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.

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.

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.



Psalm 66

I cried.

I prayed.

He listened.

I praised.

I came across this while researching an item at work. I need to remember this; it just seems so right.

Random Guy Drawing

 

I didn't feel like going home and cleaning after work today, so I stopped at the local Barnes & Noble for a coffee and some knitting time. I had my Nook with me, and so I was able to sit and read while working on my My Simple Skype Socks that I started Saturday as an easy project for the car ride to Vero Beach. 

I was distracted by the gentleman sitting at the table next to me. He was sketching the other patrons sitting in the coffee shop. So naturally I had to secretly take a picture of him as he secretly drew a picture of the man across the way from us. Wouldn't it be funny if that man was secretly doing a picture of me knitting? Hmmm.

I couldn't resist!

I love this "wool knot" nail polish from Sally Hansen. Now all I need is to learn how to apply it properly. I miss having my daughter around to paint my nails for me.

Practising Gratitude

This week's Ten on Tuesday topic is "10 Times You Felt Grateful Last Week." This is a really good topic for today, since I really need to stop and take a look at the good things that are going on. I've been focusing too much on the negative aspects of my life the past couple of days, which is never a good thing. And there is so much to be grateful for!

1.  I had to mail out 91 packets at work, and unfortunately we don't have a postage meter. So it meant a trip to the post office for stamps. The packets ended up needing $1.52 in postage, which meant I had to put a combination of 5 stamps on each envelope. As I was standing at the counter working on this, a woman in line commented that I looked like I had a lot of work to do. To my surprise, she then asked if she could help. So she put stamps on envelops until it was her turn to be waited on by the postal workers. Then, to my even greater surprise, she came back to help finish the job. Her explanation was that she would have felt bad leaving me to do it all by myself. I had never met the woman; she didn't attend the church I work for; and she had no reason to help me. But I am very grateful that she took the time to help a stranger.

2.  I'm grateful to have the opportunity to go out to dinner with my daughter and enjoy her wonderful company.

3.  I'm grateful that my oldest has found a good job, which she started on Friday. I'm also grateful that her boyfriend got the teaching position in a great private school. I can stop worrying about the two of them.

4.  It sounds silly, but I'm grateful to have discovered that Pollo Tropical offers a vegeterian version of their TropiChop. It is so hard to stay on my diet, even though I know how much better it makes me feel, because I have to plan all my meals ahead and cook everything at home. Knowing that I can go to the drive-thru if I don't want to cook makes the situation so much easier.

5.  I'm grateful every time I go to a knit night (which includes the Saturday morning group). The friendships that I have found in the groups mean so very much to me, and I love all of the fiberistas. Without them, I'd probably just hole up in my apartment and become that really weird old lady that the neighbors gossip about.

6.  I'm grateful for all the volunteers who come in regularly to help me at work. They're more than friends; they're my second family.

7.  I'm grateful for my Nook, and for the daughter that talked me into getting it last year. I love that I always have something to read, even when I can't settle down and have trouble figuring out what I want to read. With over 400 books at my fingertips, there's always something to read. The Nook was a lifesaver this weekend, when I ended up on the couch miserable with a sinus headache and a fibro flair-up. And I'm grateful for the public library, which lets me download books onto the Nook when I discover that none of the 400+ books I already own interest me at that moment. Most of all, I'm grateful that the Nook prevents anyone from seeing what I'm reading, which ended up being a series of slutty romances with no redeeming quality to them.

8.  I'm grateful that Josh and his family tracked me down, and that I'll get to see them again next weekend. I haven't seen Josh is almost 9 years. He was such a cute little boy. I always considered him one of my kids, and I think about him often. He's 18 now, and I'm looking forward to seeing him all grown up.

9.  I'm grateful for Missy Gray, and the way she always knows when I need to cuddle a bit.

10.  I'm grateful that my son friended me on facebook. Even though he doesn't live very far away, I don't see him nearly enough. Our schedules are just too different, and neither one of us are big on chatting on the phone. Now I'll be able to touch base with him a little easier.

Saturday Snapshot

One of the cherry blossom trees in bloom

 at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden,

 taken during my trip to NYC in April.

Sniff, giggle, cough

Even when I'm feeling totally miserable with a horrible cold (I hate winter!), the orange key to the Volunteer room makes me giggle. And the reaction of my volunteers, who have no idea why I'm so tickled, makes me grin even more!

I'm back. Did you miss me?

 

Since my last post, I have gotten old and depressed. (There is, by the way, a definite a link between those two items.) I received two really amazing and unexpected birthday gifts, but overall the experience was horrendous. Since my last post, I have learned a new skill - tatting - and have become obsessed. I have started a group to deal with another obsession of mine, spinning. I've done a lot of reading, not surprisingly.  I have gone in - and out - of business. I had my first childless Thanksgiving in over 25 years, which made it difficult to give thanks. (Although I did enjoy not spending days in the kitchen cooking and cleaning.) I took a few sick days, and had my vacation time misplaced by a committee. I've baked cakes, cookies and cupcakes, all of which were greatly enjoyed by myself and others. I've finished several projects on the long, long, WIP list; but I've also added to it - without any expected feelings of guilt. I found, and was found, by long-lost family members.

