HOT

I really do not like this heat. I get all sweaty and itchy when I go outdoors. I have enough trouble with my own personal power surges to spend any "quality" time outdoors right now. It's dash out the door, check the tomatoes, dash back in. My talents lie more indoors: cooking, knitting, singing and playing, etc.

Bryan took Richard yesterday morning for an over-nighter. I've been cleaning all day. Saturday I rested and played. It's hard to even clean when he's here because he follows me around so close and wants to help but...doesn't help even when he tries.

I really need to get rid of some of my "stuff". (Not knitting stuff or music stuff but other stuff.) I seem to have too much furniture for the size of our house but I have several antiques that I absolutely love and the rest of the furniture is necessary for sitting upon or eating upon, so I'm sort of caught between a rock and hard place. (How many of us still eat at the table or do you just trot your plates to TV trays in front of the you-know-what? I'll bet we're not the only ones who do that when it's just the 2 of us!) Anyhow, back to subject, with 2 families living in one house, it's a challenge. We get along just fine but we are crowded. That's okay, I'll really miss them when they leave.

I cut up an ice cream sandwich for Carter the other day and he stared at it a bit (didn't recognize it) picked it up dropped it and said "hot!" which makes sense if you think about it. He knows hot cause he burned his fingers on the iron awhile back. He has learned to jump up in the air and both his feet actually leave the ground at the same time. He's been working really hard on learning that. I don't remember all this stuff from my own kids. Either they're too old, I'm too old, or I was just too busy to take note of these exquisite little moments.

I finally got control of my Forest Canopy Shawl and it's coming along fine now. I can work on it in a group now but it took a while. Yesterday I was at Gourmet Yarn in the afternoon and had to laugh. There was a big crowd and everyone was pawing through the bags of Noro Sock Yarn both Kureyon and Silk Garden. The colors are so absolutely beautiful it's almost impossible to resist it--and I didn't. I brought home 1 skein of S8--greens and blues for probably socks, and 2 of S264 which is turquoise-y and light brown-ish and blue and who knows what other colors are in there that I can't see yet but the whole things looks like my sister so I think she'll be getting a scarf for her birthday or Christmas. It was really funny, Sandy and David were trying to put price stickers on the lables and they couldn't keep up with us. Linda P. came by with Nina and it was good to see them and hear a little bit about camp, but she was headed home for a nap and a ballgame--at the same time I think! Polly was there and Liz and Karen and Martha, and some others but I don't remember who all. I've got to take some pictures and post of my new stuff and projects.

I watched "The Other Boelyn Girl" last night. Good movie but what a terrible time to have lived--royalty being so difficult and all. English history is facinating. I've always enjoyed the Phillippa Gregory books even though uit's been a while since I read them. I'm planning to watch "Knocked UP" this afternoon. I saw the "Waterhorse' a couple weeks ago and it's really cute. I finished "1st. to Die" by James Patterson-wow. I've ordered "@nd Chance" now-I think I'll need to read the whole series. I'm reading "Final Notice" by Jo Dereske a Helma Zukas, Librarian mystery. They're pretty entertaining.

I am so aggravated that Guild was cancelled this month. I coildn't go last month but I can this month but now I can't cause we aren't having it. I should have just invited everyone over to my house!

For now, I think it's lunch time-guess I'll go see what leftovers I have in the fridge! Then possibly nap time if all goes well! toodles, Anita

Knitting progress and philosphical thoughts

I noticed last night that an adorable darling 15-month-old grandson is just a smidgen less adorable when he won’t go to sleep at 3:00-5:00 am. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and happy. Ya gotta smile back at him even through bleary eyes.

My Lady E is just 9 tiers short of being finished and fringed! I’ve mastered the skill of “knitting backwards” on this project too.

My long suffering /neglected socks are now having their little heels turned and they seem very happy about that. Don’t ask me how I know that, I just do….. And my Miss Priss Clara Barton colorway multi-directional scarf is about halfway through. You might ask (or not) how I’m accomplishing so much knitting suddenly. WELL! For the last 19 days, I’ve been hosting an author at several of our library branches who is doing a book talk and discussion about one of her books (it’s Rilla Askew and Fire in Beulah—a pretty amazing book—I recommend it) and while she talks-I knit! I’ve heard her talk many times but I can still knit and listen so I’m really making progress! It’s wonderful to be able to knit at work. :) !

I’ve been participating in the “10 on Tuesday” thingy you might have noticed and the one for last week was “10 Wonderful Things (or Things I Love) About My Life”. And to my dismay, I couldn’t think of 10 things. The Zomig is supposed to take care of that I thought but apparently not. And then just this week I started listening to “20 Wishes” by Debbie Macomber and so I’ve decided to sort of play the Glad Game (remember Pollyanna?) and try to get myself out of this bog I’m mired in. Yes, a lot of life is kind of stink-y right now but a lot of life isn’t! I’ll keep you posted as I come up with my 10 things and/or 20 wishes.

