It's the cat's fault!

Recently, things have been disappearing on me. I'll put my glasses down on side table next to my bed, and when I wake up they won't be there. I end up frantically searching the house (not easy, when you're as near-sighted as I am), and they'll finally show up on top of the refrigerator or some other ridiculous place. I'll set my scissors on the end table next to me, and after a wild search discover that they're in my gym bag. My book walks quietly behind me, turning up wherever I've already looked.

You've probably already jumped to some crazy notion like maybe I'm getting old, or distracted, or the insomnia is finally getting to me. I really don't think it's me. I'm blaming the cat. I think she's still angry that we brought the puppy into the house, and she's trying to drive me crazy in revenge.

 

I mean, just look at her face...

Friday's Favorite - My Son!

Yesterday was my son's 23rd birthday. It seems like just yesterday he was my little boy, excited about having pie and ice cream, and lots of birthday presents to unwrap. Now he's all grown up, and able to buy his own toys. (He recently purchased a jet ski! Seriously, what do you get a boy who buys his own super toy? A life jacket maybe?)

I'm very proud of the man he's become. Although I do wish he would call his mom once in a while!

A Twist on our usual Knit Night

Last week (I'm a little late getting these pictures up), we decided we would meet a little early for knitting and spend some time spinning first. I was the only one who showed up with a wheel. Not that it bothered me. I just explained to all the curious people at Starbucks that I was trying to keep up with the demand of the knitters, who were using up their yarn stash meeting there each week!

MPKC 8/20

 

Recently I've been visited by the green-eyed monster. Because I belong to so many knitting groups, there is always someone who has just visited one of our LYS (local yarn shops) or has purchased yarn online. Every week I sit through the inevitable show and tell, admiring and fondling the additions to someone else's stash. I try to be good and remember that my stash, both yarn and fiber, has probably reached SABLE proportions. (SABLE is stash acquisition beyond life expectancy.) But now some of the girls are in yarn of the month clubs, receiving wonderful surprises of yarn and/or patterns each month in the mail, and it was more fiber-fun than my jealous nature could stand.

So I decided to create my own Personal Yarn Club, using patterns from my "I Want to Knit This Someday" queue and matching each with yarn from my stash. Each pattern and yarn was put into a ziplock bag with a tag letting me know the categories (sock, sweater, shawl, lace, easy-to-knit, gift, quick, long-term committment) and tools (needle size, stitch markers, etc) for that pattern. I ended up with over 60 projects ready to go. If I think of this as a monthly club, I have a 5 year subscription! 

Now that's a stash worth envying!

Nupps and Beads, but not much else

I am totally obsessed with the Aeolian Shawl, and that seems to be the only progress I've made this week. Officially I'm working on the sleeves of the baby sweater, since my knitting student has started her sleeves. But all I did was put the stitches onto the needles in preparation to knit, and then I set the sweater aside while I did a few more rows of the shawl chart. And I did plan to knit a few more hearts for Yarnified Love Bomb day (today!), just as soon as I did a couple more rows of the shawl chart. I brought my Super-Secret-It's-A-Gift project to start at knitting group, but the shawl chart kept calling my name and I couldn't concentrate to count the cast-on. (Okay -- I probably went too far on that last one. I mean, seriously, claiming I couldn't count the cast on yet I can add beads and bubbles while chatting?) 

At least the shawl is making progress. I did have to buy a third tube of beads, which is absolutely ridiculous. Counting repeated charts, I'm on chart #18 with only 3 left to go!  Depending on the nupps, I may even finish the shawl this week.

Vero Beach

I'm fortunate to have a friend with a timeshare in Vero Beach. Every year she invites me to spend some time at the Driftwood Resort with her, and every year I have an incredible time. She's a gracious hostess and the Driftwood is a beautifully unique place. This year I was only able to stay one night, but we managed to get a lot of relaxation fit into the two days I was there.During the days we alternated between the beach and the pool. In the evening, we played Mah Jongg.

