Quick Friday Update

I'll do my 2010 year end review on Sunday, or thereabouts.  No time today!  And my December book list at the same time.

Brief update:  Yesterday, we went shopping.  In Arkansas.  Bill had a line on a pachinko machine in Ft. Smith, which is about 1 1/2 hours away.  I told him that it was way too far to go for a pachinko machine that he already knew wasn't in the best shape.  So he had a smart moment - he looked up antique stores in the area and then told me about them!  One of them, the one he was heading to for the aforementioned pachinko, was right across from a yarn store.  So it was a double bonus shopping day for me. :)

He got his machine, I got several pieces of Fenton and 2 skeins/balls of the Brett yarn that I fell in love with in San Antonio last summer.  And the yarn turned out to be on sale, which was even better!  We also hit a few other antique/flea market/thrifts while we were there and had lunch.  We had a good time, we were gone from about 9:00 in the morning (we had breakfast at Braum's first) and got home around 3:00 in the afternoon.

Next time, we might head to Springdale (Arkansas) or Joplin (Missouri) or possibly somewhere in southern Kansas.  They are all pretty close to us.

This morning, although I slept through it (which is very rare for me and even more surprising considering that I hardly slept at all last night due to my allergies), we had t-storms.  Bad ones.  They were intense, according to Bill and were possibly tornadic northeast of here.  But then the storms crossed over into Arkansas, north of where we were yesterday, and did turn tornadic.  There are deaths and a lot of destruction.  Prayers would probably help.

Otter and I have been running all over the place today, we had today set aside as our shop-till-we-drop day, and we just about did.  Everywhere we went was very crowded, we went to one thrift store and a couple of antique/junk stores.  We went to the post office and also to Wallyworld for a few grocery items since I had a bunch of coupons that were expiring today.

Tonight, we're going to have our traditional tamales & chili.  I am going to open a can of chili this time, I usually make my own but I'm just too tired to stand in front of the stove and my feet are also killing me.  Then I think we'll probably open the champagne early, we almost never make it to midnight.  Although Otter thinks she might try to stay up.  There are not a lot of midnight fireworks in this area, it's generally a little too cold.  Occasionally, there will be some but not usually.

And it's going to be really cold tonight.  We have a cold front on the way in and the temperature has already started dropping.  I think it's supposed to get to 18 tonight.  Bill brought in a whole bunch of firewood earlier and I filled up my bird feeders, the dogs will probably be camped out in front of the fireplace and that is the extent of our New Year's Eve celebrations.

In case I don't manage to get something posted tomorrow evening, when we turn the computers on after sunset:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Prayer Request

I have a prayer request today.  It's for a lady named Nadine, she is one of Froggy's dearest friends.  Nadine is having heart surgery, quadruple bypass.  It's pretty serious.  Please pray!

My Mid-Week Thoughts

Today's thoughts include Fenton and Pachinko machines.

I'm enjoying my vacation, and I think Bill is also enjoying his time off.  He's been playing with his pachinko machines and assorted power tools.  Scary thought.

We went to Incredible Pizza for my birthday on Monday.  We took Otter's BF with us.  It was fun, we had a great time.  Their buffet is always so good.  I really enjoyed my birthday.  Otter is going to make me brownies, but I told her to wait a few days on it.

Yesterday, Tuesday, Otter and I went to a small town that is about 45 minutes away.  We went to an antique mall that we've been to before - Froggy, you know the one.  There is a concrete place next door which has a gorilla, but Otter forgot to take her camera that day so no pictures for Toadles this time.  Anyway, back to my shopping story:  I found several pieces of Fenton, including a very rare piece of Cactus for very little $.  Happy, happy!  I also found a crocheted table cloth that I bought to use as a nightstand cover in our room.  We have two nightstands, I have a beautiful crocheted piece that came from Bill's grandmother (I'm not sure if she made it or not), and it's on my nightstand.  I had planned on making another one for the other nightstand, but I haven't had time to do anything towards it and I don't think I could make one for $8.99 anyway!  They are not the same color, the new one is cream and green and the first one is cream with rosy pink and dusty blue, but they do look good together.

The other thing we bought there is a pachinko machine.  Otter found one in a booth, it had a $20 price tag on it and I immediately took it up to the register so they could hold it for me.  We were still shopping.  I did try to call Bill, but he wasn't home at the time.  I knew he'd just tell me to get it so we did.  Then we surprised him.  When we got home, I told him that I had something in the back seat of the car that I needed him to get for me.  He was very surprised.  It's a little different than any of his other machines and it was a tremendously cheap price, so he was happy.

Today, Otter and I had been wanting to go to a new antique mall that has recently opened but had not had a chance to get there yet.  I took my car in for an oil change and they weren't able to get to it right away, so I called Bill and he came and got me.  Then Otter and I borrowed his car to go to the antique mall.  He teased me about taking his car, but since he has a Go-Fast Car sitting in the driveway I didn't feel too bad about it!  Otter found a couple of magazines and I have a couple of glass/Fenton items I'm thinking about.  But they also had two pachinko machines for $35 each.  I called Bill and got him this time, but I already knew what he'd say - and they came home with us.  He now has 38.  I told him that his Stash is bigger than mine now. :)  I also told him that he owes us finder's fees, but I don't think we're going to get anywhere with that!

After that, my car was ready so he took me back to get it and then Otter and I got to go to our other destination.  Another antique store!  Froggy, this is the one where I found the plant stand.  No pachinko, but I did buy 4 Fenton pieces!

I've also finally had time to use my food processor/blender that Bill got me for Christmas.  It's a Ninja brand.  It's really neat, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with it.  Otter's already talking about making salsa.  Let's just say that she is very much her parent's daughter and the apple did not fall far from the tree in this case - so better get the fire extinguishers ready.  Because we're going to need it. :)

Sunday De-Cluttering

Or maybe I should have said De-Christmasing!

Saturday morning.

Sunday morning.

Although the sofa table will be covered in pachinko parts very shortly, so there will still be clutter.  But it is Bill's clutter and not mine.  As long as I have space for my current crochet projects on the bottom shelf, I'll be able to tolerate it.  Sort of.  My purse, tote bag and two crochet bags are back in their usual spot in this picture - on the bottom of the sofa table.  One of the crochet bags is a plastic grocery bag that has a pillow form and yarn which will be used to cover it.

Well, I'll try to tolerate it anyway. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas.  We got into our stocking when we all got up, Otter's was stuffed full of candy as she'd hoped.  There was candy in mine and Bill's, but not nearly as much as Otter got.

Grandpa & Sweetie came over, we ate way too much but had a really nice visit.  We haven't seen them too much lately, so there was a lot of visiting to catch up on.

Grandpa bears more than a passing resemblence to Santa Claus, so Otter always tries to find him a Santa ornament.  This year's choice was Santa in a fisherman's outfit.

Sweetie always gives Bill a toy of some sort, usually something really crazy and fun.  She may have outdone herself this year.  She gave him a marshmallow gun.  And a bag of ammunition to go with it!  Bill promptly started shooting marshmallows at everything and everybody.  Frasier immediately went outside.  Maggie, on the other hand, went crazy.  Crazy trying to eat every marshmallow that she could find!  Dog was on Cloud 9, Otter tried to pick up as many as she could before fatbeagle got to them, but I think that Maggie probably had a few.  Well, at least the dog had a good time!

