Last Day of May, Books, Monday

First:  Books!

1.  Bliss to you, Trixie's guide to a happy life by Trixie Kootz, dog as told to Dean Koontz.

2.  Tasty Crochet, a pantry full of patterns for 33 yummy treats by Rose Langlitz.  This was my Mother's Day gift from Bill and I'm working my way through it.  Lots of fun.

3.  The complete book of crochet stitch designing by Linda P. Schnapper.  A review of stitches, not much new but interesting.

4.  Dead Space. This was based on a sci-fi video game and was a book that Otter recommended.  It was actually pretty good.

5.  Chasing the white dog, an amateur outlaw's adventures in moonshine by Max Watman.  Gave it a try, and then gave up on it.

6.  Customizing cool clothes from dull to devine in 30 projects by Kate Haxell.  I think this was also Otter's recommendation.

7.  Bend the rules with Fabric by Amy Karol.  Ditto # 6.

8.  Maus by Art Spiegelman.  This is an animated history of a man's experience with his father who was a holocaust survivor.  It's auto-biographical and is one I highly recommend.  It is excellent.  Just a very well done book.  Otter read it a few years ago and thought I would like it, but I never could remember to request it at the library.  I'm glad I finally did remember.

9.  Kokoro no Te, handmade treasures from the heart by Kumiko Sudo.  Interesting but not anything I want to make.

10.  The rhinestone sisterhood, a journey through small town America one tiara at a time by David Valdes Grenwood.  This was interesting, and I enjoyed it.

11.  Crochet bags, 15 hip projects for carrying your stuff by Candi Jenson.  I didn't find anything I particularly liked in this one, but it gave me a couple of ideas.

12.  Super finishing techniques for crocheters, Inspiration, projects & more for finishing crochet patterns with style by Betty Barnden.  Too many words in the title!  Also possibly a rerun, but I found a pattern I liked.

13.  The big show, high times & dirty dealings backstage at the academy awards by Steve Pond.  History of the Oscar's award show, it was interesting but could have been written better.

14.  Crochet in color, techniques and designs for playing with color by Kathy Merrick.  OK.

15.  Crochet adorned, reinvent your wardrobe with crocheted accents, embellishments & trims by Linda Permann.  Remember what I said about the more words in the title, the less substance in the book?

16.  Batman  (Otter and I keep thinking that we've read them all.  Then we find another one).

17.  Labor of Love, a mid-wife's memoir by Cara Muhlhan.  Not impressed with her as a person.

18.  Batman

19.  Batman

20.  The Telling by Beverly Lewis.  Part 3 of a 3 part series.  Not nearly as good as her earlier works.  Very predictible.

21.  Knit's End, meditations for women who knit too much by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  Funny, for the most part.

22.  Ortho's all about deck & patio upgrades.  I was thinking about our deck but didn't find anything in this book that I liked.  It had some interesting projects.

23.  Knit & crochet ponchos, wraps, capes & shrugs by Edie Eckman.  Not impressed.  Should have been renamed Mostly knit and very few crochet...

24.  Home Planner outdoor project collection, 113 easy to build projects.  Nothing I liked in this one.

25.  Live from New York, an uncensored history of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller.

26.  Batman

27.  Start spinning, everything you need to know to make great yarn by Maggie Casey.  No, I'm not going to start spinning my own yarn!  But I enjoyed it.

28.  Batman

29.  So Simple crochet, a fabulous collection of 24 fashionable and fun designs by Melody Griffiths.  A few ideas.

30.  Sweater Quest, my year of knitting dangerously by Adrienne Martini.  I think this would have been better with a different name - 12 months of griping about a specific designer would have been a better title.

31.  Ready made, how to make (almost) everything by Berger & Harothorne.  Interesting projects, but I could have done without the extreme liberalism tree hugging commentary.

32.  Just let me lie down, necessary terms for the half-insane working mom by Kristen Van Ogtrop.  Don't bother.

33.  Crochet with wire by Nancie M. Wiseman.  Not something I want to try, but interesting.

34.  Hooked Jewelry, 40 + designs to crochet.  Again, not anything I want to do but I enjoyed it.

35.  Tunisian crochet, the look of knitting with the ease of crocheting by Sharon Hernes Silverman.  I had been thinking about learning Tunisian crochet but I think I've decided against it.  But the book was good.

36.  Elegant 2 piece sets in thread crochet by Kathryn A. Clark.  Didn't find anything in here.

37.  Batman

38.  Loop D Loop crochet, more than 25 novel designs for crocheters (and knitters taking up the hook) by Teva Durham.  So-so.