If I had the money, I would be very tempted to purchase a timeshare for myself there. My friend has owned her's since the Driftwood first offered the timeshares. Her children spent time at there at beach and pools growing up, and now their children (and even grandchildren!) are there with her this week. (I, of course, had nothing to do with spoiling my friend's great grandchildren -- even though I made every attempt to do so!)

I hate saying Goodbye

 

It's been a very stressful weekend for me. I really hate saying "goodbye" to the people I love.

The first "goodbye" was not a goodbye in the regular sense. A good friend, one of my church ladies that I had gotten close to, has Alzheimer's and is now in an assisted living facility. I'm lucky enough to be included on her visitor list (which is very limited, since she is easily agitated and gets very upset -- apparently a common reaction when you know you should recognize people and places but can't). When I first arrived, she didn't know who I was. But I was able to gently remind her of some of our fun times together, and we ended up having a great time together.

And it really was a great time together. We chatted about the things she remembered. We giggled over things we had done in the past. We made plans for future visits. And if some of the things that she remembered weren't quite right, if she mixed up people, or if there were moments that confused her -- we were able to find a way to accept it and laugh together about it.

It wasn't until I got home, after telling her goodbye and promising to come visit her again soon, that I cried. Because even though my friend is still there, and we can still laugh and have fun together, I can see that she is quickly leaving us (both mentally and physically) and the day is coming when "goodbye" really is "goodbye."

While I was still trying to accept my friend's condition, I received a message from an old friend and ex-sister-in-law. Sharon was letting me know that our very good friend had unexpectedly passed away on Saturday.

I still don't know what to say about this. It's been a while since I've talked with Pats, and even longer since I've seen her. But we had a friendship that time and distance didn't affect. I always knew she was there, and either one of us could pick up the phone and we'd start in the middle of the conversation just as if we had talked every day. I'm feeling very lost knowing that I don't have that safety net anymore.

Pats was my college roommate. She was the maid of honor when I got married. She was godmother to my firstborn. She was there when my marriage fell apart, helping to put me back together when I thought the world was ending. She was there to kick my butt when I was being an idiot, and to give me high-fives when I was celebrating. She was my best friend, even if time and distance kept us apart.

I hate having to say "goodbye."

It could be worse.

For $400 I got an afternoon of knitting by myself, a cup of bad coffee, and the check engine light to turn off.

A Flower grows on YouTube

I picked up a grapevine wreath on sale at Michael's, and now there's one more project on my needles. 

Originally I had thought to add some of my crocheted hearts. I think that would have been very pretty.

But then I found a couple of videos on YouTube showing how to crochet multilayered flowers. And of course I had to try that out.

I ended up spending the afternoon making flowers. I probably could have finished the wreath as obsessed as I was. Only somebody is not house trained yet, and peed all over my yarn--which was in my lap at the time.

Surprisingly, no animals were harmed in the making of my wreath. 

All Fun and Games Today

On Saturday mornings I usually walk down the street to meet some friends at Starbucks for coffee and knitting time together. We'll spend a few hours together then go off on our separate ways. Recently we've started to expand our time together into a full ladies day. (Although we aren't excluding guys. They just haven't shown any interest in joining us.)

After knitting, we now head out for lunch together. Today we went to The Diner on Gateway. It was my first visit and I was very impressed. The portions are huge and delicious. When she brought out my spinach salad I thought I had made a mistake and ordered a family portion instead the individual salad. It was so good, with lots of goat cheese and strawberries. (And I had enough left over for dinner.)

After lunch a few of us continue the day with an afternoon of Mah Jongg. Sometimes we play at my apartment, but today we went to the bookstore. We should have agreed to ignore the mess at my place because the bookstore turned out to be crowded. All the large tables were taken and we had to be be a bit inventive in setting up the game. As soon as one of the big tables freed up, we snagged up and moved over.