After G & S left, we sat down on the couch to watch a couple of shows we'd taped during the week.  I don't think that anybody actually managed to stay awake, I think we all had afternoon naps on the couch.  We had such a big breakfast that we never actually ate dinner last night.  I had steaks in the fridge, they got put off until today.  They were very good, we just had them.  But last night, nobody had any room so we just snacked a little instead of having an actual meal.

The house has been de-Christmas'ed and is back to normal.  Well, as normal as it gets around here anyway.  Otter took the decorations off the tree, I got the wreath and assorted stuff put away and we both took the Nativity set down.

Including the new piece!  Bill gave me my birthday present early this year.  He found the one piece I needed to complete my set.  He bought me a cow!  There is a joke in there somewhere...

Anyway.  Otter and I had a couple of (shopping) errands today.  We didn't buy much, but she did trade in some of her books to a used book store and we decided that since we had time today we would get the grocery shopping done instead of putting it off.  So I won't have to go grocery shopping on my birthday.

Speaking of birthdays:  TOADLES.  You owe me a phone call tomorrow.  I got your voice mail wishing us Merry Christmas.  But you also mentioned that there is a Motorcycle Birthday coming up.  You should know by know that I DON'T DO SINGLE PRESENTS FOR BOTH AND I DON'T DO SINGLE PHONE CALLS, EITHER!   :)

Merry Christmas!

Let us continue to look for the Star.

Traditions

It's Christmas Eve.  Already.  Seems like it should still be summer, but it's already Christmas and the end of the year is not far behind.

It's a holiday today, so I didn't have to go in to the office.  I'm on vacation next week, Monday through Thursday will be the last of my vacation days for the year.  Then next Friday is also a holiday.

Among other things, my birthday is next Monday.  49.  We're celebrating it by going to Incredible Pizza on Monday.  Then, I think I'll probably go grocery shopping.  Yeah, I know - but it needs to be done and I'd just as soon get it done and over with early in the week. :)

But we have already started celebrating my birthday.  Yesterday, my boss was talking about today at work and when I reminded him that it was a holiday and nobody would be there, he looked funny.  Then he told me that he'd ordered me a birthday cake and was going to pick it up (this) in the morning and bring it to the office.  I suggested that he put it in the freezer and we'd have it when I got back.  This morning, he brought it out to the house so that I wouldn't have to wait.  Otter was overjoyed, she took advantage of the fact that it had just been delivered and she'd just gotten up - she had birthday cake for breakfast!  That isn't something that happens too often, by the way.  But it was fun.  Bill and I had already had breakfast, so we had dessert.

Anyway.  Traditions.  We have a few of them.  One of them, which we started when Otter was about to celebrate Christmas for the third time is our Living Room picnic.  Her first Christmas, we lived in SA and were with family on Christmas Eve.  The next year, we'd moved to OK but went Home for Christmas that year.  Then the next year, we had Christmas morning with Grandpa & Sweetie and that is always a fun traditon.  But we wanted something for Christmas Eve, partially as a way to keep a very active & excited 3 year old occupied!  So we started the picnic tradition on Christmas Eve.  It's chips & dip, sausage & cheese, crackers, etc.  We still have it on the evening of the 24th, but now it's in the dining room.  Because we didn't want to invite the dogs!  Otter also gets to open one small gift Christmas Eve.  She thinks she has decided which one to open tonight.  The tag says it's from Bill & me, but I can't remember specifically what it is.

Christmas morning traditions include what we refer to as Bill Breakfast.  Bill makes a huge breakfast for us, Grandpa & Sweetie and we look forward to it all year.  We eat way too much, but we have a great time and get to visit without having to be in a rush.  Then we open presents after that.  Last year, we actually had it on the 26th of December because a major winter storm hit mid-morning on the 24th and there was a great deal of ice.  Even though it was the next day, it was still a lot of fun.  Just a day late.

Sweetie, bring your appetite!  Bill's menu for tomorrow morning includes waffles & syrup, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravy.  Then, we might manage to waddle into the living room for presents!  Because it's Christmas, I'll have bacon - which is about the only time all year that I actually eat it.

Then, after all that food, we'll be lucky if we can stay awake.  :)

Otter has another tradition.  Yaya Bears.  The first year we were in OK and didn't go Home for Christmas, my dad asked me to get something from him for her.  WalMart had just come out with their annual Christmas teddy bear and I knew that Otter would love one.  So that was what I got and each year, Dad would ask me to get her another one to be from him.  She's got a bunch of them.  After he died, I still got her one that year and it was one of the ways she still felt close to him.  Even though she's 18 now, she still gets a Yaya Bear each year.  She's pretty much outgrown the stuffed animal thing, but Yaya Bears are different.  They are part of the Christmas traiditon and we use them as part of our Christmas decorations now.

Here's a few of them.  Otter piled them on her bed for the picture.  They are too tempting to a couple of puppies to be left in easy reach.

And a few more added to the pile!  She's got several more, they are in a box in the attic.  This is just a sampling of the Yaya Bears.  Yaya was what Otter called my dad.

The bears are dated on one foot.

While we don't really go Christmas shopping on Christmas eve if we can avoid it, Otter likes to go to the dollar store on the 24th.  We did that this morning, then we went to the post office to clear our box, took a few books back to the library's overnight drop and stopped at an antique store - the one where I found the picnic basket, Froggy.  We had a little time to kill before the post office, so we decided to spend it there.  $3.00 Fenton, I'd say it was a sucessful trip.

Cheap Fenton.  Always a good thing!

Cluttered

I'm beginning to feel cluttered.

It revolves around the living room.

And the fact that there are things there that aren't normally.

Like a Christmas tree with stuff underneath it.

I'll get over it.

On Sunday.

Because that's when it will all come down and get put away.  It would probably happen Christmas evening, if it weren't Saturday.  However, the moment we are home from church...

Until then, I'll just deal with it.

It's not so bad, actually.  We just have the small tree up.  But it doesn't take long before it becomes clutter.

We all know how much I hate clutter!

Sunday Stockings

This is Otter's Christmas stocking.  It was handpainted by her Texas Grandmother, Nana, when Otter was a baby for her first Christmas.  When we moved from TEXAS to Oklahoma, Nana sent it to her.  When Otter was younger, it was filled with the usual:  small toys, miscellaneous stuff and some candy.  The last couple of years, it's been filled with only candy.  A lot of candy.  She hopes that this year will be the same.  I'm pretty sure it will be!

We had a short trip this morning.  We went to a small town about 45 minutes away.  To an antique/junk store that is really neat.  Froggy, you'd love it and Toadles probably would as well.  Especially since part of the building is a converted railroad car.  We didn't buy much, but it was still a really fun trip.  While we were there, we had lunch.  Froggy, I bet you can't guess where! :)

We originally were going to Ft. Smith and Springdale.  They're in Arkansas.  There was a pachinko machine that Bill wanted, which was in Springdale.  He made arrangements to look at it today, and we were going to go on to Ft. Smith which is just a little south of Springdale, where there were two others.  But when he called the Springdale guy last night, he said that he'd sold it already.  Since the other two machines were mostly because we would have been in the area and not spectacular machines, he decided it wasn't worth going all that way for what he could probably find here.

