Nothing happens for days and then....bam!

The world didn't end yesterday but it was the day from hell and yet a good day at the same time.  Zach and I were out digging the car out of 20+ inches of snow when I had to go inside for a while.  I figured he had dug out enough for us to get out so I had my purse and keys with me, locked the door and walked outside to find our neighbor helping him dig the car out.  I was so pleased because the neighbor has never really spoken to me before.  He's always friendly with us but just hadn't talked to me.

So I went to warm up the car and help get the snow off the windshield but he had gone to his garage to get his shop broom to do it instead.  I left my purse in the car and got out and was going to get the scraper out of the back seat but couldn't get the door open.  I figured it was frozen shut so I was going to just grab it from the front seat but that door wouldn't open either.  For some bizarre reason the sensor had locked all the doors on the car.  And it was running.  And the only other key was 30 miles away.  And the house was locked up tight. I didn't have Tom's work number because it was in my purse but Zach had his phone so he was going to go online and get it from his phone but the neighbor insisted we come inside his home. And it was going to take Tom at least a half-hour to an hour (because of work and weather) to get there.

We got the number, phoned Tom at work and was able to wait inside, warm and safe until Tom could get things straightened out at work and come rescue us.  I felt so bad about him having to leave work but it's only the third time in 26 years of marriage that I've had to call him at work so it's not like it happens all the time.  And only the second time he's had to leave work to help me.

But it was so nice to finally get to know the neighbor and his wife.  I'm guessing they were both as shy as I am.


Then I had to go shopping and figured I would take the state highway instead of the county road, thinking it would be better.  WRONG!!!  It had solid chunks of packed snow and ice with significant drop-offs onto the pavement from a packed snow drift.  I came back the county highway which was practically clear all the way.  Go figure.

By the time we got done shopping, I could barely move.  My upper arms were so sore from the shoveling and the dodgy hip was giving me grief so walking was painful, too.  Fortunately by the time we checked out the lines were only 3 deep instead of six or seven, like it was when we first walked in.  Driving home wasn't a knuckle buster like the trip there was except for one curve where a huge truck was coming the opposite direction on a curve and there was a huge drift on my side of the road that hadn't packed down.  I let off the accelerator before I got there so I didn't slide but the truck was over the line on my side because it wasn't visible there.  I had to go onto the side of the road, into more snow...about 4-5 inches deep, to avoid him.  Other than that, it wasn't bad.

So we had pizza because I was nearly in tears from the stress, pain and fatigue.  And I was too tired to eat any.

I had decided to knit up some hats and scarves for my neighbor and his wife for their hospitality and all the years of them clearing the driveway apron so I picked up some yarn while I was at the store.  I started on his hat and knitted about 4 inches last night before Tom got home and we briefly celebrated our anniversary by giving each other things that were sitting on the table.  Like...I gave him his keys, he gave me a bag of chips.  This kept going on and we were laughing so hard that Zach came out wanting to know what was going on.  He left shaking his head.  Adults!  We're really backward because I'm the one who always forgets, which I did once again.  Since our anniversary is so close to Christmas we don't usually buy each other gifts but especially this year since the world was going to end anyway.

But I did sleep well last night and when I woke up this morning I got dressed and went out to refill the bird feeders.  I also bought some field corn for the bigger birds and squirrels.  I got outside and immediately fell, landing on a cushion of 20+ inches of snow.  I finally made it out to the feeders and back and sat down at the computer to read my mail and stuff and looked out to watch the birds but the feeder that they use most of the time was on the ground.  Apparently the weight of the snow on it had weakened the string.  Dang it!  I don't know if we can fix it but if I move the other one to that spot they'll use it.  As of now they're mostly eating off the snow instead of the other feeder.

I'll go out later I suppose.  It will bother me all day until I do it.

But today I need to finish decorating the tree and wrapping presents.  And what cleaning I can get done.  And probably some laundry, too.  Plus tons of knitting this weekend.

TTFN

Christmas is sneaking up on me

I've been under the weather for a few days with a cold, the first one in years, maybe decades, that hasn't turned into bronchitis or a massive sinus infection.  It was a 3 day cold that, while miserable for a day or two, left me without overstaying its welcome.  I still have a minor cough but my chest is no longer so sore from coughing that I couldn't even bend over, let alone cough without a pillow to my chest.

But I did get some knitting done while feeling poorly.  I talked to my son in Montana and he doesn't want any hats or mittens or anything so what I knit will go to charity somewhere.  I picked up some wool and am knitting myself another pair of socks.  I finished up Tom's and Zach's.  I already knitted up a pair for myself.  I have enough wool for at least two more pair if I'm not particular about what the last pair looks like.

I need to finish up the baby blanket.  I still haven't found the folder with the pattern so I'll have to re-print it out.  But I decided not to send it until after the holidays since the post office is a bit busy this time of year.  I can wait.  It's not like she'll outgrow it in a month or so.  I made it crib size so she can use it for a while.

The Christmas shopping is done.  Pretty meager this year but it can't be helped.  At least we have all our needs and that's more important now than anything else.  I'm going to have to work past the fatigue and depression to get back to frugality.  The economy might be picking up but inflation is outpacing us.  At least I feel better today.  Enough to get some work done and maybe the house decorated for Christmas.  I hope. 

I need to refill the bird feeder today.  Odd how the birds keep eating the seed I leave out for them.  This is the first year I've had birds us up the suet.  Mostly it just dissolves from the rain but I've seen what I think are nuthatches hanging on the suet cage.  I saw a huge squirrel in the back yard the other day.  He was about twice the size of the squirrels we see scampering around the neighborhood. 

Venison for supper tonight.  I'm very thankful for that.  I'm thinking of a ham for Christmas dinner instead of roast chicken.  Not fans of turkey and we rarely have ham so that would be a treat.  A small one though.  I don't have room to store a bigger one. 

Well, I have much to do today so I need to get moving while I have the energy.

TTFN

I had to make a promise

...before Zach would help me move my room around again.  It just wasn't working out so I'm back to where I was in the very beginning.  It's a pain to open the curtains but other than that, it's easier to make the bed and for some strange reason, the pets sleep on the sides of the bed this way instead of in the middle the other way.  In fact, Professor slept under the covers beside me last night...first time since moving the room last time.

But I had to promise Zach I wouldn't move it again until summer.  Or never.  He's preferring never.

I finished up the mitts but for some stupid reason the thumbs aren't the same length.  I think they're off by a couple of rows and it won't bother Stephen, I'm sure but it bugs me.  But re-knitting the thumbs isn't an option.  I'll just have to learn to let it go.  I intend to start his flip-top mittens tonight but I'm also working on Tom's winter socks.  He loves to wear them when he's outdoors because wool...real wool...is so much better than cotton or acrylic/wool blend.  I need to finish up the baby blanket but I'm going to have to re-print the pattern because I just can't find the folder it's in.  I'm sure I'll find it after I finish the blanket.  I don't really want to send it before Christmas because I don't have anything for the other kids.  I just don't have the money for more than this.  And no time to knit something up for them.

I finished up the second time through American Horror Story.  It was even better the second time.  Definitely have to own that some day.  I went ahead and took it back today even though it wasn't due until next Wednesday because there is a waiting list and I wouldn't want to wait while someone had a movie sitting on their counter for a week, not watching it but too lazy to take it back.  So it's looking like clam chowder from a can for supper.  I'm still going through the fatigue.  Last weekend I had really bad pain and ended up taking move than my regular dosage, which I'm allowed to do occasionally.  I just hate to do it though.  My first reaction is to hoard my meds.  It takes a lot of pain for me to actually take them.  I hope the new doctor or my gp will understand that.

But I need to crawl into bed and catch up on my dvr stuff that I put off while watching AHS twice.  I'd watch it again but I wouldn't want to get sick of it.  I think I'll watch an episode or two of AHS season two.  Which is a totally different story.  Or maybe the Doctor Who I have on my dvr.  The rest of season 7, I think.

And knitting on the mittens and socks the rest of the night.

TTFN

Back to spinning

I had a pretty productive weekend.  Did all the laundry except for the load in the dryer that I need to get out later, watched a marathon of American Horror Story, season 1, finished knitting Zach's socks, started on Tom's, nearly done with Stephen's mitts and plied two spindles full, washed and turned into a "cake."  I do it by hand, wrapping it around an old prescription bottle, making it a center pull.  It turned out softer than I had thought but it's still a bit rough, mostly because it's top and not the softer under fleece.  Still it will make a good yarn to work with once I figure out what that will be.  I'm nearly done with another spindle-full.  I'm using a kick spindle so I end up with less each step of the way.  The color isn't staying; it's washing out.  I don't know if that's because I used coffee or if it's the nature of the yarn not to take dye well, but as the color isn't very appealing, that may not be a bad thing.  I've still got some kool aid I can use to re-dye it if I want to.

Other than all that, I didn't get a lot done.  I'm still sleeping longer and better but there are nights when I just don't sleep at all.  Last night I wanted to but Professor needed out about 4 times.  And it was cold and snow on the ground.  I have to go out with him because he barks at everything and in the middle of the night my neighbors don't want to share in that.  I can hush him right away but it takes a while to get the door open and get out there so I don't have the control over him unless I go out with him.  And it's really cold in the wee hours of the morning.