39.  Saving Henry, a mother's journey by Laurie Strongin.  I really feel for this woman, she lost a child to an inherited illness that is incurable.  But I really have to disagree with her reasoning behind his death.  He was killed by an inherited illness without a cure - undergoing IVF treatments with the express intent of only implanting the one perfect embryo and destroying the rest is not the way to go.  Those embryos are unborn, human beings and it's still murder, all 90+ of them.

Wow, I didn't realize I read that many books this month!  Also, I didn't capitalize most of the words in the book titles.  My skin is bothering me somewhat today and it's easier if I just type and don't keep hitting the shift key.

Back to the real world tomorrow, the day off today has been nice.  Otter and I had a couple of errands today, including Hobby Lobby.  Bill got out the grill and we had burgers & dogs, which were good but I really think we ate too much.  I know I did.  But we don't do this too often, so I'm not going to complain about it.  But I probably won't have another hot dog for months now, since I had one today.  It was delicious!

OK, now back to the living room with Otter and Bill.  The movie Wall-E is on.  It's cute.  We just ignore the obvious Agenda to it and enhoy the movie as entertainment.  We have to do that quite a bit, actually.

Memorial Day

Let us not forget.

Sunday Tribbles

I couldn't think of a fun, food-related title.  So I've gone back to (one of my) obsession(s):  Star Trek!

Frasier has had two serious brushing out sessions this week and needs another.  He has so much fluff that comes off of him, Otter remarked that we could make a whole other doggie.  We leave the brushed-out fluff in the yard, the birds are looking for nesting material and they use a lot of it.  The breeze blew some of it back up on the deck yesterday and it looked like Tribbles were invading.  For the uninitiated, tribbles are creatures that are round & fluffy.  The more they eat, the more they multiply.  So, just don't feed them and you won't be inundated!

We bought a blu-ray player today.  We looked at the ads in the paper and found a few that looked interesting.  Then we went to Best Buy and found one we liked.  Bill installed it today, and it seems to be working fine.  We just watched one of our dvds, and it played great on the blu-ray.  Tomorrow when Otter and I are running errands, we'll probably buy an actual blu-ray movie but at least we won't have to replace our extensive dvd collection.  We watch a lot of movies, so it was an investment that we will certainly use.

We splurged for dinner tonight.  I went to Little Caesar's and got us a pepperoni pizza.  It was pretty good.  Not something we do often, but we enjoyed it.  I thought that Bill needed something fun for dinner tonight, considering that he just met Otter's BF.  BF survived and so did Bill, but BF was obviously nervous.  Can't imagine why! :)  Otter and BF are also gone for pizza, and video games.

It's been a busy day.  I only managed to get one load of laundry done, but there is still tomorrow for that.  I didn't have much anyway, since Otter did some for me during the week.  I got the plants in the bedroom trimmed up, dead leaves and old blooms cut off.  We did some general cleaning and vacuuming.  Along with running a few errands after church.  I haven't had any crochet time, but I did manage to get some reading done.  Bill spent a while up in the hot attic, he had to run a couple of cables during the blu-ray installation process, and he said it was like an oven up there.

Our errands after church included Best Buy, but we also went to Michael's and a fabric store.  I found part of what I needed at Michael's, but not all of it.  The fabric store had what I needed, but in the wrong size so Otter and I are going to Hobby Lobby in the morning.  Froggy, I'm being mysterious - I'm looking for something I need for a project I made for you but can't finish it without the particular item!

Here's Froggy's answer to my challenge regarding pets:

first pet- The one that was really mine was a white cat. I think he was a stray. He would climb on the dktchen window screen each morning and DAD (unbelievable) would let him in for food. His name was Sam. He had a daughter, Samantha, unfortunately she was not a very smart cat, but I loved her.

Favorite pet-not really a pet. Every summer when we went to OK, we would go visit Aunt May. She had many wild cats. I would always try to tame a black one in the hopes that Dad would let me bring it home. I never got one completely tame and Dad never let me bring one home.

Froggy, I remember Sam.  He was an unusual cat.  Solid white except for a black smudge on his head between his ears.  He was also a very "friendly" cat, and there were lots of Little Sams around the neighborhood.  I also remember that the daughter cat you had was called Samatha - not Samantha.  And I know what you mean about her not being smart, but she was a survivor.  I'm not sure how many lives she used up, but it was several and I think it always involved her and cars.  I also remember Aunt May's many cats and Dad always telling you no when you wanted to bring one home.  Now, if it had been a turtle...

