Plains Girl

This is a test

2010-02-02T19:52:00.001-06:00

Trying to post from my phone

My sweet girl is gone

2009-07-25T11:32:00.003-05:00

She died at home in my arms on July 15.

My lap is too too empty, and cold
the soft resting head no longer there to warm it.
No comfort to be found, no furry body to stroke
my quiet companion gone . . . .

My heart is broken, there are no other words
to write it - this empty ache, this space
you filled, loving always, never judging . . .
My friend has left, and my hands, arms, all
helpless to stop it.

Little one, fly free, where the fields are green
and filled with friends gone before. I will
carry you always, your pawprints ever beating,
running joyously to greet me whenever I call
and memory stirs in my heart...

(from http://www.petmemorialjewelry.com/cat-memorial-jewelry.html)

It's time for Le Tour de Fleece 2009!

2009-06-24T11:10:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year again--time to think about Le Tour de Fleece! I have two relatively simple goals:

1) Finish spinning the alpaca from Donna at Indian Meridian Weavery. I've been working on this for almost a year, and I'm almost done! This will not take very long; in fact, I may actually finish it before the Tour starts. If so, I'll add a new goal.

2) Spin the Wensleydale I bought from Louder Colours Farm at last year's Rendezvous event. This has been washed and dyed, and I hope to use it in a future weaving project.

I'll have more later as we get closer to the Tour's start date. I'll also have a completed knitting project and a new one to show!

Stay cool!

Happy Bobmas, everybody!

2009-04-10T17:02:00.003-05:00

On this, the great eve of Bobmas, Maggie and I would like to wish you a terrific holiday weekend, no matter what holiday you celebrate:

Happy Bobmas! from Ravelry on Vimeo

Hello there . . .

2009-03-29T10:33:00.004-05:00

I'm still here. What can I say? The last several months have been trying, to say the least, and I just haven't had the inclination to write. Sorry for that. This year seems to have it in for me, that's all I can say.

I won't go into the past except to say that things have been very stressful the last few months, and I've had a hard time keeping my chin up. At times like these, I tend to retreat into myself even more than normal, so please forgive me for not being around. Right now being at home and in the quiet is the thing I want most.

I have been doing fiberly things, though. I did finish the Undulating Waves Scarf; unfortunately, it's still sitting around, waiting to be blocked (I really need to buy some blocking wires). I'm very proud of that scarf--it's lace, my first knitting with beads and from a graph. I also knit a couple of cute short scarves with my handspun--one from fiber from Jesse's A Piece of Vermont and the other from some fiber I dyed a few years ago at the OkieFiber Retreat. At some point I'll get some photos up, I promise--I absolutely LOVE them (too bad the weather here lately has been way too warm to wear much in the way of outerwear). I finished a pair of plain vanilla socks and have almost finished a second pair. (I had a week off at Christmas, I got a lot done!)

I'm spinning quite a bit, as well. I'm over halfway finished with all the alpaca I bought from Donna at the Indian Meridian Weavery. My original plan had been to knit a shawl, but my Christmas gift this year was a 24" Kromski rigid heddle loom, so I've now decided to weave it instead. I have a "sort of" goal to get this all finished by the end of the summer and enter it in the State Fair, but we'll see. I'm not very good much with goals any more.

I love the loom--I've woven a few things and, of course, bought a lot of yarn for projects (my stash has not been suffering at all, believe me). In fact, I hope to get another project started today. I've voluntered to help with a rigid heddle loom demo at this year's Rendezvous; that should be fun.

Speaking of Rendezvous, if you're in the area, please join us:

15th Annual Route 66 Rendezvous
Saturday, May 9, 2009
9 am to 4 pm
American Legion Hall, 5th and Littler, Edmond, Oklahoma
Lunch will be potluck, and there are restaurants in the area as well

I will be back soon, I promise, with photos to share. Bye!

(PS--Maggie sends greetings as well . . . .)

I just have one thing to say . . . .

2008-11-04T22:11:00.001-06:00

Have you voted yet?

2008-11-04T06:29:00.002-06:00

WHY NOT?

Get out there today and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!

On a chilly fall evening, who knows what you may see . . . .

2008-10-27T18:09:00.007-05:00

Wow, almost three whole months--

2008-10-20T19:16:00.003-05:00

time flies when life sucks . . . .

Yes, I'm still here--not very happy, but I'm still here. Life, mostly work life, has sucked so much of the life out of me that I'm just about done. If I wasn't so afraid about finding a job in a piss-poor economy like we have now, I would have quit weeks ago.

Anyway, enough about that. I have had some fiber success, finished a scarf and am working on spinning some alpaca for my shawl. Nothing huge, but it's better that nothing at all.

I'll try to get some photos up in the next few days or so, I just need to get motivated.

BTW--Tuesday is Missy's birthday--go over and wish her a Happy!

I hit the finish line, but there's not a lot to show . . . .

2008-07-28T18:34:00.005-05:00

(see my previous post for the results)

Obviously I should win the jersey for "slowest spinner in the world"--I can't believe how much some people were able to complete! Of course, I was only aiming for 30 minutes of spinning a day, so I had a low goal to begin with, I guess. Next year I need to set a much higher goal--and not hurt myself doing housework during the Tour. Talk about bad planning . . . .

There are still the two bobbins of alpaca that I need to finish, but I will be taking a few rest days before I tackle them. Right now I'm spun out.

Le Tour de Fleece 2008--wounded but still walking

2008-07-27T10:15:00.004-05:00

Today's the last day of Le Tour de Fleece, and I have to say I'm very glad. I don't have a lot to show for the effort, even though I've met my goal of spinning at leat 30 minutes each day.

Yesterday was a big push to actually finish some yarn. This is 280 yards of alpaca, merino, and tussah silk called "Mango and Raspberries" from Yarn Botanika. It's actually more orangey than pink--

I still have two bobbins of alpaca to ply, and I'm going to start one of those today, but there's no way I can finish even one today. I don't know how some of the other spinners do it--I guess I'm a slow spinner as well as a slow knitter.

My body has definitely slowed me down the last two weeks. All the work I've done in my apartment has resulted in a sore knee, wrist, and elbow, to the point where I'm having trouble lifting much of anything with my left arm. I've been icing it a couple of times a day, and I think it's helping, but it surely has slowed my spinning down even more. Oh well, I'm going to meet my goal, so I feel happy about that. Definitely better than last year, when I totally blew it.

And look, I have sunflowers!

For all those soon-to-be vacationers--

2008-07-21T19:17:00.002-05:00

Franklin's post is a must read.

Souvenir of Cape Cod

You might want to sit down to read this, and that's all I'll say.

What I did on my summer "vacation" . . . .

2008-07-13T08:41:00.002-05:00

One word--CLEAN.

I will admit to being a Class A slob. Living alone and not having a lot of people in and out of the apartment leads one to a cavalier attitude about tidiness. That and, well, I'm getting older and don't have the same stamina I did when I was 20 (shut up, it's true. I could go for days back then without a break). I've been working my way toward an intervention of sorts for a while now; why it came to a head this week, I'll never know. I think it's a combination of avoidance and a reality check, with a good old-fashioned dose of 'what the hell, get a life' thrown in as well.

Anyway, I've been on vacation all this week. Having ten days to myself has been glorious. I gave myself a day here and there to recooperate, but I've basically been working to get this mess cleaned up since last Saturday. Today looks to be the end of it for two reasons--physically, I've done about all I can do, and I can live with what's left and do it later. I have a pantry cabinet to put together this afternoon and some tidying up to do, but that's it. I can't tell you how glad I am to be done--or as done as I'll ever be. I'll have some things to do in the next week or so, but I'm done, fini, kaput. I need a rest before I got back to work on Monday.

I will share the most embarassing moment I've had in a long time--Sunday I was working in the bathroom and had just about finished cleaning the shower when the tub stopped draining. Of course, I was frantic, because at that point all I wanted was a shower and a cold drink, but nothing would help it. So I tore off to Walgreen's for some Draino. One bottle of Draino later--nothing. Now I was cursing myself because I didn't buy two bottles, so off I went to Homeland for two bottles of Draino. Two bottles of Draino and a lot of plunging later--still nothing. Now I'm really in a panic, so I google "clogged drain" and found something about a product called DrainCare, which was supposed to work wonders. So off I go to Lowe's for a bottle of DrainCare. By this point it's 5 pm and I have to leave the DrainCare overnight for best results, so I clean up as best I can and collapse, hoping for the best.

The next morning, the shower had drained, but when I poured some hot water in the shower--nothing. It just sat there. I was almost in tears. This meant I had to go get the maintenance man. My apartment was such a wreck, I was embarrased to have anyone come in, but I needed my shower to work, so I walked to the office and asked him to come over.

What was wrong with my shower? Well, when I was cleaning, apparently I closed the drain and I didn't realize it (in my defense, I always take showers and never use that damn thing). Took him a minute to "fix" the problem. Talk about humiliating, but on the up side, I have the cleanest pipes in town!

Anyway, there are other things going on. Le Tour de Fleece started last Saturday and it has been a real challenge to sit down and spin every day when I've busted my butt all day. However, so far, so good. My goals were to spin at least 30 minutes per day (a standard for me, because I don't spin for ages at a time) and to try to complete the Oklahoma-grown alpaca I need to make a shawl. This is where I ran into a problem. I didn't decide on that goal until the very last minute, and Donna Hilton, alpaca mistress extraordinare, is still waiting on her fiber delivery from the mill. So I've had to set that aside for now and work on the stash, which is an additional qualifier in this year's Tour.

These are two yarns I finished before the Tour started:

Wool and silk--this is two ply, one ply 80/20 merino/silk, and the second ply is 100% silk, approximately 566 yards. I haven't wpi'ed it, but it's definitely close to fingering weight. It's so soft I'm almost afraid to touch it. I had this on the wheel forever, but it was so worth it. Yum.

This is from A Taste of Vermont (Hi, Jesse!)--the Addison "Real Vermonter" roving, 60% Romney/Corridale wool, 30% mohair, and 10% alpaca. I ended up with about 136 yards of close to worsted weight. It's a little overtwisted, but I think I'm going to make a non-felted bag for my tatting with this, so it should wear well. And I absolutely LOVE the colors--they're a little more blue-green than this photo shows.

Here's what I've been working on for the Tour:

These are two bobbins of alpaca for my shawl. I'm going to make a double-pull skein for each of these for plying. I hope to do that this weekend. The photo doesn't really show the colors very well. I will be adding white, gray, and black to these yarns to make my shawl (a la Wendy's handspun shawl she made a few years ago).

This is from my stash:

This is alpaca, merino, and tussah silk from Yarn Botanika (who I believe now sells under One Planet Yarn and Fiber). I bought this a couple of years ago and have started to spin it many times, but the braid was just so pretty that I hated to touch it. Again, I love the colors, and it's sooo soft, it reminds me of popsicles. (Sorry for the lousy bobbin shot--bad light).

There has been knitting, too--remember this?

A cashmere fan and feather scarf, again from Yarn Botanika, that's been on the needles for well over a year. It's almost done--yay!

I've been slow to post any garden photos this year, so here's a quick catch up. My tomatoes are doing well (except for the few tiny ripe ones that keep getting stolen by birds--aakkk!), and this is the first year my peppers have done well at all:

My sunflowers are doing very well (again, first time, but these are a dwarf variety, which I think makes all the difference):

The herbs are going crazy:

I love this cute little basil--this is a Pistou basil, and it has itty, bitty, tiny leaves:

And my sweet litle violas have finally bloomed--they're about the size of dimes:

That's it for now--quite enough, I think. I've got to go wake up my cleaning supervisor:

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-03T19:19:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again . . . .

2008-06-29T10:07:00.002-05:00

I crashed and burned so badly in '07--hopefully I can do better this year.

Thank you, OG&E!

2008-05-27T19:22:00.002-05:00

I LOVE electricity!!!

We had a pretty bad storm roll through early this morning, and our power went off about 2 am and was off until about noon or one. Can I tell you how happy I was to come home to lights and air conditioning? If I have a choice, I'll take no power in the winter over no power in the summer any day. Yikes . . . .

There has been gardening and spinning, and cleaning (yuck, but totally necessary), and lots of other stuff. I'll have photos later.

Right now I want to go veg on the couch and then decide when I can go to bed early.

Rendezvous 2008--or "As My Wallet Gently Weeps"

2008-05-10T20:05:00.013-05:00

Saturday was Rendezvous 2008, held this year for the first time at the American Legion Hall in Edmond:

A grand time was had by all. We had demos and classes, local vendors and a yummy potluck lunch, and best of all--air conditioning! Unfortunately, since we were indoors, we had no animals, but I'm hoping that will change next year--maybe we can have them outside in the park next to the building. I miss seeing the babies. I was so busy goofing off that I only took one picture, and that was when everyone was leaving at the end of the day:

There was a "sheep to shawl" demonstration, and everyone did an incredible job. The resultant shawl that Wanda produced was amazing, and of course that makes me want a loom even more. There be monsters . . . .

Of course, because this is a once-a-year thing, you have to grab your chance for the good fiber buys while you can, and grab I did. Yikes. I've convinced myself I bought so much because I wanted to support our local fiber folks, but there was definite stash enhancement going on. As you will see below, I am easily led astray.

There was a wool rug hooking demonstration, and my friend Susan twisted my arm to buy a kit and try it (no photo because there wasn't one included in the kit--when I get it from the vendor, I'll post it.)

I bought alpaca and an alpaca/silk blend--yummy.

Six hundred yarns of fingering-weight wool and mohair:

There was this incredible Wensleydale fiber from a sheep named Madonna:

A friend told me Wensleydale has an incredible amount of lanolin in it and is hard to spin when it's humid--and when is it NOT humid in Oklahoma? But I didn't care--I had to have it. Look at that curl--yum.

These were my two best purchases of the day--

a great big yummy batt of dyed goodness, bought thanks to Katie telling me "you need this" (enabler, much? On top of that, she had a gorgeous turkish spindle that I must have, maybe for my birthday.) Isn't it awesome? I can't wait to get into it and see how it spins up.

And then there was this:

I had no plans to buy anything other than fiber--I was going to be good. But Aubrey had several of these, and I got to playing with one and couldn't put it down. It spins better than any other spindle I have, so of course I had to have it. Its story was even more enticing--Aubrey has a friend who does stuff with wood. He saw one of these and told her he thought he could make some. She didn't think anything more about it, but Friday night he showed up at her house with six or seven of these, and they were all winners--perfectly balanced and beautiful to boot. Aubrey sold all of them except for one, and she decided to keep it for herself. This one is a two-ounce spindle, with a whorl of birdseye maple and the spindle of cocobollo. It is just gorgeous, and I love spinning with it. I hope this gentleman continues to make these--he definitely has the touch.

My other favorite thing was something I didn't have to buy:

My friend Noel, who is a coworker of mine, did this while we sat on the floor in a corner of the room. This was freehand and the second one she had ever done--the first one was a few minutes before for her daughter. I love it. I love mehndi, especially the fact that it's not permanent, and this was so much fun. It's my own personal, somewhat private rebellion. We sat in the corner and laughed at what our bosses would say if they ever saw these. I say what they don't know won't hurt them--and get over it, as well.

Anyway, it was a great day, getting to see friends and step outside the box and do something fun. I was so wound up that night that I couldn't sleep and ended staying up until almost 3 am Sunday morning doing this:

This tatted heart pattern can be found here. My grandmother taught me to tat, but she wasn't very proficient at it, so I never really "got it" until I was an adult. I haven't done this in years, but I found my shuttles the other day and thought what the heck. I think this turned out pretty darned well. Now I have two people at work who want to learn to tat.

Fiber art--it's contagious. Who knew? :<)

Sadly (not really), tomorrow morning there will be more stash enhancement--sock yarn and two bundles of fiber from Loopy Ewe. Missy will be handing it off to me before work in the parking lot of a local Mexican restaurant--I hope no one thinks we're dealing drugs. Or maybe we are . . . .

And now, I'm off--I finally finished spinning the red silk I've been working on for ages, and now I'm plying. Ugh. I love spinning, but plying just seems to take so long. But I'm excited to see what I come up with.

Hey, remember me?

2008-04-20T11:33:00.012-05:00

(LOTS of photos ahead--BEWARE!)

Yeah, it's me, the really bad blogger--it's been, what, almost a month? Sorry, but my blogging genes have been on vacation for a while. It's too bad I didn't go with them.