I got a letter from my rheumatologist's hospital informing me she's retiring in February.  It makes me nearly in a panic as she's the only doctor who will give me the number of pain pills I need, even if I don't use them all.  My gp, who really should be treating me for the fibromyalgia won't and won't give me more than 2 pills a day, which absolutely won't take care of the pain at all.  Plus if I only have a few, I tend to hoard them instead of using them for the pain, which can get really bad in the middle of the night.  But I'm afraid I'll run out at the end of the month if I don't have enough.  My rheumie gives me more than I need so I don't panic about it.  However, I'm afraid I'll start to hoard them again because I won't have a doctor who will treat me.  There is one in the next town but I doubt she is in my network.  I'll get to see her again right before she retires so I will ask her to beg my gp to treat me and give me the number of pills she does.  I went 10 years with this pain because the doctors didn't think it was real pain and told me there was nothing they could do for me.  I'm so afraid of that happening again.

Well, it's getting dark and I need to start supper soon and get back to watching American Horror Story, season 1 again before next week.  I'm also watching season 2 on dvr but it's a completely different story so each season is independent of the other.  It's really good and I'm told it gets amazing later but for now, it's not as great as fantastic as season 1.  Off to spin for a while.

TTFN

My mojo is back!

All it took was a new project for my older son.  He's living in Montana right now and while it's still pretty mild there, winter is still in its infancy.  January and February can be a real bitch so I'm knitting him some mitts, flip-top mittens and a hat out of some odd skeins I have around the house.  Trying to use my stash a bit before I buy anymore yarn.

My reading mojo is back as well.  I sat down and read a whole book yesterday.  In fact I lost sleep because I wanted to finish it.  It was a memoir and not about a person I particularly liked.  I liked her even less when I finished it but still I am fascinated by people who make their marks out there.

We're back to cold weather again.  I'm not hanging clothes out anymore for the year.  Too cold and takes too much time and energy.  I need to focus on getting caught up on cleaning and start cooking from scratch again.  I need to make up some tortillas today.  It's a favorite snack food for the guys so I should make them rather than buy them.  It doesn't take a lot of time or effort...just me getting up and doing it.

I didn't sleep a lot because my son in Montana called me this morning.  Not early and usually I would be up at that time if I hadn't stayed up all night reading so I'm in a fog right now.  But I was so glad to talk to the firstborn.  I had missed him.  A lot.

I do need to finish up some projects I've got going as well as the projects I just started.  I hope that will be easier now that my mojo is back.  Plus I just got American Horror Story from the library yesterday.  Season one, of course.  I found out I don't need season one to start season 2, which is on my dvr but it came into the library before I could get around to watching season 2.  So I've got that to watch before it's due back.  Lots of knitting can be accomplished while watching that in the next week or so.  Plus all the things on my dvr inventory.  Tons of tv series there including the first 2 seasons of Merlin and the first 2 seasons, so far, of Fringe.

I must get off and get something to eat and then work to be done.

TTFN

I"ve lost my mojo

Can't seem to want to knit right now.  I've picked up the needles a few times but lately have just done nothing while watching tv, which is a new experience for me.  I never do nothing while watching tv.  Knitting Daily is on and I'm enjoying that but still nothing in the way of knitting mojo.  Maybe I'm just bored with my projects.  Although it's not like I finish much anymore.  I'd rather do that than start a new project right now.

Still, I'm getting a few things done around the house.  Not a lot because the depression is still there although not as debilitating as it has been lately.  And fatigue...in spite of getting sleep most nights.  I'm starting to dream again, or at least remember my dreams.

It's been warm this week; tomorrow starts a cold spell again of temps in the 30s and 40s.  Still a bit warm for Wisconsin in December.  I wonder if we'll have a green Christmas this year.  I'd be okay with it.  Just this once.  I have no energy to shovel and Zach's been really down and fatigued this winter.  The dr won't put him on anti-depressants.  She wants him to see a psychiatrist.  I think we might be getting another doctor for Zach.  I've invested too much time in her but he hasn't.  She farms out nearly everything to specialists and we just can't afford to see specialists when a g.p. will do.  My rheumatologist can't figure out why my g.p. won't treat my arthritis and fibromyalgia.  There's not much to it, just prescribing my meds and checking for inflammation and stuff.  Plus I have to drive an hour away for the visit to the rheumie.  Zach won't go to a psychiatrist as he's had really bad experiences with the two he has seen in his life, with his OCD issues.

He might try a therapist but they can't prescribe anti-depressants.  Well, he'd try but we can't really afford the co-pay for it.

In the meantime I'm doing all I can for him.  But some of it he's going to have to do himself and I know from personal experience it's not that easy.  I've been told to just push myself or just get out more or just do whatever it is people think I should do that will magically fix my depression and he's heard the same shit.  It's just not easy.  Still, the fact that he's still hanging on means he's trying.

Well, I need to get some clothes out of the dryer and wash another load.  It was warm for a while but rainy so I got back to using the dryer and think I will continue with it.  It's time consuming and requires energy to hang clothes out and when you have a miniscule amount of energy using it for that means nothing else gets done.

I'm really tired of being tired all the time.

TTFN

Making progress

With the frugal thing.  Mostly.  The clothes I hung out yesterday were dry by this afternoon.  It was pretty windy so they got a good blowing and didn't freeze.  Although my fingers tried to.  I had my fingerless mitts on and kept putting my hands in my pockets but the weather was in the high 20s today and definitely cold.  Still, I got another load hung out and hopefully will get more hung out on Thursday.  We didn't go to the movies today because it's trash day and I had some stuff to go through in the basement to throw out.  Which I need to bring up and take outside before it gets completely dark.  I love it when it's dark before 5 p.m.  But then...I'm a night person.

I slept a bit before Tom got home but woke up when I heard him.  We had bought him a new work coat because the coat he's been using since his Navy days was looking so bad.  I mean, it's over 25 years old.  So we got a sturdy work coat, which he liked and wore to work today.  I was able to get back to sleep pretty well after that but got woke up this morning at around 8 a.m. by 2 robo-calls from the Republicans freaking out because their side lost the election so they want everyone to make sure the President doesn't get anything passed.  They're not getting me on their side with all this hysteria, especially at 8 in the morning.

I scheduled my mammogram today for right before Christmas.  I kept meaning to but time got away from me.  I was due the end of August but there was a lot going on there and a 3 hour trip up to FDL and back wasn't going to work out for me.  Especially when I wasn't sleeping at night then.  Now that I seem to be better, I'll get it done.  That means my surgeon's visit will be probably in January though, but maybe I can get in before then.

I worked on Zach's sock last night.  I need to dig out the pattern for the blanket so I can finish it up and then put buttons on the sweater and get it mailed out.  I'm really bad at that last point.  I just hate going to the post office, which is why a home business wouldn't work out at all for me.  I know my limitations.  I did start working on a dishcloth shawl out of some bulky yarn I had plenty of.  It's a chocolate brown and not particularly luscious but it will make someone a nice, warm shawl. Won't be done for a while yet though.

I forgot to pick up my medicine at the store yesterday but as they hold it for a few days I'm not running back there.  Trips to town have to be limited from now on to save gas.  Tom put a few things on the list but I hope he doesn't run out before I can get back to the store.  If he does, he does though.  I've got to stop this constant shopping that seems to be going on.  'Cause I never just get what's on the list, you know.  I used to be good at this, not going but once a week.  I'll probably have to do at least 2 trips a week but even that would be a lot better than the 4-5 times I go now.  We're doing the movie tomorrow but it's in the opposite direction.  I don't go to the movies in the town we shop in because parking is awful and far away and they don't have matinees during the week.  When I say parking is awful, I mean it's very limited and a few blocks away from the theater.

I'm not sure what I'm going to fix for supper tonight.  I have some canned salmon I might fix into patties.  We haven't had that in a while.  I've got a venison roast but that would take too long.  I'll fix that on Thursday when I can be home all day.  I've got a crock pot but I won't use it if I'm not home.  It's still in great shape but it's old and our wiring is old and I just don't trust it if I'm not here. 

I should get busy with supper now and get the trash out to the bin.  It's already dark now but we've got a street light in front of the house so I won't need a flashlight or anything.

TTFN

Been a while

Tom was gone last week hunting and brought back half a deer.  They share out their deer in the camp but this one he shot.  First thing on opening day.  One other hunter got a deer as well. So he got home a bit early yesterday, before I was even out of bed, and started processing the meat.  We had bought him a set of knives for processing a few years ago so he was thrilled to use them.  It was also nice to see him doing it instead of me.  I had processed one deer years ago with our crappy knives and swore never to do it again.  Now we have meat in the freezer.  Yay!

For me the week wasn't great.  Depression being what it is, it left me in a funk so I didn't get anything much done while he was gone.  Hardly any knitting at all.  Not much cleaning and very little cooking.  I would have been better off if I had just stopped fighting it and rode it out.  'Cause once I did that, it resolved itself more quickly.  I never learn.

But I am back to knitting again.  Nearly finished with the baby blanket.  I just need to finish up the end trim and weave in the ends, wash it and get it off to my daughter and her husband for their new baby.  I finished up my wool socks and one of Zach's, started on the other one and plan on starting Tom's mittens after I finish up the blanket.  And from now on I plan on using up my stash.

We're in super tightwad lockdown from now on.  I have to get back to where we used to be in that regard.  I don't think we will ever be able to relax again.  We have to start fixing the house up, putting money back into the house.  Even if it's just decorative.  Plus we need to get some money in savings again.  I don't think I will ever trust the economy again.

I've got a load of clothes out on the line.  It's around freezing but it's windy so they won't freeze.  It will take a day or two to dry but they will dry.  Whites and socks I'll dry in the dryer because they take forever to hang up and don't feel great on the feet.  I won't be able to hang up all the clothes inside on racks this winter, but I can use the dryer partly and hang them up on the racks when they're partly dry. That will save some money a bit.