We've started playing for money. Nothing big, just a $5 limit. Last week, our first money game, I lost 50 cents after three hours of playing. Today I won the first game, making Mah Jongg myself on a 30 cent hand giving me a total of $1.20 in winnings. 

I won a second game. This was on a concealed hand, giving me the biggest win of the day : $2.40. So much excitement! 

Looking back in the day, I question what kind of person I have become, to be so happy over a day if knitting, lunching, and Mah Jongg with the ladies. Then I answer myself - a very lucky one.

Blogger Makes it Happen!

 

This week's favorite thing has to be the Blogger app. Because really, it's the only reason I've been able to get back to blogging. 

I've had this app for a while, almost as long as I've had my iphone, thanks to one of my knitting pals. But it was too difficult to navigate to do me any good. I would get frustrated before I could finish a post that it was taking all the fun out of blogging. It was easier to just wait until I could get onto the computer at home. After a while, I forgot I had this app.

Flash forward to the present. I've had the iphone long enough that apps have become a major part of my life. I wake up to an app. I schedule my day by apps. Apps keep me entertained and informed. My banking is done with an app. Even my knitting involves apps! So when I noticed I still had Blogger, I decided to give it another chance.

I don't know why I ever thought it was complicated. It's actually one of the easiest apps on my phone. Granted, I still get annoyed when I'm trying to type a word and it gets autocorrected to something really ridiculous and I can't get it to stop autocorrecting. And I still have trouble getting the formatting to go the way I want it because my fingers are too big to move the tiny bits I'm trying to select. But I can type up my post, add the pictures, and save as a draft. Then it takes just a few minutes during lunch or after work to use the computer to format and publish the draft.

Hopefully I'll be able to get a working computer at the home soon. (Although parting with my much-loved-even-if-it-is-outdated-and-slow laptop is proving difficult). In the meantime, Blogger is my favorite thing to keep me posting!

Thursday's Thanks Giving

 

 I am so grateful that I have friends who are willing to share their babies with me.

 I don't have grandchildren yet. And I don't want grandchildren yet -- I think my kids are very smart to be waiting until they are more settled, and financially and emotionally ready for babies. I know too many people who had children too young and didn't get to enjoy them, or who have grandchildren that they are having to raise because the parents weren't really ready for the responsibility. I really enjoyed my children but I don't know that I would enjoy raising any more children at this point in my life. And yet...

With my children all grown up, it is a total joy that I can cuddle and spoil my friends' babies.

Wednesday's WIPs and FOs

My big accomplishment this week was finishing the Crochet Alone. All I had left to do was the border, but I thought I would never make it to the end of those ten rows! But now that it is all done, I really love it. When I started this project, I had said that I would probably give it away. After all, I only agreed to crochet the throw because the others in my Wednesday fiber group talked me into doing this Crochet Along. (Then they all dropped out before it started, without telling me, making it into my Crochet Alone.) But it's so pretty, and goes so well on my dark brown couch that I think I'm going to be selfish and keep it.

The yarn was Loops & Threads Impeccable from Michael's, in the Aqua. The pattern is Red Heart's Checkerboard Textures Throw.

I haven't made any real progress on the other active projects. We didn't do a knitting lesson this week, so the baby sweater is still waiting for the sleeves, and the ball still only has the one completed strip. I did do several more pattern repeats on the preemie blanket, although it's difficult to see any progress on a blanket. I just have five more pattern repeats (20 rows) and the garter stitch border (another 8 rows) and it can be bound off and given away.

I just couldn't get interested in any of these projects. After doing the crocheted throw in the worsted-weight acrylic, I wanted something fun to knit. Something pretty and challenging.

 

So I pulled out my Aeolian Shawl. I had started this back in 2010 (!) at my daughter's request that we do this pattern together. She, of course, never cast on her project. And I ended up getting distracted and putting it aside. Although I'm not sure why I would have abandoned this -- it's gorgeous. And despite using a bead every 10 stitches stitches in the pattern, it's an easy knit so far. I was actually able to take it to my knitting group and work on it while socializing. (I felt like such a hard core knitter that night!) The yarn is Knit Pick's Gloss Lace in Stirling, and the pattern is from Knitty.com.