Other than that, it's been a somewhat quiet day.  Otter and BF have gone out, they are seeing the new movie Tron and going to eat afterwards.  Since Otter had a date tonight, Bill and I decided that we needed to have one too.  We went to a Chinese buffet.

Then we went to Target.  Bill got my Christmas present.  I wanted a blender, he thought I should get another food processor.  So we compromised.  We bought a blender/food processor combination.  I think I'm about out of appliances to ask for now.  Last year, it was the crock pot and can opener (one was Christmas, one was birthday).  Guess I'll have to come up with something else for next year.

Otter and Bill are both off the next two weeks.  I work through Thursday, then I'm off the 24th and the next week.  Bill thinks he's going to cut firewood tomorrow.  Better make sure that Otter has the first aid kit handy!

Nag Nag Nag Nag Nag

By Froggy's own admission, she was nagging me (about not posting in a while).   So, here it is!

It's just been a busy week.  Otter's last week of school before CHRISTMAS break, she is getting over the strep throat she had and she has finals (today and tomorrow) so she's been busy.  She also baked cookies the last couple of nights, to give to her friends at school.  Two of which said that they were surprised, they didn't take her for a baker.  Considering that she's been cooking along with me since she was tiny, I'm not sure what she will actually learn in Cooking class which she'll switch to next semester!

Bill's last week of work before his 2-week break, and he's been busy with stuff around the house.  He's made a couple of trips up into the attic this week, he brought down the Christmas decorations and one of the trees.  He put the tree together for us this morning, then Otter decorated the tree this evening.

That means that there are no pachinko machines in the living room at the moment!  Which is only temporary, once the tree is down and the sofa table is clear I'm sure that he'll have it covered in machines and parts in less than 2 seconds.

(And since I generally can't stand to leave the tree & stuff up any longer than I absolutely have to, that might mean that Christmas night he'll have all his toys back on the table.)

We put up my Nativity set, it's on the top of the entertainment center where we usually put it.  I found a piece to it at a thrift store a few weeks back.  It's another stable piece.  The original one is still intact, but it's hard to put together.  This one is a little smaller and works better.  I'm not sure when Avon came out with it, I didn't even know it existed until I saw it and immediately grabbed it.  I'm still in search of a cow, the only piece I don't have.  I've seen them on eBay and Craigslist, but - just like with my Fenton - I'm cheap when it comes to pieces to the Nativity!  We also hung the stockings and got the wreath on the door.  I couldn't find my wreath hanger, so I used a wire coat hanger and bent it into shape with a pair of pliers (my tools, which Bill is specifically forbidden to even look at!).  We got the wreath in place and then found the wreath hanger.  After all that work, making one out of a clothes hanger, I suggested to Otter that she use the real hanger on her small wreath that she made years ago so she has one on her bedroom door now.

Work has been somewhat crazy this week, it normally is busy this week anyway but I also have a lot of extra work that I would normally do the last week of the month.  Except that I'll be off that week, since I'm taking the last of my vacation days.  I don't think we're going to do anything specific that week, beyond a trip to Incredible Pizza on my birthday.  Just whatever around the house, and I'll probably attempt to crochet as much as possible.  And maybe hit a thrift store or two.

Frasier would like me to state that for the record, he's absolutely amazed at the gall of the inhuman michael vick (he doesn't deserve capital letters) saying that he'd like to have another dog at some point.  Frasier would also like me to tell you that he thinks that particular male person (real men do NOT do what he did) should be treated like he treated some of the dogs he previously had.  Maggie Moo agrees with him, and so do we.  And also, Frasier suggested that vick should be neutered.

Our tamales are here!  I ordered 4 dozen from my tamale connection, with the intent of giving each of my (2) bosses a dozen for Christmas.  They were delivered today, our 2 dozen are in the freezer and will hopefully stay there until New Year's.  Although they smelled so good, it was very hard to put them in the freezer without first sampling them. :)

Horrible story coming out of Florida, about the shooting at a school board meeting.  Thank God no one was seriously hurt, aside from the gunman who killed himself.  I can't imagine the pain that his family must be feeling, first to lose their husband/father by his own hand and secondly, having to live with the knowledge of what he did/tried to do.  After watching the video, I think that the school board members were probably just too stunned to accept what they were seeing because the did not react nearly as fast as they should have, or even when they should have.  I guess that in that situation, fear can easily take over and they were probably so shocked to see the gun in his hand.

Bill's working the sound/video for a school board meeting tonight, he said that there wasn't anything specific on the agenda which means that it probably wouldn't be on the news tonight.  But, after the Florida incident, I won't be surprised if it does make the news.  If I manage to stay up until 10:00, I'll watch and see.

Considering that I've been up since 4:45 this morning, I don't know if I'll even make it to 9:30!  I just woke up early, no reason.  Except maybe the fact that I'm 48 and it happens!  Along with hot flashes...  One of the dj's on one of the radio stations I listen to was talking about an encounter he had at a gas station at 4:30 a.m. the other day.  He was filling his car on the way to work when he noticed a lady pull up to the next pump and start to fill her own car.  It was in the low 20's at the time, or possibly even the high teens.  She had on shorts, a tank top and flip-flops.  No jacket at all.  He asked her if she was ok and wasn't she cold?  Her response:  HOT FLASH!  I have to say that I sympathise and understand completely.

Sunday Soup

The potato kind of soup, to be specific.  It was lunch/dinner today.  We ate about 3:30 so it was an in-the-middle meal.  It was good.  I put some up in the freezer for Billyboy's lunches.

It's been an interesting week.  Otter is feeling better.  She was actually feeling pretty much recovered when the doctor said that it was strep and she had to start the antibiotic.  I asked them, when I got her school excuse, about the fact that the test said negative on Tuesday but then positive on Thursday.  The answer is that anytime there are possible symptoms, even if the quick test shows negative, they grow a culture and test in more detail.  OK, I understand that.  But they couldn't answer my other question:  Why did the doctor insist strongly that it was not strep, when she still strongly suspected it?  I'm thinking that the next time we need medical attention, we will wait until our regular doctor is available unless it's an absolute emergency.  One thing I do NOT like is doctors who think that they are God and don't need to tell us everything.

Otter was home Friday, since she was still contagious and then Saturday was Sabbath so we were home anyway.  Today, she said she was feeling really housebound so after church she and I got out of the house for a couple of hours.  We went to the mall, we got there just before the crowd hit and were able to get a little Christmas shopping done.  Mostly, that involved Otter taking me into a couple of stores and pointing out specific things that are on her list so it was really more window shopping than anything else.  We also watched the kids visiting Santa Claus.  We love to do that each year, it's really fun.  No criers today, just one that wasn't quite sure at first but warmed up pretty quickly and the rest were happy just to get there.

We also had to go to the jewelry store.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a scratch on my wedding band and figured I needed to get it buffed out.  Then I forgot about it.  This morning as I was putting my rings on (I don't sleep in them), I noticed something.  It wasn't a scratch.  It was a crack, split clean through!  The ring is fairly old, it was my grandmother's and she died before I was born so it's got some age to it.  Over the years, it has worn down and thinned out a little bit.  When I got it resized about 6 years ago after I'd lost weight, the jeweler wasn't sure if he could do anything to it because of the age and thinness.  He was able to resize it, but he said that it probably wouldn't hold up to another resizing.  So I really wasn't sure if they would be able to fix it, but they think that they can solder it back together.  I'll pick it up in a week and a half.  I'm not sure how it happened, I try not to whack it on anything!