We're going to see a movie this week.  Zach has been wanting to see Wreck-it Ralph so we're going tomorrow.  The Hobbit is coming out soon but we'll wait until after the holidays because I don't do well in crowded movie theaters.  And we only do matinees.  We only do one movie a year normally but we haven't gone for a few years so two this year will be okay.

I'll also be doing more cooking from scratch.  I had debated getting another bread machine but I think I'll just go back to making it by hand instead.  The problem in winter is the house not being warm enough for the bread to rise, but I'm working on using a candle to heat under my bread mixing pan, which is stainless steel.  I just need a rack under it so it's not too close.  Tea candles last several hours so they should work well.

Which means less time online.  I have been losing interest in the internet lately but I had thought it was the depression.  But I think I'm getting more interested in things going on here so I plan on spending less time on facebook and stuff.  I'll keep up with my blogs though, because I do still like writing them.

But for now, I've got to put the load of whites in the dryer and get another load started, get Zach up so we can go to the store and pay bills.  And then get something going for supper.  I have a chicken laid out so I think roast chicken for supper tonight.  I need to make tortillas this week and maybe some noodles as well.  I'll work on the bread next week.  Right now the freezer is full of venison so I don't have room to freeze any bread.  And I want to make at least 4 loaves at a time.  It's more economical.

TTFN

I'm still here

Can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted.  I am still sleeping fairly well.  I had one bad night that resulted in me putting my room back the way it was since the arrangement wasn't helping me sleep after all.  The inconvenience was a pain but worth the effort if I was getting sleep.  Not so much if I wasn't.

I had to stop working on the baby blanket to knit up a pair of flip-top mittens for Tom for hunting.  I have no idea what happened to all our mittens but they aren't in the bag I keep that stuff in.  So I'm knitting him a new pair out of the Fisherman's Wool from Lion Brand.  I absolutely love how they're turning out and we all will have our own pair before it gets too much colder.

Tom is leaving tomorrow for deer hunting.  I have one more thing to get him for the trip and then I will work on laundry and cleaning.  It's hard to clean before he leaves so I'll do that afterward.  But the laundry  must be done ahead of time.  He needs some clean clothes to take with him.

I don't have any great plans for Thanksgiving except our annual trip to Pizza Hut on the day before.  Probably just frozen dinners with a pumpkin pie on the side.  I haven't cooked for T-day for around 17 years.  It's just not a big day for me.  When Zach was little, Tom was always out to sea around that time and when he got out of the Navy, he was gone deer hunting.  I've been invited to other people's houses but honestly the stress of trying to socialize with people you don't really know never appealed to me so I would graciously decline the invitation.  I do wish I were more social but attempting it one day a year with a crowd of people in a small house makes me nuts.  I did have one big family dinner here once and it was more than I ever want to do again.  The people were fine.  The house was too small and I spent the majority of the time finishing up the cooking by myself in the tiny kitchen so it's just not worth it.

I do plan on a lot of knitting while he's gone since I don't plan on doing a lot of cleaning after I get it all straightened up.  And cooking will be simple and plain.  I just don't want to spend my whole time cleaning and cooking.  It's the closest I get to a vacation, even though I still have all my regular chores to do.  And I still have laundry and cooking, even if it's not elaborate meals.  And of course, the kitchen has to be cleaned up daily as well.  Sigh.  I've never had a real vacation in our whole marriage.  Or before that either, come to think of it.

Anyway.  I hope to get the baby blanket done and a pair of socks for Zach in addition to some flip top mittens for me and Zach and some socks for Tom.  Then I've got tons of WIPs to finish up.  Or rip back.  I have to put a dent in this stash of yarn.

The sun is shining today and the birds have nearly emptied the feeder so I need to refill that as well.  We've killed 8 mice so far in the traps.  I had to resort to kill traps instead of humane as I think the mice were coming back in.  We haven't seen or heard a mouse in a few days so I'm hoping they're all gone.  I hate to kill them but they were in my stove, leaving droppings in my pots and pans so I had to wash them every time I needed to use them.  Plus they were way too close to my food and that I will not tolerate.  I can't afford to be merciful when there is risk of our health involved.

Well, I need to get dressed and get to town to finish up the shopping and then get the laundry finished up.

TTFN

Hope this trend continues

Three nights of sleep.  Good sleep. Mostly uninterrupted sleep.  I'm still not feeling energetic but I'm not feeling like I can barely move anymore and plan on getting some work done today.  Inside and out.  Apparently that orientation for my bed is working out great in spite of the fact it's not ideal at all.  I have a tv tray for a nightstand that blocks my armoir so I have to move it whenever I need something from my drawers.  But I'm sleeping and that's more important.

I haven't gotten a lot of knitting done but hopefully that will change now.  I won't be online as much either as the election is over and I have much to do around the house. Especially now that I'm sleeping. I just turned the furnace on to heat up the house but I'll be turning it back down afterward.  It's not that cold outside but as the sun isn't shining today, the inside won't warm up like it did yesterday.  I didn't turn the heat up at all yesterday.

I need to make my mammogram appointment today. I keep meaning to and forget until it's too late in the day to call.  I'm a few months late but I'm not in a panic about it.  I would have done it sooner but it's so far to drive for it.  It takes about an hour to get there.  Plus I have to then see the surgeon after the results are in so that's two trips in a month.  I know I used to drive that daily when Zach was in school but I'm older and tireder now and just hate the journey.

Tom leaves for deer hunting next week so I have to get busy with the tightwadding.  I need to get back to where I was years ago because things are only going to get worse from here on out. The economy keeps pricing upward and Tom's raises don't.  We can't keep getting 1% raises in a 5% economy and expect to live on it for long.

Well, I need to eat breakfast and get busy.  Much to do. :)

TTFN

I voted

And I hope I can sleep in tomorrow without having my sleep disturbed by non-stop political calls.  And by political calls, I mean calls from the right. 99.9% of the calls I got were from the right.

I had to get up with Professor at least 4 times last night, which woke me up because I had to go outside with him to keep him from barking.  And it seemed like as soon as I got back to sleep, he woke me up wanting out again.  And then, toward morning, I was in twilight sleep when I had the strangest feeling.  I opened my eyes to see Hannibal's nose about 2 inches from my eyeball.  Just staring at me.  Creepy.

Another problem I have is that I can't prop my pillows up so I can sleep which means it take forever to get comfortable so I'll be shifting the bed a bit, sliding it against the wall under the waterbed headboard that I use as a bookcase.  It won't be ideal but at least I should be able to sleep again.  It still leaves the heating vent open but also opens up the room a bit so I can walk through it.  As it was I had about 6 inches of corridor through the room.

I would love to have my own room.  Sigh.

Well, off to finish up my room and start supper.  Probably chili tonight.  It's cold and rainy and that's just chili weather.

TTFN

Having one of those "I hate some people" days

I'll admit it started  with Professor not letting me sleep last night, wanting out every time I entered REM sleep.  Around 8 a.m. the robocalls started and some of them were minutes apart.  Tom picked up some but he was upstairs most of the morning.  Finally I got up around 1 p.m. because sleep just wasn't going to happen anymore.  Not meaning to be political but 100% of the calls were from the right.

I had to go back to the store because there were two necessary items not put on the list yesterday so  I had my coffee and a bit of incredibly slow computer time (I have no idea what is up with my computer but Zach says I need to reformat it to fix it which will lose everything I've got and if I save to a stick, I run the risk of bringing it back to the computer afterward.  I just keep putting it off.) I got dressed and headed to the store.

I stopped to get some gas, which was about $20 cheaper than the last time I filled up (only to find the price was 4 cents cheaper on the way home...I think they see me coming.)  Then I got past the one stop light heading out of town on E and traffic was backed up about a half mile from the railroad crossing where they load the cars on the train.  Being this was rush hour, I didn't think it was a good time to close off the one of two west exits out of town.  By the time we finally got going (I had a book to read and got 2 pages finished before we got to move again and I was pretty far back.) I think traffic was backed up beyond the traffic light.

So...finally got to town, grabbed a sandwich because one of the things we were missing was bread and I didn't feel like cooking something before I left.  Had some peaceful time reading and enjoying my dollar menu items and then headed to StuffMart where things got crazy.  There were two things I needed in addition to the bread and in front of both items, family reunions were going on.  I coughed, hinted and finally left, thinking I could come back in a few minutes but it was nearly 20 minutes before either aisle was available.  Even coming back every few minutes didn't deter the people from catching up on all the news.

So I wasn't in a very good mood at all.  Not to mention I'm having an allergy headache because I didn't take my meds yesterday.  I occasionally give myself a day off to see if I'm okay without them.  Apparently I'm not.  It was also frustrating when people who shop take up the whole aisle and shoot daggers at you if you try to get around them. 

So now I've got a raging headache and just want to go to bed.  I'll do the plastic on the windows tomorrow. 

TTFN

Getting closer to furnace time

I haven't finished the winterizing yet.  Last night I slept a lot, just not uninterrupted and woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all.  So slow going today.  Plus I had errands to run and shopping.  I have two more windows to do and the rug to put down in the back hallway since it's not insulated.  There is nothing between the floor and the patio it's built on.  Plus I need to put a curtain up back there to contain as much of the cold as possible.

Tomorrow for sure I have to get all that done.

I ended up having to rip back all I knitted last night as I put a few yarnovers in the wrong place and didn't see them until this morning.  So maybe it's not a good idea for me to knit when I'm that tired.  I'm still not back to where I was before. 

I'm also trying to get the laundry done but the stairs are not my friends because of my arthritic knees so I'm only doing one load a day.  I would love to have everything on one floor.