 

(Ducking for cover now).

Just Some Miscellaneous Friday Rambling Stuff

It's Friday, so it's automatically good.

Work was easy, so that was also good.

I got to buy yarn, which makes it spectacularly good.

It's a 3-day weekend, so that's very good.

Can you tell that I'm really glad it's Friday?

Because I am.

Anyway.  I picked Otter up at home after work and we went to Hobby Lobby.  I'm going to make a scarf for my sisterfriend Virginia (she doesn't have internet access at the moment so I can talk about it without blowing the surprise).  Her favorite colors are green & blue, and I found some really pretty variegated yarn to use.  I might start on it this weekend, it won't be a long project.  Otter also found a few things she was looking for.

We've been discussing the pool situation.  Specifically, the lack thereof.  We had been thinking we were going to get one this summer, but the prices have about doubled what they were last year.  I'm having a problem with the idea of spending a lot more $$ than we anticipated, so I think we're going to skip the pool this year at least. 

But we are going to have to replace our dvd player and probably soon.  I think we'll probably actually buy a blu-ray, I don't think that actual dvd payers are even being made anymore.  Blu-ray will play most dvd's, and since we have quite a large movie collection that's a good thing.  We watch a lot of movies!  We might go blue-ray shopping on Sunday, since Otter is probably going to be out with BF for the afternoon.  (Pizza and video games - maybe we should go with them!)

We're grilling on Monday.  Burgers & Dogs, nothing fancy.  But it will still be good.  I bought two containers of potato salad (Bill loves it so I always have to have extra) instead of making my own this time.  I also got a container of macaroni salad.  And the burgers & dogs supplies, as well as an extra jar of pickles because the pickles I bought recently seem to have evaporated.  Don't suppose you'd care to venture a guess as to what happened to them, Otter?  :)  Like I've said before, she is her mother's daughter...

I guess that's all for today.  I'm going to play on the internet for a few more minutes and then go make dinner.  Creamed chicken and rice.  Yum.

WEDNESDAY!

OK, so I'm title challenged today.  Deal with it! :)

It was still crazy at work, but not quite as crazy and next Tuesday & Wednesday will be.  But crazy anyway.

I came home at lunch and picked up Otter.  And her cell phone.  After work, we went to the place where we bought the charger and they agreed that it was the wrong one.  However, they didn't have the correct one and apparently they can't order one either.  So they gave me a refund and did not charge me the restocking fee.  We were able to get the car charger to work so Otter's phone could be charged, but it took a little creative positioning to get the phone where the loose cord on the charger would still make contact.

Then we decided to ask the Resident Engineer about fixing it.  We were thinking he was going to take the electrical tape to the car charger.  But instead he basically took the car charger apart and rebuilt it.  He had an old power supply and somewhere acquired the part where the charger plugs into on a car - anybody else remember cigarette lighters in cars?  Or am I the only one?  Anyway, when Bill was finished, he came up with a working phone charger that Otter can use in the house.  And it can also be taken apart and used as a regular car charger, if she needs to.  She's just happy that she can use her cell phone again.  And I'm happy that I didn't have to go buy her a new phone at this point because she'll probably be changing plans in a year or thereabouts.  So problem solved.

We saw Miss Dorothy today!  She's doing really well, but she was tired.  Seems her husband (my older boss) had been running her all over town today and she'd had enough.  So, when he brought her by the office, she was ready to go almost as soon as he got there but he still had several things he wanted to do while there.  So Otter and I gave her a ride home.  And she probably gave him an earful when he got home, because she really did not need to be running all over town with him!

Froggy, one of the books we got at the thrift store yesterday is by Jodi Picoult.  It's called The Pact.  I just read a page or two of it, so I haven't really gotten into the story yet.  Have you read this one?  If not, I'll recycle it to you when I get finished with it.  I really am trying to give this author a chance.

Anybody else a King of the Hill fan?  It's a funny show.  It's not being produced any longer, but it is still around in reruns and probably will be for many years.  Basically, it's about a man named Hank Hill.  He's a Texan.  Very much the stereotypical Texan male.  He sells "propane and propane related accessories."  The show is popular in Texas, but it's extremely popular with Ex-Pat Texans.  Like us.  I had to go get a new propane tank for Bill's grill and Otter quoted KOTH lines all the way home.  And I realized something.  Not only does Disney owe me royalties for a very specific character in the Toy Story 2 movie, but Fox Network owes me royalties for Hank Hill.  Because he's Bill 100%.  Wonder if I have any chance of getting anywhere with Fox?  Probably not.