We've been up in the attic today.  Bill just got our Christmas decorations down.  I'm not sure if we got everything that I wanted or not, I haven't opened any of the boxes up that he brought down.  I might have to make another trip or two up there, but not today.

It's cold!  Our high was 34, and tomorrow's high is 33.  No snow, just cold and a brisk wind which doesn't help.  The dogs only go outside when they absolutely have to, and then they make it as quick as they can.  They have spent most of their time today snoozing.  Which is a good idea, actually. :)

While we were out, we went to Braum's.  They have the best peppermint ice cream and they only sell it this time of year.  We bought two cartons, and we'll see how long they last.  Might not be too long, actually.  Bill doesn't like it, we'll get him his favorite frozen custard so he won't be left out, but he has a major sweet tooth and has been known to eat sweets that he doesn't even like just because they are sweet.  Which is why we bought two cartons today.

We saw a report on the news this morning.  It was about a 98 year old women who knits scarves to send to our troops.  She manages to make 2 a day, which is amazing and then when you consider her age it's really something.  She sends the scarves and hats she knits through this organization:

Operation Gratitude

I did some looking and they want either knitted or crocheted scarves and hats.  I think I've found what I've been looking for:  an outlet for my obsessive need to crochet and a way to help.  And, as I told Bill, it will also reduce my stash!  I've made scarves before to donate to Goodwill, etc., and probably will make more.  But I'm going to start making them for Operation Gratitude in the very near future.  I have a couple of gift projects I'm working on, and it's probably too late to make anything for this Christmas anyway.  But they take things like that all year long.  There are other ways to help them, check the website out.  I'll bet you'll find a way to help!

Can We Say FRUSTRATED?!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to vent.  Don't say you weren't warned!

Day before yesterday (Tuesday), I took Otter to the doctor because she was still having problems with her throat.  This is a week after the first symptoms started.  When she first got sick, I called the doctor and couldn't get her in until late that afternoon.  About an hour before we would have left for the appointment, her fever broke.  I called the doctor's office and they agreed with me that it was probably just a bug and that since she didn't have fever, it was most likely NOT strep.

She got better but not well.  She was home the next day and then back at school.  She spent most of last weekend fighting off a mildish asthma spell but was still having throat issues.  Tuesday morning, I called the doctor and managed to get her an appointment - with the fall-back doctor, not our regular one.  The doctor's first thought was that it probably was strep.  But the test showed that it was NOT strep.  She said that they would also test for mono but that it was a long-shot, and it was probably just a virus or possibly allergy.  She said that Otter just needed to take motrin if she felt like she needed it and whatever allergy medicine she preferred.  And that it would resolve in a day or so.

Well, they were supposed to call me yesterday afternoon with the results from the mono test.  No call.

This morning, I called them right after the office opened and spoke with someone who said that they would call me back very soon.  That was just after 8:00 a.m.

At just before 5:00 this afternoon, they finally called me.  It's not mono.  Which is a good thing, and I really didn't think it was.

However, THE STREP TEST WAS POSITIVE.  I'm not sure if this is the test from Tuesday, or if they (and this is what I think based on what the girl told me when she called) messed that one up and re-ran it today when I called them.  They called in a prescription for an antibiotic, I ran to Walgreen's and got it so she could start on it tonight.  Tomorrow, I am going by the doctor's office and they are supposed to have an excuse for her for school tomorrow - because she's still contagious until she's been on the antibiotic for 24 hours.  They are also giving her an excuse which covers the two days last week.

So, she's been sick for over a week now with something that could have been treated and cured already.  I'm not blaming the doctor's office for the fact that she didn't see them last week - although they did tell me that it wasn't necessary to bring her in since the fever was gone, that was really my decision in the end.  What has me frustrated is that we were told Tuesday that it was NOT strep.  But on Thursday, it is.

To Remember Their Sacrifice

We can not forget.

Movie Review

We finally got to see the new Harry Potter movie!  We went after school today.  I think the title is offically Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1, but it's also called Harry Potter 7.

Whatever it's called, it was very good.  It is the first half of the last book and it follows the book fairly accurately, there are a few changes but they are done well and don't change the story.  Unlike the third movie!

It's a long movie, so hit the bathrooms before it starts.  And be prepared:  there are sad parts.  Especially the ending.

We normally go see these movies the first weekend they are out, but we were on the way to San Antonio for Thanksgiving then so we had to put it off.  We planned on last Wednesday, but that's the day that Otter was sick so we had to postpone again.  We finally got there today.  And it was worth the wait.

Now we just have to wait until next summer for the 2nd half!  That's going to be hard.

Sunday Wheezies

This is Wheezy.  He's from Toy Story 2.  He's a squeaky toy penguin.  He's named Wheezy because he has a "condition" that makes him wheeze when exposed to dust.

But today's title is inspired by my wheezy Otter!  She's pretty much over the bug she had earlier in the week, but the asthma is visiting her right now.  Which is the normal pattern.  It's not bad, just bad enough so that she's aware of it.  She's mostly staying inside and has used her inhaler a time or two.  But she's doing ok.  We just haven't had to deal with it in a long time is all.  She didn't sleep too well lastl night and then this morning I told her to go back to bed for a while after she woke up.  We went to church without her and she had been up a few minutes when we got home, she said that the extra rest did seem to help.

Bill's been busy.  Busy in the kitchen.  He's making cookies!  And I've been cleaning up after him, which is a chore in itself.  He is a good cook and he enjoys it.  But he's a tad bit on the messy side.  The cookie exchange where he works is coming up and he's getting ready for it.  He has 3 different types of cookie he likes to make and they are all good.  And that's the problem:  they are all so good!  But not good for me.  So I only eat a few.  At a time. :)

Bill also cut more wood up into smaller pieces and we stacked it.  We've had a fire going pretty much constantly from yesterday morning.  The living room is very warm.  Almost everytime I've walked into the living room, there has been a dog or two parked right in front of the fireplace.

I didn't get much crochet done yesterday.  I have a sore finger, I think I sprained it the other day.  Stacking firewood!  It's the middle finger on my left hand and is the one that holds the stitch in place as I'm making it.  I'm not letting it stop me, it's just slowed me down a little bit.  I finished a row on the afghan and did a few rows on the Dr. Who scarf.  But I have another project planned that I need to get started on (details later, it's a gift) and I'll probably work on it this evening.

Otter and Bill both have two weeks of school/work before they have CHRISTMAS break.  I have 3 weeks, then I'm taking the rest of my vacation the week after Christmas.  We're staying home this time, we've had enough travels for a while.  We don't really like to go anywhere this time of year anyway, too much of a chance to take that we would encounter severe winter weather.  So we'll stay home and just do whatever we feel like at the time.  Also, my birthday is that week.

