Random Monday

I shouldn't have written that stranger things have happened in my last entry because this weekend they did. Again.

I was washing my face and my washcloth caught the earring I had found in the driveway with one of the threads. When I pulled it away, the whole earring came out and was horribly misshapen after that. I rounded it the best I could but it still looks square.

Is this irony?

Then, Tom went to deposit the check and our account was completely empty with lots of overdraft charges. We had to wait until Monday to figure it out but what happened was the credit union had put the savings in checking and the rest of the check in savings. This is what I love about dealing with small companies: they went back and removed the charges and fixed the account the way it should have been. All is well.

And I started a sweater for Zach: at least 8 times. Apparently I have commitement issues. I decided on St. Enda from Aran Knitting. I like the Celtic designs in it, even though it does look a bit challenging.

I haven't done any spinning in a while. My priest asked me Sunday after church so I had a chance to talk with another spinner for a while. She doesn't spin much in the summer though. I plan on taking my kick spindle with me when Zach has classes but it will make a huge mess in the car because of all the shedding, but who really cares? I'm going to have to clean it out daily anyway because it's going to look like someone lives in it with all the stuff I'll be taking with me to Fond du Lac. Not to mention, in the winter, I always keep the car stocked with stuff for emergencies. Like blankets, water, crackers & peanut butter, candles, books to read. Stuff like that.

I've watched everything I've gotten from the library so I'm working on things I've taped and my stash of dvds. I'm watching the last Inspector Lynley and Underworld: Evolution. I should have some stuff ready at the library tomorrow when we go pick up Zach's college books. I plan on listening to the whole Harry Potter series this winter in preparation for Half-Blood Prince next summer. With all the time I've got to sit in the car, I should be done by January.

Well, off to knit on Zach's sweater and then start supper.

TTFN

Stranger things have happened

A couple of months ago I lost an earring. I don't wear a lot of jewelry, mostly because I have an allergy to nickel which means I have to wear the good stuff, which means $$$. So I bought a 14k gold pair of small hoops for day-to-day wearing and wear my hypoallergenic stuff (which still breaks me out in spite of claiming to be nickel-free) for special occasions, like church or stuff like that.

But one day a couple of months ago, I reached up to check my earrings, as I do from time to time for no apparent reason, one was missing. I checked the usual places and all over the house but it seemed the earring was gone for good.

Tuesday night, I got home from Bible study and parked the truck in the driveway where I normally park it, but apparently I parked a couple of feet back from the usual spot. When I opened the door, I happened to look down and there glinting in the dark was my lost earring.

And this is after the deluge we had a couple of months ago that resulted in major flooding in the county.

Lest you think this is a one-time event, let me tell you about Zach's video game that disappeared from my purse in the summer only to be found the next spring in the thaw, lying in a patch of melting snow. Same driveway. Nearly same spot.

I'm hearing some freaky scifi music playing in the background.

On the knitting front, not much going on. I frogged the shawl, because I decided I prefer rectangular shawls and this is going to an elderly lady at church and I don't think she would want triangular anyway. I mananged to get Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore from the library today. The Mayville library has it. I love the Celtic patterns and most of the Aran ones, but I'm not a huge fan of the designer. I don't know if her reputation is deserved or not, but I think she takes creative control of her designs to the extreme and it really makes me not want to buy anything of hers. 'Nuff said.

I don't know if I will make anything from the book, but it sure is lovely eye-candy, all those designs.

I need to finish up the charity baby hats for my online support group's project...if I can find them. I put them someplace safe. Apparently it's even safe from me.

My sister is letting go of her longtime roommate this Friday at 5:15 p.m. Her beloved Emily the cat is going over the Rainbow Bridge because she's had some serious health issues and her quality of life isn't anymore. She'll be blogging about it later with a last picture of the two of them. (Peg's Journey) It really brings up some painful memories for me when I had to let Pearl make her journey. I have never cried so hard over anyone else in my life. It's been over 2 years and I still blink back tears. She was a part of my life for 17 years.