But we're firmly convinced that Disney was spying on us when they created a certain character for TS2.

Tuesday! Time to Hit the Ground Running! & A Challenge (EDITED)

Although it's 6:36 am as I start this, I won't finish it until later on today.  Probably this evening.  It's shaping up to be a busy day.

My day started at 5:20, Bill let me sleep a little later this morning which was nice.  Even just 20 minutes of additional sleep is a good thing!  We had breakfast and Bill still had a little time before he had to leave, so he went out to the garage and played with his toys.  He has a tumbler that he uses to polish up small metal pieces such as screws & nails that he uses in the pachinko machines and he had to sift all the polishing medium out to retrieve parts.  Since I had a little extra time myself, I got a pot of Beanie Wienie Surprise made, and put 3 containers in the freezer for Bill's lunches.  I made a pot of soup yesterday, and there are several containers of it in the freezer as well.  There are also a couple of containers of stew & rice and I think I'll probably make chili soon - I'll make extra so it can go in the freezer as well.

Otter is sleeping in herself this morning, I'll probably go wake her up in about 10 minutes.  Then she gets to get her first chore done - it's trash day so she has to get the household trash ready to take to the curb.  She's also going to get the joy of unloading the dishwasher later on, when it finishes the drying cycle and cools down.  She'll have a few chores today, but I'm not going to work her feet off or anything!

We have to get her a new wall charger for her cell phone.  One of the reasons that Maggie Moo was banished from Otter's room is because beagle sized teeth marks suddenly appeared in the wall charger, right at the part that plugs into the phone.  Maggie is claiming to "no nuzzing" but we don't believe her.  Otter's phone is a few years old and the charger is hard to find.  She has a car charger, so the phone is able to be charged, but it's a whole lot easier to have a charger for the house.  We looked at a couple of places yesterday and we're going to have to order the unit we need.  I'll probably see about doing that today.

And I might have to get my phone checked, it keeps turning itself off and then on again.  It did this several months back, it turned out to be the battery needing to be replaced and I think it's probably the same thing now.

Bill took Otter out for a parallel parking lesson yesterday.  That's one that I can't teach her, I can't even parallel park myself.  It just doesn't work with a depth perception problem, which she fortunately did not inherit from me.  However, she still needed the lesson so Bill was elected.  Lucky Bill!  She's a good driver, actually.  Before they left, she told me that it wouldn't be hard because she'd studied the book and knew the procedure.  However, theory and practice are two entirely different things.  As Otter found out!  She needs a little more practice at it, but she should be ready to get her regular license fairly soon.

OK, it's 6:45 now.  Time to go get dressed, make the bed, open the curtain in the bedroom for my plants, water the plants and then get Otter up.  And pet a couple of doggies, then get her phone out of my car (it's charging) and head for work.  Lunch will probably be spent running a couple of errands, including seeing about ordering a new wall charger for Otter's cell phone.  And maybe some other things, depending on how long it takes at the cell phone equipment place.

----------------------------------

It's now just over 12 hours since I started this!  I have continued to run all day long.  Work was busy, but mostly because the younger boss is about to go on vacation so I have a bunch of stuff to do for him this week that would normally be spread out over 2 - 3 weeks.  Tomorrow will be worse, then he'll be out of the office Thursday and Friday, Monday is thankfully a holiday and then Tuesday & Wednesday will be crazed again.  Then he'll be gone for 2 1/2 weeks, so I'll only have the older boy to deal with and he's cool.

I went to the cell phone place about mine on my lunch hour instead of Otter's, and they agreed that I need a new battery.  Of course, they don't have them in stock - never do have mine - and have to order it.  Which could be a day or two before it arrives.  But it's covered under my plan, so I don't have to pay for it.  My phone has been turning itself off and then back on lately, which is what it did the last time that the battery had reached it's recharge end so I kind of figured that it was the same thing this time.  I also ran two other errands on my lunch hour, one of which involved the grocery store and several things that I brought back to work and put in the freezer.  Then I actually remembered to get them when I left for the day.