I've been doing laundry, but I only had 3 loads today.  As opposed to about a million!  When I was home with Otter mid-week, I got caught up with vacation laundry so I didn't have too much this weekend.  Otter and I did get out briefly this morning, she was feeling housebound so she went with me when I went to Wallyworld.  She found a couple of pull over sweaters, she didn't really have enough warm clothing (and still could use more) and they needed to be washed before she wore them so they are in the wash now.

We actually needed our coats this morning.  It was in the mid-20's and breezy.  I'm glad that I bought the new coat, but it fits me looser than it did when I bought it a couple of months back.  That was a surprise.  Although if Bill brings me anymore cookies...

This One's for Frasier!

Today is National Mutt Day.

So, in honor of my big, furry baby:

Go hug your dog!

(not just mutts, they all need love).

Sick Day & November Books

Not me, it's Otter's turn to be sick.  She started getting a sore throat last night and didn't feel the best when she went to bed.  She got up this morning with a sore throat that was worse and also a fever.  She can stay by herself most of the time when she's sick, but her fever was coming up fast so I stayed home with her.  She was around 100 degrees all day and her throat was still sore.  I called the doctor and the only opening for today was at 3:45.  So I took that appointment and then about 2:30, her fever broke and she was back down to just a little above normal and feeling much better.  So we cancelled the appointment.  She's not feeling the best this evening, but she's still feeling better than she was earlier.  I made chicken noodle soup for dinner, which always helps.  She's been parked on the couch with a blanket most of the day, and a beagle beside her.

Except for a little while, I finally decided it was time to put out my bird feeders and the dogs always have to help with that chore.  I guess they think that it's their duty.  Their job is to vacuum up any seed that spills on the ground.  They do it well!  After they finished, Maggie resumed her position on the floor next to the couch and her Otter.

I thought that I might have some crochet time today, since I was home with Otter.  NOT!  I had to go up to the school to turn in something that Otter had which was due today, I had to go to the store to get the chicken soup supplies, I cleaned the kitchen, switched out the Thanksgiving table decor for the Christmas stuff and did a few loads of laundry and a few other household chores.  I'm hoping that I can work in a little crochet time tonight.  I did manage to get some done yesterday, in front of the roaring fire Bill built in the fireplace.

OK, books:

1.  Something I forgot the name of, it was by Sandra Dallas and I gave up on it.  The book I read by her in October was really good, but this one wasn't.

2 - 4.  Batman

5.  Finding Serenity by Jane Espensen.  About a tv show called Firefly which was pretty good for sci-fi, but not quite as good as that other sci-fi show that I am obsessed with and use as my measuring stick for all other sci-fi!

6.  Generation T, Beyond Fashion, 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay.  This one was on Otter's shelf and I borrowed it.  Interesting ideas.  Quite a few things that Otter has already done, prior to reading this.

7.  Thistle & Twigg by May Saum's.  Odd mystery.  It's a new series and I'll consider reading the next book, but it wasn't spectacular.

8.  Star Wars, the Complete Vader by Ryder Windham and Peter Vilmer.  Yes, I like Star Wars.  I admit it, quite a few Trek fan(atics) don't.  It's a good story.  This was an interesting book.

9.  Stalling for Time, my Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator by Gary Noesner.  OK, could have been better written and I felt like he left a lot of details out that would have helped.

10.  GI Joe & Lillie by Joseph S. Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys.  This was ok, I think I skimmed it as opposed to detail reading.

11.  Skein of the Crime by Maggie Sefton.  One of the ways to spot a serious yarn addiction is when someone reads a book just because it has a yarn-related connection!  I'm very much there, by the way.  This was actually the latest book in a series.  It's about a knitter and a lot of it takes place in a yarn shop.  It's not the best written book series, but it is fun.  I decided that since I'd read this one, I probably should read the other books in the series so I requested them from the library and have been reading my way through them.

12.  This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett.  She is gifted, simply gifted.

13.  Spoken From the Heart by Laura Bush.  This one is on the list in November because I started it, but it's December and I still haven't finished it!  Part of that is because we were gone for a week and I forgot to take it with me.  It's good and is very detailed.

14.  Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton.  See # 11.

15.  Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton.

16.  A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton.

17.  A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton.

Froggy, you might enjoy the books by Maggie Sefton.  The first book on December's list is the next one in the series, I think that there are one or two more and then I'm caught up.

I think that Bill made a really good decision to buy the wood from the lumber mill.  It's hard wood and it burns well, slowly and not too smoky.  It also smells wonderful!  And it made very good 'smores, although my marshmallows were getting old.  But they were still 'smores, so they were good.  :)

And now, with any luck, I'm going to go find my yarn and hook and get busy.

Sunday Travel Report

As you can probably tell from Maggie's latest entry, we have been traveling.  We made a trip to San Antonio for Thanksgiving.

Yes, we actually took a real vacation!  This is the first family vacation involving travel that we've taken in about 6 years.  So we were overdue.  It was fun.  We left last Sunday at 4:30 a.m. (yes, a.m.) and made it in 10 hours.  (The tulips were actually planted the Sunday before).  We spent the week with Nana and saw most of our assorted family members that live in the area.  We had a wonderful time, and really enjoyed it.  Thanksgiving was a lot of fun - we ate too much, but that is kind of expected I think.

Froggy and I ran off for two days and hit various thrift stores.  We took Otter with us the first day and KN3 joined us the second day.  We had puffy tacos!  And I found two fairly rare Fenton pieces for $13.00 each.  Above my general price, but both pieces are worth it.  I'll get pictures posted soon.  We would have hit the yarn store I like so much, but they were closed. :(  Which actually was probably a good thing, because I would probably have spent every available cent I had and then not had any for Fenton.  Otter found (big surprise here) a pair of shoes and quite a few clothing items.  I did buy yarn, I found two skeins of vintage yarn at a thrift store for 49-cents each.  Of course it came home with me. :)

Bill brought home three new pachinko machines.  Two he got in SA and one he picked up on the way back.  Two fit in the trunk, but the one on the way back had to go in the back seat.  On the way down, Otter had her stuff spread out all across the back seat but she had to share space with a pachinko for about half the trip back.

The doggies went to be boarded.  The had a good time, but they were crazy excited when we got there to pick them up.  When we got them home, they ran around the living room like a couple of headless chickens for a while, then collapsed in a heap on their blanket and went right to sleep.

We came back on Friday.  Yes, we left at 4:30 a.m. again.  It took us a little longer to come back, we had a 30 minute detour for a pachinko and a little more traffic.  We did manage to get home before sundown, but we didn't have much time to spare.  We basically unloaded the car, went to get the dogs and then parked on the couch and stayed there until last night!

After church this morning, Otter and I went to the grocery store.  Since we were going to be gone for a week, I didn't buy groceries last week and we pretty much ran out of everything.  Since the refrigerator was empty, I could see that it was also in serious need of a cleaning.  So I did that after breakfast this morning, then we went to the grocery store and filled it up again.  But at least it's clean now!

I'm also doing laundry.  Which I normally do on Sunday anyway, but I have twice as much as normal since I wasn't home to do it last Sunday.  I did do some during the week before we left so there wasn't a whole lot but we have all the clothes we wore last week plus all the stuff Otter got while we were thrifting.

