Really Rambling Around

So many things to write about today! I had to catch Nakeyta today, she somehow slipped off her chain again… we are pretty sure that she is getting help, because if the chain isn’t broken and her collar is still on, how does she get the chain unhooked from the collar? She’s smart, but not * that * smart! Or at least, not that coordinated! The good part is that all I did was walk outside, call her name, and she came running right to me. Usually she runs right to me and PAST me because she wants to play “catch me!” So this was a nice change. Right now as I write this, she is on a chair pad by the computer (writing at home to post later at the library), being the sweetest, quietest puppy ever seen. She is so cute! Yep, proud mommy here…

Also found a photo of Mom with her coleus this summer. She has Grandma’s green thumb; I have a purple thumb. Her flower garden is gorgeous! Even in the winter she has it pretty; she put fake flowers out! Wish I had been there last week when the ice storm hit, to take photos; she said that the flowers were covered with so much ice that they were three times their original size. Bet that would have been quite a sight! Even though I missed it, I did get this picture in September; this huge coleus is actually planted in a coffee can! Root-bound much???!!! Also got a photo of Sarah the Llama. I really want to make a sign for mom’s house that says “Mama’s Llamas,” it just sounds SO cute!!!

Then, thanks to the beloved digi-cam, I finally got photos of the shirt I made for Alanda, and her cloak. I used the sewing machine for the shirt, but the cloak I made before I borrowed the machine, so it is sewn entirely by hand. And amazingly, not a single bloodstain on it! Stunned that my fingers were still attached by the time I was done…

OK, got the word that I only have five minutes left, so better get this uploaded….

I weigh HOW much???

Basically, this is the expression on Alanda's face when she read the scales at the doctor's office this week. Then I took my foot off the scale....

My bruises should be gone in a month or two! {LOL}

Actually, in this photo she was reacting to my joking around with my buddy John. Chick has no sense of humor! Of course, she had had a long day that day, school and 4H and little sleep. Excuses, excuses...

New semester starts next Monday. What a way to start something new, with a MONDAY. Oh well, thank the gods that * I * am done with all that!

A Thousand Words

Yes, I actually took a photo to prove that I cleaned and organized my cupboard! Isn’t it pretty? Now if I could only get the rest of the cupboards looking this good… time, give me time, it will happen… even this year! I promise!

Now why did I make a stupid promise like that?

Put twelve things on my to-do list for today. If I actually make it to town and get this posted, that will be one item I can cross off. Wow, there is a total of eight things that require me to go to town. So naturally it is snowing like a bee-jee-suss…look on the positive side, at least the flakes are gently falling and not blowing in a big old blizzard. Ugh, what a depressing thought! Would be much prettier to look at if I didn’t have to walk with Liam tomorrow to the dentist after school. And I know the white stuff isn’t going to go away before then…

Items in progress in the yarn department of my life: cabled scarf for me, baby blanket for the art teacher. Things to make by the end of next month: baby blanket for the counselor at the elementary, hat for Ben, apples for Ben and John, cabled wrist-warmers to match my scarf, new hat with cables (hopefully a little more snug than the one I wear now, beautiful colors and fun pattern to knit, but has been stretched out a lot since I first made it). Things to make within the next four months: baby blanket for new step-nephew, baby blanket for Mom’s friend at work, baby blanket for friend’s new grandson. Things to make during the rest of my lifetime: no, don’t think I’ll list those, there isn’t enough room on the Internet!

Randy Travis Concert, and other Pix

Went to see Randy Travis in concert at Hillsdale County Fair back in September of 2006. This was Alanda's second concert; her first was Randy Travis in Hillsdale in September of 1989! Not that she remembered it, being only four months old at the time. But this one she will remember for a long time, especially as I got to take photos this time. And FINALLY got the film developed this month for my late birthday present!!!
This is the best one, I had to share it with everyone. Randy Travis is so cool, even if he does sing that twangy stuff...

And of course, had to add a picture of the kids, from the digital camera that I don't have to wait for developing! I love this option! Especially since I have Eddy the Computer at home! If I had to go to the library to download, it could be a problem. BUT who cares! I can do pictures!!! Me so happy.... thank you, Carole, again! And again and again and again....

Babies, babies, everywhere!

Either there is something in the water (good thing I drink Pepsi!) or there was a party I wasn’t invited to (wouldn’t have gone anyway; I’m in hermit mode until spring). Whichever, there are new babies all over in my life!

In no particular order…

Marie has a new grandson, named Ethan, isn’t he an absolute doll! Grandkids are great; spoil them and send them home! (No, I don’t have any of my own, and it better stay that way for a *long* time!)

My sister’s stepdaughter had a baby boy last week, his name is James, and I don’t have any photos yet. Big surprise, since I don’t even have any photos of the stepdaughter! Shoot, I’m lucky to get photos of my sister! Found a bunch from when we were little, but recent ones are few and far between…

The counselor at my son’s elementary school had a baby boy during the Christmas Break (December 22, to be exact). She should be back to work next month, so I have time to make a blanket; I didn’t know ahead of time, because I only got to see her a few times at the beginning of the school year and she was really NOT showing. I didn’t get his name yet…

The art teacher at the high school is currently pregnant; my oldest daughter has her for art and last semester my youngest daughter had her for Spanish. My mom has a friend at work that is pregnant, not due for quite awhile yet (but boy -- how time flies). And finally, George’s niece Cherish is pregnant. If there is anyone else in the family that is in the family way, nobody has bothered to tell us yet… I think that six babies/babies-in-progress is enough for now! My fingers are starting to hurt already, thinking of all the blankets to be made…. Oh yes, let’s not forget that I have a friend with a pregnant friend. So I guess that makes seven; I probably won’t be asked to make a blanket for the friend’s friend, but one never knows! Maybe if I don’t mention it to the friend, and stop knitting or crocheting or sewing whenever he is around so that maybe he will forget that I do that…. Nope, *that* ain’t going to happen! After all, this is the friend that I knitted a six-foot scarf for one year, and he still has the crocheted octopus that I made him for Christmas about, let me see, twenty-one years ago. Oh lord, now I am really depressed, it can’t have been that long!!! But my oldest is almost eighteen, and we were friends about four years before she was conceived (NO, not by this male friend!!!)… Jeez, time really does fly by! Seems like only last week that we met at the library…