So, let's see, where should I start? Well, since this blog is supposed to be focused on knitting and other fiberly goodness, let's see what I've been up to. (Yes, I have actually been doing fiberly things--I know, SHOCK! I've had to work my way back into it, but it's coming along.)

At some point late last year, I promised a picture of my FO shawl:

Yeah, it's a schmattah, but I love it. It's some sort of acrylic boucle in a basic "prayer shawl" pattern (K3, P3). I don't think I like that pattern that much, but this yarn makes it look like ribbon roses. This took me, what, four years to finish? But I love it--it's lightweight yet very warm, sturdy enough that I don't worry about "hurting" it, and big enough that I can wrap it around myself and still have enough left to cover my lap. Perfect.

Let's see, what's next--

This is Mountain Colors Weavers Wool in "Ruby River," in the pattern "Crest of the Wave" from Smatterings. I think this yarn is actually a little heavy for this pattern, but it's knitting up quite pretty anyway. I'm loving this simply because it's such an easy pattern--all I have to keep track of is the row count, aces for someone who can't always remember what she did five minutes ago. This is a little over 50% completed. It won't be super long, but I don't like really long scarves anyway, so it's good.

Now, I need some help with this one:

This is a Fan and Feather Sock based on the pattern from Wendy Knits). The yarn is from Sunshine Yarns in the colorway "Wildflowers." This has been on the needle since, what, November 2006 (?), and I'm about ready to frog it, not because it's awful, but simply because I'm not feeling the sock love any more. I like the yarn, but I need to knit some PLAIN socks--even this simple pattern is making me itch from the inability to concentrate on it. It IS pretty:

So, what do you think--keep it or frog it?

Moving along, the first Saturday of the month, Missy and I took a trip up the highway to Guthrie to SWAK. We hadn't been in over a year, and even though they now have a store in OKC (which I live pretty darn close to and STILL haven't been to), we like to hit the open road once in a while. I was happy to see that they are carrying some new yarns (for them) and have expanded their sock yarn lines. Missy bought some yarn to make some cute stuff for her daughter (who turns 2 this week--happy birthday, Mo!), and I bought this:

This is a washcloth kit with Euroflax linen, a new yarn for SWAK. I have read about Catherine's obsession with this stuff for ages now, and I've been wanting to try it. I thought this would be a good way to start, and the fact that the kit contained a small soap from Vermont sold the deal!

Since it was such a beautiful day, we got a little wild and decided to go out to the Indian Meridian Weavery. This shop is just a few miles east of town. Donna Hilton has had the Weavery now for about a year, and this was the first time we had been out to see her. Unfortunately, she was out of town, but her husband Steve was happy to open up the place so we could spend some bucks, and we had a great time talking to him--he's been around us fiberholics long enough to have learned a lot! I think I about have Missy convinced to buy a spinning wheel--she was able to play with the new Schacht Ladybug and really liked it (me, too, but I don't need another wheel--drat!), and I was in the market for something 'loomy.' I came home with a mini-inkle loom, made in Oklahoma from Thomas Creations in Sapulpa:

After one false start with the warping, I got right into the rhythm of things:

Once I finish this warp, I'm going to do another one just like this and use it as a lanyard for my row counter.

Of course, now this has whetted my appetite for a "real" loom, but there's no way I can do that now, even for a rigid heddle loom (which I have been looking at for a while), so I'm going to have to be satisfied with this. I think this loom will be a lot of fun, and who knows, I may end up getting a regular-sized heddle loom, too--they're not horribly expensive.

We also got to go out and see Donna and Steve's angora goats and alpacas. They're beautiful, so if you're taking a drive, give Donna a call and go out and see her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

Unbeknownst to Missy, I had an ulterior motive for going out to Donna's--our family farms are about two miles southeast of there. So with very little arm twisting (thank you, Missy), we drove through Meridian and out to my grandparents' place.

This is where I spent a huge amount of time when I was growing up, since we lived just up the road:

There used to be a porch on the front with a huge cedar tree on each side for shade. They've been gone for years. The window on the right was the living room, on the left was the bedroom, and there's a bumpout in the back that was the kitchen (you had to go through the bedroom to get to the kitchen). They had running water but no bathroom--there was an outhouse out back. (I got locked in there once--scared me to death, because I was afraid no one could hear me screaming from inside the house.)

My grandmother's "flags" (iris) are still there--I can't imagine how old they are, they've been there as long as I can remember, and I'm (ahem) almost 51:

There used to be a tree line that ran along with the flags.

And you see that hill just above the pond?

That's where I dream of having a tiny place of my own some day. I can promise you that it will never happen, but I spend lots of time dreaming about it. It's so peaceful out there, and the day was so beautiful, poor Missy had to practically drag me back to the car. I wanted to dig in and stay.

On the way back we found these little guys sunning themselves on a log (there were three, but one was frightened away):

Let's see, what else is going on?

Garden wise, I started some tomatoes, peppers, basil, and some pansies and violets. They're about ready to put outside. I don't have the gardening mojo this year that I've had in years past--my apartment's new owners/management had the Fire Department do an inspection, and I got a nasty note that I was in violation of fire codes for having so many flowerpots on the walkway. Good thing I have a second bathroom--it's now full of garden stuff. I still have some things out there, but I'm not going to be able to go overboard as I have before, which is good, 'cause I could use saving a few bucks. So in the next couple of weeks I'll start putting a few things out, and we'll see how it goes.

Work is stressful, as always. Tax season always does me in--I'm in charge of getting the returns processed and ready for mailing. Thank goodness this year we have a Controller who is highly knowledgeable in tax stuff, and we were able to get through it with very few of the problems we had last year. A few days before April 15, I was stressing so badly that I ended up at Gourmet Yarn just to try and get out of work mode for a few minutes. Poor Margaret--when she asked me how I was doing, I said, "I just need to be around something that's not--work stuff." She knew exactly what I meant.

Of course I came out with this:

Two skeins of Schaefer "Miss Priss" in the colorway "Jane Addams." I think I have enough to make a shawl or wrap. And it still smells like the vinegar they used to set the dye--just what I needed to remind me that work isn't everything I do.

We have puppy news as well--a friend of mine at work has been fostering a mom and her pups that were rescued from the animal shelter, and another friend has adopted two of them. This is Eddie:

and this is Chloe:

They are small, a mix of pug and Boston Terrier and who knows what else, but they are absolutely adorable. My friend S definitely has her hands full!

And as for Maggie, she is loving the spring--she's spending lots of time in the bedroom window, working on her tan. A couple of weeks ago I caught her just before she woke up (photos courtesy of my BlackBerry):

Hope to see some of you at Rendezvous on May 10. If you haven't heard, there is going to be a flax-spinning workshop on May 9--see the Yahoo OkieFiber site for more details.

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring . . .

2008-03-22T14:11:00.003-05:00

and Easter, too . . . .

Just a quick check in . . . .

2008-03-16T11:14:00.011-05:00

I had hoped to report that my coworkers and I were bouncing back after the loss of our friend and fellow employee, but that is not to be for the present. We have an employee whose teenaged daughter has been battling cancer for several years. About a year ago she received a terminal diagnosis--there was nothing more that could be done. She fought with all her might, but last Wednesday night, she finally lost the battle. She was 18 years old.

This, along with the loss of our friend Tim and another coworker's sudden loss of his 38-year-old brother three weeks ago to a stroke, has pretty much squashed all of us. We are tired, worn down, and beaten up. Three funerals in three weeks--for people 44 years, 38 years, and 18 years old--does not make for happy times.

We received news this week from the initial NTSB report on the plane crash that there was no distress call and that the black box voice recorder was not operating at the time of the crash. So it will probably be a year before we know what happened. We were hoping that the voice recorder could have given the investigators a better idea of what happened; however, I guess we should be glad to be spared hearing those last few minutes broadcast over and over again on the news.

My heart also aches for another friend at work. Her wedding was in Guthrie Saturday evening after Tim's memorial service. (Many people went straight from the funeral to the wedding--can you imagine?) This accident has been devastating for her not just because she knew Tim, but because her father was killed in a well-publicized plane crash several years ago. She was dealing with not having her father there, but having this happen four days before her wedding pretty much knocked the feet out from underneath her. She was inconsolable--it was like she was reliving her father's death all over again. She's coming back to work tomorrow after being gone for the wedding and a honeymoon in St. Croix--I hope she's doing better. It broke my heart to see her so upset.

Speaking of work, we've been working for the last seven months toward getting some cash infusion into the company from outside investors. We are to receive the offers from those potential investors this week, and I don't know that it will be good news. Whatever the result, there will be many changes afoot. We have already dissolved one department and have lost several employees to better job opportunities. People are worried, and, as happens so many times, management is less than forthcoming about what's happening and what our options might be.

And to top it all off, I've done something to my right arm just above the wrist. It hurts like crazy, right at the bone, almost like I have a hairline fracture or something. I can't remember hitting it with anything, but it's been difficult to grasp or lift things the last week or so. I've kept IcyHot and an Ace bandage on it all weekend, and it seems to be a little bit better, but I'm totally stumped as to what I've done to myself. The way I'm going, people at work are going to believe I'm hurting myself on purpose.

All of this has resulted in all of us having a big ole case of the Spring Blahs. I just don't seem to have much enthusiasm about anything lately. I can't even get worked up over the garden this year, as it seems that our new apartment complex overlords have decided that I have too much stuff on the walkway and it has to go. (They're probably right, but I was hoping to continue to get away with it. I wouldn't mind it so much if they'd actually take care of the property, but they seem to be stuck on the little things and not on the bigger things like removing the now-dead trees from the December ice storm that probably would have survived if they had been taken care of properly, or the unsafe stairs, or the parking lot full of potholes. Instead let's pick on the one thing that people seemed to enjoy . . . .)

Anyway, I have started a few seeds, but nowhere near what I had planned. My hope is that I can pare down the garden and keep everything up by the railing where it will be out of the way and still get the most sun. My tomato seeds and a few flower seeds have sprouted and are now under lights. I plan to direct seeds some herbs and flowers in a couple more weeks when the weather gets a little more consistently warm.

Basically, I'm just in a funk. All these things at work, and then add in the rising costs of food and fuel, the tanking economy, a government that is sending us into another Great Depression, and a presidential race that both scares me and pisses me off, and I just don't want to play any more. The old standard, "life isn't fair," isn't even coming close to explaining how I feel these days.

I just want to stay at home with the covers over my head, please. That's not asking for too much, is it?

Today's my third blogiversary.

2008-03-08T09:41:00.004-06:00

I don't quite have the same enthusiasm about blogging that I did when I started out, but I'm still checking in once in a while, so that counts, right? So happy blogiversary to me.

Unfortunately, it's truly not a very happy one. Tuesday afternoon there was a small jet crash outside of Wiley Post Airport. My company's head pilot was flying the plane--it was not our plane, but he frequently picked up extra flights when he wasn't flying for us. Eyewitness reports say they flew into a flock of birds and then spiraled to the ground. They landed nose first. As you can imagine, there were no survivors.

My coworkers and I are, quite frankly, devastated. Tim was the nicest, sweetest, friendliest guy you could image. He did not have your typical pilot ego, but he had incredible talent--he was meticulous in his responsibility as a pilot. I've never seen so many people at such a loss for words. Even our hard-edged, Boston-born CEO has just fallen apart. He flew with Tim a lot, and they were very close.

I can't say that we got much done at the office for the rest of the week (I know I didn't), but at least we were together. Yesterday afternoon we gathered to look at some photos and share our memories of Tim. It was very, very hard. Many of us had seen him in the office Tuesday morning, and a few short hours later, he was gone.

There is a memorial service this afternoon in Yukon, and my company is providing a reception for the family members after the service. I know we need to get through this to be able to move one, but it won't be easy.

We will miss you, Tim.

Heads up, all you OKC area folks . . .

2008-02-25T19:04:00.003-06:00

This year's Rendezvous has been scheduled for Saturday, May 10, at the American Legion Hall in Edmond. More details to follow . . . .

Are you a Fibertarian?

2008-02-06T19:28:00.000-06:00

(And no, that's not some kind of dietary supplement.)

Let freedom BLEAT!

Damn, what a week.

2008-02-02T13:07:00.000-06:00

I can't remember another time when I've been so beat down, and that's saying a lot. It was the week from hell--my boss was sick, I was sick, the big boss was yelling and screaming at the drop of a hat, an unfortunate incident caused me to have to go to HR about an employee (what a mess), the person I want to hire may end up not taking the job and then I'll end up keeping the temp from hell because my boss wants to make a point (to her, not me) to save his precious reputation, a friend of mine was fired, another one quit with issues, the company itself is going to hell in a handbasket, we had rain that turned to snow that all turned to ice and made driving hell for about 24 hours, the economy's tanking, food and gas costs are outrageous . . . .

Well, anyway, I guess you get my drift.

I'm turning off the phones, signing off the computer, closing the blinds, and curling up on the couch with my head under a blanket and the dog at my side. Hopefully I'll come out on the other side.

Cooking for One (many times over)

2008-01-20T15:55:00.000-06:00

I'm still on my cooking/baking streak. I have recently discovered The Pioneer Woman Cooks!, and I'm telling you, if you want to eat real home cooking, Ree knows how to do it. The blog pictures alone would convert a non-cook in seconds, I'm telling you.

This weekend I decided to be brave and try some new stuff. I made jugalbandi's Spiral Pesto Rolls--

--while at the same time making a small loaf of Buttermilk White Bread in the breadmaker (gotta have bread for the week, you know).

Then, the pièce de résistance--Ree's Pot Roast.

Then I made a small helping of Ranch Potatoes from Cooking Light Magazine (without the bacon and onions--I was too lazy).

Here's the end product--

--and here's the aftermath:

I'll be on the couch. (burp . . . .)

More from 'I Can Haz Cheezburger' . . .

2008-01-10T19:18:00.000-06:00

moar funny pictures

Say goodbye to 2007

2007-12-31T10:43:00.000-06:00

Goodbye, good riddance, let me show you to the door--what more can I say? Another end to another so-so year. Blech. Hope your year was more eventful than mine. And now we get to start another year of the same--yay.

Best news of the last week was that I got my stitches out. My hand looks good, although it's shedding a little skin around the cut, but I guess that's to be expected. My index finger continues to be a little stiff and sore, but I'm hoping that's residual from the lidocaine injections before the stitches. It may take a while for it to go away, I guess.

There's also news on the fiber front--I've been knitting! I finished a shawl that I started, what, probably 5 years ago? I'd show you a picture, but it's boucle and pretty much just looks like a big fibery blob of stuff. I also started a small scarf in the buffalo yarn that Missy bought me a couple of years ago. I'll try to get a shot of it sometime soon. I've also been knitting on the sock I started in November 2006, and I'm hoping to get psyched enough to finish the pair. I hate leaving a sock on the needles--it makes me so sad.

I've been home pretty much most of the time since Christmas Eve, althought I had to work last Wednesday and Thursday. It's been nice--I need some serious down time to get ready for January, because work's going to be a b****. Unfortunately, because I'm now carrying a BlackBerry, the downtime has been infused with work emails, and I've had to handle several issues that I'd hoped to leave at the office. I'm going to try to stay away from the BB today, but it's hard when others know you're reading your email.

So best of wishes to you all for the new year.

I'm only gonna tell you once . . . .

2007-12-24T20:00:00.000-06:00

Merry Merry, everyone!

Thanks to I Can Has Cheezburger.com

And the hits just KEEP on comin' . . . .

2007-12-16T09:34:00.000-06:00

I had such simple plans for the weekend--stay in, bake some bread, make some soup, maybe knit and spin a little. Nothing big, just stay in, stay warm, and recover from this hellacious week we all seem to be having.

I should have known it was too good to be true.

Late yesterday afternoon, I had the bread machine going, and the vegetable soup was on the stove. I had actually been knitting a bit as well and was hoping to finish up a plain-vanilla shawl that I've been working on for several years. But as I was cutting up veggies with my new mezzaluna, I misjudged where the blade was and cut my right hand.

And cut it I did--about one inch wide and a quarter-inch deep. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it tight and then tried to figure out what to do. I hadn't cleaned off the car, so I couldn't drive myself, so I called Missy (thank you again), and she came down and took me to urgent care. I was afraid I was going to bleed all over the place, but the towel was tight, so there was really minimal blood loss. Three hours and five stitches later, I was at home with antibiotics and pain pills, wondering what the hell was going to happen next.