Bill got started on the firewood this afternoon.  He got to use his chainsaw!  He cut up most of two bundles, there are still over 4 waiting.  We stacked what he cut and it was about a rick.  Actually, I think it was a little more than that.  If it ever does turn into winter, we're ready.  There was some winter weather in this area on Thanksgiving, but we weren't here to deal with it.  I don't think it was horrible, but if we'd been home we probably wouldn't have been out in it anyway since it was a holiday.

I went shopping just now.  Froggy, I went to the antique/junk store where I found the picnic basket and you found the 3D puzzles for Scooter.  I found FENTON!  5 pieces, just over $20.00 so it was a good day.  That means that I've acquired 7 new pieces in less than a week.  Happy, happy!

Otter is off with BF today.  She thinks she escaped having to help stack firewood.  But there's plenty more waiting!  So she won't be left out.

I got quite a bit done on my afghan while we were on the way to and from SA.  I put about 12 rows on it.  I also got a few more rows added to the Dr. Who scarf.  I might get a little more done today, but I'm not sure.  My arms are kind of sore from stacking firewood.  But I might not let that stop me.

OK, back to my laundry now!  And probably to play with a couple of dogs.  And then I think I'm going to make chili.  It's cool but not cold, but it's always chili weather for us.

It's a Texas thing.

Puppy Paws

Hi, Hi, Hi!  It's meeee, Maggie!  Hi, Hi, Hi!

Me and my big brudder Frasier had a vayshun.  Wee got to go to anudder place for a bunch of days.  Wee had lots of funn.  There were udder doggies and a really nice lady we called Beckkymom who feeded us and playded wif us.

Our peoples went to anudder place for a few dayses but we dunt know where they wented.  But they were nice and let us have a vayshun and it was funn.

They camed back home the day before today.  Wee were so glad to get home.  But we had fun at Beckkymom's house and hope we can go there again to play sometimeses.

Beckkymom tooked me to the vvett.  She said my owie on my headd was redd.  The vvett said that it's all bettered now and he took away the itchy things that he called stishes.  I dun't have to go back to the vvett anymore for my owie.

I gotta go, I'm going to go play with big brudder Frasier.  He thinks it's nap time, but it's really play time.

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  Now, don't eat too much!

Let us not forget that this day was set aside to give thanks to our heavenly Father.  Not just for turkeys, eating ourselves into a stupor or watching sports.

I know that I personally have a lot to be thankful for, starting with my family.  And a whole lot else!

(And let's remember to thank our Veterans for keeping us safe.)

Sunday Tulips

It's done!  The tulip bed is planted.  We had originally planned on doing it in stages, bed prep one day then plant in a few days.  But we changed our minds and did it all in one day.  There are a bunch of tulip bulbs, Otter likes assorted colors and they are not planted in any particular order.  They are just tossed about the bed, and then planted wherever they land.  She mixed the bulbs up first, for color variety.

Now we don't have to do anything until Spring.  And then we just have to admire the blooms.  We might treat the bed again in a few days, just as a precaution because we have had a lot more moles and gophers lately.

I'm pretty much decided against planting mums in the whiskey barrel.  I think I've mentioned that before.  I realized that I have some bluebonnet seeds I bought last summer when I was in SA and now is the time to plant them.  I'll have to get to that pretty soon.  Then, maybe, I'll have bluebonnets come up at the right time!

It was pretty windy yesterday, which was fine because we were pretty much parked on the couch all day.  I crocheted, of course.  I got a couple of rows put on the blanket I'm making for Bill, we spread it out on the bed and it's just about there.  It really only needs a few more rows to be big enough to cover us both when we fight for the blanket!  Which happens a lot actually. :)  I didn't get anything done on the afghan yesterday, but I've had a little time today and have gotten several rows put on.  It's turning out really well.

Maggie Moo is healing nicely.  The spray the vet gave us made a big difference.  She doesn't like it and at first we weren't sure if it was helping or not, but she's much better now.  Fraiser hasn't tried to groom the incision nearly as much.  We took them on a short jaunt around the neighborhood yesterday and Maggie was extremely bouncy.  Frasier was his normal laid-back self, sniffing everything and marking territory, but the beagle was very energetic so we think she's about recovered.  Her fur is starting to grow back in where it was shaved. She still looks funny!

It's been really cool the last few days and then windy yesterday.  This coming week is supposed to be warmer until about Thursday, then it will be back to cool again.  We have a chance of rain all week.  We still need rain, we've had some but still could use more.  Fall is usually a very wet time of year in this area.

I'm actually looking forward to winter this year.  Mostly because my allergies are still giving me fits and will be until we get a couple of good, hard freezes.  I have had sinus headaches off and on the last few days and lots of congestion.  Even Bill is sneezing, and he's the least allergic person I know.  Except for one new thing:  he's suddenly developed an allergy.  TO MY HAND LOTION!  You know, the lotion I can't live without because of my extremely dry skin and the one I use is about the only one that I'm not allergic to!

Oh well.  I guess he'll just have to put up with it.  :)

It's a Blustery Day!

We like Winnie the Pooh at this house.  So it's not windy this evening.  It's blustery.

It's actually very blustery.  When Otter and I were coming home, the tree across the street was rapidly losing it's leaves in the wind.  It looked like a curtain, there were so many leaves flying.  It was cool today but nice temperatures, cloudy but not bad.  The expected cold front is hitting us now, and it's living up to it's name.  It's supposed to be pretty cold tonight.

Maggie Moo went back to the vet Monday.  The spot on her head suddenly looked very red and we were concerned with infection.  The vet said that it wasn't infected but could possibly be on the way to becoming infected, so he gave her additional antibiotics and we now have a spray to hit it with.  As well as being medicated, the spray is supposed to keep it from itching.  I don't know if it's working or not judging by the fact that we spend just as much time stopping her as we did before, but it does seem to be helping in general because it looks much better.  Frasier went with us, he was moral support for the beagle.  Actually, there's no way we could get one dog leashed and out of the house without taking the other one with us.  So they usually both go when one has to go to the vet for some reason.  They were happy to get there.  Maggie was overjoyed.  Until it was time to go into the exam room, and then we had to play a round of Drag the Dog.  Once we got in the room, she immediately got underneath the exam table.  Then after the door was shut, she went to the door and stood with her nose against it.  I don't think she was happy to be there!  Getting her to leave was no problem at all for some strange reason...

I have to go jean shopping tomorrow.  I was bent over to put something on the floor when Bill remarked that he could see my underwear.  I thought he meant that it was showing over the top as I stood up, because the jeans are a little big now.  (Yea!).  But he meant that he could see the pattern on my underwear through the jean fabric!  This is after I wore them to work today!  I'm going to go find some new ones tomorrow, and this time I'm not going to get a pair that is too short because I'm in a hurry.  But they will be as dark blue as I can find, just in case.

Otter and I also went thrifting today.  I found a blouse at one and she found a few books.  At the second one, I didn't find anything but she found a couple of dvd's and a vhs movie.  Her tv has a dvd player and a vhs player built in.  We were going to stop at the grocery store for a couple of things we need, but that got put off until tomorrow afternoon.  We were getting hungry and wanted to get home so we could make dinner.  It was spaghetti, which as Otter & Bill will tell you, we have pretty often.  In fact, hardly a week goes by without having spaghetti.  It is about my favorite food.  I'm glad they like it as well.  Because I'd still make it at least once a week, even if they didn't!