I need to get supper started and then I think I'm going to bed.  It's cold in here but until I get the winterizing done and the filter changed in the furnace I don't want to run it.  I might run it long enough to take the chill off the house tomorrow morning though.  The house usually stays warm once it's warm.  It's just that it's been cold for a few days and no sunshine today.

I'm thinking macaroni and cheese tonight for supper.

TTFN

Still not ready for the furnace

No sleep last night...again.  I dozed for a bit but couldn't sustain any sleep.  Certainly not REM sleep.  I finally got up around 7:30 and got busy since I wasn't sleeping and went back down about 11:30 for a nap.  Woke up at 3 p.m. feeling terrible...tired and groggy.  I hate sleeping during the day.

I am getting laundry done but only because I must.  I have a couple of windows to put plastic on but I wore out after two more so I can finish it up tomorrow.  I have to remember to get Tom to change out the filter in the furnace before we use it.  I'm going to need more plastic tomorrow.

I've got most of the winter curtains up.  Two of them got mildewed too badly to use down in the basement.  It's damp down there.  Fortunately the rest are okay.  And I found my winter sheets but they need airing out because they're musty.  I'll hang them on the line tomorrow so they can freshen up a bit.

Still not knitting as much as I would like.  I got a few rows done but that's not nearly enough for a day.  I'll get more done later but I still have laundry to do so that will take up a lot of my time tonight.

Supper is ready so I'm off to eat and then grab the clothes from the dryer and put in another load.  I had to make laundry soap today, too, so my arms are sore from grating Ivory soap.

TTFN

OW!

I'm paying for all the work I did yesterday.  Not to mention sleeping on the single futon mattress instead of both of them.  I was trying to make the room fully convertible from bedroom to living room but it was a miserable night.  I felt every spring and the bars under the mattress.  So the other mattress is back on and if it's not convertible, it's no worse than it was before when it was fully a bedroom.  At least I can convert it to a living room in half an hour instead of hours, as it was before.  I expect to sleep good tonight.  If I can get rid of the pain.  Every muscle and joint is screaming right now but I don't want to take a tramadol just yet.  I'll wait until tonight.

I didn't get much knitting done last night and probably won't get much done tonight but my goal is to stay home more often, limit my trips to town and use the afternoons to knit and clean. And cook.  We are getting into the time when we need the furnace so I've got to cut expenses on the food budget to pay for it.  Plus keep the daytime temps at 60 and the nighttime temps at 50.  Personally, I like the nighttime temps because sleeping is great in a cold house, but there are times when 60 just gets in your bones.  The daytime temps the past few days have been in the high 50s but as I don't have all the winterizing done, I'm not turning the furnace on yet.  And it's not November 1st yet either.

Got pizza casserole in the oven and it's nearly done.  Zach wanted pumpkin pie so I got one.  We don't do that very often at all so I don't mind.  Then it's put the foyer curtains up and crawl into bed.  Professor is getting it warm for me.

TTFN

Using up the available energy

I slept about 14 hours total last night although 3 hours in I woke up and was wide awake for a few hours.  Still, I'm imbued with some energy now so I'm tackling the winterizing I have needed to do for a while.  I tore apart my bedroom and put it back in living room mode although I will keep the bed made up all the time.  It won't take 10 minutes to turn it back into a living room again.  But more importantly, the heating vent is open again and the room can be completely open to the dining room so we can circulate the heat better.  I swear I'm not moving it anymore.  I could be wrong though.

I had to rip out the baby blanket because I made a mistake 6 inches in.  I had knit about 2.5 feet so ripping back that far really hurt.  I felt like crying.  Still, making progress again.  I've got a sweater already knitted up that I think I'll send even if I end up knitting the other sweater.  It's a cardigan so she'll get a lot of use out of it, moreso than a pullover.

Zach got the leaves raked in the front yard so that is done.  I don't think we're going to mow again.  Seems pointless at this stage.  We need to get everything back in the garage this week, too.  If I can find room for everything.

Tomorrow I'll finish putting plastic on the windows because all this moving has worn me out and I still have a ways to go before I'm done.  The living room looks pretty good but the dining room is a disaster because I still have to find a place for everything. Unfortunately supper tonight will be provided by the golden arches.  I just don't have the energy to cook.  Not with about 2 hours more work to get done.  I'll probably just fall into bed tonight without anymore knitting but at least tomorrow I'll have a good start on getting the winterizing finished.  I don't turn the furnace on before November anyway.  Now my bed is away from the window and the outside wall so I should stay warmer at night.  The house hasn't been unbearable at all so I haven't been tempted to turn the heat on yet.  But we're getting there.  Won't be much longer.

Professor really didn't like me rearranging everything but he wouldn't leave the room.  He kept getting in the way, with his tail between his legs.  Now he's curled up on the bed on his blanket so he's in a much better mood.  The tail is up and wagging.

Now off to finish up some more before we head out to McSnacky's.  I'm so tired.

TTFN

Back to normal...darn it

I'm back to the fatigue and pain and not getting anything done.  Last night I couldn't sleep until nearly 6 a.m. because of the pain.  Finally it went down to a dull roar and my mind woke up and brought up every stressful thing I could think of.  The phone woke me up at noon so I'm lacking in enough sleep.  And I haven't had much sleep at all the past several days, which means I'm not getting anything done.  I'm trying to just keep up with what I accomplished earlier but it's hard to do that.

I am knitting even if I'm not the fastest knitter around.  I broke down and bought a baby doll today because I haven't seen a real baby in years and have no idea what size they are so now when I knit baby clothes I can judge better.  Plus if I take pictures it will look better than something lying flat on the dining table.

Good news!  JoAnn's is coming to Beaver Dam.  I don't shop at Hobby Lobby because of their anti-gay and anti-women agendas and the local yarn stores are just too expensive for me so this is good news.  Plus they have crafts there so I can get stuff for my art supplies and such.  I don't know when they'll be open but I hope it's soon.  Not that I have any money to spend there either.

Tonight is just grilled cheese and tomato soup because shopping took it all out of me.  I forgot to go to the library though so I'll have to do that tomorrow.  Darn it.  We've been doing well not driving so much.  I usually have to gas up every 10 days or so but it's been over a week and I haven't used half a tank yet.  Glad about that!

Well, time to go lie down for a bit.  I can make the grilled cheese later.  I'm just so tired of being tired.

TTFN

We had a few days of summer

but tomorrow the temps will be back in the fall range.  Mid 40s during the day and 20s at night.  I still don't have the plastic on the windows yet but tomorrow I must get that done.  Not to mention the rest of the winterizing.  Won't be long before I have to turn the furnace on.

I'm making progress on the baby blanket.  I had knitted a few inches but thought the blanket felt a bit stiff in spite of the soft yarn so I frogged it and began again with a size 8 needle...one size up.  It definitely feels better.  Has a nice drape to it now.  It will be a crib blanket rather than one to wrap the baby in but still needs to be softer.  I haven't started the sweater yet.  Not in a hurry right now as I'll make it a six month size.  I never make newborn sizes because people always get gifts for that size anyway.  I plan for later down the road.

Came back from Beaver Dam today after paying the bills, visiting my miniscule checking account at the credit union and shopping and traffic was backed up at E and A with a really bad accident.  The car was in a ditch with the entire passenger side completely caved in.  I didn't see what other vehicle was involved but there were no ambulances on the scene but we got there a while after the accident.  It's a bad intersection because there are people who don't seem to remember or realize that the cross traffic doesn't stop in spite of the signs.  Several years ago a woman pulled out in front of us and Tom had to stand on the brakes in order to avoid hitting her.  She shook her finger at us and then kept driving.  We blew a brake line and had to get the car repaired.  Just a few weeks ago a van hit a semi at that intersection.  I believe the van driver was on his cell phone at the time.

Been watching Hex on BBCA.  I missed it first time around but this time I am watching with great enthusiasm.  It's a great show.  The British do horror shows much better, I think.  I've got Merlin on dvr, too, but Zach wants to watch it with me and since he's been too busy lately...it's piling up.  We'll have to do a marathon.  Both men are loving the dvr boxes.  Tom initially said he didn't want one but he is enjoying the upper science channels a lot.  And Zach gets to watch all his cartoons now.  None of which were on the lower channels. 

Hopefully with the weather getting colder, trips to town will be less frequent and more knitting will be happening here.  I've got tons of projects going that I need to finish.  I have a stash of yarn that is overflowing all my bins and drawers.  I must knit it up! 

But for now, supper is demanding my attention.  Baked ziti and salad.  And a quick clean up and then to bed for knitting and watching the British mysteries I have accumulated on dvr.

TTFN

Frustrating

I was making such progress and then two nights of insomnia and I can't function again.  I have maintained the house so far but I'm so tired in spite of a long nap.  Naps never, ever refresh me.  If anything they make me more tired and I mess up my sleep rhythms so badly I'm in a cycle for weeks, but I couldn't stay awake any longer.

I need to knit as my daughter had her baby the other day and I'm trying to get the blanket and sweater done.  I'm using a Lion Brand pound of something or other that is soft and pink and a joy to work with.  I've got the Bernat baby sport for the sweater, which is in a magazine I've got.  I got the blanket pattern off the internet and it's lacy and cabled.  So, as I'm not a fast knitter, taking longer than I would like.  Especially when I can't knit because of the fatigue.

Seriously, the fatigue is debilitating and worse than the pain for me.

So I guess I'd better get supper going and let Zach clean up the kitchen afterward.  It's trash day and he's got to clean out an area of the basement as well.  I really, really hate feeling like this all the time.