I have two more repeats of the current chart, with all the beautiful beaded leaves, then there are still five more charts to navigate. So maybe I shouldn't get too confident. But is is an enjoyable contrast to the Crochet Alone!

Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday topic for today is "Ten Thresholds You Cross Everyday." This could be a very thoughtful post, like the one posted on Zeneedle. But I think I'll go the more pragmatic route, and just detail my day's (sorry!) route.

1.  The first threshold of the day is the one from the bedroom into the bathroom. It's one I cross several times in the process of starting my day, and frequently involves tripping over the cat as the cat also attempts to cross the same threshold to start its day. (The litterbox is in my bathroom.)

2. The threshold from the living room onto my porch. I have several plants out on the porch, and they need a lot of water to survive the Florida heat. So watering is a daily event for the catnip, flower basket, and aloe plants. (The Christmas cactus is out there, too, but actually likes the sun and doesn't need as much water.)

3.  The threshold of the front door. A given.

4.  The threshold into the Rosser room, which is the main entrance of the church where I work. This involves juggling my bags, the mail (which I get from the mailbox on my way in), and the alarm.

5.  The threshold into the sanctuary. I'm still juggling all my bags, mail, and keys, plus the padlock and chain. Unfortunately we've had to start padlocking the sanctuary at night. The church leases space to other groups, and we had some damage done in the sanctuary from unsupervised children. It seems like such a shame to lock up the church this way, but it was easier to just prevent any further problems. I cross this threshold several times throughout the course of my day since my office is off the sanctuary and the fellowship hall, kitchen, restrooms, and supply closet are all on the other side of the Rosser room.

6.  The threshold into the Fellowship Hall is another one that I cross several times a day. The kitchen and restrooms are actually in the Fellowship Hall.

And since I've already mentioned these, but I also manage to cross the thresholds of the (7) Volunteer Office, (8) kitchen, and (9) restroom in the course of my day.

10.  After work, I almost always end up crossing the threshold of a Starbucks. Either to meet friends for knitting, or just to grab a coffee and sit to read for a little while before going home. I try to also cross the thresholds at the gym at some point during the day.

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. (Jorge Luis Borges)

I've been hearing more and more about the Little Free Libraries that are popping up all over the country, and I was hoping to find one. A guy in Wisconsin started this movement back in 2009 when he built a small schoolhouse-shaped box in honor of his mother,filled it with books to share with his neighbors, and put it in his front yard. His neighbors loved it, and it didn't take long for the idea to spread. Community support, word of month, human-interest publicity, and eventually a website  (www.littlefreelibrary.org) has lead to over 15,000 Little Free Libraries across the world.

It turns out that there are 100 Little Free Libraries just in Florida, and 6 are in my area. I was thrilled when I discovered that there was one in Vero Beach, where I was spending my vacation day. So naturally I went to search it out.

I found it at the edge of an empty lot, in a quiet little neighborhood. The theory of the little libraries is that you take any book you like, and leave one in its place. I had wondered if there were problems with people taking the books and not leaving anything, so that the libraries ended up empty. But the typed note on this libraries door basically said to please leave ONLY one book for each book you take, so the problem seems to be that people are overly-generous in sharing their books.

I did, of course, end up picking out a book to take. And then I walked the two blocks down to the beach where I spent a very nice couple of hours reading.

 

Thank you, J. J. Wilson for sharing Little Free Library #5048!

If you want to find a Little Free Library in your area, check out the website's interactive map.

Vacation!

I don't have time for a full post -- I'm getting ready to leave for a quick trip toVero Beach. We weren't able to work out a full vacation for me, but at least I have this 3-day weekend. I plan to enjoy every minute of it! (Saturday was pretty great, with knitting followed by lunch out with the gals and then a marathon Mah Jongg session.)