It seems like every blogger I've read this week has had some type of bad luck (except for kaoticorchid at Orchid's Knit Spot--congratulations again!). It makes me wonder what the Universe has in store for us all next.

Me, I'm fine--my hand's sore, but luckily it's my right hand and I'm left handed, so I'm lucky there. The folks at urgent care were wonderful and did a really good job of fixing me up. I just feel very, very lucky that I didn't cut my finger off. That chopper is dammed sharp, and I should have known better. I've had very bad luck with knives as I get older, but this one tops them all.

And the mezzaluna--I threw it in the trash as soon as I got home. Just thinking about it makes my teeth ache. I'm now asking Santa for a mini-food processor for Christmas--no more knives for me for a while.

Here's hoping for a better week for us all.

Never tempt Mother Nature

2007-12-12T17:52:00.000-06:00

You know, I'm 50 years old--I should know better, but apparently Mother Nature decided to test my preparedness this weekend.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that our area of the country has been hit with a horrible ice storm, the worst that we have ever seen. Believe me when I say it is bad--I would say over half of Oklahoma City (over 600 square miles large) is or has been without power, and many are still without power tonight, three days after the storm hit. The storm only lasted a few hours, but it hit hard.

We have major intersections with no traffic lights, and some businesses have been closed since Sunday. And to make things worse, we're expecting at least 3-6 inches of snow this weekend, which will probably hamper the whole restoration process. I live in an area that has a lot of older trees, and I would say that every tree or large shrub in my neighborhood has either been damaged and destroyed, and there were still power lines down as late as yesterday morning. It looks like a tornado hit down here.

Sunday afternoon my power went off for about an hour and a half. It went off again Sunday night about 11 pm and came back on Monday about 10 am (my office was closed on Monday, so I was home). It went off again about noon on Monday and didn't come back on.

We weren't totally in the dark--I had lots of flashlights and candles, and I have an old battery-operated portable television and my ham radio, and the iPod and my Palm, so I had stuff to do and I could find out what the weather was doing, but it was becoming increasingly uncomfortable each day. Cold seems to get colder the longer it's cold, you know? Luckily it hasn't really been THAT cold, but it hasn't warmed up much each day.

The most beautiful sight I have ever seen in my entire life was at least 50 out-of-state utility trucks parading down May Avenue this morning as I made my way to work. I wanted to cry. I tried to stay positive all day today, because some of my neighborhood was back up this morning, but as I drove home tonight, I began to wonder if I could take another night in the cold and dark. A friend of mine at work had already told me that if there was no power by Friday night, we were spending the weekend with her--she wasn't taking no for an answer, and I was too tired to fight her.

I can't tell you how happy I was to turn the corner down my street tonight and actually see LIGHT. I ran up the stairs and opened the door, and Maggie ran to meet me like it was Christmas morning--we had power--and HEAT! (And I can finally take a shower!)

I'll have to clean out the fridge and restock before the weekend, but who cares? I have ELECTRICITY!!!!!

Just goes to show--never EVER take what you have for granted. Now I just have to pray that it doesn't go out again.

And a HUGE thank you to all the out-of-staters who are here to help--we can't thank you enough.

(And to those of you who will yell at me for staying here in the dark, please yell quietly--I'm really tired.)

Storm Prep Checklist

2007-12-08T12:52:00.000-06:00

1. Groceries - check
Lord have mercy, the store was packed yesterday afternoon--I was lucky to get out of there with my life.

2. Fill up the car - check
I always feel better having a full tank of gas if the weather's going to be bad--I'm not sure why, though.

3. Deicer and scraper in the house - check
How many of us have left the ice scraper in the car, only to find that you can't get to it because the door's frozen shut? DOH!

4. New windshield wipers - check
I hadn't planned on this, but I noticed a couple of days ago that my wipers were starting to come apart, so why not? Turned out to be a great idea. The little man at AutoZone suggested "winter" wipers, they're thicker than regular ones and supposedly don't freeze up or get out of shape, and he even installed them for me before I left the house.

5. Take out the trash - check
'Nuff said.

6. Laundry done - check
Laundry day's usually Sunday morning, but I did it this morning so I wouldn't have to get out in the ick. Special thanks to my downstairs neighbors, who helped me wake up early by having a knockdown dragout fight at 2 am (fifth time this week).

7. Clean up kitchen - no check
It's next on my list--can you tell I'm procrastinating?

I've decided I want to make some wrist warmers, so I'll be looking through the stash today to see what I can find. I've also thought about making some cuff liners for the new ankle boots I bought last week. They're just tall enough that they rub my legs. That may take a little experimenting to figure out how to do that.

Oh, and Mother Nature? Could you please ice us in on Monday? Thanks, we'd appreciate it.

"Winter Weather Storm Warning"--

2007-12-06T21:07:00.000-06:00

the four words that perks up every Oklahoman's ears and sends us into an unbelievable panic--and to the grocery store for provisions. Woo-hoo!!!

Weather Synopsis...Increasing Gulf moisture will combine with cool air already in place to produce fog and drizzle after midnight. Roads will mainly be wet... although icy spots are possible near the Kansas border. A warm front will reach Interstate 40 on Friday...with cold/drizzly weather north...and much warmer air south. The front will stall until overtaken by arctic air late Saturday. Conditions will then deteriorate...with freezing rain...sleet...snow...and low wind chills. Winter storm conditions are possible.

Yes, the weather outside may turn frightful this weekend and, unfortunately, straight into next week as well. I'm sure all the TV weathermen are so excited they can't see straight.

Me, I've been making grocery lists all week--must be fully stocked in case we're iced in until spring. Plus I think I should be getting a big box from King Arthur Flour in Vermont tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some cooking and baking done between looking out the window to see if we've been buried in ice.

We'll try to post an update later this weekend. Stay warm!

Happy Post-Thanksgiving!

2007-11-24T11:35:00.001-06:00

It looks like posting once a month is becoming a habit for me. I'll see if I can do a little bit better next month.

Well, I hope everyone had a good holiday. The weather here has finally turned into true fall/winter weather. It was almost 80 degrees on Tuesday (I think we set a record), and then Wednesday it was in the low 40s for the high. It's been cold the rest of the week, and last night we even had some stray snow coming off the backside of a front which hit the north and southeastern parts of the state. It's been cold and mostly overcast (of course, the second I wrote that, the sun came out), and I'm loving it. I've been holed up at home all weekend, and that's where I intend to stay.

Life has been truly insane the last few months. Work is more crazy than normal--more employees going and new ones coming, it never seems to end. I've been working on my own big project, and then a major player up and left, which left my boss with a huge, very important and crucial-for-the-company amount of work dumped in his lap. Not good. I've been running around trying to get the end-of-the-year shopping done (I try to stay out of all stores except the grocery from Thanksgiving until New Year's), and it's been hard to keep up. It's been nice to just stop for a few days and enjoy the quiet (or as much quiet as I can get--my apartment complex is driving me crazy, but I'll address that later).

I seem to want to nest more than normal for this time of year. I think it's maybe because I need that security and comfort that home provides more than usual. I've been trying to eat better, so that means cooking more. And then, lord have mercy, I truly jumped off the ledge--I started baking bread.

My mom baked bread quite a bit when I was a kid, but it was always the same thing--white bread in loaves and rolls. She always baked the bread too brown for my taste, but I loved tearing the soft insides out of one of her warm rolls--yummy. I've never had any desire to bake bread, and I can't tell you what started this mess, but I have been having a fabulous time:

This was my first loaf, made 2 weeks ago from a mix. It's European herb cheese bread, and it was awesome and surprisingly easy, even with the kneading and waiting.

Anyone who knows me will know what comes next--I'm now obsessed with bread, just what my waistline DOESN'T need. But I figure I can take a lot of this to work and pass it off to my coworkers, so it can't be all bad.

This was the first loaf out of my new breadmaker (see?--obsession), a french loaf made from scratch, just water, flour, sugar, and yeast:

So simple, but soooo good. I made a pasta casserole to go with it--vegetable rotini mixed with a mixture of yellow squash, zucchini, onion, orange and yellow sweet peppers, tomato paste, italian seasoning, and lots of cheese:

Add a salad, and this was a great meal.

Today's bread experiment is the NY Times's No Knead Bread recipe from last year. It's a slow rise that takes about 20 hours to complete. I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

You will probably be shocked to know that I actually knitted some a couple of weeks ago--I know, it's hard to believe. I picked up the sock I started LAST November and did about 20 rows. I couldn't even remember the pattern, how sad is that? My plans this afternoon include trying to sit down and spin or knit a bit. I've been reading a lot lately, and I'm not talented enough to read and knit at the same time.

The garden is about done for this year. This week's freezes have taken out most of what's left. I have a flat of pansies that I still need to plant, maybe later next week when it warms up a bit. I just lucked out and hit the plant stand on its last weekend and bought a huge mum plant for less than $5.

As for my apartment, things here are not getting much better. We had a new manager/maintenance/grounds guy, and he and his wife were here a month and then were gone. Apparently we have a new management company, something we didn't know about until they left the note about the manager leaving. This last Tuesday night, a couple of guys kicked in the door of an apartment in the building across from mine. Luckily it was only a little after 7 pm, and someone saw them and ran them off, but I think they did get something from the apartment. It's just been one thing after another, and it's not making me very happy about staying here. Also, we have a new anti-illegal immigrant law here in Oklahoma, and I just read today that if a landlord is found to have illegals living in one of his properties, that property can be seized by the state. I'm sure that would mean that all the other tenants would be tossed out so the property could be sold. That doesn't make me feel very secure, either. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what options I have other than moving into another apartment, but I continue to explore my options.

Unless something intervenes, Missy and I are planning on taking this Friday off to go play--OKC, you've been warned. (And Missy, you will probably be getting bread.) I'll be wearing my new t-shirt:

I think that's enough of my ramblings for now. Maggie and I hope you all have a safe and warm weekend.

I am now a certified "Bad Blogger"

2007-10-20T11:53:00.000-05:00

This should be obvious, if you look at the date of my last post. I've become totally lazy, and my blogging has suffered--not really, though, since I don't seem to have much to talk about lately. But I'm here now, so let's see, what's new . . . .

The weather is definitely moved into Fall--we are having cooler nights and somewhat cooler days (finally). It looks like the first of next week will bring lows in the 40s and highs in the 50s, which means that the garden will start saying goodbye for this year. It's tried hard to rally these last few weeks--I've had a few tomatoes, and several plants have bloomed again, but I think this will be the start of the last hurrah. At some point I'll have to tear everything out, throw it away, store it away, and then get the pansies and mums planted--hopefully I can start doing some of that this weekend and into next week.

And hold the presses--I actually have plans for a Saturday night! My last place of employment is having a fundraiser in conjuction with another group this weekend. It's an "All City Wine Tasting" and should be a blast. I will get to see some old friends, and I've talked a few people from my current job into going as well, so it should be fun. Best part--a friend of mine has volunteered to be the designated driver, so I can have as much fun as I want (although it won't be as much as the last time, for sure--ugh!).

No news on the fiber front--I have been trying to do other things around the house, although I pretty much hit a wall a few weeks ago. I had some kind of a gut bug for about a week, and when I recovered from that, I just didn't have the desire to start back up again. But I've been piddling--I bought several frames (on sale for 40 and 50% off) for some beautiful winery posters I've had for years. I ordered a cute little two-door buffet from Target.com for my dining room, but the box has been in the back of the truck for weeks now. I need to con someone into coming over and helping me carry it up the stairs. I did get my second bathroom cleaned up--I've been using it as storage for all my garden stuff, but I still need to move much of what's outside back inside, so I'll probably have to reorganize all that. And I have so much else to do, and just no desire to even get started. I hate feeling like this--I have to push myself to get anything done, and it absolutely exhausts me. It's ridiculous.

Oh, and remember the two kitties that have been hanging around my building? The couple who lived downstairs and fed them moved out a week or so ago. I didn't see the kitties for a while, and I thought maybe they had caught them and taken them with them. Unfortunately, that's not the case. One of them has reappeared and yes, you guessed it, it has "adopted" me. Talk about a sucker--I must have it tattooed on my forehead--because I seem to be now taking care of this cat, and I've even named him--Tux, because he's totally black except for a small spot of white on his chest. Actually, he's very sweet (now that I'm feeding and playing with him), and I'm enjoying the kitteh love, but man, I will probably worry my head off when winter comes. He canNOT come in this house--Maggie would eat him alive. He's tried to follow me in the door a couple of times, and I have to be careful or Maggie will see him and bolt right out the door. I had to have a heart-to-heart talk with Maggie about Tux, and she's not happy about it--she can't figure out why I keep taking food out the door. I'm hoping there will be peace, as long as I can keep them away from each other.

Work is crazy--many, many changes happening there, and it's pretty tense these days. The employee I supervise has taken a job in another department, and in the last two weeks I've had to interview several people for the position. I was lucky to find someone very qualified who could start immediately, so that was a positive thing, and while I'm sad to lose my current employee, I'm very happy for her as well--it's a good move for her. I have to tell you that these interviews were very depressing for me. Most of the people I talked to were unemployed and just barely getting by. It just reaffirmed to me how hard life is for many people these days. The economy is just not very good, no matter what the pundits say.

Missy tagged me for this:

FAB FOUR MEME

4 Jobs I’ve Held
CME Coordinator
Word Processor
Executive Assistant
Receptionist

4 Films I Could Watch Over and Over
The Court Jester
All of the Lord of the Rings Movies
The Manchurian Candidate (the original)
White Christmas

4 TV Shows I Watch
Bill Moyers Journal
The Simpsons
Doctor Who
The Red Green Show

4 Places I’ve Lived
Meridian, Oklahoma
Guthrie, Oklahoma
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklahoma

4 Favorite Foods
Chocolate
Ice Cream
Pizza
Chicken

4 Websites I Visit Everyday
Democratic Underground
Talking Points Memo
Americablog
Crooks and Liars
(I've become a political geek--HELP!!)

4 Favorite Colors
red
sage green
blue
purple

4 Places I Would Love to Be Right Now
Vermont - it's leaf-peaping time
Colorado - same reason
Montreal
lost in the Côte d'Azur, France

4 Names I Love But Would/Could Not Use for my Children
I can't answer this, because I've never thought about it.

By the way, go over to Missy's and wish her a happy birthday on Sunday.

I'll try to be back sooner rather than later . . . .

September is for--nesting.

2007-09-16T18:45:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive. I apologize for neglecting the blog, but I've not really put hands to fiber in a while, and I've been focusing on other things lately. I will do better, but it will probably be a few weeks before I can begin blogging again on a regular basis.

For some reason, September has become the month to "nest"--or actually, to CLEAN. I guess it was the cooler temps that kicked in my nesting gene, because I've been jonesing for a cleaner, neater lifestyle for weeks. I took the first week of the month off and spent it working in the apartment. I'm proud of the progress I made, but sadly, I didn't get as far as I wanted--I just don't have that kind of stamina any more. The big accomplishment was cleaning the fridge (don't ask, we'll just leave it at that). I'm now enjoying a clean and relative empty refrigerator, and I'm hoping it will stay that way for quite a while.

My mother used to tell me that I took after my Aunt Wanda, my dad's sister. I always wanted to take that as a compliment--Wanda was very creative and was always making something. I loved to go to her house to see what she was making next. However, the down side to my sweet auntie was that she was the world's worst packrat. There was not a free spot in her entire house. You even had to clear a path to get to the bathroom. It is only now in my older years that I see that I could be headed in the same direction.

So, I have spent quite a big of time throwing stuff out. In the week I was off, I filled up half a trash dumpster full of stuff from the living and dining rooms--mostly magazines and junk mail. While I have a ways to go, it feels so much better now, I can't tell you.

The problem now is that I need storage. I'm off to Target tomorrow to buy a cabinet to use as a pantry--I don't have much storage space in my tiny little kitchen, so I've been using the linen closet as a pantry, but I'm tired of that arrangement.

The bedroom is a total disaster--not a lot of junk, but again, I need some storage and organization. I did go to Garden Ridge this weekend (and remind me next time to take a chaperone with me-I spent way too much money there) and found a new quilt for the bed and some things for the bathrooms and kitchen. Things are definitely looking up!

As for the garden, I'm still watering, but it's on its own for now--I don't have the time or the desire to do a lot. I have a second growth spurt of tomato plants, so I may have some fall tomatoes after all. At some point, probably after October 1, I'll get out there and start tearing stuff down for the winter, but right now I have other priorities.