And yet, I've had nothing worth writing about. Sorry. I'll try to do better.

A little fiber bling

I've gotten a reputation at work for never throwing out anything that can be reused or remade into something useful. It comes from my years at the ADT, where I was expected to come up with fun crafts and projects at very little cost. It's hard to stop looking at everything from the "save a penny" viewpoint, even though I'm in a much more affluent environment
So I get teased a lot by my volunteers. Today was a good example of that. We were working on mailing out the monthly newsletters, and managed to use up two rolls of closure stickers. Grace* held up empty cardboard tubes from the packages and asked me if I was going to paint them and turn them into bracelets. I gathered up all my dignity, and assured her that I had no intention of making them into painted bracelets.

Silly girl.

I took the tubes home, got out some of my hand spun yarn, and turned them into pretty fiber bracelets.

*I've come to realize that it's inevitable that I talk about my volunteers, since they play such a big role in my everyday work life. In order to preserve at least a little bit of their privacy, I've decided to give blog names to my everyday volunteers. (I'll have to wing it with the once-a-month volunteers, since there really are too many for me to keep track of.) I considered using Vol#1, Vol#2, etc but I couldn't decide who was my #1 volunteer. So I'm going with Faith, Hope, Charity, and Grace.

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice. (Stan Getz)

Most teenagers dream of playing the electric guitar. Or at least the drums.

 My baby bought a sax.

She is so-very much the daughter of my heart!

(I just hope the neighbors understand.)

Random PicturesThe

I caught the girls reading poetry. Poetry! I knew I was raising geeks, but still.

My son and his girlfriend. I spent the entire weekend calling her by the wrong name. I didn't mean to. She's very sweet. I'm just really bad with names, and a horrible mother for not getting it right until AFTER they went home.

Yeah, we know who Gramma's favorite is.

Although Cari comes in a close second.

All I asked was that the kids have a family picture taken, since the last one I have of the three of them was taken almost ten years ago. This is all I got. It will serve them right when I use it on my Christmas cards this year.

I think this is one of my all-time favorite pictures of the kids. I'm not sure why.

It's starting to feel like home

I'm not very good at decorating. You would think that with all my crafting skills I would have picked up on how to make my house look pretty. Unfortunately, I can't manage to pull it all together. (I can't accessorize outfits, either.) But right now, I'm really liking the way my living room looks.

Just don't look at the other side of the room...

What am I going to do with all these boxes? There's no more room to put anything!

Happy Blogaversary!

I'm in a bit of a hurry. I need to drop off my computer with a tech/geek, and then I'll be heading to Orlando for Fiber In. But I did want to take just a moment to thank everyone for putting up with my ramblings for the past six years. It's hard to believe that I've been Staying Focused since 2005!

My daughter loves me!

Look what Becca brought home from work. A new hot sauce for me to try. One of her customers is Mr. Breeze himself. They were chatting, and Becca mentioned that her mom was a hot sauce fiend. So he gave her this Garlic Pepper Sauce for me to try.  (It isn't their hottest sauce, but it's his favorite tasting recipe.)

I suppose it would be wrong for me to just sip it straight from the bottle?

Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidencd of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense. (Arnold Bennett)

BEFORE

AFTER

It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like. (Jackie Mason)

I like this flower. I don't know what it it, but it's pretty. 

It's actually from the tree that grows on the side of my apartment. 

The flower from yesterday is from the tree in front of my apartment. 

It's the Subway Rats!

Okay, this picture isn't the subway rats. This is Anthony Ryan Auld, from Project Runway. This picture was taken on the first episode of Season 9 which aired this past Thursday. I haven't seen the actual episode (I've got to go check Hulu right away!), but apparently Heidi went crazy over Anthony's scarf. And I don't blame her.

I knit the same scarf for Cari back in February 2008.

I've heard that Anthony claimed to have designed his scarf. I don't know about that. It looks a whole lot like the pattern I used. And I bought my pattern from Morehouse Farm.

Speaking of Morehouse Farm, they have a really cool pattern for a frog scarf that I want to knit.Or maybe the frog hat instead. And the flamingo scarf. And a wormy apple hat (for Becca). And alligator scarves for Cassie and Logan. And a green dragon scarf for the next class reunion. And an alligator bag. And I have to stop looking at the Morehouse Farm site. My queue is already too long!

(Although if somebody wanted to buy a kit, I could probably be convinced to knit it up for them - as long as I got to keep the pattern afterward!)

Duck, duck? Geese!