Is anybody reading this blog? I’ve said I write it for me but it’s nice if it gets read. I seldom get any commentss (and I’ve noticed I haven’t been added to some of my friend’s “favorite blogs to read” lists….just joking) It’s okay. So if you drop by, stop and say hi! Okay?

Toodles……Anita

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Out of my mind......

My grandson Carter has been sick. He made it all the way to one full year and two weeks before he got an ear infection, but he's got one in both ears! And both eyes are practically swollen shut. Poor little guy...but the Amoxycillan kicked butt and took names (so to speak) and he's so much better tonight. (I've never really quite understood that expression but for some reason I've always like it? go figure)

I read in a friends blog about the loss of a new life and I feel so sad for her and her family. Sometimes things can seem nearly unbearable. I know that for a fact as I'm sure most of us do.

I really love my mysteries, Janet Evanovich is a hoot. I try to read things that make me laugh--I know mysteries and laughter seem mutually exclusive but some of them are funny. Have you ever read the Southern Sisters series by Anne George? They are laugh-out-loud hilarious. Sadly she passed away after only 7 books. I belong to the OK. State Literacy Coalition and am chairing the "cookbook" committee. It's tougher than pulling hen's teeth to drag recipes from everyone. They want to share them it just seems tough to do it. I understand. If I have to I'll just put in all my favorites and make up names of contributors to go along with them! So if you see your name in a cookbook, think nothing of it.....Billie Letts (Where the Heart Is and more) says she gets all her characters by studying strangers.

Knitting: finally finished the comfort shawl and hope to deliver it tomorrow night. Bought my Noro Silk Garden for the Lady Eleanor. Remembered today that I bought yarn for a Ms. Greenjeans, and still want to make a rounb washcloth which I never have. Got two multidirectional scarves going. And the ever faithful (same) pair of socks! And I've got to stop knitting from time to time and work on my Sudoku puzzle. Is anyone else hooked on those? In my opinion it takes a rocket scientist to do a crossword but I can do sudokus.

There was something I really wanted to talk about tonight, but it seems to have left me....

About a month ago, my husband (the one with with Alzeimer's) (well actually my only husband) was stopped for running a stop sign and his driver's license is being revoked. To add insult to injury the ticket cost $172, those stop signs are expensive. Anyhow, it's been a rough few weeks. He's very angry but the funny part is he knows his truck isn't working (hmmmm imagine that) but he forgets he doesn't have a license. This is such a strange disease. I hate it.

I think I'll post a picture. This is on the ship our last night at sea headed home from Alaska. The moon was so pretty shining on the water that I tried to capture it.

toodles....

Noticing

Wow! Where does the time go. It's been two whole weeks since I've posted. Life is just too fast, has anybody else noticed that?


speaking of noticing, I've been noticing something about my stash. It's inadequate. I have lots of yarn but I don't seem to have enough of anything to make more than a scarf. I'm not sure why this is. Used to be that I couldn't afford to buy large amounts of nicer yarns (I can now if I want to) so I'd just buy 1-2-3 skeins or hanks of something for--probably a scarf! Another variation of my problem was that I'd buy enough but never could find a pattern that fit the yarn so I began only buying larger amounts when I already had a pattern selected. But that doesn't seem to have worked either. Either I lose interest in the pattern or lose the pattern itself! So now I can't decide whether to keep all these 1-2 skeins or get rid of them. I do like to make scarves and lots of them will work for mittens too, but still.... I know Linda keeps a store--I mean stash--so when she finds something she wants to make, she's ready. That rarely happens for me. What are your buying habits? Tell me what you think I should do with all my bits and pieces. I might add that I've grown quite attached to some of them. ;)

On the needles: I've got about 3 more rows and bind off, then block my comfort shawl. I think that it's just warm and cozy enough. I'm going to put some buttons on it so it can be worn over the shoulders without falling off.
I'm back to working on my socks that I've had going since August I think, maybe longer. Time to finish. I only have 3 pair of socks that I've made and I'm wearing them out.
I finally started the Baby Alpaca Grande Vest but of course I bought the wrong yarn so I'm having to adjust the pattern. I think it will work out. If not...there's always the frog pond!

I'm reading Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs. If you like CSI or those types of shows, she's perfect for you. I just finished Tell-Tale Horse by Rita Mae Brown, another good author.

Singing: I've lost my picks so I can't play my autoharp. They've got to be around here somewhere. Sometimes I think I live next door to a black hole the way things seem to vanish.
So choir is my current singing outlet. good training.

Clog: well clogging has definitely taken a back burner. I'm planning to go to a workshop in Texas in March if I can get away. There are just sooo many things to do and not enough time to do them all! I'm definitely going to have to be re-incarnated eventually.

toodles, Anita