On a happier note, I got The Golden Compass dvd from the library and am happily ensconced in my bedroom knitting a wave and shell shawl. I'll dig out the url for it later.

TTFN

Is it only Tuesday?

Ailsa asked about the making of Anglican prayer beads. (Pssst...she's having a blogiversary soon and wants some ideas on how to celebrate it. )

I used two sites when I decided to make them:

A Basic Anglican Rosary and Anglican Prayer Beads. I used monofilament instead of thread though but be sure it's tied really well or you'll have a lapful of beads. Ask me how I know that. I bought Zach a set before I made any and his is strung with wire so there are a lot of options out there.

It has been a very full day here today. I did 3,496 loads of laundry. Or maybe just 5. Hung them out to dry and then had to bring them in quickly (they were dry already because our humidity is very low today) before we left for Bible Study because I forgot we had Bible Study and didn't want to take them off the line in the dark in our mosquito-infested back yard. So my bed is loaded with sheets and a comforter that need to be put on the bed before I can go to sleep tonight.

I had to wash the sheets because I'm getting bitty bug bites and I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it's connected to the pets. So Professor and Hannibal got treated and we had to wait a couple of days before we could strip the beds. I just use flea collars on the cat and flea medicine on the Prof and it seems to kill of whatever it is that it biting us. It's not fleas because the bites are so tiny, but what it is, I don't know. Both pets spend a lot of time outdoors so it's anybody's guess. (They are both on the leash and not running loose because we live on a major highway.)

Then I decided to bake bread. I use the bread machine to knead the dough a)because I can and b) because I don't really like kneading by hand. So it went through the cycle and I put the dough in the loaf pan and set it aside for the final rising and...nothing. Doh! I forgot to put yeast in.

So back in the bread machine with some yeast and hoping for the best. So now the bread is done and it's nice and high. But I barely had time to get it out of the oven before we had to leave for church. And I had to make a side trip to the library first.

Then a bit of shopping for milk and other things I was out of before heading home. And now I have to make my bed and fall into it.

And guess what! No knitting so far today. I think I might begin withdrawal at any moment. And Bones wasn't on TNT tonight but will be on tomorrow night instead but that's when I watch Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International. Or that's when I tape GH and GHI. It's impossible to watch shows in real time here. If it's not Professor wanting to bark at everyone who is within a square mile of our house or wanting to go out or Tom wanting to tell me something or ask me where something is, it's a telemarketer or some other telephone nuisance. Seriously. I can never watch a show without an interruptions.

So I tape everything. I don't think there's anything I watch in real time.

Maybe the news, but it's not like the interruptions matter with that since they say the same things over and over and over again.

So I suppose I'll have to go make my bed and maybe get a few stitches done so I can say I knitted today.

TTFN

Feeling the mojo again

I always feel better about myself when I've been productive, however, finding the energy to do that is the problem.

I pushed myself today to revamp the kitchen a bit: moving the microwave back into the kitchen instead of the table just outside the kitchen, moving the little television to the table just outside the kitchen (where it is easier to watch while cooking, baking and doing dishes) and the toaster oven to the counter beside the refrigerator. It works so well that it took me a while to figure out why I didn't have it set up that way in the first place. Then I remembered it was because I didn't have a three prong plug in there until Tom replaced the old one.

Of course, Tom will not be happy because he doesn't like change. He hates it whenever I move even the slightest thing. I don't know why it bothers him so much, except he says he hates change. That doesn't surprise me in the least.

One thing I found out hasn't changed at all and that's that I can't say anything in the least bit critical about his family. I was reminded of that yesterday so I just shut up and didn't have much to say the rest of the day.

I forced myself to get outside today to get some things that desperately needed doing, done. I tried to mow with the non-power mower today but it won't cut the weeds and that's what is high so I'm going to have to fix the power mower, if I can. Tom gave up on it a couple of weeks ago. It's just a simple matter of fixing the cable to the bar so you can pull the starter.