TTFN

I just keep pushing

I scrubbed the bathroom and did a bunch of laundry yesterday.  Scrubbing all those places you don't get with a general cleaning...just took it all out of me.  I still need to steam the walls to get rid of the mold.  The plaster is ancient and absorbs mold and mildew like a sponge.  But that will have to wait another month or two when I get ready to paint in there.

I still have more laundry to do but I can slow down on it to a load every other day.  Today is for the dining room.  On Monday the cable guy will come to install two new dvr boxes.  It's only $10 a month extra and I feel so bad that I'm the only one who gets the upper channels so I'm sharing. We're still saving on the new deal we got with our cable bundle so it's still less than what we were paying.  Plus, as I intend to do more cooking from scratch and am trying to do more frugal shopping, I think we can manage an extra $10 a month.

I think I'll put off the kitchen until next week because with Tom home all weekend, it's impossible to get a lot of work done in our tiny house.  Which is why I have to get the dining room done today.

I haven't knitted in a few days but I've just been too tired.  I do miss it though.  Hopefully this weekend I'll get busy and finish up a few projects and make more progress on others.  I'm going to take the weekend and rest for next week.

I've got tons of things on the dvr to watch that I haven't been able to get to this week because I've been falling into bed around 11 p.m. and just vegging out until Tom gets home and I can go to sleep.  Tonight I will most likely fall asleep before he gets home since he'll be late because of all the paperwork.  I'm so glad he doesn't have to work Saturdays for now but he's putting in as much time during the week in order to do his paperwork.

Well, I must get breakfast...or lunch.  I just woke up around 1 p.m.  And then off to get tons of work done.

TTFN

Got to keep the momentum going

Believe it or not, I've been busy the past few days, working on getting Zach's room cleaned up and organized.  What people don't realize about OCD is that not everyone who has it is a clean freak.  Many are just the opposite and not out of laziness or just because they like to live in clutter but because the clutter is essential to them.  I've been working with him to change some of the behavior and have offered to monitor it for him, for when it gets out of control.  So it has taken a while to sort and organize.  Plus we had to move out furniture in order to re-arrange because the room is tiny.  You can't move anything without taking something out.  Fortunately we only had to move a very light cabinet.  The desk is extremely heavy and no way could we get it out of there.

So today we'll focus on the fine tuning, getting flat spaces cleared and the closet cleaned out and organized.  I took the door off a while back because it's behind the door into the room and you can't open it up very well because you're stuck between the wall, the closet door and the door to the room.  Which makes it very difficult.  And dark.  No light in the closet.  So I'll put up a curtain to close it off, which will be so much easier to use.

Then we vacuum and are done and I can move on to the rest of the house.  We're on a roll of tearing the house apart and organizing it all, getting rid of clutter and the stuff we've accumulated over the years that we don't need out or don't need at all.  I can't do this in the spring...only the fall.

I haven't been knitting much lately.  Partly because I'm so tired at night that I just fall into bed, but also because I've been doing crossword puzzles to exercise my brain.  And it seems to be working!  I'm able to recall things better and concentrate on reading with more clarity. 

But I have done some work on the socks, if only a round or two.  I do need to finish them up and get busy on Zach's socks because the weather is turning cold again.  Plus I need to do a mountain of laundry, put plastic on the windows and get the rest of the winterizing done.  Maybe then I'll be able to sit down with my many projects and get busy knitting.

In the meantime, I'm whittling away at the house and actually functioning once again.  It's a good feeling to accomplish things on a daily basis again.

TTFN

Don't ever hit the floor running

I finally had a day with energy to burn and my sciatica flared up so much I couldn't walk without dragging my leg and leaning heavily on my cane.  And the pain!  I doubled up on tramadol as the dr said I could but it didn't really put a dent in it.  And didn't sleep much that night or the next one so the next couple of days I was worthless.  I didn't even knit because I was so tired.

But I did manage to finish up the black and white rectangular shawl last night.  It's not very good.  You'd think knitting just a garter stitch shawl would be easy but this yarn is like velcro and can't be ripped back so any mistakes either stay there or I just cut the yarn until I can fix it.  I had dropped a stitch so I just went in and used a crochet hook to "tie" it in place.  If you look for it you can find it but you do have to look for it.  And then I bound off the end too tight and it's a good 3 inches narrower than the beginning.  I'll just keep it for myself, I guess.  From now on, just dishcloth  shawls.

I managed to work on my socks, too, but mostly ripping back because I had made a mistake and there was a very loose stitch way back that looked horrible.  I should work on my Greek Key afghan sometime this weekend, too, since it feels good on my lap while I'm knitting.

I have lots dvr'd so I should get busy knitting again now that I got some sleep last night and feel almost normal again.  Well, normal for me, which is still very tired but not immobilized by it.

So off to fix supper or just grab a bite and get busy knitting.

TTFN

Hit the ground running

...this morning.  I got next to no sleep on Sunday night and didn't nap much so I ended up going to bed at 10 p.m. and slept through to 7:30 a.m.  I did get up once to let Professor out but went right back to sleep afterward.  So I got up this morning and tackled the kitchen, straightened up my bedroom and did some reading.  I plan on scrubbing down the stove, mopping the kitchen floor and doing more laundry.  Plus I need to absolutely start cooking from scratch again and utilizing my tightwadding skills like I used to.  Fall motivates me more than any other season.

My mother wore her shawl to church on Sunday and had to fight to keep it.  Several women asked her about it and wanted to know where she got it so she asked me to knit up some more so she can sell them fore me.  I told her I would but for her to keep the money.  I really can't get my money back out of them and she could use the extra money anyway, living on a fixed income and having dialysis 3 times a week.  Besides, they're just garter stitch or dishcloth shawls so it's mindless knitting and I have tons of yarn that will work for those shawls.

I intend to start Zach's sweater this week.  It's a hooded sweater with a front pocket I found in one of my magazines.  The one I was knitting last year I didn't have a real pattern for and got stuck on the neckline so I'll just use the yarn that is still intact and add some other yarn I've got around the house as well.  I'll get back to mine, too.  It's a snowflake fair isle pattern and complicated but fun.

Plus the socks I"m knitting.  I ripped the mittens as the pattern wasn't working out well.  The pattern expected me to knit intarsia in the round with no explanation of how to do that.  I tried knitting it flat but I didn't like the pattern in the long run so I'll just use the yarn for more socks.  I can knit Zach's socks using one band of white and Tom's with two bands of white.  Mine are plain.  This way I can tell them apart.

I'm in my winter socks now as the temps have been in the mid 50s or lower and nighttime temps in the low 30s.  It's going to warm up a smidgen with temps in the high 50s and nighttime temps in the 40s but it's still time to winter up.  We wore coats last night to the store although it was roasting inside the store, even with our coats off.  We were sweating when we left.

Well, I need to get back to work while I still have the motivation and energy to do it.  I plan on lots of knitting this afternoon.

TTFN

Brrrr!

Temps have plunged here, especially at night.  We had freezing temps last night and more are predicted tonight.  I have been winterizing, although I'm far from done.  Still, the storm windows are all on and we close the thermal curtains as soon as it starts getting dark, which is earlier and earlier.  I love this time of year.

I have plastic to put on the windows but Zach's room will take precedence over the weekend.  We are tackling his room to organize and put his bed on an inside wall.  His room gets so cold in the winter that we got him a space heater just to take the edge off. 

Tom is up north this weekend to spend time with his brother at his cabin in the woods.  They get along so well and he really deserves this time away.  Work is especially stressful these past few years.  He took my camera and my phone.  I just hope he brings them back.  He's good at that usually but each trip he forgets something.  I just hope it's not any of my stuff this time.

I've been winding yarn today.  I dyed the Welsh top with coffee but the color isn't what I had imagined.  It's like an ecru color instead of the darker color I wanted.  I just couldn't get it darker though.  I think the top doesn't hold dye very well.  At least I didn't felt it.  So I'm winding hanks into balls so I can ply it.  Mostly, though, I've been untangling.  For some reason they got all tangled up in the closet.  The last two hanks were relatively tangle-free, which is good, but my spinning was pretty bad and I've had to splice the yarn a lot.  Next time I'll spin a thicker single.

Which I should be getting ready soon.  I have a pound of Shetland wool that needs to be scoured and carded before I can spin it.  And it will take me a while to ply this pound of Welsh top as well.

But...this weekend I need to work on Tom's hunting present.  I found some fingerless mitts he would like but I've never done intarsia in the round so I'm very nervous about it.  I'll go over the instructions pretty well before I start.

Cooking supper and doing laundry right now.  I still can't find my bag of seeds for the herbs.  I have no idea where else to look.  I really need to tear this house apart and get it organized.  It will be an early night, though because we need to get up early and tackle Zach's room tomorrow.

TTFN

Sleep is my friend

The sleep I got last week wasn't restful at all.  I would finally crash around 4-5 a.m. and wake up around 2 p.m. but getting out of bed was hard because I was still so very tired.  I really need to get my sleep better regulated.  I woke up around 3 p.m. yesterday and went back to sleep around 11 p.m.  Professor woke me up around 7 for an outdoor potty trip and again at 9:30 and again at 11 but at least at 11 I felt like getting out of bed for the first time in a long time.  I don't feel rejuvenated but at least I feel like doing things today.  I didn't do much of anything all last week except a load of laundry now and then and a very simple meal each day.

The weather has warmed up a bit with temps in the high 60s and lower 70s so Tom has some of the windows open.  It feels nice to put a sweater on in the mornings even if I take it off in the afternoons.  I noticed the birds hanging around the feeders yesterday so I need to fill them up.  I think I'll put one out front.  I have one in the basement I don't use.  I have noticed some birds hanging around on the roof of the foyer area.  It would be nice to watch the birds from my bed while knitting in the afternoon.