Wood'n It Be Nice...

(I like bad puns, in case you haven't figured that out yet!)

Our firewood was delivered this afternoon.  One of the guys Bill works with went to a sawmill and brought back a trailer load.  Each bundle is 10' long, and probably weighed several hundered pounds, like 800 pounds.  Each.  We split the load with him.  He brought back 12 loads, kept 6 and brought our 6 today.  It took 3 very big, strong men several minutes of intense work to shift the bundles off the trailer.  It's at least 4 ricks (2 cords) of wood, but could well be more.  It's all hardwood, and could be easily used for building with a little planing and prep work.

Bill will now have an excuse to use his chain saw!  We'll need to cut the pieces down to size, 10' long is not an exaggerations.  Then Otter and I get to go to work, we will have to carry and stack it.  Because the gate that is big enough for things like trailers is on the opposite side of the house/yard from the wood rack!

This is it!  This picture doesn't really do it justice.  But trust me, there is a LOT of wood!  The 2nd picture that Otter took won't post on here for some reason.  Blogger must be having a moment.

Better go buy lots of marshmallows.  We're going to need them, I see a lot of 'smores in our future.

Sunday Gophers

To be strictly accurate, this should have been Saturday Gophers.  But I didn't blog on Saturday.  It does have gophers, so it's not totally off.

Yesterday morning, I was looking out the dining room window and noticed a small pile of dirt.  Which means gophers.  They dig tunnels underground, then they come up to the surface and deposit all the dirt that they then need out of the way.  Moles dig as well, but they don't usually make dirt piles.

I saw movement, so I kept watching.  And pretty soon, there was more movement.  It was small and furry.  It almost looked like a prarie dog at first, but it was definitely a gopher.  And he was busy, he kept bringing more and more dirt up to the surface.  Every so often, he'd poke his head up and look around.  Then he'd get back to work.

One of the specific things the vet said to keep Maggie away from was dirt and digging.  So I wasn't able to let her out.  After a while, we decided to let Frasier out to play with the gopher.  He runs out the door.  And immediately goes to the opposite side of the yard from the gopher.  That's my Frasier, always dependable.  We didn't see any more gopher pop-ups at that point, so we let Maggie out and she at least went in the general direction.  But she was more interested in tracking it, we think she could hear it underground by the way she was acting.  After a few minutes, I called them back in and went to check it myself.  The gopher had a nice sized hole dug.  But he didn't come back again yesterday.

This morning, there were two dirt piles.  One right next to the other one.

After we got home from church, there were three!

We have another spider.  It might actually be the same one.  We thought that he was dead, but this one is the same size and markings.  We're leaving him there, he's happy.

I just heard Bill yelling at a dog.  I think that it was most likely Maggie Moo.  She keeps getting on the couch or love seat when we aren't in the living room.

We were kind of worried about Beagle Brat yesterday.  One of her stitches came loose.  My crochet scissors are actually nurse's scissors and they are very sharp.  Heavy duty, one side is rounded and the other side is flat (to go under stitches).  I got my trusty nurse's scissors and snipped the part off that was sticking up, I was afraid she'd get it caught on something and then we'd have a big problem on our hands.  The swelling has gone done quite a bit, the incision is still unattractive but it's better.  But last night, she started scratching at it and we didn't catch her until she'd made it start to bleed.  We've been wiping her head off with a damp washcloth, which has seemed to soothe her.  We try not to touch the incision but we had to wipe it off a little bit.  Then it took both Otter and me to keep her from scratching it more.  Eventually, the dog curled up on a blanket in the floor and went to sleep.  And we left her there.  This morning, it still is a little red but it looks much better.  I guess it itches as it heals, like people's stitches and cuts do.

Otter and I went in search of a yard sale today.  It was advertised as a Saturday sale, but they had a pachinko machine.  Since we had a couple of errands to run, we decided to head that way anyway.  Bing maps won't be getting a good review from me any time soon!  (It became what we refer to affectionatly as a Toadles Trip.)  The map put us on a highway that runs through town, and then it had us exit off and head into a neighborhood.  Then it took us in a circle through the neighborhood.  Then it took us right back up to and on the highway we'd just left!  The next step was to go a couple of miles to the correct exit for the street and turn on a couple of streets which was accurate.  But the part in the middle?  And, after all that, the yard sale was not open today.  Which didn't surprise me.

We decided to make lemonade out of lemons.  There is a large bookstore that we love but don't get to go to very often.  It was about a mile away from us at that point.  So that's where we went.  Otter found a couple of books.

We also went to Michael's.  I bought yarn, but this was for a specific project and not the same gauge/size/weight that I already have.  Details later, if it works.

I have done 4 rows on the afghan.  I am going to change colors every four rows.  I was thinking that I'd do three rows and then change, but it looked too narrow at three rows so I put a fourth row on.  Pictures later!

I was out in the back yard while ago, and the dogsters were both out there.  I was filling in a hole that they left on one of their previous gopher hunting expiditions, and I noticed movement and the sound of something running through leaves.  Then Frasier exploded (he was parked on the grass, probably dozing off) and ran to the shed.  And then he ran around it a few times, stopping here and there to look underneath.  Maggier had to get in on the fun, but she was trying to dig to get under the shed herself.  I grabbed her by the collar and put her inside, then it took a few minutes to catch Frasier.  I caught him by the collar and gave him to Otter, she took him inside.  I was afraid that he might have distured a "black & white kitty" and I had zero interest in that type of an encounter.  But it was a regular cat.  As soon as Fraiser was inside, the cat ran out from under the shed and over the fence.  Hopefully, it won't be back.  I didn't see it, but Otter said it was grey.  I think it's the same cat that Frasier spotted when we were walking the other day and zeroed in on.  He got very alert and I had to hustle him up the street at a pretty good clip.

Back to my laundry now!  And Otter needs to clean her bathroom.  Then, I think I'm going to make Bill's Bachelor Stew and rice for dinner.  It's cool but not cold, however it is a perfect day for Bachelor Stew.

Friday's Frankenpuppy Update

And other stuff.

Maggie Moo is doing pretty good.  We had a hard time keeping Frasier from "helping" her head to heal, he's still trying to lick at the spot but not as often.  Maggie sometimes acts like the place is bothering her, she'll come up to us and look sad and we think it's probably itching as it heals.  Otter took a damp washcloth to the area around the incision a couple of times today and she said that it seemed to help, Maggie was happier after that.  Not on the incision, just around it.  The dog is still bald but her fur is beginning to grow back.  Otter had the day off from school today, so she kept an eye on BigStink aka Frasier and sidetracked him when he started to groom Maggie's head.

It's been raining off and on today.  At times, it's been a heavy rain but it never lasts long.  We need the rain badly, so I'm not complaining.

This week has been crazy and next week looks to be just as busy.  I'm hoping to get some crochet time in there somewhere, I haven't had time to even attempt the second row on my afghan.  Maybe tomorrow.  I also have another pillow project, I want to make another throw pillow to put in the bedroom.  I was out of camo yarn so I got it and also a pillow form.  I learned a new stitch pattern that I want to use on it.  I tried it out and it is fun.  I'm always looking for new stitches and ways to use them.  I also have not had a lot of time to read lately.