Life here at the apartment hacienda has been worrisome, to say the least--lots of new neighbors and lots of new problems, some of which have included both the fire and police departments. While things seem to have calmed down some, I not sure how much things will improve. It definitely has me thinking about other options.

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall weather, even though it's not really Fall yet!

Fly the flag on this day . . . .

2007-08-29T19:13:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of the blog Suspected Device.

I can't say much more, other than to please take some time over the next few days and remember what happened two years ago on the Gulf Coast. WE MUST NOT FORGET.

Helpin' da Kittez*

2007-08-17T17:07:00.001-05:00

So I've volunteered to work a few hours tomorrow at an antique/collectible sale to benefit the Oklahoma Humane Society--a former work colleague is now employed there, and she has been after me to get involved, so I'm getting involved. Easy enough, right?

Except now I have to explain to Maggie why I won't be home Saturday.

We had a long discussion about this last night:

Me: Maggie, honey, Mommy is going to be gone for a while on Saturday. I'm going to go help the kitties. But I won't be gone long, and we can play when I get home, okay?

Maggie (ears UP): Kitties? Where's the kitties?

Me: No, Spud (it's a nickname--I should explain that later), there aren't any kitties here--well, maybe downstairs, but Mommy's going to help the kitties that don't have a home.

Maggie: We are NOT giving any kitties a home!

Me: No, no, no, I'm going to help raise money so other people can build them a home.

Maggie: NOOOOOO, no monies--I need chewies!

Me: You don't need to worry about chewies, and it won't be my money (hopefully--I get rather weak around antiques).

Maggie (giving me a funny look): I don't know--I don't trust the kitties! They're evil!

Me: MAGGIE!!! (I actually shook my finger at her.) You were homeless once, too, remember? And you love your home, right? Well, don't you think the kitties should have a home of their own, too?

Maggie: NO KITTIES!

At this point, she runs to the window to look for the kitties.

Me: Maggie, I PROMISE you, no kitties here, but we need to help the kitties, okay?

Maggie (resignedly as she looks over her shoulder at me): Okay, but I get more treats for this.

What can I say? I know who's queen of this house--and I think she's channeling Delores.

*Props to I Can Has Cheezburger for the title of this post.

It's tomato time--FINALLY!

2007-07-12T18:45:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo!

These tomatoes have been on the vine for two months, and they finally were ripe today. I ate 'em before I got in the house--YUM!

We had another toad-strangler storm this morning, but I don't think it was as bad here as was predicted. By 830 this morning it was so dark outside that it looked like the middle of the night, but darker. The power went out for a few seconds, but other than that, it was just a lot of rain (about an inch), no high winds or hail as was predicted. And now it's lovely and sunny, the humidity has dropped, and it's quite nice outside.

I also have eggplants on the vine:

See how bad the foliage looks? I had aphids on these plants just awful, and I finally just gave up trying to get rid of them. Then something else started eating all my plants, not just these, and I just didn't have the strength to fight any longer. So right now a lot of the garden looks rather--chewed, I guess you could say.

Tour de Fleece 2007 is in full swing--I finally finished plying the yarn that I was working on last May:

The skein on top was finished last year sometime, and the bottom one is the new one. They actually came out about the same, except there was more yarn in the first skein. Here's a closeup:

I'm so happy to have finished something, I can't tell you.

Here's the current project, an 80/20 blend of wool and silk called "Chinese Red:"

I have two ounces of this and two ounces of pure silk dyed the same color. I plan to ply them together--I've been assured this actually works. The blend has been very nice to spin, but I'm not getting much more than my designated 30 minutes every day, so I hope to get a little more time in over the weekend.

We have baby pooties in the neighborhood:

A black and white stray has had kittens, and these two like to hang around the maintenance shed next to my building. They come up to the balcony and jump across to the roof. They're adorable, but we need to get the Animal Shelter out here to at least spay them so we aren't overrun with pooties--although they might keep the raccoons away.

Unfortunately for me, they like to use my garden as a litter box, so I have a lot of bird mesh over everything to keep them out--makes for a lovely garden! I also tried putting some red pepper flakes around some of my plants. I found these plants called "Cat Scat"--they have a faint odor kinda like skunk, but they're not bad enough to be really offputting (they also have them for dogs and rabbits). Knock on wood, so far, so good, it seems to be working.

More change for me--my sweet little downstairs neighbor has been in the hospital for over a month; actually, she came home today. She's moving to Amarillo this weekend to live with her niece. She's 92 years old and has lived in this complex for 15 years. I've been worried about her for a while (it scares me to death to see her driving around the neighborhood), but her niece seems very nice and is happy to be able to take care of her. So one more good neighbor gone. Sigh . . . .

And tomorrow is Friday the 13th--I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

AAAAKKKKK--I've been tagged!

2007-07-09T19:31:00.000-05:00

Apparently Susan thinks I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger!

Do I even know 5 bloggers? Let's see--I tag:

Missy

Hope

Norma

Cassa

Jessie
Rock on, dudes!

What's that in the sky--COULD IT BE?

2007-07-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

Oh, my--it's the SUN!!!

It looks like we are finally done with the continuous rain-at least for a few days. I'm not holding my breath, though--there's still rain in the forecast for next week. Unfortunately, the humidity hasn't gone away, so it's HOT--no more 70s and 80s this weekend, for sure.

Yes, I've been away for a while, and I apologize, but I didn't really think I had anything to say that anyone would want to hear. For those of you who were worried, thank you for your concern, I'm fine, and for those who sent birthday wishes, thank you also. They were very appreciated--I'm just glad it's over.

As for my little "bounce" down the stairs, I actually healed up pretty quickly. My arm didn't take long at all to clear up, although you can still see just a shadow of the bruise, but it's fine. I was quite surprised--I figured it would be around for quite a while.

Honestly, not much has been going on at Casa Katya. We've just been trying to survive a record-breaking siege of rain and cloudy days. We've not had it as bad as some areas, but it has definitely been hard, both on Mother Earth and us folkel-yokels.

My garden is starting to recover, but I've lost all my squash and sunflower plants--there was just not enough sun to counter all the moisture in the air. I need to go out and pull them up, but I'm going to replant--we have a long growing season here and damnit, I will have my plants if it kills me.

I did get a few sunflowers, and my tomatoes are doing pretty well--

Now, if they'd just ripen; hopefully all this sun will kick-start them into gear.

As you can see by my last post, I've joined this year's Tour de Fleece, which starts today. I'm hoping it will push me back into spinning and knitting--I haven't really done anything in months. However, that didn't stop me from ordering some sock yarn yesterday--I blame Stephanie, she's making some socks from some really pretty yarn, and I decided to order some--call it a late birthday present. That's the first fiberly stuff I've bought all year, not counting what I bought at Rendezvous--that doesn't count 'cause it's a once-a-year thing.

Those of you who remember all my ranting and raving about weird crap happening? Add two more--my "new" grocery store is being sold to another chain, and my bank was just bought by a group from Texas. I'm cursed, I tell you, cursed. It's enough to make me want to hide from the insanity (not that there's much that DOESN'T make me want to do that these days).

The saddest thing lately has been that my long-time neighbors downstairs moved out last week--just down the street, but I miss having them around, especially their little girl, she was very sweet. We have a lot of new neighbors lately in the building across the parking lot, and it's put me a bit on edge. Frankly, I'm not quite sure about some of them. When I first moved here three years ago, most of the residents were either retired, singles, or young couples, and most tended to be the kind to stay a while. These days we have lots of turnover, and the new renters are families with children--LOTS of children, in some cases (and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with children, don't even go there). They also tend to be rather--ahem--combative with each other, if you catch my drift. That plus the fact that the management company here has pretty much stopped taking care of the complex, and I'm not sure how much longer I can stay here. Honestly, I'm wondering how long it will be before we starting having major issues--we've had the police here several times in the last month (I'm not sure why, but it's still worrisome). Unfortunately, I don't have a clue where I could go. There's not much out there that looks very appealing right now.

I've been listening to the Live Earth concert this morning. I've been leaning toward the Australian feed, although I did see a replay of the DC concert that featured Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood. I'm waiting for the Crowded House reunion later in Sydney. Usually I'm not much for listening to music these days, but I'm enjoying this. Right now Metallica's on in London, and Spinal Tap is next--can't miss the Tap!

I hope everyone had a good Fourth and that you're having a great summer.

Oh, and Maggie says to tell you she's very glad the sun's back:

She's such a sun dog.

It's baaaaaaack!!!

2007-06-29T20:10:00.000-05:00

I need some spinning motivation!

So apparently I don't bounce as well as I used to.

2007-06-13T18:15:00.000-05:00

Five am this morning, it's just starting to rain lightly, and I'm taking Maggie down the spiral staircase to do her business. Unfortunately I chose to wear my plastic flipflops, which resulted in a really big flipflop:

Nice, huh? Fortunately I only slid down a few steps, and I landed on my backside, which definitely ensured my safety. My arm is the worst, but I have bruises on each side of my butt, and while I don't think I broke my right middle toe, I think I jammed it pretty good--it's not bruised (yet), but it hurts when I put weight on it. And my midsection feels like I've been doing sit-ups.

What a great way to start the morning . . . .

Well, I think Summer is finally here.

2007-06-12T21:19:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new friends at iVillage's Oklahoma Gardening Forum--make yourselves at home!

Hot and humid, that's what we've got lately, with an occasional rain shower thrown in for good measure. We're better off than some parts of the state, though--too much rain is causing all kinds of problems elsewhere.

I'm still recovering from finishing the garden. I also keep telling myself I need to pick up the house, but it's not happened yet. Maybe later . . . .

Look--my first sunflowers!

Aren't they pretty? Something's eating the leaves, though, but after my little run-in with caterpillars eating my tomato plants, I'm happy they've moved on to something else. The sunflowers can spare a few leaves here and there.

My cypress vine is blooming--I think it looks like Christmas:

I've never grown this before, and it's a really vigorous vine. I thought about trying to grow it up a gutter pipe, but I thought that might be a bit much (or maybe not, I still might do it).

My tomato plants are blooming, and my squash is slowly coming along. I have a few blooms on one of the two varieties of eggplant I planted, but the other one is not growing at all. I'm not sure what the problem is.

My poor pansies from the spring are still hanging in there--I keep feeding them and cutting them back:

And lastly, I think this is the first "full frontal" photo of Maggie I've been able to take in the almost six years we've been together (I can't wait to see the hits I get from that terminology). She likes to sit close to the door and supervise my gardening activities--she's a real slavedriver.

Can't you grow some chewbones, pleeeeezzeee???

I swear that this weekend I am going to finish plying the yarn I've had on my wheel for months now, so there'll be some Actual Fiber Content (TM) soon--I promise!

Have a good week!

SQUEEEEE!!!

2007-05-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight I found this:

My first 8-ball zucchini--you should have seen my happy dance.

Further snooping led to this (sorry for the crappy photo--I've suddenly forgotten how to use my macro):

It's a Tom Thumb tomato, and right now it's about as big as a pencil eraser, but who
cares--
MY BABIES HAVE REPRODUCED!!!
Do they make birth announcements for vegetables?

The garden, she is complete . . .

2007-05-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

. . . or as done as she gonna get for now. A couple of hours this afternoon and I'm done.

And now, the garden tour (please humor me--I promise to try to get back to fiber arts at some point, I swear).

As I'm standing in my front door, to my right:

And to my left:

More photos:

There's a black-eyed Susan vine

that I'm hoping will grow around the railing and especially around Essie, the garden girl:

Here's a second small water garden, not much to look at, but I'm hoping for just one water lily bloom:

More herbs--they are really liking this weather:

The big container in this photo is full of clematis, purple and red morning glories, and white moonflowers.

My poor tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers--they need some sun and heat!

You can see my sunflowers and my 8-ball squash in the foreground of this photo:

And that's it. I have some begonia cuttings I need to pot up, and I want to put all my cacti and succulents out, but it's just too wet to do that right now. But other than that, I done, fini, kaput.

If I could just get Mother Nature to wait until afternoon or evening to water us, I'd be really grateful.

Now I need to clean up all the mess in my apartment--it looks like a garden center exploded all over it. But that will have to wait until tomorrow--right now, I'm hitting the showers.

Happy summer, everyone!

An Update

2007-05-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

You can thank Cassa for prodding me into posting. I'm sorry it's taken so long. I've been reading blogs but just not writing anything.

The weather here is now the same as it was two weeks ago--overcast and rainy. Yesterday we had a downpour that I swear sounded like someone was turning a faucet all the way up, then almost off, then back UP, then down again. In 15 minutes it was over, but we had been drenched. It seems like it's been this way forever.

We were luck that Rendezvous Saturday was a pretty day--sunny, with no rain and a slight breeze. Missy and I (and the kids) had a wonderful time. Yes, I did do some damage to my wallet, but I hadn't bought anything fibery since before New Year's, so I didn't think that was bad. I don't have pictures right now, but I can tell you I bought my first set of wool handcarders, as well as some handdyed bamboo silk and some gorgeous handdyed mohair locks (very, very hot, bright colors--I love to play with them). I need to finish up the plying that I was doing before Rendezvous (two weeks ago)so I can sit down and spin some of it up.

I'll get some photos up later, but I just wanted to check in.

Rendezvous tomorrow!

2007-05-11T20:40:00.000-05:00

Please, Mother Nature, stop the rain--until Saturday night at least!

I'm all packed up and ready to go! The only thing I can't decide on is what shoes to wear. It's bound to be muddy, so I think I'll go with an old pair of sneakers that I've barely worn--if they get dirty, I have no problem in throwing them away.

It was great having today off. The day didn't start off too well--I paid almost $43 for a tank of gas (and that's at $2.979 a gallon), but I had lunch with Missy, and that made it all better. I went downtown to the Farmers Market and bought a bunch of plants and also stopped by another place and bought more (it's a sickness, really it is). Unfortunately I had a whopper of a headache by the time I went to get my haircut at 3, but my stylist gave me a wonderful scalp and neck massage and I felt much better when I left.

By the time I walked out of the salon, it was getting really cloudy and dark off to the east. Since I was just across the street from the grocery store, I decided to stop off there before heading home--just one less thing to do on Saturday. I was almost finished shopping when the skies opened up and absolutely poured. By the time I checked out and went outside, there was water everywhere, and I ended up getting absolutely soaked to the bone. I'm not sure how much it rained, but in the twenty or so minutes it rained, the streets were flooded--AGAIN.

As much as I love the rain, I'm ready for it to stop.

Someone please tell Mother Nature to take a hike

2007-05-08T19:24:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday night, and we're headed for the third consecutive night of stormy weather. We had 1.31 inches of rain yesterday and 3.13 inches today--almost 5 inches in 24 hours--AGAIN. Sunday night there were storms all around OKC, but none here--they waited to hit until 230 am Monday morning. Then we had another downpour about 730 this morning on the way to work.

To say things are flooded around town is an understatement. I honestly think if somone spit in Lake Hefner, it would flood out. I think the news tonight said there were 19 streets around town that were closed because of flooding, and people were STILL driving into high water. How stupid can you be?

This weather reminds me of ten or twenty years ago when we would go for weeks having huge storms every night. I'm getting tired of seeing nothing but continuous weather reports on TV all night long.

There are tornados in the southern part of the state right now. I guess I need to pay some attention to see what's happening here--it's getting kinda dark outside.

Somebody send an ark . . . .

I can never get a break . . . .

2007-05-05T16:40:00.000-05:00

Today was supposed to be pretty windy, but better than tomorrow--we have an 80% chance of storms on Sunday, so I thought I could get a lot of gardening done today. I still haven't planted my tomatoes and peppers, and they're way past due.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with my back all out of wack, which has resulting in me popping pills all day and spending a couple of hours in bed. So no gardening for me today--maybe I'll get lucky and be able to get a few things done tomororow.

It looks like I fixed the blog problem. I don't know what caused the doubling, but deleting the template and reinstalling it did the trick. This why I save every update I make--you never know when you'll need it.

Next Saturday is the Route 66 Fiber Rendezvous at Fort Braxton in Arcadia. Last year was great--I can't wait to see everybody again. Missy is going with me this year--last May she had just had Baby Mo two weeks before and was, well, indisposed. While I haven't bought anything fibery in months, and I haven't had a lot of interest in spinning or knitting lately, I'm hoping this will get me motivated again. It makes my hands itch just thinking about it. So far the weather looks good for next weekend, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

In fact, I think I may go sit down and spin for a bit, while I keep an eye on the weather.