Zach and I are planning a walk this afternoon in the marsh.  There is a trail there that is pretty long so we'll probably only make it through the woods part before we have to turn around this time but we hope to extend our trip each time.  Walking around our neighborhood is not only boring, but hard for me because of the hills.  The marsh is flat.  It's less than a mile away and while I hate to drive that far to walk, it's pointless to try to walk to it in order to walk the marsh trail because it would take us a year to build up my stamina enough to get there.

I finished up Eragon and started Elder over the weekend.  The writing is really not very good but probably better than I could do.  His writing improves over the series as he grows up.  I suppose we shouldn't expect polished writing at age 15 and that he wrote a book that early in his life is still very impressive.  I haven't read the fourth book yet which is why I'm re-reading the series.  It took him a long time to write it all and I've forgotten a lot of the nuances.  I watched the movie again over the weekend, too.

And I finished up Buffy, season 4 and started season 5.  I have a lot of stuff on dvr I need to watch before it loads up too much so I might give Buffy a rest for a while.  I have Wallender to watch but I'm not sure if I'll watch Upstairs, Downstairs.  It really didn't grab me the way the mysteries do.  I might try though.  I'm probably the only British television fan who hasn't jumped on the Downton Abbey series.  I tried to watch it but couldn't get into it.  Maybe some other time it will appeal to me.

In the meantime, I'm knitting hats and scarves for area kids this winter.  The Beaver Dam library has a knit in sometime in the fall and accepts hats, gloves, mittens and scarves for the kids around November.  I've got one hat done although I don't really like it much.  Someone might, though.  And I started the scarf and another hat as well.  Don't know how many mittens I'll get made.  Depends whether I can find a pattern I like.  I have the mitten pattern that is fingerless with a flap but it's an adult pattern and I'm not sure how to make it smaller.  I'm sure there are patterns out there that already are sized for kids.  The hats I'm making are more for junior/senior high age kids so I need some around that age, too.

I did work on socks this weekend as well.  I finished up the first sock and got a little ways on the second one.  Nothing fancy...plain vanilla socks.  Except they're a dark brown.  I'll probably work on the Greek Key afghan tonight as well because I miss it.  Sometimes I have to just work on afghans.  Especially when it's cool at night.

Well, off to get some rugs hung out on the line and maybe start another load.  I'm going to try to get back into my tightwad mode.  We really need to as the utilities will go up once I use the furnace (hopefully not before Thanksgiving but probably before then).  Besides, it's just a good idea to keep our finances under control.  When the economy escalates around 5% each year and you only get a 1% pay raise, eventually you're going to be unable to work it out.

Off for a productive day, I hope.

TTFN

So much for the mojo

All it takes is one night of sleeplessness to throw me off my game, but the past week has been many nights of little to no sleep so I'm a mess again.  I did sleep last night so I hope to get some things done today, including cleaning up the mess I made last night after Hannibal caught a mouse and dropped it next to my stash of knitting and let it get away.  Needless to say, there are piles of bags everywhere that need to find a place to live.  I suspect that will be my project for the day.

But the up side of that is I found some yarn that would be perfect to make up a bunch of hats, scarves and mittens for kids this winter.  The library in Beaver Dam always takes donations for that each winter so I'd better get going on it.  I am burning out on baby clothes but since there is no rush on those, I can put them aside and work on them whenever I feel like it.

I've decided to scrap the cape and frog it because it just doesn't look good at all.  I can use this yarn to knit myself a sweater instead.   But I am making progress on the Greek Key afghan now that the weather is so much cooler.

I'm re-reading the Inheritance series (Eragon, etc) because we got the last book months ago and I haven't read it yet.  Plus he took so long to finish the series that I have to re-read them so I know what's going on.  Still working on Buffy, season 4, plus all the things I dvr. 

I'm feeling the need to start nesting, shutting up the house and getting the vents ready for the furnace even though I don't plan on using it until near Thanksgiving.  At least I hope we can last that long.  I won't let us get sick and miserable over it though.

I should also get my herbs planted today and put on my new kitchen window sill.  At least I can get the little things done today.  And hopefully some knitting tonight.

TTFN

I love having my mojo back

I'm doing very well with my projects, making progress in both knitting and organizing.  I finished up the armoir today and only threw away some packaging.  Didn't have to throw away anything else.  And I managed to find lots of room now.

I'm progressing on the yellow baby sweater although I bought a new Creative Knitting magazine that had tons of patterns in it, sort of a compendium of patterns, I suppose.  And in it is a darling sweater and sock set that will come next.  In blue.  I'm decreasing on the cape, have already turned the heel on the wool sock and am knitting up a cover for my Kindle out of some Lion Brand sparkle yarn in red.  It will use up the rest of it so that's good.

I found a pattern in an old magazine that I intend to knit for Zach, out of the yarn I was using to knit up his striped sweater that I never finished because I was working on a pattern that needed a lot of adjustments and I'm just not a designer so making those adjustments was hard.  It's more of a hooded sweatshirt type of thing with a pocket in front.  He loves the pattern and since I already have the yarn, it's a go pretty soon.  I do want to finish up something before I start something else.

Laundry today, partly to heat up the house.  It got down to about 33F last night so the house is a bit chilly today.  It's been a blustery day as well.  So windy we put the awnings up because I was afraid they would blow off the house.  More light in here now.

I'm also tackling the dining room and putting fans and other summer things away.  I took off the foam from my bed because it had creased and was terribly uncomfortable.  After a while they tend to get flat and since I'm sleeping just fine without it, I've shredded it for the garbage bin.  Little by little I'm getting things ready for fall.  I won't need to rearrange any furniture since the vents are clear in all the rooms.  I just need to pin up one side of the curtain in my bedroom so it doesn't cover the vent and that's it.  Well, I do need to put plastic on the windows but there is time for that.  The days are still in the 50s and 60s with the occasional day in the 70s.  And we will have a relapse of summer temps soon.  But I can winterize some of the windows ahead of time.

I hope to wait until November to use the furnace though.  It's a goal I have every year.

Well, time to get supper ready and put the wash in the dryer and start another load.

TTFN

A whole lot of knitting goin' on

I've definitely got my knitting mojo back.  I cleaned my bedroom, organized all my yarn (and by organize I mean I stuffed the yarn in nooks and crannies and drawers so it wasn't pile in the middle of the floor in bags) and found some projects I had started that needed my attention.  So I'm knitting on a cape I started last winter, working on some baby clothes still, and found some magazines that had been stashed away.  I'm also working on the Greek Key afghan again.

And I started a pair of winter socks. 

I got my birthday gifts a week early and there were two skeins of Fisherman's Wool from Lion Brand in a lovely, tweedy brown that will do nicely for socks.  Some of my socks from last year need mending already so I'm done with the acrylic/wool blend.  The only wool socks I own are still intact after 2 years of wearing.  They have to be hand washed but I'm okay with that.  I know eventually they'll need darning but at least I can get through a winter safely.

I'm coming down with something in my head/sinuses in spite of my allergy meds.  I keep getting stopped up and general achiness that is probably not the fibromyalgia this time around.  I was going to go to the store today but I just don't feel well and as I have to take Professor in the Animart for their vaccination clinic tomorrow, I can wait.

Tom also build me a new window sill over the sink so I've got room for an herb garden.  I've also got a rack under to hang my dishcloths on.  I need to knit up some nice looking dishcloths now.  I used some old ugly cotton yarn to make the ones I have but I might dig out my cotton yarn (that I found when cleaning) and knit up another, pretty one.

Oh, and I got a Kindle, too.  I love it but feel so guilty as we couldn't really afford it.  I'll have to make adjustments to the grocery shopping to account for the money but Tom surprised me with it and he really did want me to have one.  I'll admit that I didn't think about returning it because I really did want one.  I had already bought some free books (which is what I will use it for primarily) so now I can read them.  Yay!

Well, off to get some work done.  Or maybe lie down and take a nap.  I'm really not feeling well today.

TTFN

Feeling the call of Autumn

The weather is all over the place.  Yesterday it was 86F and today I'm in a sweater and jeans.  The temps will go back up again by the weekend but Autumn is in sight so I'm happy about that.  I'm going to tackle the dining room, finish up the laundry and probably tomorrow start shifting summer things to winter things in the dresser.  I can get by with one pair of shorts but since I wear my t-shirts under my sweatshirts in the winter, they can stay.  I also need to find my slippers.  I use flip flops in the summer.

I finished up the blue sweater and it doesn't look bad at all.  Seems a bit big but the baby will be around 9 pounds or so.  I don't know why but when I knit for pleasure I have few problems with the finished product but when I'm knitting on consignment or for someone specifically I always mess up.  This time the neck ended up too small for a head to poke through so I had to find the ends I had woven in, rip back an re-bind it off with needles 4 sizes bigger in order to get the stretch I needed.  I didn't have that problem with the other baby sweaters I knitted.

I finally picked up the blanket again last night but I had been working on a new sweater.  This one out of baby sport in yellow.  I have a yellow blanket ready so I thought I would make a blanket to go with it and maybe knit up blankets to go with the other sweaters as well.  I won't have much to donate at this speed but I'm not a fast knitter. I'll probably do more knitting in the winter since I tend to nest during the colder months.  I also hope to get back to other things, like spinning and drawing.  Maybe even some writing again.