I managed to cut a bunch of dead branches from the pear tree today but it's a bit worrying because the bark on the side with the dead branches looks really bad, while the bark on the opposite side looks fresh and healthy. I need to do some research to figure out if it's diseased and needs to come down or if pruning will help or if I need to do something chemical. I have some fertilizer spikes I plan on using in the fall but I think it's going to need more than that.

And then I started on a prayer shawl. It's the one on Debbie MacComber's site but I don't have the link right now. Alix's Shawl, I think it's called. I found it on Ravelry. There's a woman at church who is such a vital part of the congregation who fell a couple of months ago and broke her hip. She's home now and is walking around and will be driving pretty soon. I'd like to finish it by Sunday but I don't know if that's too ambitious or not. It's a lovely and easy lace pattern you can use with worsted weight...even acrylic, since it doesn't look like it needs to be blocked. Most of the ladies at church don't seem to want wool for various reasons. I have a hat to make pretty soon as well. Just have to pick out the yarn for the woman. I'm thinking of going to a higher quality acrylic though so I'll be looking into that as well.

Professor is back to being my friend again. Or at least back to letting me be his most obedient servant at his beck and call 24/7. It's always nice to know my place in this world.

Well, Tom is up and made a comment about not being able to find anything while standing right in front of what he was looking for.

He'll get over it.

TTFN

I guess I'm here to stay

Now, I keep thinking of things to blog about. I wish I could get some pictures but until I can fix the battery case, I don't think I'm even going to try because if I let up on it just the slightest, the camera shuts down. Too much work for me.

I'll dig around the house and see if I can find something that will keep it closed better but for now, no pictures.

My Secret Sister opened her gift in front of me today and seemed to like her bag a lot. I changed the handles to the regular kind that most cloth bags have but otherwise it's the same pattern as BYOB on Knitty (see below for clicky to go there.) She said she'd use it most definitely and probably as a book bag as school is starting soon. I think she knows it's me since she sat down across from me at coffee hour (the fourth sacrament in the Episcopal church, you know.) It was a choice between making her something nice and it being obvious it was me or grabbing something from the dollar store and keeping my identity secret.

I got some book "thongs" from my Secret Sister, which are so nice. One fits perfectly in my prayer book. It's a set of beads on both ends of a ribbon, with a medal (the other one has a cross) on the bottom set of beads. The long one has what looks like Hebrew and some other runic letters; on the back is spelled out strength. I love it. I also got a Nicholas Sparks book and some Crystal Light on the go, which looks really good.

I know she made the book thongs herself. That makes it so much more special to me.

I bought some beads today to make myself an Anglican rosary. I've made them for other people but not for myself yet.

And then there's the never-ending Welsh top that needs to be spun. I'm so close to the 8 oz mark. Still no idea what it's going to become or what color to dye it.

I finished the winter socks so I have no socks on the needle once again. I'm getting a bit tired of cotton and since the weather has been so deliciously cool and dry, I might pick up some wool again. I'm going to make Zach a face mask for winter, but not one that covers his whole face. I haven't found the right pattern yet but I suspect it will be an older pattern. I might make myself one out of the Cascade 220 I bought him last year and make his out of the Dorset I spun last winter. I think there might be enough. Not positive though.

I am suffering a bit of withdrawal for the winter stuff. Especially socks.

Well, off for my weekly phone call to my parents.

TTFN

Thank you all

Thanks to the people who responded, both publicly and privately. I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Last night after I went to bed, I was going over my day thinking that I would put this in the blog or that in the blog. Then I remembered that I shut it down because I didn't have anything to say.

I guess I'll give it another go. Maybe in the midst of a depression episode isn't the best time to decide anything.

Yesterday I got my Peticure (warning...loud commercial on site) in the mail. I had been waiting impatiently for it because Professor's claws were horrendously long. So long that Animal Cops would have intervened if they had seen them. Okay...maybe not quite that long. But long.