I apologize, but my blog has suddenly sprouted a twin

2007-05-04T19:10:00.000-05:00

at the bottom of the page.

I hope to fix this over the weekend.

You couldn't make this stuff up, I swear.

2007-04-30T19:21:00.000-05:00

I know I'm starting to sound like I wear a tin-foil hat most of the time, but let me ask you this--are things around you kinda weird lately? The last two weeks have been so bizarre that it's left me walking around in a daze. I had hoped today would be better, but it turned out to be just as strange as the last two weeks--not a good start, believe me.

I feel like the world is starting to move into some big, black hole that is sucking us into a totally different universe. (Okay, I feel that way most of the time anyway, but this is getting ridiculous--and I just had a deja-vu that I've typed those very words before on this blog--I need to go back and see if that's true.) I can guarantee you that I don't remember everything, but in the last two weeks, we have had:

one director fired

a VP and another director suspended for a week, resulting in both of them quitting

a senior VP walking in at 8 am and resigning (and he'd only been there 5 weeks)

another director resigning

at least 2 other employees quitting

The big boss's daughter is now working for us, and she likes to make everyone feel like a serf in some sort of weird Dickensian novel (and I know "serf" is probably not correct for Dickensian times, but you get my drift, right?).

My boss ran in the Memorial Marathon yesterday. He's a cyclist, not a runner, and decided that he didn't need to train for this race, so he ran almost THREE MILES without having prepared at all. He couldn't understand why he was so wrecked this morning--go figure.

Then there was a whole screwup with a videoconference call that caused me, who had obeyed the rules and done everything right, to have to rearrange everything at the last minute at 5 pm, when everyone had already gone home for the day.

My electric bill last month was something like $7.08. It's usually anywhere from $35 to 100, depending on the time of the year. I checked my bill--they didn't read the meter. So I figured this month it would be double, right? Nope--$40-something. (Yeah, I need to call on this.)

One Saturday afternoon I looked up to see a police car in my parking lot. I watched for a while (yes, I spy on my neighbors sometimes--don't you?), and the cop finally came out from one of the upstairs apartments in the building across from me. A few minutes later, here comes the couple down to their car--with matching towels around their shoulders. Did they have a martial spat that involved water balloons? I guess we'll never know.

My downstairs neighbor pulled a probably 6-week-old puppy from the jaws of something, we think a raccoon--apparently it grabbed the poor thing and ran off with it. It wasn't hurt, thank goodness; it was young enough to still have a lot of loose skin around its neck. It now has a nice new home with a lot of other doggies, because there was no way to find the owners.

But the weirdest thing of all was at work--seeing someone sitting at her desk in the middle of the cube farm with curlers in her hair and a scarf around her head. Then there was a little picnic on the floor of her director's office in the middle of the afternoon, with all the participants wearing curlers and putting on their makeup. When we reported it to HR, the director told us that their boss had given them permission (she was in there, too), so it was okay--not a problem.

Yes, Catherine, I've found the Cupcakes--they're working for us now.

Thanks a lot.

Some day I might learn to control my big mouth.

2007-04-25T18:38:00.000-05:00

This morning someone in my office asked me when Mother's Day was.

I said I didn't know.

He replied, "Well, a mother should know these things."

And before I realized it, I had replied, "Well, I'm not a mother and I don't have a mother, so there's really no need for me to know when Mother's Day is."

He didn't appreciate my response.

I really didn't mean anything by it--it just popped out of my mouth before I had time to even think about it. It's just the way I think.

I guess most people just assume that everybody celerates every holiday and everyone has parents and children and big families and that birds sing in their presence and that life is wonderful and that they don't have a care in the world--just like THEM.

However, I don't think this was as bad as when the BAC (that's "born-again christian", or in this case, the MC, "megachurch christian") asked the only Jewish person in the entire office the day after Easter if he enjoyed his holiday--"whatever ritual it is that your people do."

He thought he was being cute. Then he offered to take the guy out for a beer.

Some people just need a good slap upside the head.

And I doubt I'll ever be able to control my mouth.

"I Don't Like Mondays" by Tori Amos--

2007-04-17T19:06:00.000-05:00

with some fourth season "West Wing"--seems eerily appropriate right now . . . .

Oh, my, look what the Easter Bunny brought me:

2007-04-08T11:29:00.000-05:00

This is an epiphyllum, or "epi" for short, also known as "orchid cactus." They are many different varieties and colors, including some that are scented and that bloom only at night.

When I bought my first orchids, I was doing some research on the internets and found "orchid cacti." The flowers are drop-dead, show-stoppingly gorgeous, and I was instantly hooked. (Shocking, I know.) Pretty much the only way you can obtain these things without having to do something illegal is to buy cuttings. You root the cuttings, and in about 3 years you have a plant that could possibly bloom.

It's basically a gamble--just like my retirement fund.

The flowers can be anywhere from 2 inches to 12 inches wide--really, that's not a joke, 12 inches. This bloom is about 4 inches wide, and it's freaking GORGEOUS. Although many cuttings will bud, you're not supposed to let them flower because it sucks all the energy from making roots into the bloom, but I just couldn't let this go by, knowing that it could be years before I'd actually see a real bloom. So, although I've been a bad horticulturalist, I'm glad I did. The cutting seems to be surviving and is actually getting new growth, and once this bloom fades away, I will be giving it lots of extra lovin' as payback.

My biggest challenge with these plants is that they get LARGE--I guess I didn't really do very good research. I was blinded by the flowers, and it was totally worth it, but I'm definitely going to have to figure out where to put them. Cuttings are great--plants, that's another story.

My research did tell me that there's a cacti and succulents show and sale here in OKC in June, and I hope to see more of these there (and maybe spend a few bucks, as well).

I didn't mention the cacti and the succulents? Oh, well, I'll leave that for another day . . . .

Unfreakin' believable--it's SNOWING!!!

2007-04-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

So a week ago we were living through end-times rain and flooding, and now it's snowing--welcome to springtime in Oklahoma!

I happened to look out the window a few minutes ago, and it's SNOWING--and pretty good, too, not just a few flakes. It actually seems like it's getting heavier each time I look outside.

I guess my hesitation about planting anything was not just my imagination after all. All my plants have been inside since Wednesday night because of low temps and frost/freeze warnings. I feel like I'm living in a greenhouse, but it's actually quite cozy, and so far they seem to be happy.

I LOVE days off, even if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate!!!

I missed Saturday Sky!

2007-04-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

And I had a picture and everything!

Yesterday and today have been absolutely amazing, weather wise. After Thurday and Friday's torrential downpours--and I mean torrential, we had almost 5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours--the weather is crisp and cool with a warm, sunny sky. It makes me itchy to be outside all the time. What I wouldn't give to live somewhere with this kind of weather all year long. I'm really dreading our summer--I have a feeling it's going to be long and damned hot.

Thursday afternoon we had a tornado or something close to it pass about a mile west of my office. It had been dark and rainy all day, but there were no tornado warnings posted until about a minute before the sirens went off. It was insane, and of course no one knew what to do. Luckily the conference room right behind my desk has cable access, and we were quickly able to find out that it was west of us and moving straight north (very unusual, because these things usually always move northeast). So we lucked out, but there was some damage and several injuries north of here.

Friday was dark and rainy again, but in the afternoon it began to POUR. By the time we left at 5, every street was covered in water. I came home via the highway, and it was very close to being flooded, too. I didn't realize how bad it was until yesterday, when I saw this photo in the Oklahoman of a street about a mile from my office:

This was right in front of WalMart--oops!

Today everything has that shiny, fresh look that you get after a rainstorm. You can almost see things growing:

Clematis "Miss Bateman"

"Origami" red and white Columbine

Ossteospermum "Jamboana White"

I hope to get my strawberries planted today, as well as starting my sunflower, morning glory, and moonflower seeds and a few other things. I just want to sit out in the sun and enjoy the breeze, kinda like my neighbor kitty:

Doesn't that look like heaven?

Proof that I've lost my mind--

2007-03-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

or "how to embarass and kick yourself at the same time."

Remember I took last Friday afternoon off to get a haircut? And I went to TLC and to the grocery store. Okay, that was Friday. Today at lunch, I went over to Lowe's and was just walking around the Garden Center, catching my breath. Work has been insane to the point that I'm seriously thinking the stress is going to cause me to keel over at any minute, so I thought this would be a nice outing for me--some fresh air, pretty plants, you get the picture.

Of course I found a couple of things that I wanted. I hesitated getting them at first but decided it wasn't that much money, so it was okay--I deserved a little somethin', right? I had to wait in line forever because they only had one cashier and people were buying two and three cartfuls of stuff at a time. So when I finally get up to the register, the cashier rang me up--$29-something. I swiped my debit card, did my thing, and it declined. He cashier said he'd had some problems with debit cards so please run it through as a credit card. I did that--same result. "Let me give you a check." He ran the check--"I have to call." By that point I didn't give a damn any more, and I took my check and left. I was so mad that I wasn't even embarassed. I couldn't figure out what in the world was wrong other than running all those same account numbers through several times had voided the transaction, so I didn't really worry about it. It was the stupid cashier's fault, anyway.

On the way home tonight, I thought I'd stop and get some cash so I could go back and get the stuff tomorrow, but I decided to call the bank and find out my balance. Something just didn't seem right. So I'm driving down Northwest Expressway, one of the busiest streets in OKC, during rush hour calling the bank, and I hear I have $20-something in the bank and I'm overdrawn.

All of a sudden I'm in a panic.

OMG, how could I have spent my entire paycheck in five days? Not a chance--I spent a lot, but not THAT much.

You know, my boss disappeared from the office early today--damn it, they didn't pay us last week, and I'm screwed. Rent is due on Monday, and I don't have it. I'm gonna be tossed out on my ear!

Somebody has gotten my debit card number and taken all my money!

I've finally gotten screwed by PayPal!

Am I really this stupid?!?!?!?!?!? (no commments, please)

And on and on . . . .

By the time I got home, I could barely breathe. I ran upstairs, booted up the computer, looked at my deposit slip from work, and noted the deposit date was 3/16.

I looked at the calendar--and looked at it again.

Payday wasn't last Friday--it's THIS Friday.

Oh my sweet heavenly lord . . . .

I need a keeper (and some good blood pressure meds--145/82.)

I've never been so happy to be overdrawn.

Spring Sprang Sprung

2007-03-24T14:17:00.000-05:00

Look at me, I'm posting!!!

I will explain my absence by saying only that life has been extremely busy and crazy the last couple of weeks and, while that's no excuse, what few brain cells I've had available for my personal life have been too tired to function enough to post. I'll be glad when tax season's over, and I'm only distributing returns, not actually putting them together. It's been so crazy that I missed my two-year blog anniversary on March 8. It's amazing how fast time flies, isn't it?

Spring has definitely sprung here in Oklahoma City. We've had 60 to 80-degree temps during the day, and it hasn't gotten below 40 degrees at night. I guess we can say winter is over. A week ago we had a pretty good rain, and it seemed that all the flowering trees and bushes bloomed overnight--add water, and POOF! We've got allergy season! Luckily, I don't have that problem, but a lot of folks do, and they've been miserable lately.

Unfortunately, Spring 2007 has brought some sad changes here. My little neighborhood grocery store, which I absolutely adore, is being forced out of business by the out-of-state corporate Meanies who bought their shopping center last year. It will be torn down and a new CVS built in its place--right across the street from a Walgreen's. We have so many older folks in this area, and they have relied on that store for years. Some people walk there, and others have their groceries delivered to them. But we must have TWO pharmacies right across the street from each other (as well as the one in the Target next door). Corporate greediness at its finest.

Then I found out Thursday that the two Hancock Fabrics stores where I've shopped since I was a teenager are being closed in a few weeks. In fact, all the Hancocks in OKC except for one on south side are to be closed. While I'm heartbroken about this, Hancocks did it to themselves. A few years ago they decided to devote half their stores to decorator stuff--I guess to try to compete with Hobby Lobby. Obviously it didn't work. So no more dollar sales on patterns, and we'll have to find somewhere else to buy basic sewing notions.

Can you tell I hate "progress?" Mostly because most of the time it isn't really progress at all.

Okay, enough of that. Since this is supposedly a knitting blog, I'll show you some
knitting . . .

. . . sadly neglected, but knitting nevertheless. I think I started this in, what, November? There's nothing on television to catch my interest, so I find myself spending most of my evenings playing with my plants and reading on the internets. Obviously I need to move away from the computer for a while.

The seeds I planted a few weeks ago are doing great--so great, in fact, that I've had to work up a makeshift greenhouse to put them all.

This is Version 2.0, made with painter's plastic, two six-foot poles, and masking and duct tape. Version 1.0 was smaller and made with two drycleaning bags and a yardstick. It worked great but was just too flimsy to withstand the winds we've been having lately.

I can roll the top back a bit and open the sides for ventilation. It actually works pretty well. Inside there is:

Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, dill, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, chives, poppies, zinnias--more than I'm sure I will ever be able to fit on this tiny porch of mine. I may have to adopt some of it out.

Then there are these, my pride and joy:

These are Micro Tom tomato plants. They won't get any bigger than this except to fill out with more leaves. They produce very tiny, very yummy tomatoes and are meant to be kept on the windowsill. Today was their first day out from under the grow light-I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because I'd love to be able to have these growing year round. I have one more still perculating under the lamp, so I'll have six total.

For the last year I've been trying to find a large strawberry pot, and they're really hard to find. Some places will have a few right at the first of the season, and if you don't starting looking for them early, you're out of luck. Last weekend I found one at Lowe's, a plain terracotta one, and I grabbed it faster than you could say "gehunzeit." The next day I decided to go out to TLC to "just look around" (who am I kidding?), and as you first walk into the greenhouses, all their big, beautiful planters are off to the right. What did I see but a dark purple strawberry pot! As I looked at it, I remember thinking, "Wow, that's pretty--I wonder if they have any . . . ." And I looked up and right there in front of me were the most beautiful cobalt blue planters I've ever seen--and a table full of blue strawberry pots! So, needless to say, I now have 2 of them, lord help me. I can't wait to see how pretty the strawberries will look in that blue planter.

Yesterday I got lucky and took the afternoon off to get a haircut and just breathe some fresh air. Of course I went BACK to TLC, because I needed strawberry plants--lots of them, obviously. Even though it looks like we're not going to have another freeze, I'm still not quite convinced that it's time to be putting out flowers and such, but people are buying stuff like crazy, and I guess I'm gonna have to break down and start getting my plants before all the good ones are gone.

Maggie would like you to know that's she's ready for Spring, too:

She was so excited at her new outfit that I couldn't get her to sit still for a focused picture.

Happy Spring, everybody!

PS--Catherine's at home and doing great--way to go, girl!

Saturday Sky - March 10th edition

2007-03-10T15:15:00.000-06:00

It's 72 degrees right now--hard to believe it's just March. This last week has been gorgeous, and it looks like it will continue into next week, with just a few slight dips along the way. I actually had to turn the air conditioning on for a little while when I came home last night--it was over 80 degrees in my apartment.

Today's Saturday Sky features the kids, who took a little field trip outdoors today:

Pretty much everything that I could move went outside, except for the seedlings--they're still too tender to do any traveling.

Look at my 8-Ball Zucchini at 3 weeks old, making friends with the cacti:

I have to figure out someting to do with them--they're almost a foot tall, and we have at least 8 weeks before they can go out and stay out. Yikes!

Tomorrow I'll pot up as many of these as I can:

Several different types of tomatoes, basil, dill, some poppies and zinnias, peppers, cilantro--I have no idea where I'm going to put these so they can get enough sun to continue to grow. What was I thinking?

We do have some flowers at Casa Katya:

This is a pleiospilos nelii, a "split rock" or "living rock." It grows by splitting in half and growing another set of "leaves" while the old ones die. They have beautiful blooms, and I just got lucky and bought this one with 3 buds (I take no credit for this one).

One of my orchids continues to bloom:

This is a phalaenopsis, but I don't know the name--I need to go back to TLC Nursery and see if I can figure out what it is. There are at least 2 other places on this spike that look like they may bud, and another spike is developing as well. Hopefully this will continue to bloom for several months.

And I have these pretty african violets (don't know what these are either):

Sadly, there is nothing fiberly to show you. I hope to complete some spinning this weekend, but playing Mr. Greenjeans lately has put a serious dent into my fiber activities.

Don't forget to set your clocks up an hour tonight . . . .