Missy Gray is pouting because she knows I'm leaving. I think the overnight bag gave me away. But I'm not worried. I figure she'll take her anger out on the puppy while I'm away, and then we'll have a long cuddle session when I get back.

Saturday Snapshop

 

This is a quick knitted project I had finished in early July. I was able to give these to a friend for her new granddaughter just about a week before the baby was born. The pattern, which is well-written and easy to do, is Bows Before Bros by Carrie Briggs. This pattern is going on my list of great baby gifts to make.

The MSG Golem

It was easy to decide on my favorite thing this week. I am still smiling over PodCastle's  The MSG Golem by Ken Liu.

I love PodCastle anyway. This podcast is all short Fantasy Fiction stories, and they are almost always wonderful. (Rarely there is something I just don't get, and even rarer something I just don't like.) But The MSG Golem from the July 2nd podcast is definitely a favorite.

I think one of the reasons I love it so much is the scene when Rebecca argues theology and religious ritual with God. It's so much my Rebecca. Especially since she seems to be winning.

I also love that God keeps whining about the way He gets blamed for everything when, having given man free will, He has no control. There are a few lines in the story that have me thinking about the God that I believe in and what obligations exist on both sides because of that belief.

If you've never listened to PodCastle before, this is a great first cast to start with. It's got God, a Golem, a sassy teen, space travel, and rats.

Bean Counter

 

One of my favorite apps is Bean, although I keep changing my mind on what I want to use it for. Right now, it's pretty much to track how many books I'm reading. In the past I've counted finished versus unfinished knitting projects, how many days a month I got stuck in traffic on I-95, how many times my daughter did the dishes, even how many butterflies I saw in the Memorial Garden. The whole purpose of this app is to count things. You can change the colors of the tiles and add short descriptions to count whatever strikes your fancy. Increasing the count is just a tap of a finger. Just be warned that if you reset the count to zero, the date also changes. It's usually easier to decrease the count by tapping with two fingers.

My only negative for this app is that I wish you could add more tiles, or have a 2nd version. Even though I don't have many items listed at the moment, I could easily load up two or three Beans with stuff to count!

Still too many PhDs!

Naturally I would jump right back into this on WIPs and FOs Wednesday. There's no way I'm going to try to fill in everything that I've done since my last knitting post. The only knitting that matters is the project in my bag right now. So here's what I'm carrying around today:

Preemie Baby Blanket - I don't have a written pattern for this. I'm using an ordinary acrylic baby yarn in a basket weave stitch until it's big enough. And big enough isn't very big, although the project is starting to feel like it is "lasting forever."

One of the girls in my Saturday knitting group is a neonatal nurse, and part of her job is to facilitate a a final visit by the parents with their baby when a preemie hasn't survived. She's talked about how difficult it is to find a blanket to wrap a preemie that doesn't overwhelm the baby. As she put it, image a one pound bag of sugar wrapped in a regular baby blanket. A hand knit blanket actually sized for the tiny preemies help to "normalize" the visit (if normal can in any way be used in this situation). Plus, if she has a few of the tiny blankets she can offer the parents the opportunity to keep the one their baby was wrapped in. Another knitting friend recently had preemie twins, and she kept the blanket her child was wrapped in. While one of the girls survived, the blanket is special to her for the memory of holding the daughter they lost.

I cry every time I think about this. There are so many tears knit into the blanket I'm working on. And even though I'm finding it tedious to knit a blanket (even a small one), I know that there will be others to follow.

This baby sweater is much more fun to knit. It's the Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater pattern by Carole Barenys. I had been knitting by myself in Starbucks when I was approached by a woman wanting to know if I knew anyone who teaches knitting. We struck up an arrangement, and I've been helping her knit this pattern for her new granddaughter. I try to stay one lesson ahead so that I can show her what she needs to do and how it will look. (I'm hoping she doesn't catch onto the mistakes I made in my button band, after all the emphasis I put on making sure she got it right.)