Yep, I got some good, long-time friends! And so far, none of them are pregnant this month…

Blankies

This is a photo of the very first blanket/bedspread that I ever crocheted. Granny squares, 48 of the little stinkers, made from whatever scrap yarn I could find or beg from Grandma. I gave it to my sister for her birthday that year, I don't even know what year it was now. That's how long I have been doing these things. Rumor has it that my mother still has the blanket safely tucked away. (Knowing her house, and the field mice that sneak in when the cats are watching satellite TV, I don't know if "safely" is the most accurate term...)

I like making granny squares, they are portable and second-nature. I used to make them during my breaks at work, sitting in the cafeteria with my eyes closed, crocheting away at 50 miles per hour. Once, I made a bedspread for a friend's graduation, and in the time crunch I was actually working on it in the car at stop lights. And sometimes at go lights... but I got it done in time!

I'm making a granny square baby blanket for one of the high school teachers. Or I was until I got sidetracked into making Christmas gifts. Now that THAT is over, I can get back to the baby blankie. It's about two-thirds done, so no worries mate...

Here is the bedspread I spent about two years making for my friend Rick. Notice that this one is NOT granny squares, hence the lengthy work-time. When it's a huge (full-size bed) one-piece, the blanket gets pretty heavy after a point, and in the summer heat you do NOT want to be working on a fifty-pound blanket! Plus, couldn't tote the pieces around in a little tote bag to work on in odd moments. But, after all that and then some, I did get it finished and even delivered to Rick. I was even fortunate enough to get there on a day when he had film in his Polaroid, so I was able to get this picture of him with the blanket on his bed. Have more on the film in my Real Camera, to be developed in 50 or so years when I get the film used. The yarns used in this are Mexicana Variegated, Royal Blue, Purple, Emerald Green, and Black. All Red Heart brand. All bought brand new just for this project, an event that doesn't occur very often!

So, keep an eye out here for more pix, thanks to Wonderful Carole and my digie cam!

SNOWDROPS IN JANUARY

Here's another example of why I'm glad I got that digital camera for Christmas! These snowdrops were blooming just last week; if I had taken a photo with the Real Camera, the film *might* get developed before NEXT January. But thanks to the miracles of modern technology, and Carole, I can share this photo with you now, even though two days later the white stuff decided to cover our lawn and kill off the pretty flowers.

As I sit here at home typing this for the library, I glanced out the window and see that the Goddess needs some Selsun Blue Shampoo; Her dandruff is all over the place and more wafting down as I write. How sad. I just don't care for the cold, I would probably see the prettiness easier if it were warm. If that makes no sense, sorry. *I* know what I mean! I never did like the snow-in-the-poppyfield scene in Wizard of Oz, snow belongs in pretty little jars with scenery... safely enclosed where it can do no harm. Brrr....

Have been working on my cabled scarf while watching Rachael Ray. Nowhere near as close to done as I would like to be, but it's getting there. I took a photo to show the pretty colors and plain cables, and in my infinite creativity (LOL) I wanted to share my discovery of the latest Cable Needle Replacement. Ah, the advantages of using large needles and double yarn; a pencil works so well to make cables with! Judging from the walk to the library, I better get the fingers flying and get the scarf finished...COLD!!!

Have accomplished one goal for the New Year: 51 weeks to go! I got my kitchen drawers cleaned out and organized. Well, the ones by the sink, at least. The ones in the huge-ass cupboard are PIPs: Projects In Progress. I plan to move around the "furniture" in the kitchen, my microwave cart and the cupboards and the hutch, THEN I can clean the cupboard drawers and cupboards. That's a scary thought; if I don't post for a while, send the Marines to do Search & Rescue! What's the current reward for finding Jimmy Hoffa? I could use a few bucks, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find him in the back of one of these cupboards. I *have* to get the cupboards re-organized, as I got some boxes of pans and dishes and other kitcheny miscellanea. I am the Queen of Hand-me-downs; unlike some people, I have absolutely no problem accepting someone's cast-offs. Just don't tell me that you have dishpan hands from washing everything before you brought it to me, when it is obvious even to my poor eyesight that these pans haven't seen the inside of a sink since Reagan's presidency! OK, I'm done venting now... I don't mind cleaning the stuff, after all it's not like I paid a fortune for it (my favorite four-letter "F" word: FREE!). I just hate the recovery from scrubbing, stupid arthritis anyway.

Finished re-reading Delores Stewart Riccio's Circle of Five, Charmed Circle, The Divine Circle of Ladies Making Mischief, and am now re-reading The Divine Circle of Ladies Courting Trouble. Don't you just love books that you can re-read and enjoy as much the second (third, fourth...) time as you did the first time! The Tory O'Shea mysteries by Rett MacPherson are another series I can read repeatedly. And of course the Appalachian mysteries by Sharyn McCrumb. Recently re-read If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him, was just as good this time around. (With a title like that, how could it be anything BUT fabulous!)

OK, time to finish this posting, go read Ross the Intern's blog and Dusty's blog, and check today's free pattern from Annie's Attic. Then sneak over to FrankTalk and read Ruthi's column instead of waiting for the published copy to be delivered tomorrow. Ah, the advantages of the Internet!!!