I'm amending yesterday's post about Mercury--

2007-03-01T21:44:00.000-06:00

apparently there's also a total lunar eclipse on March 3.

RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!!!

Somebody, please make it STOP!!!

2007-02-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

(this post is for Catherine--I'm venting because you can't right now. Hope you're feeling better soon!)

So apparently Mercury is in retrograde until March 8. I don't know what that means, but all I know is something needs to stop, NOW. This last week or so has just been hellacious, and I mean in a totally emotional sort of way. I'm crying at the most inopportune moments, I'm tired and want to stay in bed all day, nothing piques my interest, except that I want to spend every dime I have on SOMETHING, ANYTHING (this is a sure sign I've got a problem--I am a habitual shopper when I'm not happy), and my apartment suddenly looks like a freakin' greenhouse.

Does anybody else just wish that it would STOP, just for a little while, so we could all catch our breath and chant a couple of mantras or something? I mean, really, what's the point if we spend every second of the day chasing our damn tails like some freaky cat hopped up on speed?

The warmer temps don't help, either. It makes me just want to go back to the farm and figure out a way to live in a hole for the rest of my days, just me and nature--and snakes, okay, maybe not the snakes, but you know what I mean.

So then I read today that Mercury's in retrograde, and I don't know what that means except it feels like the entire world's just so messed up that nothing will ever be right again and, and, and . . . .

Okay, you can fill in the blank--I got nothin'.

Happy freakin' Mercury's in retrograde to you, too.

Everybody head over to Champagne and Chocolates

2007-02-26T19:16:00.000-06:00

(here) and give Catherine and her family your best vibes and wishes--she's really in need of those right now.

Saturday Sky - a little bit like Spring

2007-02-24T14:02:00.000-06:00

Saturday, February 24, around 1130 CST:

I'll be back later with more . . . .

Frigid Friday and me

2007-02-16T08:11:00.000-06:00

So my heat decides to go south the morning it's 8 degrees--yay me. At least the emergency heat is working--some. It was almost 60 degrees in my apartment at 530 this morning.

I've called maintenance--we'll see how long it takes them to get here. At least I get good morning sun in the front of my apartment. It's helping quite a bit.

Maggie and I are all bundled up. Even though it's 70 degrees inside right now, the temp isn't staying constant. Thank goodness it's supposed to warm up the next few days--I'm tired of the cold.

Welcome to the new Blogger . . .

2007-02-11T09:23:00.000-06:00

at least most everything transferred over without any issues. I can see I need to do a little tweaking on the right, but other than that, I'm happy it's done.

This will be brief this morning because I have a bit of a headache, but Sue wanted to see the flowerpots I've been working on, so here they are:

I think they turned out pretty darned cute, if I do say so myself. I have a couple more to do, maybe this afternoon if I get around to it.

If you remember the "big opportunity" that I spoke about earlier--I had to turn it down. I've been bummed ever since. It's depressing knowing that you're making good money and still can't afford the simplest things. Oh, well . . . .

My attention lately has been turned to the influx of gardening catalogs that have been filling up my mailbox. I think this is a good thing, because I have to admit that I'm tired of winter. I've been thinking about what I want in my "garden" this summer, and I've ordered more tomato seeds, some lettuce blends, and some flowers that I want to try. Did you know that there are "dwarf" varieties of sunflowers now? I've ordered a couple of different varieties to try this year. The birds will like that, for sure--they've been gobbling down the birdseed as fast as I can put it out. I do know that if this summer is as hot as it was last year, I won't be doing as much as before. The plants just can't take the heat and the high UV.

However, in my attempt to "save money" (code for "spend a lot to save a little"), I've invested in a small growlight. My friends at work now think I'm growing something other than tomato plants! (Hee!) That was my biggest problem last year--not having enough light close enough to grow strong seedings that weren't spindly. The light I bought is just big enough for one flat of seedings, and I think I'm going to fill it up, and whatever I don't use I can give away to a couple of friends at work who also like to garden. Once the seedlings are done, I hope to use it for my orchids and african violets.

It's rather dark and dreary today, and I'm really happy about that. I've been up long enough to get my laundry done, and as soon as I can get it put away, I'm going to sit down and spin for a while. It's been too long, and I miss it. I just can't seem to get the energy to sit down and do it.

I missed Saturday Sky again yesterday, and I don't have a photo, but I do have this:

Maggie enjoying her "Saturday Sky."

Our beloved Molly is gone.

2007-01-31T19:28:00.000-06:00

One of my most beloved heroes, Molly Ivins, died today of breast cancer. She was a force to be reckoned with, with a wit that was matched by no one and a heart as big as all outdoors. She will be greatly missed.

"I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle."

"Everyone knows the man has no clue, but no one there has the courage to say it. I mean, good gawd, the man is as he always has been: barely adequate."

"It's like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you're wrong."

"It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America."

"I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults. "

"The first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging."

Molly Ivins Quotes

(photos from the Austin American-Statesman)

Saturday Sky - a week late . . . .

2007-01-27T10:41:00.000-06:00

Saturday, January 27, about 945 am:

I woke up to rain and 44 degrees, and now snow?!?!? Shouldn't that have been here last week? It's snowing really hard right now, but it had lightened up for a while. Unfortunately it's too warm for anything to stick, which is actually just fine with me. After our storm two weeks ago, I'm ready for a break. But I know the farmers and ranchers are grateful for the moisture.

I have to admit, I've been in a bit of a funk since the holidays, and the last couple of days have been awful. I guess part of it is that I'm starting to feel my age and I'm not that old, damnit! Then yesterday an unexpected opportunity was basically dropped in my lap, and it sent me into overload. I'm afraid I ditched a good friend's birthday party to come home, drink beer and cry, and go to bed early. Anyway, if you could send some good, clarifying vibes my way, I'd appreciate it.

I've tried to pick myself up by finally going through all the gardening catalogs I've received lately. It's getting close to time to start some seeds, and I want to try a few new things. I have promised myself that I WILL NOT go overboard this year like I did last year (especially if we have another extra-hot summer), but it's hard to keep that promise when everything looks sooooo appealing (plant porn--who knew?). I did order a grow light thing for my seeds. The ability to concentrate light on your tiny little seedlings can make or break their becoming strong, healthy plants, and I never realized that until I tried to make do without one.

I did treat myself to a few plants this week. I needed something to perk myself up a bit. I bought a few herb plants (because I let all mine die last summer), a pretty croton plant, a couple of african violets, and, god help me, two orchids:

I also bought some cheap clay pots and paints at Michael's, and I'm going to spend part of the day cleaning them up and painting and stenciling them. I also think I'm going to pull in one of the planter boxes from outside and plant some lettuce seeds. It's definitely warm enough right now (they like it cool but not frigid), and if the temp drops, I can just bring the planter into the house.

Have a good Saturday!

From the Oklahoma Knitters Yahoo Group--

2007-01-22T19:45:00.000-06:00

It's a boy!!!
(from list member Shelly Harris)

Just a note to let everyone know that Keely (co-owner of Sealed With A Kiss yarn shop in Guthrie) had their little baby boy, Mason Wyatt, on Saturday without any complications.

Mason weighed in at 6 lbs. 11 ozs. and measured 20" long.

Both Mom and baby are doing fine and have arrived home today. The entire family is reported to be absolutely thrilled.

Congratulations, Keely and family!

Saturday Sky - Day 9 of "Winter Storm 2007"

2007-01-20T10:52:00.000-06:00

Today, about 930 am CST:

We've not had any precip this morning except a light rain/sleet mix, but just now I'm starting to hear what sounds like heavier sleet falling. After the end-of-the-world predictions of 5-10 inches of snow, now it looks like we may not get much of anything--it's too warm. Even though I'm sick of this weather, I'll still be disappointed--it's so rare here to see a really heavy snowstorm.

So, we're into Day 9 of "Winter Storm 2007," and I'm ready for it to be done. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had gotten 4-6 inches of snow, but when that's all sleet, it's a different story. I don't ever remember weather like this--most schools in the greater OKC area have been closed all week; actually most of the state has been closed all week, except for those of us who have to haul our asses to work no matter what.

Of course, there are pictures:

This was some of the ice that came off the hood of my truck on Tuesday, two days after the ice storm. Note the size--it's at least 4 inches thick, and that's after the heat from the car has melted it somewhat. We pulled ice off our trucks in huge plates because it was so thick that you couldn't break it apart.

We finally got someone to come to the office Tuesday afternoon and clean off the sidewalks and some of the parking lot--

(my friend's hand for scale)

Again, note that everything's in chunks because this is solid ICE, not snow. In fact, it was like cement--you needed a pick-ax to break it up. And when I mean solid, I mean you could drive a car over it and it wouldn't make a dent.

This is in the parking lot--look at how deep this is. I think it's really strange that the ice seemed to take on the parking space marking--weird.

Usually when we have a big storm like this, the temps go up the next day and everything melts off in a day or two, and we're back to normal. Today is Day 9, and most of the streets are still thick with ice. It's gonna take forever to clear off. This was taken on Wednesday. Does it look like it's cleared much? Not really. You'd think we were in North Dakota or something (no offense, please).

I took these last night as I drove through the Hertz parking lot on my way home:

That's a large SUV behind that pile of ice.

These are ice boulders--they were huge! If one of these were to fall on someone, it could really hurt them. In fact, last night I heard a news story about a man who was injured and his car totalled when a huge plate of ice slipped off a roof and landed on his car. I have a feeling that may be pretty commonplace in the next week or so.

The city did a pretty good job on the streets, but it was still slow going, especially on the secondary streets. My apartment's parking lot is like a slushy ice rink this morning, thanks to two days of slightly-above freezing temps. Thursday morning was the worst for getting to work--it was like glass in some areas. Very, very scary, because by that time people were starting to drive like idiots again, and that just made it worse. I was never so glad as when 5 pm Friday came and I could come home and lock the door and not budge for the weekend.

One last photo--funny how you can find art even in the worst of times:

Saturday Sky - frozen solid

2007-01-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

It's plenty chilly here at Casa Katya today:

I guess we're lucky, because so far today we haven't had any precip, but the Weather Service is still saying freezing rain tonight, although the storms have been downgraded somewhat. We're supposed to get a couple of inches of snow tomorrow. We'll see.

Maggie and I have been totally lazy today. I need to get up and get busy, but I've been at the computer all day. I've become addicted to internet video--no, not that kind, get your minds out of the gutter! I normally watch a Mystery Science Theater 3000 stream from Shoutcast, but today I've been watching old movies on several diffrent "stations." Right now, it's the end of "Plan Nine From Outer Space." I love old movies, even the bad ones.

The mailman just brought me a little present from the Etsy WeeOnes site--a set of Boston Terrier stitch markers, as well as a kitty and a teddy bear with a red heart on his chest. They're so cute and so very tiny--Jillian does beautiful work.

I still don't have anything fibery to show, but I do have these:

I bought an "Origami a Day" calendar for half price, and it's opened a whole can of worms. I do one or two every day or so--it's a nice change of pace, and I have a friend at work who makes origami, so she's checking out my work.

I've also found the ultimate Valentine's Day candy--Hershey's Truffle Kisses, dark chocolate filled with a truffle center. I plan to buy a truck full as soon as I can get out of the parking lot--YUM! I'm having to ration them to keep from eating them all at once.

I guess I need to drag myself away from the computer--Maggie's starting to pout.

Insanity and the end of the world (as we know it)

2007-01-12T15:22:00.000-06:00

Yes, I'm posting on a Friday afternoon, from home. My company shut down "at employee's discretion" around noon. This means that only the high-end employees who think they have to be there stayed at work--the rest of us workerbees bolted for the parking lot before they could change their minds. Most of OKC has shut down for the rest of the day and the weekend as well. Hopefully people will take advantage of that and stay home.

The weathermen are saying this could be a "really big" storm similar to the ice storm we had in 2000, when over 170,000 people lost power. Right now the roads aren't absolutely horrible (they aren't great, either), but it's sleeting pretty good, and once the traffic clears off the streets and the temps drop, it will be a solid sheet of ice out there. I'm hoping that since the freezing rain turned to sleet and snow early on that maybe we've missed the worst, but we'll have to see.

People have been prepping for this storm for two days. I waited to go to the grocery store until yesterday after work, and wow, I wished I had gone on Wednesday. I got the last cart when I walked in the door. Thankfully I didn't need a lot, but if I'd gotten there any later, I would have been hard pressed to find milk or bread. I had rock salt on my list, but they were totally out, and apparently their warehouse was out, too. Luckily I still have one bag left from the December storm, and since I don't plan on walking out the door until Monday morning at the earliest, that will have to do. Apparently everyone was out shopping yesterday--this blog from the Oklahoman is pretty funny.

So Maggie and I are holed up for the weekend. I need to do some housework, because the Bug Man is scheduled to be here Tuesday (I have no idea whether or not he'll actually make it). I haven't hardly touched my spinning since New Year's, and I want to knit some (no, the cashmere scarf is not done, and neither are the socks).

But mainly I want to enjoy the cold, gray skies--finally, my kind of weather!

There are days when I hate being a woman.

2007-01-03T18:06:00.000-06:00

Some of you will remember this post, wherein I ranted and raved about the state of large women's fashions these days.

Well, stand back, because I'm ready to let loose again. Consider this Chapter Two.

(If you're a guy, be forewarned--there will be talk of "panties" and "bras.")

So my collective bosses gave me a gift certificate for the mall down the road from our office. I'm not a big mall person, but over the last few days I've realized that it was time to give it up and go buy some underwear. My drawers had holes on top of holes, and it's definitely time--it's been several years since I've bought any new ones.

So at lunch today my friend S and I went to the mall to the popular "large women's store," which I will not name because I don't want a letter from some attorney. But just think about any large mall, and there's probably one of these stores there.

The store was having an underwear sale--buy 3 panties and get 3 free, or buy 2 bras and get 2 free--basically everything was half price. I figured I could use my gift certificate and still have some money left to spent across the aisle at Bath and Body Works (which is a whole other rant, but I won't go there today).

Boy, was I wrong.

All I wanted was plain, cotton underwear--you know, everyday stuff. I have plenty of fancy things that I don't wear much anymore because comfort rules over fashion, and besides, no one sees them but me, so what's the point?

S wanted some bras and thought she'd get some undies, too, so we decided to share the special--we'd both get what we needed and then we'd each pay for half.

I needed panties and a couple of bras, so I paid for most of the panties--12 pair (remember, buy 3, get 3 free), and S bought 6 panties and 4 bras (buy 2, get 2 free). Other than 2 pair of "novelty" cotton panties and 1 print cotton panty, everything was plain--nothing fancy or lacy, just plain cotton. The bras were plain, basic bras--no lace, etc.

My 12 panties, had I paid regular price for them (remember--cotton and nothing fancy)--total before-sale cost--

$158.50.

Even after the sale, my final cost was $90.49.

S paid a little over $93.00 for six panties and four bras--I'm guessing her before-sale price was around $185. The two plain bras she bought for me would have cost over $50 at regular price.

That means that 18 plain cotton panties and 4 sateen bras normally cost almost $350.

Do they just not GET IT? How the hell can you be a middle-class person these days and afford anything? With the costs for haircare, makeup, underwear, clothing, and shoes these days, a woman could be dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and still have spent $500 on her appearance--and that's just casual wear!

This particular store used to have pretty fair women's clothing, but now the only thing I ever buy there is underwear and jeans--everything else is a piece of crap that costs least 90% more than it's worth. I remember 20 years ago being able to walk into this store and drop $350 dollars and walk out with two or three shopping bags full of nice clothes, jeans, underwear, and pantyhose. Obviously those days are long gone.

The only reason this store can get away with charging $16.50 for a pair of cotton panties is because they're pretty much the only retailer I know that carries beautiful, fashionable, sexy underwear and lingerie for large-sized women. And who doesn't want to wear more than just plain old tidy-whities every once in a while? But $158 for plain, cotton, everyday underwear? Come on!

Oh, and a warning--I guess their designers have decided that all large women need at least three-quarters of an inch of padding in their bras regardless of their bust size. Some of their bras were so large and "molded" that you could wear one of the cups as an army helmet. They looked like something designed by the Department of Homeland Security as a safety device.

So I spent my entire gift card plus money of my own for panties and bras. I hope my bosses don't ask what I bought (hee).

I guess the next time I need underwear, I'll need a cosigner and collateral.

FO #2 of 2007--whoo-hoo!!!