I guess I'm doing all right with the teaching, because she asked me to work with her 5 year old grandson. He's such a joy! I actually feel guilty getting paid to teach this boy how to knit because I have as much, if not more fun, than either of them. Our first project is a knitted ball. He's making one of the the six garter stitch panels for the ball. I'll make three, and his grandmother has offered to make the last 2. We knit at Starbucks (of course!), and there are quite a number of baristas and regulars there that are anxious to see this project finished. Yes, it's really going to be a ball when he's done knitting.

I'm almost finished with the Crochet Alone. If you follow me on Instagram  you can catch all the whining I've done about this project. Basically, even though it's almost finished, I am still not happy with the group that convinced me to start a project I didn't want to do so that we could have a CAL (Crochet Along) and then left me as the only one actually doing it. And I know that I could have given up once I found out they all had, but I got stubborn enough to eat worms. I've complained every stitch along the way, though. I will admit, if you promise not tell the Wednesday girls, that now that the squares are seamed and the border is almost finished -- it a really nice project.

And those are my four "Carry With Me" projects at the moment. Recently my knitting gals convinced me that three projects was more than enough to tote around. The discussion had been prompted by my question of how they managed to come to knit night with only one project, when I had six projects plus another three in the car "just in case." As you can see, I'm still above my "reasonable" number, but I'm going to claim that it's because two of those projects are teaching examples and should be counted as one.

 

This week I also crossed three projects off my PhD list. I was able to add the last three rows to my front door mat, crocheted out of plarn (plastic yarn - made from recycling grocery bags).

 

I finally blocked the pinwheel purse I knit back in 2012. It took me a whole four minutes to pin it out, so why did I wait so long?

I also blocked one of the shawls while I was at it. This is Pettine, knitted back in 2011 out of Malibrigo sock. I loved this shawlette before, when it was more of a scarf. But blocked out -- wow!

It was a bargain!

Mom and I went yard saling this weekend and although we bought more than we should have we did manage to stay within our budget. (By the way, can I use "yard saling" as a verb? I'm getting a big NO-NO from my spell-check program on this. But we've always referred to it as going yard-saling. "We went to several yard sales" is just too much class and  legitimizes the process beyond its spontaneous cheesiness.)

I passed up a great bargain on a wooden daybed. A few months ago I would have jumped on the chance to get both the daybed of my dreams plus a matching dresser for $75, even though I know that it wouldn't fit into my tiny Kia Rio. Even taken apart, the suggestion given by the desperate owner at the "Moving Tomorrow--Everything Must Go Today" yardsale, the bed would not have fit into the car. Even for $50, it would not have fit into my car. (Although if she had gone any lower, I probably would have  attempted to carry it home on my rooftop!) But just a couple of months ago I was gifted with a wonderful full-size bed and mattress, so I really didn't need the daybed. And since my day's budget was $10, I stayed strong and passed up this terrific bargain.

At the next yard sale I did indulge in a pie crimper, which I probably overpaid trying to get it. It cost $.25 plus the promise of a home-baked pie. But the guy holding the sale was cute and single, so it may still turn out to be a bargain.

I also picked up a couple of nostalgia items: a dvd of the The Borrowers and a Barney-the-Dinosaur puppet.*

I thought I had talked about The Borrowers before, but I can't find that post to link to. When I was a teenager babysitting my younger cousins, I entertained them by convincing them that there were tiny people living in their house. I had read The Borrowers, and basically used it as a bedtime story. What made it fun was that the kids believed me for a really long time. My best friend/cousin helped me keep the story going, to the point that the tale passed into the realm of family legend. In fact, at the last family wedding, the story came up again. So of course I had to get the dvd of the original movie adaptation. It probably isn't as good as my retelling of the book was, but I'm looking forward to watching it. I think it'll be worth the dollar spent.

I'm even more excited to have gotten Barney, and he didn't cost me anything. The people having the yard sale were so entertained by my story of why I wanted him, they gave the toy to me for free. You see, my two oldest were young when Barney was all the craze. It was in the days when parents would fight over the last stuffed-Barney doll in a store, the show was that popular. We had bought a Barney for each of the children, and they loved him. Neither will admit it now, but there was no bedtime without Barney back then. One day I was taking my son for a walk in his stroller while his big sister was in school (kindergarten, age 4) and it wasn't until we got home that I realized Barney had dropped out of the stroller. I frantically retraced our route, but Barney was gone for good. That left us with one doll and two children. My husband and I tried to replace it, but we lived too far out in the country (not a lot of stores) combined with Barney's popularity (not a lot of product to be had). So I spent the next year going to elaborate lengths to share the one Barney between the two children in such a way that neither child would realize that their doll had been lost. It's been 22 years, and I finally have a replacement for the missing Barney. Of course, now neither child will want it. But I finally feel like a good parent again for having gotten the doll back.

By the way, my total purchase for the day, including a third item I'll chat about another time, was $2.25 plus a pie. I love yard-saling!

*These were not from the same sale as the pie crimper. Having a Barney doll for sale would have made me think creepy instead of cute single guy.

Sweet Obsession

 

I have finally earned my title as a gamester -- if playing Candy Crush counts as gaming. I'm not really sure if it does. It seems a little simplistic and sweet to be really gaming. Which is how it sucked me in.

 

"Go ahead, give it a try," the salesman at the electronics display said to me. "You know you've been wanting to."

 

So I gave it a try. I wasn't going to get hooked on one quick game. Just a few moves to see what the fuss was about. And I told myself that I was smart enough to put it down and walk away long before I  got drawn in.

 

Only it was fun. And I won the first time, with all three stars, without even really trying. So I tried the second level. And again I won. So I tried the third. Before I knew it, the salesman was telling me that I had to share, to let someone else take a turn. I didn't know what else to do; I downloaded the Candy Crush onto my iphone.

 

Soon I was sneaking onto the phone to play one quick game instead of cleaning my house. I took a gaming break at work to play a level. Worse of all to admit, I started bringing my phone into the restroom with me. And of course one quick game becomes two, or three. Thank goodness it's just a simple, sweet game and not a heavy addiction -- I'd obviously be a junkie without any hesitation!

 

The only redeeming grace is that the game itself gives me time-outs. You get five chances on a level, then the game makes you wait to earn more chances. Sometimes you only have to wait 15 minutes. Sometimes you have to wait 24 hours! You can buy your way to more chances, actually paying cash for that one more game you know is all it will take to win a level. Or you can beg your family and friends to join you in your obsession, and the game will reward you with another chance. So far, I haven't sunk that low. Yet. I can still put the game down and walk away -- until the timer goes off and that beep sounds calls me running back to play again. But I know that there will come a level that will have me throwing out the names and emails of everyone I've ever met in order to build up enough chances to get through that golden level.

 

Do yourself a favor. Block my name and ignore the invitation.

What's in your bag?

October to April was a really long time to go without posting anything on this blog. In that time period I did not go without knitting. Just in case you were worried. I'm not going to bore you with the list of all the projects I've done in the past six months. Just in case you were now worried.

 

My goal in the past few months has been to try and reduce the number of projects I have on the needles. (So yes, you haven't missed anything in all that time I've been away.) I actually have made a little bit of progress. I'm down to 21 projects from the 48 of a year ago. Yeah for me!

 

Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to cheer. The picture above are the projects in my pocketbook right this very minute. This is my everyday, carry them me, knitting (and weaving and crochet). If it were a knit night instead of a bell practice, I'd have at least two more.

 

Sigh. I guess some things never change.

 

 

A bell's not a bell 'til you ring it ( Oscar Hammerstein II)

 

I belong to two bell choirs, and this year I am even playing the same bells in both, and yet I have found each choir to be totally different. (It's like children--you can raise them the same, and yet each one is going to have their own personality.)

