) and best of all it uses bulky and super bulky yarn, which won't fit on the machine and which works up in much fewer rows.

Anyway, enough of that.

The menfolk are outside trying to clear the driveway and parking area of the latest snowfall, 4 inches last night.  Our driveway is a mess, it is a continuous surprise that we don't slide into each other while parking.  I hate this and want it to be spring.  Not as badly as the shovelers do, I am certain.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Lead me not into temptation.  I know the way."

The weather is still freezing

And that's all I'm going to say.  Cabin fever.  Boredom.

Knitting, when my hands will co-operate.

This is a pattern for this knitted cardigan that I got from a helpful person on the Knitting Paradise forum.  I'm actually hoping to find someone to make it for me, as it is way too complex for me currently, but meanwhile I can admire the photo.  Isn't it neat?  It was from a knitting brochure from Sirdar yarn back around 15 years ago, but they are OK (copy rite way) with passing this along as long as it isn't sold.

My hands are too cold to type, I'm going to have to stop for now and bring in a little heater.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism."