Prayer Request Update

Dorothy has had a lot of problems since her surgery. She came through the surgery well and was doing good. But then about 2 days later, she started having some confusion which has worsened. It got pretty bad for a while, but she is possibly coming out of it. She is being discharged from the hospital tomorrow and will spend some time in a residential facility while she has some physical therapy. Then she might be able to go back home, but it's still up in the air on that. A lot depends on her mental state, but also on her physical state as her house might not work for her if she has any physical limitations. This precious lady is still in need of our prayers.

Bonnets, Frogs and Maple Trees

Extreme close-up! They smell heavenly. I tried rotating the picture, but it looked worse so I just left it sideways.

This is the first one, the one that came up in the whiskey barrel.



Both of them are loaded with buds & blooms.

This is the one we transplanted. It's doing great. They both are. The pictures were taken this afternoon.

We mowed the lawn this afternoon. It's a little on the wet side, but we are supposed to get rain the rest of the week so we wanted to get it done while we had a chance. There are 3 or 4 plants that I suspect are sunflowers. They are where the iris plants are, behind the house and one is by the trellis.

There are also quite a few frogs. They are the other reason it took us a while to mow, we had to wait for them to move! One of them is absolutely huge, and is probably the bullfrog we've been hearing lately. I hope he finds a lady frog! I'm afraid we are in for it as far as mosquitos go this summer, so the more frogs the better.

While we were mowing, Bill also cleaned out the rain gutters. He suspected that the one leading to the rain barrel was clogged, and he was right. There were little maple trees growing in a couple of places in the gutters. They are gone now!

And on that note, I'm going to go take a shower. I'm sweaty and itchy. The downside of pulling weeds around my hosta plants is that my many skin allergies are now all reacting. But my hostas look wonderful!

The First 100 Days

It's been 100 days since the inaguration.

In that 100 days, many things have happened.

War has been declared on the human race. Specifically, on the unborn. But don't worry because stem-cell research is going to save us all! Except that it won't.

War has been declared on small businesses. Which are the backbone of this country. But, apparently, if you make a profit then you must be evil. And you have to share everything with everybody else, because otherwise it's just not fair. Socalism, anybody?

But the real war, the one to keep us safe from terrorists, is being backed away from. And ignored. Because, as we all know, if we don't think about it then it won't happen. After all, that is what seems to be the theme lately. We're not supposed to use terms like recession or any other things that sound scary. (Didn't hitler try something similar?) Well, the world is a scary place at times. But we aren't supposed to admit that. Except that I refuse to be an ostrich.

But we don't have to worry. The government is going to take care of all of us. And when we are all dependent, we are more easily controlled.

BOOM!!!!!

We just took the White Lightning for a joyride. Well, Bill calls it a test run after the work he did on it today. But we all know that it was really just an excuse for him to play with his toy. Can't say I blame him, really. It's a cool car. Of course, I could have done without the loud boom at the end of the ride when it backfired!

We made a discovery Thursday afternoon. There is a cardinal nesting inside the trellis on the back porch. The trellis is two pieces separated by several inches, just wide enough for a bird to build a nest. It's a very good spot, actually. Protected from the wind and rain and also shady. And also protected from two dogs who are not being allowed out of their yard for more than a few minutes each day and then only when we are out there! I figure that we have between two and three weeks until the egg hatches and the baby fledges. There were two eggs, one fell out and broke which is how we discovered that there was a nest. I don't know if mama bird has laid another egg or if it's just the one. No sign of a dove nest yet on the front porch but it is still a little early for them.

This is going to probably sound strange. I know it did to me. Otter was also amused by this. Bill has been named the Safety Director for his department! Bill and Safety are two words that are very seldom mentioned in the same sentence, except to say that he's not very safe most of the time. But then again he might be the best qualified person for the job - after all, he's had all that experience with getting injured! He could be the example of what NOT to do. :)

I Know it's Really Spring

Because I've been hearing tree frogs lately. And bullfrogs. And sometimes both at once.

The bluebonnet we transplanted is doing great, it's blooming along with the first one and both have other buds.

Dorothy is also doing wonderfully, she came through the surgery well and I talked to her this morning. She said that they got her out of bed and into a chair, she got a little dizzy but her husband and son got really dizzy! They don't handle anything medical too well, which I thought was really funny and it apparently made Dorothy's day.

The hams have had a good first week with Otter. They are very hand-tame and quite friendly. Although I did get a nip from Helena, but I was adjusting a part of the cage and I think she thought I was about to squash her. They have started sleeping up in their excercise wheel, they keep it full of their bedding and when we cleaned the cage and took the bedding out, they carried more up there. They seem to like their house and they frequently run up the tube into the top area when they see anybody by the cage. The top area has an opening so that they can be reached easily. They seem to like to be petted.

Frasier's ears are bothering him this week. I've had to treat them several times and I'm thinking I might have to get him into the vet if they don't improve in a few days.

I'm very glad that it's Friday.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

I know that I have mentioned my 92-year-young boss's wife before. Her name is Dorothy and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She basically adopted me after my mother died, and Otter is considered to be her granddaughter.

Dorothy had an accident yesterday. She fell while she was getting out of her car and broke her hip. She is in the hospital and will be having surgery today. I don't have a lot of details yet.

Any prayers would be appreciated, for her and also for her husband (my boss) for all that they have to deal with right now.

Surprise!

The first surprise was Maggie's, last night. She came running in to get me, as fast as those little legs would carry her fat body. It was obvious she wanted me to follow her. I had a pretty good idea as to just where she was going to lead me, and I was right. Straight to Otter's room! She "showed" me this strange thing that suddenly appeared on a low table on the other side of Otter's bed. She was very curious about it, then she couldn't seem to understand why that strange thing suddenly got relocated to the top of Otter's chest of drawers! (Because the little, furry things inside of it are not Scooby Snacks!).

The other surprise was mine and Otter's, this afternoon. We found another bluebonnet! This one was several inches away from where the naturalized ones were last year, outside of the whiskey barrel and on the verge of blooming. Bill was about to start mowing the front yard, I told him that if he mowed it then I was going to kick his behind all the way to Texas. Otter said she'd help! We got the shovel and I dug it up, it's been relocated to the whiskey barrel. I hope I didn't kill it, I dug as deep as I could but it was in a "nest" of tree roots. Otter watered it and time will tell. It was wilting, but that is normal when plants get moved. I wish I had seen it when it was smaller, we did look but it was a lot farther than last year's were. I'll get pictures in the next couple of days, as soon as I'm sure it's going to survive.

Otter was surprised at 3:00 a.m. today, by the sound of hamsters running in their wheel. The wheel is actually outside of the cage, the cage is similar to the Habitrail cages with plastic tubes they can climb through and they have to go up a slide and through a small tube to get to the wheel. They seemed to be having a good time in it, when I saw them this morning. We went to Petsmart this afternoon. Otter forgot to get them a house yesterday, animals like that need some place they can snuggle up to sleep in. She got a wooden house that they can chew. They were very curious about it, they were all over it but then they decided that they would rather crawl up the tubes for a while. That's when I noticed that they moved a lot of their bedding material up to the wheel. I looked in on them later and they were cuddled up, sleeping, in the wheel. We'll probably have to clean out the bedding from the wheel, but they still seem to be able to use it for it's intended purpose. I'll probably play with them as much as Otter!

What A Ham!

Two of them, in fact. Otter finally spent her birthday money!

This is Nadine. It's a Stephen King reference, anyone who has read his tremendous book The Stand will get it. (Otter was thinking Raven for the name, the bad guy's alternate form is a raven. His girlfriend's name is Nadine and since the hamsters are females...).

This is Helena. I'm not sure why, but Otter will enlighten me I'm sure!

Nana, they are not mice! But they will be moved out of Otter's room when you visit so you won't have to worry about them.

Otter has been wanting hamsters for a long time, she nearly got them instead of parakeets a few years ago. In hindsight, she probably should have gotten hamsters. She finally decided to see if she could talk her father into letting her get them, and he agreed. She did the research she knew he would ask for, that was last week's activity. Then she called Petsmart and got prices, and also we checked on how they get along since she wanted two of them. We made a trip Friday after work to look at cages. Then she got all of her information together and talked to Bill. And we went to Petsmart today to get them. So far, no interest in them by either dog. Frasier very rarely goes into Otter's room anyway. The girls will not be taken out of the cage if the dogs are in the house, Otter's door will probably be shut even then but the girls won't be taken out a lot. Who am I kidding, Otter will play with them as much as she can! They are pretty well socialized and seem to like people already. They have a life span of about 1 1/2 to 2 years, but Otter's pocket pets generally live a longer life than usual. At least, the mice did. Mice usually live 1 to 1 1/2 years, only one of hers died under two years. One of them lived over 3 years, which is extremely rare.

They are Russian Dwarf hamsters and are about as big as they will get. They might get just a little bigger. They are pretty hand-tame and since they have been raised together, they should get along. Hamsters don't always like other hamsters, unless they have been raised together. It's nearly impossible to introduce another hamster into an existing cage.

I'm sure we know who this clown is! The white part on the side that looks like a circle cut out of the picture is actually the part of the rain barrel that was between me and Frasier. No Maggie picture today, the camera battery died just as I was attempting to take a picture of her. She was nose to the ground in search of a mole. Frasier was probably checking to see if we'd finished mowing the yard.

They're blooming! This is against the back of the house.

Wider shot of the back of the house.

A close-up. They are just starting to bloom and they are going to be absolutely georgeous this year. Quite a few of the ones I transplanted last year are blooming, it can take them a couple of years to bloom after being moved but mine have always bloomed the first year after transplantation. That might be because they are well-established bulbs in the first place and not new bulbs. I know, rhizomes not bulbs! But bulbs is easier.

Friday Frasier's Thoughts

Woof, dogs. Frasier here.

Just chilling out lately. I haven't had much to barrk at lately, but I have been watching for squirrelllys. I haven't seeeen anny but I know they are out there. I just haven't spotted themm yett.

My litttle sisterrr Maggie is really being sillllie. She's madd because my Mommm won't let her get in the big sleeping place. I don't know why Maggie is so madd, I mean she gets a soft big sleeping space already! She even gets to share it with her Mommm. But she's greeeedy, she wants more!

Doggs should not be greeedy. Especially if they are spoiled rottten like we arre.

But you try telling that to Maggie. She's not listening to mee. She should listen to mee, I'm her bigg brotherrr and I know way more than she does.

I'm going to go back to chilling, it's rainy and I feel laazy tonight.

My Obsession

Any questions?

Dog Days

Today started very early. It started at 4:15 this morning. With Frasier. Barking. In the living room. He almost never barks inside, and at 4:15 with barking coming from the living room, it got our attention. Bill got up and checked the house, nothing out of place and all the doors were locked, Otter was snoozing in her bed. Everything looked ok, so he came back to bed but we were pretty much awake for the day at that point! Thanks, Frasier, for making sure we didn't oversleep. Remind me to return the favor sometime. We think he was just up early and playing with Maggie. It was more of a playful bark than a serious bark and he didn't bark much. And after that, he made many trips from the living room to our room to see if we were up so he could get breakfast. (No, he had to wait until 5:30 like normal!).

Maggie's soft spot she wants to sleep in is not the couch. It's my bed. And it's not happening!

Bill started his new job today. Not a moment too soon. The last few days, his old boss was really awful. As in acting extremely childish and immature, very rude to Bill and way out of line. All because Bill had the audacity to take another job! I'm not going into details, but he was fairly horrible to Bill. But that chapter is done now, and he is finally out of a very poisonous environment. Thank God. He started the new position today, and I think he's going to be much happier. And there was a small raise with the new job, which was a nice surprise. But even if the money had been the same like we expected, the stress being lessened was enough.

Otter's been fighting allergies the last several days. She's been taking benadryl at night and it has helped, but she was pretty congested this morning so she stayed home from school. She is much better this afternoon, but she's still got some symptoms.

Our oak tree survived! We planted it last year, along with the lacebark elm and the eastern redbud. The oak is a northern oak and last summer was too hot and dry for it, for the growth stage it was at. We really weren't sure it was going to make it, but it's starting to leaf out and we are very happy about it.

Now, if Frasier will just be quiet tonight and Maggie not wander into our bed on accident, maybe we'll actually be able to sleep! :)

Maggie's Monday Moosings

Baroo! That's Beagletalk. It means Hello. Sometimeses it means Go Away. Sometimeses it means I'm happee.

But I'm not happee right now. The hoomans are being so mean to mee. All I want to do is take a nap in a soffft, warrrm sleeping spot and they won't let mee.

It's a big jump to the soffft spot but I'm strong and can jump high. But do they notice that? Arrrre they proud of my jumping ability? NO!

They keep making me get down off of the soffft sleeping spot. But they let me get on the soffft sleeping spot in my mama's den. But I am not allowed on the other soffft sleeping spot. The night before now, I was going to get on the soffft sleeping spot since it was darrrk and it was sleep time. But my mama's mom pushed me off into the flooorrr! Well, I guess shee was surprised when I landed on her. I didn't know shee was there until I jumped. I wish I was able to stay up there with her, I could have made sure shee was warrrm like I do with my mama.

My mama's mom is Fraiser's mom. I told him about how mean the hoomans are to mee, but hee said that I was being spoiled and silly. I don't know why hee thinks I'm spoiled. I'm not spoiled. I'm also not silly! He's the silly dogg in the pack. He's just jealous because I have a pretty pink collar and all he has is a yuckkky yellow one.

Maybe this day sleeping time when it's dark will be the time that they let me get up there. I'm going to keep trying.

What Is It?

This?

No, it's not this.

It is this?

Definetely not.

What about This?

Or maybe This?

What Easter is, is up to each of us.

For me and my family, it's not about the candy.

It's a Little Windy! & a Tulip Update

Tulips from the side. Lots of weeds in the bed, I start pulling weeds out and keep it pretty well free for a while. Then it gets to a point where the weeds simply explode and I just leave them. It's at that point.

There's an Otter in the tulips!

This is a Queen of Night tulip. They are actually a deep purple, but they are very pretty.


Extreme close-up!

I don't remember the name, but this one always reminds me of peppermint ice cream.


Since the tulip bed is Otter's project, we ALWAYS have to have purple tulips. The iris plants are about to start blooming and they are loaded with buds, so there will be even more purple pictures on here soon. And one of the iris that I transplanted last year is white! It's already bloomed, I found it this afternoon but I haven't been out in the back yard in a few days so I don't have a picture of it. But I think it has another bud or two on the stalk.

Maggie was very concerned that we were outside the gate but she wasn't! She stared at us the entire time, but we are pretty much immune to sad puppy eyes at this point.

My one and only bluebonnet. It's small but it is doing very well.

Otter is pointing at the proof that it's doing well: it's budding!

My older boss (a Texan) said that his son's housing development has some very interesting plants growing - naturalized bluebonnets! The son (my younger boss) just doesn't quite understand why some people get so excited about them. Non-Texans just don't get it, but bluebonnets are very important to us.

It's very windy today. It was cool this morning with a slight sprinkle. Then the sun came out late this afternoon. That's actually not a good thing. When it's cool and then gets warm late in Tornado Alley, Bad Things have been known to happen. We have a T-Watch until 9:00 tonight, we could get some stormy weather later but the bad stuff (if any) is forecast west and northwest of us. However, the forecasters are not always bright so we always keep one eye on the sky this time of year.

Frasier says that it's not fair for Maggie to get her picture on here and not him, but every time I tried to get his picture he was off somewhere else. At the moment, he's snoozing in the floor by my chair. I have to keep looking at him to be sure he's breathing, he's so deeply asleep. My big, lazy baby! Wait, he just stretched! I guess he's still alive. :)

Whine Wednesday

This is what I have to whine about today:

I'm still coughing and it's driving me crazy! It's not a constant cough, it has gotten better. But when I start coughing, I can't stop. I have nearly coughed myself into choking a couple of times and my eyes always water. I DON'T LIKE THIS! It's better, I'm just tired of it because it's been long enough now. It's part of my normal asthma cycle, and my allergies are now beginning to kick in which is a big part of why I'm coughing. Otter and I went to a craft/junk store today and she had no problem figuring out where I was - all she had to do was listen!

Since it's Wednesday, I stopped at the liquor store and bought two bottles of wine. So it's also Wine Wednesday!

Tulip & bluebonnet pictures probably tomorrow. I took a bunch of pictures yesterday, they look great.

Still Not Sure if it is Spring or Not

But it is Tuesday. That much, I'm sure of.

I can be allowed to be a little off-center. I'm still hoarse & coughing, although it's better. I'm still dealing with congestion, but it's also better. I think I'm over the cold, but now I think that my springtime allergies have hit.

As Otter says when she wants to be sarcastic, Joy to the World.

(She's a teenager. She's sarcastic. It's just part of the territory).

Anyway. Back to other stuff. Well, I guess to go "back to other stuff" I would have had to be discussing them first. Which I wasn't. At least, I don't think so. But like I said, I'm still off-center! :)

It did get cold the last couple of nights. But not that cold. So all the firewood that was brought in has now been taken back outside. By Otter, who groaned & complained the entire time but did it anyway because I didn't give her a choice. After she swept the kitchen & dining room but before she vacuumed the living room. Which was accompanied by more of that Teenage Sarcasm! Then we moved the couch & love seat out and vacuumed behind them. It was very dusty back there!

Did I have a point? I think I did. What was it? Oh yeah, weather! It did get to below freezing last night, but just barely and not for very long. The bluebonnet was uncovered yesterday, recovered last night and then uncovered this morning. The tulips look great, I haven't gotten any pictures of them in the last couple of days but they are doing nicely.

No new Fenton lately. I have been to two thrift stores in the last two days, but I haven't found any Fenton. It's out there, I'll find it eventually so I'm not overly concerned. But I'm about to move 3 pieces to the shelf Bill made for me which will be on a wall in the bedroom, so I'm going to need to find some to fill in the empty spaces left! Well, it makes a good excuse anyway. Like I ever need one, when it comes to Fenton!

Spring?

I think it got to the high 40's today, but it certainly didn't feel like it! It was in the low 40's the last time I checked. We had a couple of things that had to be done outside and it was really windy and really cold. We are supposed to get a hard freeze tonight, so the bluebonnet is watered & covered up again.

Among other things we had to do outside, Bill had to get out his Dremel and put the grinding wheel on it. Then he had to take said Dremel to the MANY VERY LARGE & VERY RUSTY NAILS that were sticking out of the fence. Right at dog level. The nails that originated on the other side of the fence, which were put there by our lovely neighbors. All the way down the fence. And not when they originally fixed it, these just appeared about Friday evening. Which is when I heard hammering after dark and wasn't sure where it came from. Bill did use a long screw when he patched up one of the many holes their dogs made, a few months back. But it was one and it was not rusty and not all that sharp. Now all the nails are cut off at the fence. We'll watch and see if any more appear. Their dogs were barking their heads off at us the entire time, I heard her yell at them to shut up a couple of times but the dogs kept barking and she never came out. And for the record, our dogs have not been out in the main part of the yard for days except for a couple of hours two night last week and then we let them out Friday but they spent most of Friday until now inside, asleep.

While we were out there, Otter got to clean out the dog's small yard of all the "gifts" they left out there. Then I brought in about 3 armloads of firewood for tonight.

Otter and I had to run to Wallyworld this afternoon. I ran out of bell peppers and since we eat them in just about every meal, it was a Major Catastrophe that had to be remedied right away. While we were there, we looked in the fabric department. All that is left is a few partial bolts of fabric that nobody in their right (or wrong) mind would want and a few remnants. I got a remnant piece for 5 cents. It's going to be the liner in the case I crocheted for my crochet hooks. There was a big sign about how in April the fabric department would now be a newer & better craft department. The sign was a "fill in the blank" type where the month went. Also, I've seen a couple of examples of the "newer & better craft department" and it's not either of those things. In fact, they are smaller and have a whole lot less inventory. Oh yeah, I also got my pink camo yarn. And two bell peppers!

I got the second coat of Kilz paint on the shelf Bill made for me. I have some very light pink paint that I'm going to use on the shelf. I wanted a barely-there color for it. I hope that the paint I bought is pale enough, there are not a lot of pale shades of pink available. I think I'm going to put my Fenton basket on the shelf with the two Fenton hummingbirds on either side of the basket. The basket is a creamy, pale color with pink highlights and is painted with small flowers. The two hummingbirds are pink, they are not exactly the same shade of pink and they are shaped slightly different from each other. I think it will look nice. I still need to hit the back of the shelf with Kilz, which I'll probably do tomorrow afternoon. Then as soon as it's dry, I'll start the color coat.

My dog is such a silly boy. When I got up this morning, he was curled up at the foot of the bed and I think he was waiting for me. Bill had already gotten up and fed the poochies, but Frasier is very much a mama's boy. He's spent a lot of time today as close to me as he could get, and he's currently curled up on the floor beside my desk, napping. He sighs every so often. Maggie is probably curled up on the foot of Otter's bed, where she likes to snooze. Can we say spoiled? :)

Windy Saturday

It was warm today, but very windy. All my patio furniture has been rearranged. One of the chairs was actually blown into the middle of the yard and turned upside down. We put it all back where it belongs, but it is still windy and I won't be surprised if it's all unarranged in the morning.

Otter's parakeet died this afternoon. Very suddenly. The bird had been fine with no symptoms. He was moving around today and acting normal, then when she went into her room to feed him this afternoon she discovered him in the bottom of the cage. No blood anywhere, nothing to indicate any reason but since we don't know what happened to him the cage will be thrown away along with all the toys, etc. Bill buried him out behind the shed, where at least one pet mouse is also buried. Otter is not going to get another parakeet. She has always had small pets, but I think we are just going to stick with dogs for a while.

I still have some congestion and coughing, but I think I'm about over the cold. I have had some more throat tickles, but I think it's probably irritation from the cough. Also, I did get out in the wind for a little while today and I think that might have something to do with it. But in general, I am better. We probably won't go to church tomorrow, but I think I'm on the mend. I ran into my Sunday School teacher Friday when I was buying kleenex and told her that we probably won't be there this week.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Easter is next Sunday. Lenten sacrifices are not usually observed on Sundays, so I could have chocolate tomorrow if I wanted to. But I think I'm going to skip it, it's just one more week until the end of Lent. Self-denial can be hard, but I think it is a good experience. I haven't given up a lot this year, just chocolate, but there are still lessons that everyone can learn from a little bit of self-denial.

Froggy, I haven't forgotten about your collection. I have made a couple of things for it and have found a couple of things. I will get it finished up pretty soon and sent to you.

I made three clothes hanger covers today, I've used up 3 small yarn leftovers and will probably use up all or most of all of one more yarn leftover in the next day or so. I told Bill that I've been using up some of my yarn and that now I can go get more. :) There is a particular color I saw the other day that I'll get soon. I think it was at Hobby Lobby, but it could have been at Wallyworld. I'm in both places fairly often, and I'll probably get it the next time I see it. No idea what I'm going to make with pink camoflauge yarn, but I'll figure something out!

Tales From the Cold Side

That is my poor attempt at humor! I still have the cold, although it is better. I actually made it to noon before I gave up and came home today. It's still hanging on, but I do feel a little bit better. Colds always hit me hard. So far so good as far as my asthma is concerned.

I did make one stop on the way home. I went to Wallyworld. And bought 3 huge boxes of lotion kleenex! I've gone through a lot of kleenex this week.

When I got home, I let the poochies in. They ran around like headless chickens for a few minutes, then they calmed down. They are parked on the floor beside me as I type this. Maggie wants to be groomed, but Frasier is not interested. She keeps arranging herself where she's right in front of his face and when he moves, so does she. Eventually, he'll get tired of it and give in. Then she'll be happy. Of course, Maggie is happy 99% of the time. It comes from being insane, I think. Frasier is Mr. Cool most of the time.

I think I have another craft project figured out. I've been thinking about making a braided rag rug for a while, and I finally decided that I'm going to. We have quite a few scraps left over from the various quilts and I still have a lot of other fabric that I've never done anything with. A few months back, I cleaned out a lot of my fabric & quilt scraps but I still have a lot left and probably have enough to make a rug. I don't think it will be hard to make one, I looked online and found directions but the instructions were pretty much what I already knew how to do. I might get started on it tomorrow, but in the next few days at least.

Frasier said that maybe next week he'll want to do a Friday post. Right now, both doggies are dozing off. They have it made, those two. Spoiled!

Coughing My Head Off!

I hate colds. I'll be glad when this one is gone. Colds have always hit me hard. I think that what Otter got and gave to me is a "plain old" cold. I've been coughing really hard today and I'm tired of it. Coughing is actually a good thing, when you have asthma. Coughing helps the lungs to stay clear. But coughing is hard on the body and I've coughed myself dizzy a couple of times today. I did go in to work, but I left after about an hour and a half. I'm going to attempt it tomorrow, we'll see how I do.

Did I mention that I hate colds?

Since I have plenty of time on my hands, I started another crochet project. Bill was teasing me about needing to use up some of my yarn before I go get more (at least he had better have been teasing me!). So I decided to see what I could come up with using some of my smaller amounts. Then it occured to me that I've been storing my crochet hooks in a ziploc baggie and that I should make a holder for them. I'm using the basic pattern as the nail kit & eye glasses holder. I used up the last of the Lipstick color yarn (yea!) and quite a bit of two other small yarn balls. I think I'm going to get back to making clothes hanger covers, I have a bunch of small amounts of assorted yarn colors and the covers don't have to be a particular color or colors.

Otter's science class has been disecting things. She's less than enthused. They started with earthworms, which really didn't bother her. Then they moved on to cradwads - Crayfish to all you non-Texans, but we know that the proper name is crawdads. Or mudbugs. She said that it was disgusting and that she could hardly eat lunch after that class. Which is surprising, considering that she's usually her mother's daughter when it comes to blood and "substances." But she had recovered sufficiently by the time I picked her up to want a hot dog from a convenience store!

OK, I'm off to my couch now. My crochet hook is calling me! Also, I feel another coughing fit about to come on. Have I mentioned how much I detest colds?

Update, Otter's Birthday, March Books

Otter very thoughtfully shared the cold-type bug with me, the one she had last week. I'm coughing my head off, and my throat felt like it had been attacked with brillo pads for a while. My throat is better, it's now more irritated by the cough than actually sore. I have gone through a lot of kleenex! It seems to last a couple of days, I'm on the mend but not fast enough to suit me. The sore throat started Monday, I went to work yesterday but left early. I thought I would feel better this morning, but I actually felt worse than yesterday. When I called in, my 92-year old boss told me that I needed to go buy some bourbon because it would cure the cough - or if it didn't cure the cough, I wouldn't care! He's funny.