I kid you not, as soon as I got the box, he went and hid in his bed. Now, his bed is sacrosanct and we don't interfere with him at all while he's there so I had to wait until he came out. That was fine because I had to put it together and read the directions first.

Finally he came out and I let him outside to relieve himself first. I didn't really want puppy wee all over me while trying to sand down the claws of a hysterical 7 pound dog. The minute I picked him up, he knew what was afoot (so to speak). He was struggling, fighting me trying to get away while I tried to soothe him. Finally he stopped long enough for me to get one nail. Then he tried to bite me.

Bless his heart, he never puts any heart into it. He just places his teeth around my finger without any pressure at all, but I knew if it had come to that, he was in stress so I spent a few minutes just calming him down.

Long story short...I got it all done and by the time I was on the last foot, he was in resignation, just waiting for me to get done. But he sure wasn't going to be speaking to me again any time soon.

He spent the evening in his bed, safe from the evil dremel lady (it looks like a dremel tool with a plastic guard on it to keep the nails from getting yanked out of the foot.) Late last night, though, I felt someone trying to get under the covers and there he was. Making up.

He's still a bit gunshy around me but he's coming to me for affection and food, of course.

And I started the second sock of a pair of generic winter socks I was knitting in the early spring, before I switched over to baby yarn and cotton. I made it as far as turning the heel and knitting down the decreases when I discovered I hadn't followed the 3X5 ribbing pattern down the instep so I just used a crochet hook to fix it rather than tink back.

Black yarn. In a dimly lit room.

It took a while, but not nearly as long as if I had tinked back so I figure I'm ahead of the game, even if it doesn't look all that sharp. It will even out once I wash it.

Well, I will close once again this time with deepest gratitude to those who responded so postively. Next time I have those moments when I feel like a failure, I'll come back and read the responses and remember that someone out there does like me.

TTFN

Saying Goodbye

I've decided to bow to the inevitable and shut down my blog. I'm going to leave it up for a while until I can figure out a way to save some of the stuff on it, but I'm really no longer interested in it and it's no longer interested in me.

Besides, no one's really reading it anyway. sigh I lead such an uninteresting life and can't get beyond the whining to actually find something positive to blog about so...

It's time to stop the life support and let it die a natural death.

Thanks to all who have read it.

TTFA

Having nothing to say never stopped me

The camera is giving me fits. The battery cover is broken and it's difficult to focus the camera and hold the case closed at the same time. I've got a rubber band over the cover but it's not quite strong enough. And the cover is lined up with the button that actually takes the pictures so it's not like I can wrap it tight enough.

I may get my act together and try to get some pictures later. Or I might just throw in the towel.

It occurred to me today that I'm not knitting any socks right now. How did that happen? It's been over a month and not one pair of socks on the needle. Not only that...no sock yarn aside from worsted weight.

I think I've figured out why I'm suffering from so much fatigue these days. Sock-knitting withdrawal!!! I must do something about it. I must get me hence to the LYS and buy some yarn. But I just spent my allowance on a purse I'd been looking at for 2 months that finally went on sale. It's more of a messenger bag, which is exactly what I need. It's actually more like a small suitcase but since I need to carry everything I own with me at all times...

And socks will fit in it, too, by the way. When I get around to knitting some again.

I still have tons of cotton left over. I finished the BYOB yesterday and am pleased with the way the handles came out. Very ordinary, but practical. It's nice and big and under $5 so I'm within the range for Secret Sister. I just need to wrap it up and get it there without her seeing me.

We watched Stardust today. It's become another of my favorites. I especially love watching it with Zach because he's so unreserved when it comes to laughter. He was doubled over laughing in spots. But it was a good movie...especially Robert DeNiro. Classic.