In the meantime, I feel a need to do some organizing and cleaning before I have to winterize.  I've decided to keep my bedroom the way it is since we never get any company anyway and the room will be too small if I turn it back into a living room.  But I have to do some organizing since I brought those bags of yarn upstairs.  I have no idea where I'm going to store them.

I've been sleeping pretty good lately, about 10 hours a night.  It takes several of those in a row to start feeling the energy and usually there is one night of sleeplessness to ruin it all, which happened two nights ago.  But I'll try to take advantage of what I've got and get as much done as I can with the miniscule amount of energy I've managed to accumulate.

TTFN

Rearranging my priorities

I've been doing a lot of knitting lately and trying to spend less time online.  I'm slowly easing off the sites I read daily and am limiting the time online to 2 hours at most.  Sometimes that 2 hours seems too much.  Facebook is the time-sucker that leaves me little time to read blogs and such so I'm merely skimming for the most part.  I'll just read blogs a couple of times a week to catch up on them.

I've been doing fairly well with sleep although last night was mostly intermittent sleeping.  I woke at 1:30 p.m. and decided to just stay up.  I'm feeling more energetic, little by little, but I'm not getting a lot done.  I'd settle at this stage for just keeping up.  But I have hopes that by continuing to force myself to stay in bed, the energy will come back enough to have regular days again.

I found three bags of yarn in the basement over the weekend.  My cotton yarn was in one of the bags so I can knit some more dishcloths.  I also found some Caron Simply Soft that will make some nice sweaters for kids.  Not enough for an adult.  I already had some yarn set aside for my older son who is living in Montana right now so I can make him some mittens with flaps and a hat.  He might be moving soon but even Kentucky gets winter so they will do him good no matter where he goes.

Today will be laundry day and possibly clean up the dining room.  It gets so cluttered so quickly.  Then maybe tomorrow I'll work on my room.  I'm thinking of turning it back into a living room but keeping the couch turned into a bed unless we have company or something.  I think that arrangement will work better for winter, opening up the room so the vent will be more open.  Still at the pondering stage though.

I need to get a load of clothes started so I'm off.  I thought about hanging them outside since it's cool with lovely breezes but that takes extra energy I don't have so...

TTFN

Not a bad weekend

Tom got a lot of work done on the house this 3 day weekend.  Hopefully he'll have more Saturdays off so he can do some catching up instead of having only one day to try to catch up on sleep.  We watched Cowboys and Aliens last night.  I thought it was a good movie.  Not great but definitely entertaining.

I'm getting more sleep but my energy levels aren't improving as much as I would like to see.  I managed to get some things done this weekend but it was like working underwater.  Or working in slow motion.  I did re-plant my evergreen tree into a bigger pot.  It was root bound and no longer growing.  I have no idea how big this thing will get but in another few years it will be our Christmas/Yule tree.  A tiny one, but a holiday tree nonetheless.

Tomorrow we plan on planting some herbs.  I'm going to ask Tom to make me a shelf for my kitchen window.  It's the only other Southern exposure I have and I would like to have more plants, especially in February when I put my seedlings in.

I'm making  progress on the baby blanket but I'm getting bored with it.  I plan on finishing up the sweater this week and maybe the blanket.  I've been eying my Greek Key afghan but it's still a bit to heavy for the weather.  I should finish up the size 6 sweater.  I'm halfway done with the sleeves, working both at the same time.  I'm about to give up on the swing sweater.  I hate the sleeves and can't figure out what to do with an alternative.  I think I'll just finish up the sides and knit up a mini sleeve and make it a vest-type thing.

I've got to get the laundry folded so I'm off to do that and then go to bed and knit some more.  I'm watching Buffy, season 2 and have gotten to the point where Angel goes back to Angelus.  Not my favorite part of the series.  I usually skip it but I decided to watch it this time.  Nearly finished with the James Herriot book but I decided to read some things I have here instead of getting more from the library.  I'll re-read the Eragon series since I haven't read the final book yet.  Plus I have some books on Norse Paganism to read as well, including on on Runes.

But for now...finish up my chores and then to bed.

TTFN

Anticipating Autumn

My favorite time of year is Autumn, followed by Winter...but only until February.  After that I get bored and tired of the slush.  But Autumn is a very short season here so we have to start it early to enjoy it.  Usually we have leaves turning in mid August but not this year.  Everything is still very green.  But it wasn't as warm an August as we were used to so I'm not sure why the leaves aren't turning yet.

I took my air conditioner out yesterday because I haven't used it in a month and I prefer my fan in that window anyway.  I slept like a log last night with the fan blowing air on me all night long.  Professor loved it as well.  My room had been rather warm all week because I wasn't using the fans so taking the a/c out opened up the northern breeze I like so well and my room cooled off immediately.

I knit about 2 inches on the blanket last night and finished up the last Sookie Stackhouse mystery.  The very last book will come out next spring so I'll just have to wait on that.  In the meantime I'm re-reading James Herriot's books and might look into the Nicholas Flamels series. Trying not to run to the library all the time.  It's closed until Tuesday anyway but I have books here at home I can read.  I probably should re-read the Eragon series since I haven't read the last book to it yet.

I'm getting ready to go watch some tv and knit more on the blanket.  I might finish up the sweater this weekend.  I found my crochet hooks.  They were in a drawer I had looked at 3 times in a very prominent place.  It must be the car key fairies.  They do like to move things around.  So now I have extra hooks.  It's just as well as I misplace them all the time.

It's overcast today, a remnant of Isaac.  We won't get the rain but we're getting the skies.  I wouldn't mind the rain because we're still below our average.

Well, off to knit.  I'm not cooking supper tonight as we didn't eat lunch until around 5 p.m.  No one got up before noon today.

TTFN

Feeling better

I never got the massive sinus infection that always accompanies my annual cold so the allergy meds are doing their job.  I'm still run down and have a headache that pops up in the middle of the night but mostly I'm on the road to recovery.  Unless it bites me in the ass later, but I'll cross that bridge when/if I come to it.

I'm making progress on the blanket but haven't worked on the blue sweater for a couple of days.  I'm trying to figure out the placket on the shoulder and how to attach the sleeve to it once I've put in on there.  Not fond of the instructions and may have to make some modifications so it's a match to the other shoulder.  Otherwise, if I do it as per the instructions, the shoulder with the placket will be bigger than the other one.

I do love the baby blanket though.  It's my favorite pattern because it looks so soft and comfy.  I'm too tired to dig up the pattern on the internet right now but I'll get to it tomorrow.  I hope.

I should also get back to the other things I'm working on except that swing-type sweater I might have to modify.  I really hate the sleeves.  I think I can put regular sleeves in place but I don't know how it will look.  Just have to experiment, I suppose.

I think I'm going to crawl back into bed. Zach is cooking supper once again.  I think he's cooked all week so far.  And done a fine job of it, too.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to add soon.  Just have to get myself back in gear.

TTFN

My annual cold

I have a deadline now.  Well, not exactly a cut off date but at least a goal to strive for.  My cousin's daughter (who is also my cousin but once removed sort of thing) is expecting any day now, is having a boy...a rather good sized boy and my mother wants me to knit something for him.  I've been working on a boy's sweater (everything I've finished so far has been for a girl) and am at the finishing stage so I started a blanket as well.  I couldn't find my crochet hooks so I ended up buying more today.  I hated to but I have looked in every conceivable location and can't find them.  These I will keep better track of.  I won't replace everything since I don't crochet a lot but these are the major hooks I would use.

I spent yesterday in bed.  Didn't even go online and didn't bother trying to catch up online either.  I'm coming down with a sinus infection or a head cold or something. I got more echinacea today since we were nearly out.  I swear by that stuff.  Works amazingly well.  That and the cold tablets.  In addition to the allergy meds I'm on.  I'm not feeling at all well today so I got beef stew for our supper and pizza for Zach's.  He's going to cook both and I'm going back to bed.  I had to hit the library today or I wouldn't have gone out at all.  Some things just can't be renewed, unfortunately.

I still intend to get some pictures of my finished projects, even though I haven't put any buttons on them yet.  I can't seem to decide what to do about buttons on baby clothes.  I'll probably got with conventional buttons and maybe find some really cute ones.

I took True Blood back to the library and am watching Buffy season 1.  Nearly done with it.  I might go on to season 2 or watch something else in my inventory.  I have so many tv show in my possession.  I only get them on sale even though sometimes that sale still isn't cheap but I got Farscape for Christmas so that worked out well.

Off to crawl into bed and knit on the blanket for a while. I don't have the brain cells to figure out the placket on the sweater right now.  Maybe tomorrow.

TTFN

Catching up...on sleep

I'm feeling a bit better today.  I had a bad night Thursday and lost all my momentum Friday.  I didn't get to sleep as well as I had hoped last night but I did sleep long.  Unfortunately Professor had diarrhea and I had to let him out several times.  It's his eating habits, not a bug or anything.  I've got to be more diligent in keeping him away from treats.

My rheumatologist tole me to stay in bed if I wasn't getting enough sleep and not to worry about what time of day I got up until I was finally getting rest and could then rearrange my sleeping habits.  It's making such a difference.  Tom is doing what he can to let me sleep but Professor really hates me staying in bed once it's day time and tries to wake me up from about 8 a.m. on.  I'm hoping that ignoring him will help except when he's got to go out because of his tummy.  Then I can't ignore that.

Still not much knitting happening but I've got to get back to it.  My cousin's daughter is in labor and expecting a boy so I need to finish up the blue sweater I was knitting.  And my daughter is due, I think next month.  We don't know what the baby is because they always wait to be surprised.  So I will either wait or just make something for a boy since I already have some girls' sweaters done.  They're on the East Coast now, where they have winter so I get to knit for the grandchildren finally.  That will keep me busy!