 

On Mondays I ring with Voices in Bronze. This is a serious handbell choir. We're ringing five octaves, with matching chimes, on a level 4-5. We have a lot of fun, but our purpose is to make music. Our director is amazing. She has invested hours (years!) into the choir, and it shows in how easily she manages to move us along to produce wonderfully polished pieces of music. (Okay, maybe it's not always easy. Some of us present a bit of a challenge, but she handles it with grace.) I've made wonderful friends, and I love Monday nights enough to get there early and stay late. I have learned so much from this choir, and I'm very thankful that they made a place for me.

 

On Wednesdays I ring with the Boca Bells. This handbell choir is my "fun" choir. Forget making music; we're happy to manage a joyful noise unto the Lord! This group rings only three octaves, and we're on a 1-2 level. The church's choir director was thrust into the position of directing the handbells, despite having no previous handbell experience or even that much of a desire to be the handbell director. Despite her reluctance to take us on, she's gotten us into our third season as a group and we're really starting to see amazing progress. Rehearsals are loud, laughter-filled, rambunctious events. It gets even wilder on the days I get to take over as director! (This has happened a couple of times now, due to scheduling issues.)

 

It's getting close to the end of the bell season. Boca Bells will perform on Easter morning, then again for a final performance this year on Mother's Day. Voice in Bronze has already played our Lenten service, so we have one more service on May 18th. Prior to that we will also be playing a farewell to one of our long-time members, Carol, who recently (unexpectedly) passed away. In It's a Wonderful Life, it's said that "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." We're going to make sure that Carol has her wings.

 

Until the end of May, for a few more weeks, I'll continue to ring my bells, sound my chimes, and join my laughter with my friends'. It really is a joyful noise.



So much to say, so little said

 

There have been so many changes lately that I don't even know where to start for this long-overdue Monday Makeover. I think I'm going to cheat a little bit, and take the easy way out by doing a "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" post.

 

The Good:

1. My mom is officially cancer-free, having gotten an all-clear on her three month follow-up. She's going to have to continue to go in for regular scans to make sure that there isn't a reoccurrence, but things are looking pretty good. We are all extremely happy about that!
2. My mom, my sister, and I are officially in business together. We just opened our first etsy shop, Three Painted Sheep, where we will be featuring hand-dyed yarn and roving. We'll also be adding hand-crafted swifts and warping boards that my brother-in-law has made. In a few days our second shop, Nana's Neuhaus, should also be opened. Nana's Neuhaus will feature gifts and household items that we've made.
3. I actually like my new apartment. My youngest daughter came home (after a year of living on her own) in an effort to save some money while finishing up school. So in December we moved into a two-bedroom. I didn't want to move, since  I really liked my old apartment and the new apartment was on the second floor and overlooked the dumpsters. But we picked up some new (to us) furniture and hung pictures on the walls and the place is looking very nice. It's comfortable. And my violets are actually thriving, despite my fears that they wouldn't do well with the new lighting in this apartment.

The Bad:

1. My laptop finally gave up, and crashed. It's been getting slower and slower, and it takes more patience than I possess to turn it on and wait to write something. (This is my excuse for having gone so long without posting.) It's going to be a while before my budget allows me to replace it. Luckily my phone gets emails, and the library has computer time for patrons. So it isn't the end of the world, despite the heavy dramatics enacted upon the computer's demise.
2. In January, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to work on becoming a more positive person. And it's probably good that I have this goal. Otherwise, I could take advantage of this opportunity to whine. The "bads" could easily outnumber my "goods." I'm not going to let them take over; it's as simple as that.

The Ugly:

1. After doing so well for so long with my diet changes and exercise schedule, I have started to slip back into the old patterns. For a long time my motivation was to get into shape for the family vacation we were planning. Unfortunately, those plans fell apart and we had to put the idea on hold indefinitely. Although I know it's no excuse, I pretty much gave up.

So that's my mind-set right now. I need to find new motivation, continue to work on expanding the no-whining zone, and celebrate the good things that are happing (such as having a legitimate reason to knit and weave more!).