I'm trying to spend less time on Ravelry lately. It's easier on my blood pressure and time away from the computer is time spent doing things I need to get done. Like trimming the yard (especially the roses) and cleaning, cooking and knitting. And now that the bag is done I need to get back to spinning. Since I bought a purse, I've got to figure out what else to do with the Welsh Top. I'll be practicing my dyeing on it so I hope it comes out okay. I've got plenty of time to figure out what it wants to be.

I cut Zach's hair today. About 6 inches worth. I'm thinking of perming my hair but I'm a bit afraid it will all turn to frizz. Unfortunately since chemo my hair is thin and straight. I curl it with rollers and it still ends up board straight. I'm hoping a body perm will give me some volume so I don't look so...well...bald.

Zach informs me that supper is done so I must go.

TTFN

Monogamy doesn't really suit me

I've been spending most of my knitting time on the BYOB from Knitty, with very little spinning going on because I want to finish it by Sunday so I can give it to my Secret Sister at church. I know that knitting her things is pretty much a dead giveaway who it is because I'm known for my knitting there, but I'd rather give her nice things she can use than something from the dollar store that she's just going to toss or give away to someone else. With a limit of $5, there's not a lot you can do even with an imagination. Which I don't have much of.

So...it's getting a bit boring to knit while watching one of my delicious British mysteries or dramas and then have to tink back two rows because I messed up the pattern. I must be making progress, though, because it's getting longer. I am still going to make an adjustment on the handles and make them longer because my SS most likely will use it for school and will need more of a shoulder strap rather than a handle.

I've decided not to buy a spinning wheel any time soon. I really do like the portability of my kick spindle and it's easy to use albeit slow. I do hope to get some pictures here sometime soon. I'm not much of a photographer although I would like to improve my skills. It's intimidating to see all those wonderful pictures on the blogs that I read and mine are out of focus, too dark to see, or too light. I guess if I would just practice a bit more, my skills might actually improve.

Well, off to fix supper and settle in for some more British mysteries and Ballykissangel, year 4.

TTFN

Well, that was interesting.

I got a note from blogger that my blog had been frozen because it was tagged as being a spam blog so for a couple of days I couldn't blog. They did apologize in advance, explaining that the system was "fuzzy" and was known to hit on reputable blogs.

So here I am again. Pictureless, as usual. I keep meaning to but I'm so lazy when it comes to getting everything together, take a million pictures and then sort through them to find the one that actually looks decent. I'm just not a photographer, I guess.

I've been spinning away but I still have so far to go. In the meantime, I'm thinking about the design for the purse that it will become. Not knowing the gauge yet, I can't actually start the pattern, but I can come up with the design for now.

I'm knitting away on the bag from knitty for my Secret Sister. I finished the first one in the peach, green, and ecru colors but didn't like the handle. It's sturdy but the sides just flop when you hold it by the handles and that's awkward to me. I'm making this one out of blue and ecru and will modify the handle so it's both longer and wider. I just think it's more practical that way.

I've been reading about Celtic Christianity of late and am finding some fascinating things there. Like the perspective that the spark of God is in everything He created and that nature isn't corrupt because of "original sin" as I was always raised to believe. Pelagius is often referred to and I'm finding that he wasn't the heretic he was purported to be. Augustine, however, in my mind has a lot to answer for in turning the church into a negative entity, intent on finding sin everywhere, and implicating women as an evil that has to be endured for the sake of propagation. I know this is a very brief and unfulfilling review. I'll discuss it more later when I have it a bit better sorted out. But for now, I'm finding a lot of comfort in the notion that I'm not as depraved as I was always taught, but that I have an inherent value because I am God's creation.

I still am battling a lot of fatigue, insomnia and pain. I've tried vegetarian, but by the third day, I can't even concentrate at all. When I start eating meat again, the concentration comes back a bit although it's never there 100%. Makes me think I need a high protein diet. I do know I need to lose weight desperately. That desperation only makes it harder though.

Well, off to get some knitting and spinning done. Until I get a handle on this fatigue, I'm going to just pay attention to what my body demands and not push it beyond its limits.

TTFN