2007-01-02T21:18:00.000-06:00

Yarn - Cherry Tree Hill Jumbo Loop Mohair, colorway "Champlain Sunset," 1 skein (185 yards, and I used all but about 7 inches!)
Pattern - based on "Windsong Lacy Scarves" found at Yarn Market
Size 15 needles, cast on 17 stitches, knit instead of purling stitches in pattern (because I hate purling)

And just because I can, another closeup of this gorgeous yarn:

I would love to have had two skeins of this to make a wider shawl in this same pattern. I've been looking for something lacy to use with some high-dollar specialty yarn I've been eyeing for two years--maybe this is the one.

So it's January 2nd and I have two FOs so far--if only I could keep up this pace. Next up is the cashmere scarf--maybe by the first of next week? We'll see . . . .

It's done, it's done, it's done!!!

2007-01-01T19:50:00.000-06:00

See me do the happy dance--it's done!

It's definitely not perfect, but it's pretty darn cute. I would have liked to have done a little more with it--zigzag stitch around the letters, etc., but I was afraid I'd mess it up--I'm still trying to get past the learning curve with my sewing machine. But anyway, it's done, so at least I can give it to my friend tomorrow and not feel quite so bad about missing Christmas. It's a good thing she's really understanding.

So, it's been a while . . . .

2006-12-30T09:39:00.000-06:00

Sorry about that--I decided I needed a bit of a break, and the blog was included in that, but I'm back now, so be forewarned.

First off, today's Saturday Sky:

And wouldn't you know it, not two minutes after I take this picture, the sun starts trying to come out!

For the last week and a half, the forecast has changed almost hourly, from sunny and warm to sleet and snow and rain, to something else. I think the weather men here are probably all bald right now after trying to figure out what this latest storm system was going to do. It ended up being a lot of rain last night, and I think that's all we'll have. The temp has steadily crept up all this week, and last night when it was raining at its hardest, it was almost 60 degrees. No chance for snow there! I have the window open right now, and it's very nice out.

I had this week off, and it's been so nice to be able to relax and separate myself from all the holiday hoo-hah. I find myself already starting to dread going back to work, but whatta ya gonna do--a girl's gotta have a roof over her head. Maggie has loved it--she's been glued to my side all week, and the few times I've left she's had a panicked look on her face like she would never see me again if I walked out the door. (Boy, is she gonna be surprised come Tuesday morning.) I've basically stayed at home the whole time, except for going over to Missy's a couple of times. Once we went wine shopping, and the other afternoon I took her my Babe wheel and gave her a spinning lesson. I'm not sure I did very well, but I think she'll get the hang of it soon--she's a pretty smart girl.

I had definite fiber goals when I started this vacation--finish the projects I had started--the cashmere scarf, the socks, and a new project, a scarf made from Cherry Tree Hill Jumbo Loop Mohair in the colorway "Champlain Sunset:"

This yarn is so gorgeous, it absolutely glows. I'm doing it in a very open knit so that the loops show up better, and I'm almost finished. It may end up being a little too scratchy to wear right around my neck, but it will be beautiful wrapped around a coat or jacket collar. I'm really excited to get this done.

The cashmere scarf is still not done, and the socks are taking forever. A lot of the problem is that I have continued to have problems with my PDA, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get that straightened out. Thank goodness for the internets--after googling several issues, I finally found some things that would help me out. Unfortunately, I still ended up deciding that the only way to fix the problem was to reformat the device and start all over with fresh software installs. I started that Thursday evening and finished yesterday around 6 pm--a total of at least 12 hours. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic that everything is back to normal. I think there was a bad file in there somewhere that was causing the problem. And yes, 12 hours is a lot of time to spend trying to restore a PDA, but you have to understand that my Palm is always with me or sitting next to me--it's an addiction, but I have my whole life in there and I use it constantly, so when it's not working properly, I'm obsessed until I can get it back to rights again.

I've not done any spinning this week other that showing Missy how to do it, so I'm still working on the accompanying skein for this one:

I hope to work on that later this weekend.

Christmas weekend I did a little dyeing and came up with this:

I was aiming for something Christmasy and ended up with something between Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter:

This one ended up as a gift to Missy--if nothing else, she can use it to make something for the Girl (who, BTW, is absolutely a heartbreaker. I want to carry her off with me and never give her back!).

Oh, and remember that wall hanging that I was working on, what, four or five months ago? Yeah, it's still not done. I have to finish it this weekend, because it was supposed to be a Christmas gift, and I feel really bad that I was too lazy to get it done on time.

So, now I'm caught up. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a safe and happy New Year's.

I hate to admit that I'm a bit of a Scrooge this time of year,

2006-12-12T21:31:00.000-06:00

but I love this song--it's an Oklahoma cultural thing, I guess . . . .
I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas

Saturday Sky - what a week!

2006-12-09T10:31:00.000-06:00

Saturday, December 9, about 9 am CST:

Pretty wispy sky this morning--still cold, though. At least most of the snow is finally gone, except for those big piles you find in parking lots around town. It's just not been warm enough this week for them to melt.

As for me, I'm glad most of the snow's gone. I fell getting out of my car at work Tuesday morning. Luckily I caught myself as I went down between two cars, so I landed on my left side, hitting my left shoulder blade and my left arm on the runner of my car. I didn't hurt myself except to scrape and bruise the top of my left foot, but, man, was I pissed. It was a patch of black ice no bigger than a salad plate, and I caught it just right.

This week was absolutely insane at work-I don't know if it's because it's close to the end of the year and we have a couple of things going on that are coming to a head before then or what, but man, was I glad when 5 pm rolled around yesterday. The only bright spot in the entire week was stopping at Starbucks yesterday morning to buy a couple of travel mugs to replace my old standard that finally bit the dust. How sad is that?

I have nothing to show for the last week. I've been working a little on my cashmere scarf--now that it's cold enough to actually wear something a handmade scarf, I don't have it finished. I also pulled out the mohair Cherry Tree Hill Jumbo Loop yarn I bought about this time last year--it will make a spectacular scarf. I've not gotten far on my sock--I've had to rip back to the toe at least twice. Maybe I'll have better luck with it today.

I did finish spinning the first half of the BFL I dyed a few weeks ago. I think I came pretty close to having the same length of singles on each bobbin--that's a first! I'm going to ply it this weekend--we'll see how well I did.

And can you believe how fast December is passing by? It won't be long until it'll be Christmas, and I still need to put the wreath on the door and the icicle lights out on the rail. Where does the time go?

Saturday Sky - a little late

2006-12-02T16:32:00.000-06:00

Saturday, December 2, 430 pm CST:

It's been sunny all day until a little while ago. It's really helped clear a lot of the snow. My parking lot is almost totally clear. Hopefully my windshield wipers have thawed out, too.

Yesterday's "snow day" wasn't very enjoyable for some reason. I could never get comfortable being at home, which is totally not like me. I guess it was guilt for not going to work. I'm still feeling a little "off." I need to go sit down and do something constructive for a while--maybe that will help.

Can you believe that I pulled my left shoulder scraping my car on Thursday? It hurt like hell. It's better today, but still--geez, just another sign I'm getting old.

Maggie and I have been total slugs the last two days. It's a good thing that we have tomorrow to get some things done, or the weekend would be a total waste.

What a difference a day makes . . . .

2006-12-01T11:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday . . .

and today . . . .

Today the sky is as clear as a bell, not a cloud in sight, and it's beautifully sunny. You would've never known that less than 24 hours ago the weather was totally insane.

This was the view outside my bedroom window this morning right as the sun was about to come up:

I'm not sure how much snow we had, but right outside my door measured 2 inches, and it's pretty well protected. I'm guessing 3-4 inches. Northern parts of the state had a lot more than that.

I decided to play "slacker" today and not go to work. My windshield wipers froze up on me as I came home yesterday afternoon, and I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get them thawed this morning. So it's just me and Maggie, braving the elements together.

I guess I'll have to check back with her a little later . . . .

I get a gold star for going to work in this:

2006-11-30T14:12:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm home (finally), I think I'll take a nap.

Who turned off the heat?!?!?!?

2006-11-29T19:36:00.000-06:00

Will Rogers once said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, just wait a few minutes and it'll change." I think he was talking about the last 24 hours.

Yesterday it was over 70 degrees, a little gray but nice enough to wear short sleeves. Last night the forecast was for today to get to about 60 degrees and then start dropping midafternoon, so I wore a light jacket and didn't take a umbrella to work. Oh, and I turned off the heat because I thought it would be plenty warm without it, and I thought I'd wait until tonight to cover my pansies so they wouldn't freeze.

Today? At 530 am it was 59 degrees. That was as warm as it got. By noon it was 40 degrees and dropping with lots of wind and rain, and by 5 pm it was 28 degrees. Right now it's still 28 but with a wind chill of 14 degrees, and we're expecting sleet, ice, and snow, WITH A TOTAL UP TO UP TO 4 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW. Yikes!

My sympathies went out today to the Salvation Army bellringer at Gordman's--I'd have given up and gone home. At least she was on the south side of the building and protected a little bit from the northerly winds, but still!

I just want to wrap all my spinning fiber around me like a coccoon to keep warm . . . .

How I know it's Fall . . . .

2006-11-28T18:54:00.000-06:00

Every year, about this time, my neighborhood experiences a phenomenon I call "The Birds," after the Hitchcock movie. Thousands, and I mean thousands, of greckles and other birds invade the shopping areas and circle for hours. Watching them at dusk is really amazing, and the noise--it's unbelievably loud. I got lucky today and was able to catch a couple of minutes of video on my camera:

Mourning our loss

2006-11-27T18:22:00.000-06:00

Oklahoma lost a true progressive hero last week when Keith Smith died of pneumonia. A memorial page has been set up to celebrate his life and accomplishments:

In Memory of Keith Blaine Smith
I never met Keith, but I've had many an email from him regarding political issues. He was a true bulldog when it came to the things he believed in. I've heard a lot of stories from my former boss about Keith and his sense of humor and his unflinching dedication to make Oklahoma a better place. Anyone who knew anything about Oklahoma progressive politics knew Keith Smith.

Oklahoma and his friends, both known and unknown, will miss him.

Dyeing success

2006-11-26T10:04:00.000-06:00

First thing I've learned--there's a damn lot of prep work that goes into dyeing fiber. More than I remember.

Secondly--you can NEVER had enough bottles, squirt bottles, and bowls. NEVER.

Thirdly--I reaffirm my extreme hatred for plastic wrap. The stuff is just evil, I tell you.

I wish I had lots of photos to show you of the whole process, but I don't have enough hands to dye and take photos and not ruin my pretty little camera, so you'll just have to use your imaginations (I know you have them, don't look at me like that).

So, while I'm waiting for Maggie's cinnamon rolls to come out of the office (see, Missy? You've created a monster), let's talk about what I accomplished yesterday.

I used the Twisted Sisters Dye Kit from Sheep Hollow Farm and Fiber. While this doesn't seem like a lot of dye, eight packages of 2-4 teaspoons of dye creates 8 quarts of dye. That's a lot, believe me. It took me an hour to mix just the stock solutions, then I attempted to mix the "Dye Pool" colors that are listed in the Twisted Sisters book. I didn't have some of the colors, and I definitely didn't come out with anything close to what they showed, but what resulted wasn't bad.

I used Blogless Laurie's dyeing instructions, as shown on Stephanie's blog from last year. This is the entire series, including ditzing, dyeing, and spinning, which is well worth reading. You can peruse these postings for an idea of the process:

The Wool House Presents

The Wool House Presents - 2

The Wool House Presents - 3

The Wool House Presents - Finale

You Spin Me Right Round

Singles, Chocolate, and Spinner's Limp

Hysteria and Navajo Plying

I dyed the fiber, four ounces of BFL, using the pantyhose technique in two separate pieces. I really like this because it keeps the fiber together without having to tie it up. It's hard to see what you're doing, but as long as you remember to "squish" the dye into the fiber, it works really well.

And this was the result:

I used way too many colors, but I'm surprised at how consistant the colors ended up:

Last night I was afraid I had felted this when I rinsed it, but the fiber was really compacted from the pantyhose. Once I spread it apart a bit, it was fine. And oh, is it beautiful--I really like these dyes. They are super expensive but give really beautiful results.

Like I said, I have a ton of dye left, so I'm going to do some yarn today. I'm thinking violet and pink and maybe some green and yellow--suddently I'm in a Springish mood.

Speaking of Springish, I picked this yarn for my next pair of socks:

Superwash Merino from Sunshine Yarns in the colorway "Wildflowers." This colorway was inspired by a recent trip Dani took to Ireland. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I'm going to make another pair of Fan and Feather socks with it.

But right now, this is calling me--and Maggie, too:

Yum!

Saturday Sky and "almost" finished Socktober Socks

2006-11-25T11:06:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 25, a little after 11 am CST:

The morning started out somewhat cloudy, but now, at 11 am, it has cleared up quite a bit.

I haven't gone out yet to look at the fleece I washed yesterday. I'm afraid I may have messed it up somewhere along the line. That would make me feel bad, both for the sheep and for wasting something that could have been used, but if I did mess it up, it's only a bagful--at least it's not an entire fleece.

I "almost" finished the Socktober socks last night:

Yarn - Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in the color "Fall Foliage"
Pattern - Wendy Johnson's Spirit Trail Socks
Size 2 needles for a Size 8-1/2 foot

You see that I say these are "almost" finished. Look closely at the cuffs:

Sock 2 (on bottom) has a larger cuff than Sock 1. Oops . . . .

This is why I have to write down every single thing that I do when knitting. I had forgotten that I had used a Size 1 needle for the cuff so that it would stay up, being that it wasn't a ribbed cuff. However, now that I've done the larger cuff, I think I like it better. It's easy to get on and off, and even though the socks are slightly slouchy, I like that--they're comfortable. So at some point I'm going to rip back the Sock 1 cuff and redo it with the larger needle. I also think I have a looser gauge on the leg of Sock 2, but oh, well--at this point I'm just happy to have them done.

Anyway--socks (almost) complete! Now I have to pick out the yarn for the next pair. Too many good choices to make it easy . . . I need to pick out some more fiber to spin, too. (Can I have another four days off? I have waaaaay too much to do to go back to work.)

So, the UPS man never showed up last night (pout). But I'm still planning on dyeing today. I'm going to touch up the silk I dyed at the retreat, and then I think I'll pull out the Lanaset dye kit I have and see what I can come up with.

Maggie's plans for the day include a really long nap and pressuring Mom to make more cinnamon rolls (that's all Missy's fault).

Still waiting to dye . . . .

2006-11-24T18:25:00.000-06:00

Well, almost everything's arrived--the bottles, the fiber, the yarn--but I still don't have my dye. I have a feeling that if it doesn't come tonight (via UPS, who usually comes by here at the end of his route around 7 pm), I won't have it until next week. I still have some stuff I can do, but I was looking forward to really getting to experiment with lots of colors. Sigh . . . .

However, this does not mean that the weekend's a bust. I got a lot of crap picked up and thrown away. I've finished the BFL that I dyed at the retreat:

I ended up with 245 yards of close-to sock weight yarn. I need to look at it a little more closely once it's dry, but it's not bad. I had a few spots that came out solid, but most of it's this very pretty stripe.

I thought today would be a good day to try and wash this bit of fleece:

It wasn't too yucky, and some of it's pretty nice:

Look at that crimp!

It's been through four baths, three with Orvus paste and one with Dawn, and it's still not very clean. I'm leaving it on the porch tonight and will try again tomorrow. I may need to discard some more of it after all--if I haven't felted the whole damn thing.

I think I'll sit down and try to finish my sock tonight. I'm loving these four-day weekends!

Just a little something for the holiday . . . .

2006-11-21T19:07:00.000-06:00

probably my favorite WKRP episode.

It's all coming together, my little pretties . . . .

2006-11-20T18:30:00.000-06:00

(Sorry, I was channeling the Wicked Witch of the West there for a minute . . . .)

So things are coming together for the Great Thanksgiving Dyeout this weekend. I found a microwave at BestBuy for $15--can you believe that? How can you pass that up--it's a sign from God, I swear.

It looks like some of the supplies I ordered will be here this week, so I should be able to get something done before the weekend's over. I need to get my dye bottles from Dharma Trading at least, because I do have some dyes already, a "Twisted Sister Sock Book" dye kit that I bought a while back. I have a pound of BFL and a half pound of alpaca/silk blend that I can start out with if need be. And I want to redye the silk that I did at the retreat in October--I missed some spots.