One benefit of the rain is that it will be easier to plant the tulips.  I had planned on clearing the bed off, then treating the ground and planting a few days later.  But I'm thinking that Sunday after church we'll just get it all done at once.  I'll still treat the ground, but it may be after the bulbs are planted and then possibly a couple of days later as well.

I still have two bluebonnets.  They are doing pretty good.  I took one to work for my Texan boss and he was very happy.  But then he did what he usually does - which is drown any plant within sight!  If my two actually make it to the blooming stage, I'll take one of them in for him.  Because it won't matter then.  But it will be a while before that happens.  Also, I use water from the rain barrel to water my plants and they do better with that.

I guess that's it for today.  I'm suddenly starving.  Buffalo burgers are on the menu tonight, and possibly mac & cheese.

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

To all our veterans, THANK YOU.

Frankenpuppy

This is Maggie pre-surgery.  She was not happy, she didn't get breakfast.  She was very sad but she got about 2 hours of belly rubs to keep her mind off of food and she was happier.  She got a short walk and got to see Otter off to school on the bus.  The green thing I'm holding in the picture is the beginning of my afghan, I got the first row done last night.

WARNING:  The next picture is a closer view of the spot.

It was larger than a pencil eraser, at least the part above the skin.  It was larger than it looks because it was also underneath the skin a bit.  It was slightly discolored on the top, which doesn't really show in the pictures.  It was not attractive!

I dropped her off at 8:00 a.m. and picked her up about 3:00.  She was happy to go for a ride in the car, but not happy with the destination.  She was more than ready to leave, however, at 3:00!

Here's one slightly bald beagle:

No cone of shame for her, but I'm thinking that maybe she needs one.  She has scratched at it a little bit, or at least tried to.  Frasier was very interested in it and kept trying to lick it.  I called the vet and they said we could wrap it with vet wrap, which is similar to an elastic bandage, but that it would not heal as fast.  I told them that we were just interested in tonight and maybe tomorrow, because I kept having to haul Frasier off of it.

Maggie is now sporting a lavender bandage wrapped around her head.  It's loosely wrapped, because it has to go underneath her head and we didn't want it to be too tight.

She has eaten a little bit and that improved her mood considerably.  We couldn't feed her very much, because there was still a risk that she would upchuck if she ate too much.  She's had 3 or 4 small snacks of dry food, not a lot of food at a time and not too often.  She seems to be ok.  She was a little groggy still when I got her, but a little food and some affection and she was much better.  I have to take her back in a couple of weeks to get the stitches removed.  Her appointment is the week after Thanksgiving, which is actually just over 2 weeks but because of the holidays it was the closest appointment I could get for her.  The vet was hoping to use surgical glue but he wound up having to use regular stitches.  She's got a little brusing and some swelling.  She has an antibiotic and what is basically a pain pill, I have to give her those starting tomorrow because they gave her today's doses.

I'm thinking that Frasier might be spending the night outside tonight.  And tomorrow they may be kept in seperate parts of the yard.  Because he will not leave her head alone, if we aren't policing him.

Sunday Puppies

Today's title is from something Bill said.  His suggestion for our Sunday title was actually something along the lines of "puppy for sale", meaning a certain beagle we all know and love.  I don't think he's too happy with her at the moment, it might have something to do with the fact that she keeps getting on the couch.

Otter is off with BF for the day.  I think she thought that she could avoid housework and having to help with the firewood if and when it gets here.  It might not be today, it might actually be tomorrow.  But she's not escaping anything, there is plenty for her to do.

Otter's remaining hamster died Friday evening.  We expected it, Nadine (the hamster) had been acting odd lately.  When rodents get old, it hits them suddenly and they act a certain way.  We'd been seeing the signs for about a week and Friday afternoon she was unresponsive and her breathing was labored.  We made sure that she was warm and as comfortable as we could make her, then we let nature take it's course.  Which was the only thing we could do.  Sometime that evening, she peacefully died.  She is now buried out in the back yard, along with the other hamster (Helena), 1 mouse (April), 2 parakeets (Aqua and Skyler) and one sphinx cat that belonged to the neighbor.  Otter is ok, it was rough on her but she's ok.  The hamster was about 2 years old, which is a good length of time.  They normally live between 1 1/2 to 2 years.  The previous hamster was probably about 1 1/2 years old.  Otter thinks she's through with small pets, at least for a while.  She'll stick with dogs for now.  She'd love a hairless rat, however.  But Bill absolutely said no to that one!  I would have let her have one...

I went to an estate sale this afternoon but was less than impressed.  I also stopped at a yard sale I saw a sign for, but didn't find anything there either.

It's been pretty cold the last few nights.  Yesterday morning when I went outside to get the paper, the cars were frosted.  That's the first time this season.  The days have been absolutely beautiful.

I might get out and start on the tulip bed in a little while.  It needs to have all the old growth pulled off and that's not something Otter has ever been able to help with due to a specific allergy she has.  She helps with the rest of it, but the clearing of the bed is my job.

My mums in the front are blooming, they are a very pretty deep maroonish color.  I think I've changed my mind on getting mums for the whiskey barrel planter.  I really like them, but I think I'm ready for a change.  I'm not going to do anything about the one mum I have, it's pretty and can stay there as long as it wants to.  But I think I'm going to stick with replanting each spring/summer in the whiskey barrel, and probably go with different things each year.  Or at least that's the plan today!

Otter and I thought that this was funny.  It's from Harry Potter, I think from the new movie.  The point is that they are all redheads!

I just thought that this was funny.  It reminds me of Otter.  Although she's a karate otter, not a karate kitty!  Well, she was a calico kitty one year for Halloween.

This one is strictly about me!

Our spider friend is gone.  As in dead.  The web was empty yesterday morning, then Bill noticed that the spider was out there mid-morning but was barely moving.  We thought maybe he was just not quite warmed up yet because he was moving although slowly, but then later it was pretty obvious that he wasn't moving at all.  But the web was empty the last time I looked out, still there and tattered but empty.  A bird probably got the spider.  I'm surprised he was there as long as he was, as cold as it's been the last few nights.

I have finished all my throw pillows.  I have one small item to finish, a pot holder I made for Froggy but then didn't quite finish before I went to see her.  I took it with me and forgot about it, then I asked her to send it back to me and now I just have to finish it.  It's all made, I just have to put the pieces together.  That's the last thing I have to do, before I let myself start the afghan.  I thought I'd get to the afghan yesterday, but I didn't quite get there.  Sometime this week.  I still have to work on the quilt.  It was on the agenda for this weekend, but Otter slept until nearly noon yesterday (Saturdays are lazy days for us) and today she's off with BF.  Nobody was in a particularly creative mood yesterday, Otter was kind of down because of the hamster and my skin was a little painful so I didn't do much with the yarn.

Our church now has a 9:00 service, they started it a few weeks back.  We started attending the early service two weeks ago, there were 10 people including us.  The minister commented that the first Sunday, he'd only had two people!  Today, there were between 15 and 20 so it's beginning to catch on.  We like the earlier time better.

OK, I've put it off long enough.  Time to go get my shovel and head to the tulip bed!  And then I'll get back to my laundry.