I'm going to tackle my bedroom tonight.  It gets cluttered from knitting, reading and everyone coming in to watch tv, which I don't mind at all.  I just need to keep up with it better.  Maybe as I get sleep and start resting my body, I'll start having energy again.  I know I feel much better today after 4 nights of sleep.  Not in a row, but...

Don't know about supper tonight.  I'm inclined not to fix anything but then Zach and grabbed a bite while we were out.  I had some coupons so we got two sandwiches off the value menu, value fries (free), a side salad and two value drinks (one free) for around $5.  We try to keep our meals at that price from now on.  And we're only eating out a couple of times a week from now on.  This was the second time this week.

Well, off to work on my room for a while, then knit and watch Buffy, season 1.  I got bored with True Blood because the books are so amazing and the tv show just pales in comparison.  But I got in the vampire mood and Buffy is the best where vampires are concerned.

Oh, and I talked to my mother today.  She's doing well; her numbers are good but the dementia is still there.  She had an episode the other night where she got confused but at least it's not as frequent as it used to be and doesn't seem to be accelerating.  My dad has turned out to be quite the nurturer.

TTFN

No knitting lately

I thought I was coming down with a summer cold or something but after a good night's sleep, I felt fine the next day.  But that night I felt like crap.  Of course, "fine" is a relative term for me, meaning I felt as good as I ever feel, which is never really "fine."

I haven't been knitting the past few days because I've just been so tired.  In fact, nothing is getting done except me taking lots of naps and sleeping until 2 p.m.  One day I slept until 4 p.m.  When I sleep that late, nothing gets done, of course.  And there are nights when I see the sun rise and that's the reason I'm sleeping until the afternoon, but at least I'm sleeping.  And I can feel the difference in me when I do get that sleep.

I'm filling up the inventory on my dvr box again but I've only got about 6% so far.  I haven't been watching the True Blood episodes, though, and I should get back to that before they're due back at the library.  I have been doing a lot of reading though.  The Sookie Stackhouse mysteries are very addictive and I just can't seem to put them down.  Great literature?  Nah, but I love them anyway.

I have to do laundry tomorrow and hopefully hang them out on the line. I'm trying to get back into tightwad mode as I just brought the checkbook up to date and while things aren't dire, they're close.  Plus Tom has a trip up north coming up soon and we'll need to account for that in the monthly expenses somehow.  Not to mention the family picnic where we'll have to chip in for the meat and cost of the shelter rental.  Not out of reach, but it must be accounted for somehow.

I need to go fix supper and then I'm going back to bed.  Hopefully I'll get to bed sooner tonight.  I managed to get to bed by about 4 a.m. this morning.  That's about 3 hours earlier than I've managed all week.  It would be nice to have a regular bedtime but as long as Tom is on 2nd shift, the dog will go apeshit whenever he comes home and I'll just have to wake up anyway.

I have no idea what normal even looks like, to be honest.

TTFN

When summer resumes I'll be so upset

I'm not writing as much as I used to.  My resolve not to write until something interesting happens is that I end up not writing.

The dvr box went out sometime Sunday morning and I was without sound until this afternoon when the cable guy came to replace it.  So I lost everything on my dvr box sadly.  I had one episode of Inspector Lewis I hadn't watched yet but watching it with just the closed captioning didn't work for me.  If I can't hear the accents, I don't want to watch it.  I'll catch it when they do a rerun of it.  Most other stuff wasn't critical to me although Zach was unhappy that his cartoon series...all 52 episodes...got lost.  I guess we'll have to start all over again and hope they continuously rerun it.

Now I'm waiting for the box to load up all the information so I can start programming all the shows I had set to record.  Some of which won't be on again for quite some time.  I'll just have to be alert and keep track of them.

Fortunately I had True Blood, season 3 to watch and the other tv in my room which only gets the lower cable channels.  I did miss Vets in Practice today because the cable guy was here while it was on.  I just wish the box would smarten up so I can get to programming.  I should be cooking supper right now but I'm tired.  And tired of being tired.  Especially this time of night when I need to fix supper and finish up chores.

The minivan is losing antifreeze at an alarming rate.  I put some cardboard under the car to see if it's leaking.  I'm sure it is because Tom just filled it up on Saturday and it was empty again when I got back from the store today.  We'll probably have to take it in to find the leak.  I hope it's only the reservoir and not the radiator.  Or if it is the radiator, can be fixed cheaply.  We're bleeding money at an alarming rate as well.  Stuff keeps breaking down.

I'll send Zach down to the basement to get the clothes out of the dryer.  My knees hurt so much on the stairs, especially when carrying a load of clothes down or up.  And my dodgy hip has been hurting even while walking through the store lately.  I don't think it's the change in weather although I won't complain about this fall-like weather we're having.  Low 70s and high 60s in the day and low 50s at night.  Tonight will be in the high 40s.  Yay!  Great sleeping weather.  Plus we're not even using fans right now so saving money.  Every little bit helps.

Okay I'm off to start supper.  Spaghetti and garlic bread.  It's like fast food only cheaper.

TTFN

It's always something

It never fails.  We get down to one vehicle and something goes wrong.  I was halfway to town when the dash started dinging and I saw the car had overheated.  I pulled over quickly, let it sit for a while, then opened the hood to nearly all the fluid in the antifreeze reservoir gone.  I waited until the car cooled off a little more, turned the heat up full blast and drove the rest of the way to the store while Zach watched the needle like a hawk.  We made it there, fine, with no further overheating.  I checked the oil and we were down a quart so I got oil and two jugs of antifreeze, filled up to the requisite levels and we were fine.

Still, it was a scary thing since we were out in the country, miles from any stores or anything.  I had tried to call Tom but he wasn't answering his page.

The book I was trying to find in the library is eluding me. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time locating the books in this series.  That's the third book that hasn't been shelved where it's supposed to be.  I know some people of the religious right persuasion think they're doing their god a favor by keeping others from reading certain books and I would consider this just a case of mis-shelving if I hadn't had to do this for the third time.  So I'm stuck and can't read anymore Sookie Stackhouse books until the next one shows up.  I really don't want to make a trip back to town since it cost me nearly $60 to fill up the minivan.

I finished up the back of the sport yarn cardigan and got going on the front. I should get back to the other two sweaters as well, but the worsted weight is hard on my hands because it's cheap yarn and I just don't love the sleeves on the other one.  I resisted buying a pound of Caron Simply Soft at the store because I have to use up my stash for a while.  Plus...tightwadding, remember?

I'm completely wiped out in spite of not doing a lot today.  Damned fatigue!  Supper tonight will be breakfast for Zach and me and beef stew in a can for Tom.  Just too tired to do anything more.  Especially as Zach is cooking "breakfast."

Off to go put my feet up and do some knitting.

TTFN

Can't believe this weather

I had to put my fuzzy housecoat on this morning because it was so cool.  And I loved it!  The weather is warming up now and I expect the temps will be back to normal by tomorrow but this weekend of temps in the low 70s has been amazing.  Especially with nighttime temps in the 50s.

We are back down to 2 vehicles again.  Tom and I took the Concorde to the salvage yard today and actually got some money for it.  Last vehicle we scrapped we had to pay them to take it but since this one was drivable and had good parts on it, we got a couple hundred for it.  Better than we expected.  Tom got the truck up and running.  Turns out it was the computer but we didn't have to replace it.  It was in slumber mode so all he had to do was disconnect the battery and reconnect it.  Just reboot the computer and everything is up and running again.  Transferred the insurance to the truck and he's good to go.  He took the truck to get a new battery a little while ago. 

We are in super tightwad lockdown in spite of having to purchase things that keep falling apart and it's showing, finally.  I guess we'll have to live like this the rest of our lives though as I don't anticipate a time when our income will be greater than our outgo.

Just when they got some Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in at the store.  I've been lusting and fondling every time I go but I've been good.  Although I think in the fall I'll pick up a couple of skeins (at $7 for 8 oz) to knit some winter socks.  Wool lasts so much better than acrylic and I had socks getting holes within months of knitting them last winter.  But my wool socks are still intact after 3 years.  Just can't wash them in the washer.  Have to be washed by hand.

I need to get busy on my fleece and dyeing my singles so I can ply them.  I don't want to scour my fleece in the colder months since it will take so long to dry while now is the perfect time.  I just have to find the energy and get to it.  I've decided to dye my Welsh top with coffee instead of kool aid.  I like earth tones better and if it doesn't turn out too scratchy, I can use that to knit socks for the winter.  And then just continue to lust after the Fisherman's Wool.

Speaking of knitting...I finished up the cardigan but I hate the button band.  It elongated the length making one side longer than the other so putting buttons on will be difficult.  Even though these are for charity I do want them to look nice and it is helping me work on my finishing skills, which is my weak point.  Good finishing is what makes a project look handmade as opposed to homemade.

I started another sweater but I'm adjusting the pattern and just knitting stockinette because I didn't like pattern in sport yarn.  It didn't look "tight" enough so I'm just knitting the pullover plain.  It has a placket on the shoulder, which is good, since it's for a year old.  I'm still plugging away at the worsted size 6 sweater and the sport yarn "swing" sweater.  Just not enjoying the sleeves on the swing sweater.  I've also done a bit of knitting on the Greek Key afghan while it's been cool but that will probably end after tonight...until fall.

I hope to get some pictures taken next week of my projects.  Zach is going to tutor me on the camera,  Besides I need to start polishing my photography skills as well.  And then some work on my drawing and writing.  Who knows if I can do anything with them, but I can at least try.

Supper is done and so am I.

TTFN