I've ordered superwash sock yarn from KnitPicks, a pound of superwash merino fiber from Wool2Dye4, dyes from Artist & Craftsman Supply through Amazon, and the aforementioned bottles from Dharma Trading. I found some chip & dip bowls for dyeing from BirthdayExpress, but now I'm concerned that they're the wrong kind of plastic. Anybody need 10 Halloween spider chip and dip bowls? They were really cheap.

Now all I need is a few miscellaneous things--some cheap trash sacks and tape for protecting the countertops, a couple of buckets to soak stuff in, vinegar, paper towels and bowls for mixing, a drying rack, and some cool roast lifters to keep me from burning myself (I have a tendency to do that a lot). Then I'll be set.

At some point I plan to get a big plastic storage tub to keep all this in, because knowing me, I'll misplace half of it before the year's over with.

My other plans for the weekend are to finish the fiber that I've been spinning (the BFL I dyed at the retreat), and finish my Socktober socks (hey, it's still Fall--I'm considering that still within limits.

And, if I get REALLY crazy and the weather is warm enough, I'd like to scour the fiber that we were given as door prizes at the retreat. It needs a good washing and cleaning.

Sounds like I may need a vacation from my vacation . . . .

Happy Turkey Day, everybody!

Saturday Sky--Dyeing for Thanksgiving

2006-11-18T14:55:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 18, around 10 am CST:

It's a pretty day here, but still a little chilly. I don't think it's supposed to hit 60 today. At least the high winds we had earlier this week have ended. That was a truly miserable day.

Lately I can't seem to get the chill out of my bones. I just haven't been able to feel warm for the last couple of days. I hope I'm not getting sick. I took the plunge and will be "dyeing" for Thanksgiving. I've ordered dye, yarn, fiber, and plastic bottles. I need to get a few more things, including a drying rack, but I'm ready to go at it. Except . . . I need to clean up some in the kitchen so that I have enough counter space for dyeing. I also want to clear out the fridge so I can restock for the holidays.

Right now it's almost 3 pm. How much of gotten accomplished so far?

Not a darn thing.

I think I may go take a hot shower and have some coffee. Maybe then I'll be ready to hit it.

Saturday Sky - it's a brand new day

2006-11-11T11:23:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 11, around 10 am CST:

The weather here has been bouncing back and forth for the last few days. It was 80 degrees earlier in the week, but on Friday it barely made 60. This morning we were down in the mid-30s. The trees don't know what to do right now.

The craziness of Tuesday's election finally caught up with me last night. I think I was in bed before 830. At my age, I can only take so many late nights and wild emotional swings before I crash full face.

To say I'm stunned by the election results this week is a true understatement. When I went to bed after midnight Wednesday morning, I don't think I truly understood what had happened. It was Thursday before it actually began to sink in as to what a huge deal this was. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the country would have shifted this much. I know there are a lot of politicans walking around licking their wounds this weekend.

And for all of you that voted, thank you. No matter how you voted, the fact that you took the time and made the effort to do so means so very much.

Now, on to other fun stuff! I finished a sock last weekend:

And look--a picot edge!

This was done using Theresa's picot method, and it was very simple, but fair warning: If you whipstitch the edge to the inside of the sock, don't stitch it too tightly--it needs to be loose so you can get the sock on! I had to rip it out and do it over, but now it's just fine. The second sock is progressing nicely, but it was ignored quite a bit this week because of all the election stuff going on.

I'm really loving these sock patterns--I call them "one-line patterns" since there's only one row in the pattern where you do something other than straight knitting. I need to find more--these are about all my old brain can handle these days.

Last weekend I also started spinning some of the fiber I dyed at the OkieFiber retreat. This is BFL dyed with Jacquard dyes:

I'm trying to spin it at sock weight, but I find myself steering off course every so often:

This will be two ply, and since I have 8 ounces, I should get a pretty good amount of yardage.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

I need sixteen hands and as many computers tonight.

2006-11-07T21:29:00.000-06:00

I blame my ex-boss for turning me into a true political junkie. Right now I'm streaming Air America video, I've got several websites up, and I'm listening to the state returns on the TV.

And I'm trying to knit at the same time. Oh, and there is alcohol involved, a lovely Ballatore Rosso Red Spumante.

I'm such a happy camper.

I had thought I might be able to spin some tonight, but that went out the window when I walked in the door. I've been glued to the computer since a little after 6. There are a few races in other states I'm very interested in, so I'm waiting for those to be called.

All in all, it seems like a pretty damn good night.

And the song "nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, good bye" keeps going through my head . . . .

Vote and help out a fellow blogger . . .

2006-11-07T05:41:00.000-06:00

Go read Bliss' latest post at I Hide Yarn.

If this doesn't motivate you to get out and vote today, I don't know what will.

Thanks to americanstranger at DU for the graphic!

And while you're at it, go read Mike's comments at Okiedoke, and consider who you're voting for.

Thanks to evlbstrd at DU for the graphic!

Saturday Sky

2006-11-04T10:51:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 4, around 1045 CST:

This was taken from my bedroom window. One of the things I love about this area is that just behind my apartment is a really nice neighborhood with unique houses (no cookie cutters here) and lots of beautiful old trees. Their owners take very good care of them, and so it makes for a really lovely area in the fall.

The sky started out gray this morning, but the sun has suddenly come out and it looks to be clearing. I had my heart set on some cloudy, cozy weather today, but it looks like that might not be happening.

I finally got a photo of my cleaned up "garden:"

Not a lot of excitment, but it's fall, ya know? I've been covering the mums with plastic every night this week--we had a couple of near-freezing nights, and I'm hoping they'll last a little while longer (for what I paid for them, they should).

This is my newest addition to the garden:

It's not made well enough to be outside all winter, but for now it'll do.

My nose has been driving me absolutely insane this week between being dry, sore, and runny, not to mention having several nosebleeds. I've seriously considered just cutting it right off my face. Last night I stopped at the drugstore and bought all kinds of stuff to try to get some relief and be able to breathe again. It's helping a little, but I'm still miserable. It's hard to get enthusiastic about anything when you can't breathe, that's for sure.

I'm almost finished with my first Socktober sock--just a few days late! I want to finish that today and cast on the second sock. I also want to start spinning some of the fiber I dyed at the OkieFiber retreat, but I just can't decide which one to pick. I may have to do an "eeny meeny miney moe" to figure it out.

If I don't take a nap first . . . .

Halloween fabric for next year

2006-11-01T19:29:00.000-06:00

Not long ago I promised a story about the USPS and their lousy service. This is that story. (The names were NOT changed to protect the innocent, because I don't know any names.)

Around the first of October, I bought some really cute Halloween fabric on eBay, and the seller mailed it promptly after the sale. I had also ordered a couple of quilt books from Abebooks.com (great for used books). Wednesday I came home to a notice on my door that the mailman had tried to deliver a package and I wasn't home. Several months ago the management company at my apartment complex closed the onsite office, and so the mail carriers have been leaving packages at my door behind the flower pots. Obviously this was a new guy or a temp, because I've bought so much stuff over the last year that they know to just leave it.

So I filled out the form, signed it so they could leave it at the door, and put it downstairs for the mailman to pick up. I came home that night and it was gone, so I figured it would be delivered on Friday (giving them the required day to turn it around).

Friday--no package.

Saturday--no package.

I think Monday was a holiday--no package.

By THURSDAY of the next week--still no package, and the eBay seller was getting concerned. I was getting mad.

Luckily, that was the week when I was taking Friday off for the OkieFiber retreat, so Friday morning I went over to the post office and asked about the packages. When the guy came back, he had ALL THREE PACKAGES--they had been sitting there for a week. And to top it off, the guy didn't say "sorry" or "I wonder what happened" or "kiss my patoot"--in fact, he never said a word. Talk about crappy service. I'm glad it wasn't anything really important . . . .

Oh, and since when is it common for the people working the windows to have boomboxes and bumper stickers and all kinds of crap at their stations? The place was almost as junky as my apartment (which is saying a lot, let me tell you).

Anyway, here's the cute fabric I bought, made by Nancy Wolff Designs (sorry for the creases--I should have ironed them first!):

This is was I originally wanted--how cute is this! I can't remember what blog I originally saw this on, but someone made a little quilt with this as the center fabric and some simple borders around it. No piecing--that's a quilt I can probably pull off! I especially like the black cat, and the purple bird (?) somehow reminds me of Crow T. Robot from MST3000.

This is a companion piece:

And the seller sent me two fat quarters for free:

The fabrics are so neat that I think it's best to do something simple with them, so I won't have to kill myself being creative. Hopefully I can get something done before next Halloween.

Still don't have any pictures of the "garden," but maybe this weekend. Hopefully my mums won't burn from a freeze before then.

Well, I didn't make it . . . .

2006-10-31T19:41:00.000-06:00

I had hoped to get at least one of my Socktober socks finished before the end of the month, but it was not to be. I'm getting close on Sock #1, but I've continued to have PDA problems, and when that happens I'm absolutely focused until the issue is fixed. I think (knock on wood) everything's back to normal now, so maybe I can finally get these socks done! I spent a lot of time knitting on Sunday and had a very sore hand on Monday, so I need to ease up just a bit.

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, pretty and warm, but a cold front came in last night, and we're expecting a freeze tonight. I came home from work yesterday and decided to clean up the "garden" and plant my pansies before it got too cold. It's amazing to me that it can take days to get things planted and set up in the spring and no time at all to tear it all down in the fall. I'm glad it's done, though--I'm ready for a garden break, I think.

It was a bit chilly this morning, but Maggie had the right idea:

(She was cuddling with her teddy bear under there.)

Happy Halloween!

Back on track

2006-10-29T10:56:00.000-06:00

I'm finally getting somewhere on my Fall Foliage socks:

Not the prettiest picture, but I realize now that having to frog back and redo the leg was a good thing because I was not knitting the pattern right. This looks a lot better.

And look at this pretty heel:

Participating in Socktoberfest has had several benefits. There have been some great tutorials, including this one on short row heels by misocrafty. This is the first time I've been able to actually pick up wraps and not have holes. Isn't it pretty?

Maggie, however, is not impressed:

Saturday Sky--I got nothin' else

2006-10-28T16:40:00.000-05:00

Saturday, October 28, around 9 am CDST:

The trees are slowly starting to change. Yesterday was really, really cold and gray, with winds upwards of 30 mph. It would have been a great day to stay at home and snug in, but that was not to be. Today's beautiful--sunny, no wind at all and 73 degrees at 430 pm.

I haven't accomplished much since this morning. Missy had a small Pampered Chef brunch earlier today, so I was over there until a little after noon. I ran a few errands, including finally stopping for some pansies and mums, and got back here around 2. Right now I should be out cleaning up dead plants and planting flowers while the weather's pretty, but I just don't have the desire or the energy--much like the rest of the week has been.

I have no Socktober sock to show. I had to rip the heel out a second time because something just didn't work right, and I've not touched it since last weekend. I think that's where I'm headed right now--to the couch to knit for a while.

Maybe I can get one sock finished before the end of the month.

Here's a better photo

2006-10-23T20:05:00.000-05:00

of the FO yarn from yesterday:

How many times have I done this now, and I have yet to get it through my thick head that the yarn doesn't look as good on the bobbin as it does when it's finished? I'm always amazed at how much more "yarn like" it looks after it's been washed and dried.

Yes, I know, yarn IS yarn, so it would not only LOOK yarn like but BE yarn like, but you know what I'm saying, right?

I'm actually kinda obsessed with this skein--it's so much prettier than I thought it would be. I have more fiber from the same eBay vendor, and I'm hoping they'll be as nice as this. The spinning actually turned out pretty good; there's a couple of bad spots, but nothing I can't work around. Total yardage from 4 ounces is about 432 yards of close-to sock weight. Not too shabby at all!

Keep your fingers crossed--my main boss is supposed to be leaving town tomorrow on business until Friday. Every time we get a trip like this scheduled, it gets cancelled at the last minute, and I really need him to be gone for a couple of days--I have a lot of filing to catch up on, and I can't do it when he's in the office.

I still haven't cleaned up the "garden" and put out the pansies and mums. I meant to do it last weekend, but it got so cold that I'm glad I didn't have any hard and fast plans. Maybe this weekend.

Yesterday's internet problems continued with my Palm until this morning. While I was in the shower I realized how I might be able to reset the wifi radio and get around restoring its settings, but I didn't have time to try it before I left for work. Being truly obsessive about this damn piece of machinery, I couldn't wait until tonight to try it, so after I got to work I wiped out all the data on the Palm, established that the wifi was working correctly, and then restored everything except the wifi settings from the last SD card backup that worked correctly on Saturday, and voila! It's working like a charm. Crisis averted. This is why it's important to back your Palm up regularly. (My "Palm buddies" are sick of hearing me say this.)

And that's the end of the "Advice from the Geek" for today. This Geek is now retiring to the couch to work on her sock. See ya!

Things I have done and HOPE to do

2006-10-23T18:45:00.000-05:00

I found this on Ann's blog and wondered how I'd score. I have to say, I'm surprised.

Bold is what I've done and italics signify what I'd like to do:

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa (I was there but the Tower was closed—bummer!)
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne (too many times to count)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced (god, yes, more than I want to think about)
42. Had amazing friends (still do!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip (I used to be the by-myself road-trip queen--haven't done that in a while)
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love (nah, you don't really want to know)
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain (I used to imitate Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain")
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (the one I went to growing up is still there and open every summer)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (I taught piano in high school, I guess that's a business)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie ("Fast Charlie, Moonbeam Rider," 1979--I was an extra)
74. Crashed a Party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice (I was there—does that count?)
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (back in my younger days . . . .)
85. Been to Las Vegas (I wanted to go during the Rat Pack days)
86. Recorded music (again, back in the day . . . .)
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show (sorta--I was a stagehand and sang backstage--it does too count!)
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking--still felt like an idiot, though.
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication (I used to edit articles for medical journals, and believe me, sometimes there was more writing than editing)
106. Lost over 100 pounds--maybe someday . . . .
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane--only for a minute or two!
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111.Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone--my right little toe; don't ask how.
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery (knee arthroscopy, gall bladder, thyroidectomy, a bone taken out of my little toe)
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours--5 college finals in two days--what else?
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (I grew up in a small town--this was pretty common, although I did make the cover of the entertainment section of the "Edmond Sun" once. Not that that's a MAJOR publication.)
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions--most definitely!
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (someday . . . .)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair--who doesn't?
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

And I'll add a couple of other things I've done:

151. Shook hands with the President of the United States

152. Sang at the Metropolitan Opera (not during a performance, but still . . . .), Notre-Dame in Paris, and St. Patrick's in NYC

153. Been to the Sistine Chapel

154. Met Maria VonTrapp

155. Had to be carried down the Olympic ski jump in Insbruck, Austria, because the air was to thin for me to breathe.

156. Had a designer teddy bear named after me--it wore the clothes I designed. (She had a boy bear friend named Randall--they were too cute!)

The later years are a little sparse, but it's not too bad. Makes you think, I guess.

Say goodbye to summer

2006-10-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning's pretty Saturday Sky turned into cold, overcast, and windy in the afternoon. I went out about 930 last night and picked the last of the tomatoes before going to bed:

I couldn't stand to leave them outside in the cold, and we're under a freeze warning tonight. That's not all that came in:

I'm hoping to keep some of my herbs alive for a while. There's rosemary, lavender, dill, and thyme here. Unfortunately my oregano has already bit the dust. Now I just have to find some place to put them out of the way.

And praise (insert your own specific deity here), I FINALLY finished plying the merino/silk blend:

I tried to make this look pretty, but I was too tired to care.

I think I'm going to tear out the little woven coin purse I started at retreat last week and use this yarn instead--it's so pretty, I think it would look really nice.

Man, I need to work on my spinning mojo--I am out of shape. I thought my left arm was gonna fall off, it hurt so bad. Then I bent over to my lazy kate and had a cramp in my midsection that took my breath away. I need to spin more, obviously.

My internet connection was down for several hours this afternoon. Somehow it lost the IP address--I have no idea why. I only realized it when my Palm started crashing every time I tried to open a problem, and that was without having the wifi connected. That was totally weird. After unplugging rebooting, I finally got it working again, but I was about to tear my hair out. You don't mess with my internet connection!

I picked up the Halloween/Fall quilt to work on tonight, but I was having trouble seeing the stitches, so I had to put it aside. Maybe tomorrow night under a better light.

It's hell getting old . . . .