Otter enjoyed her birthday. She got her presents from us yesterday morning, and an envelope from Nana. We gave her Itunes $, the ear bud head set she wanted and a Sims game for her computer. (But I think her favorite birthday present is still the one she got 3 years ago - Maggie!) Our dinner plans got changed a little bit, Sweetie wasn't feeling too good so they were not able to go with us. So Otter decided on Chinese food instead of Golden Corral. I picked her up from school yesterday and we met Bill at the Chinese place we like. It was a good meal and we all enjoyed it. We had birthday cake when we got back to the house. The cake was good, WalMart does have a good bakery at least. Otter will get to see Sweetie and Grandpa in the near future, she is looking forward to that. She'll just extend her birthday celebrations a little while. :)

Here's my March book list:

1. Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder.
2. Scarlet Feather, Maeve Binchy.
3. Warman's Carnival Glass 2nd Edition, Ellen T. Shroy. Research!

4. Collectible Glassware from the 40's-50's-60's 7th Edition, Gene & Cathy Florence. More research.

5. American Pattern Glass Table Sets by Gene & Cathy Florence. I think this is about the 3rd time I've read this one, I'm researching specific things.

6. Heart & Soul, Maeve Binchy. This is a new one at least!
7. Batman: Snow.
8. Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary. This one is really funny.
9. Ultimate CSI by Jerry Bruckheimer. Stuff about the tv show.
10. Batman Detective by Paul Dini.
11. Woodstock, a Bird's Eye View by Charles M. Schultz.
12. Mayberry Memories by Ken Beck & Jim Clark.
13. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy.
14. The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy.

Lots of reruns in March, I haven't had a lot of time to hit the library.

I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets! I have two cabinets that have pots & pans, these were the big cabinets. I pulled everything out of them and sorted through everything. The dogs were a big help, Frasier watched over me and Maggie had to sniff everything. I literally filled up the trunk of my car with stuff for Goodwill! I now have two cabinets that are organized better, and not full of stuff I don't want, need or ever intend to use. Some of it came from auctions, there were 3 plastic pitchers that I know did. Two broiler pans, 2 steamer baskets, cake pans that were all from auctions. I had a pressure cooker that I bought, sometime shortly after we moved into our old house so about 15 years ago and I think I only used it once or twice right after I bought it when we had a garden. Also a meat slicer that I did use quite a bit, but not in the last several years. And a whole bunch of other stuff! It's all gone bye-bye now.

Bill's nearly through with the garage clean out project. He's now worked his way around to the shelf between our work benches. He's thrown out so much stuff, and also donated a boatload. Or at least a couple of trunkloads! As soon as he's through, Otter and I are going to tackle our areas. I cleaned off & reorganized my work bench a couple of months ago, but I'm going to hit it again and we are also going to clean out Otter's shelf and work bench at the same time. I don't think that there is much from our areas that we'll get rid of, but we haven't really been able to get to her bench or shelf for many months so neither of us are really sure what's there. That might be Sunday afternoon. But soon, Otter is itching to get out there and craft!

The dogs have not had access to the big part of the yard since sometime last week. We didn't let them out there when it was raining, then we had the snow and now it's muddy season. They will probably be let out there in a couple of days. There is a very brave squirrel that we've seen in the back yard. He's obviously looking for Frasier, but he seems to be getting braver. I saw him jumping down from one of the (empty) birdfeeders yesterday, then I saw him leap onto the deck. We saw him Saturday, he jumped down from a tree and went into the dog house. We don't think he was nesting in there, it was raining and starting to snow and we think he was just seeking shelter. I hope that he doesn't get to complacent, because Frasier will be out there in just a few days and he's come very close to catching this squirrel more than once.

Run, rodent, run.