Otter's phone now has a charger!  After work, I came home and got her and we went to the cell phone repair place recommended by her carrier - she's not on our plan so it's a different company.  After a 45 minute wait, they actually had the part so we were able to buy it without having to order it.  We discovered this morning that the car charger wasn't working, it looks like a wire is loose.  But her phone is now being charged.  While we were out, we also went to a thrift store.  Where we found several books.  No Fenton, crochet related, clothing or pressure cooker finds but we did find lots and lots of books.  Books are always a good find.  So it was still a fun trip.  (EDIT: The phone charger is not the right one.  It fit her phone at the store, but when it was plugged in - after it had been plugged in for a couple of hours - Otter discovered that it wasn't charging the phone.  I checked it and it doesn't fit.  So, we are going back there today (Wednesday) and see about an exchange or return. They have a restocking fee, but I don't think that I should have to pay it since it's not my fault this time. I'll see what happens, but they may get *RHTW and we might wind up getting her a new(er) phone - elsewhere.  We'll see!)

I feel like I've been running all day.  I guess I have been.  I need some chocolate, a glass of wine and maybe a little bit of crochet time thrown in for good measure!

Bill still hasn't met BF, but he did get to talk to him on the phone when he (BF) called for Otter a few minutes ago.  Bill said that BF sounded sheepish, but it took Bill a good 10 minutes to decide that so I really think it was just wishful thinking on Billyboy's part!  Can't imagine why...   :)

OK, I have another challenge question.  This one is easy.  It's actually two parts.

1)  What was your first pet?
2)  What was your favorite pet?

My answers:

1)  Probably tortoises, because I always had them.  Dad always brought them back from Oklahoma to me.  We had dogs and cats, birds, fish, turtles (they aren't the same thing as tortoises), crawdads, lizards...  But tortoises are probably the earliest one I remember.

2)  I've had a lot of pets over the years, and there are a couple of them that really stick out in my mind.  All of them have been loved & special, but some of them have been "more special" if you know what I mean.  The main one from my childhood was my dog, Love.  She was a doxie/? cross.  We never did figure out what the father was, my dad had a doxie (named Schnitzel - as in Weiner Schnitzel) and when we went on one of our summer trips one year, I remember very clearly Dad looking at Mom on the drive home and saying "OH NO! Schnitzel might have come into heat!"  Which meant nothing to me at the time, but then we got home and very shortly had a very round doxie.  So I learned early on just what Dad meant.  Love was one of the puppies.  I brought home lots of stray animals, so I've had a lot of pets!

Email me your answers or comment and I'll post them.

Now I think I'll go put up the laundry that Otter did for me today.

*RedHead TexasWoman

Sunday Strawberries!

Strawberries are in season lately and we've had a bunch of them.  Also, I crocheted one yesterday.  It's lonely and needs a friend, as does the carrot, so I'll probably make another of each soon.  They are really fun projects and go quickly.  I will post pictures on the craft blog soon, but I want to make a few more first.  The book Bill gave me for Mother's Day has some really fun patterns, all the food items I've made so far are from it.  Froggy, I've also added a couple of things to your pot holder collection.  And it might still grow some more.  If you have any suggestions or requests, please let me know.  I'm open to suggestions.

Yesterday was warm.  I'm not sure what the temperature got to, but it was forecast to be around 90.  Guess we went straight to summer, with very little actual spring.  I'm not referring to spring weather, I'm talking about the spring blooming season.  If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that we may be in for what we call South Texas Summers - hot & long!  Today is warm, probably around the same as yesterday but we were inside most of the day yesterday so I'm not sure.  Otter vacuumed out the inside of my car and is going to do her dad's car, but she wants to wait until evening on the slim chance it's cooler.  So far, Bill hasn't been able to talk her into washing the cars.  Although it would be a fun way to stay cool on a warm day.

The dogs are being smart today, they are spending the majority of their time in the living room - asleep!  Frasier will eventually realize that the ac is on, and he'll camp out in his spot in front of one of the vents.  Dog's smart, that's for sure.  Maggie, on the other hand...  They are doing fine with sleeping outside.  I think Frasier was a mostly outside dog before we got him, although he was housebroken at some point in his life.  His favorite spot to nap when he's outside is on the deck, usually right in front of the door!

I'm going to go through my planters this afternoon, I have several that I haven't used in forever and I think I need to clean them out.  I might get out to the back yard and do that in a little while.

The hummers are here!  I remarked to Bill that I thought I would go ahead and get a feeder out since I expected them to show up any day, and about that time he saw one sitting on one of my shepherd's hook plant stands.  So I immediately got a feeder up, then the bird found it and so did a 2nd one.  So there are now two feeders up and I'll watch for other birds before I put any more up.  But once one of them shows up, there are usually several and since we've already seen two and both are female, I think that they will probably have plenty of company soon.  I think I've got 5 or 6 feeders.

We decided to put the house painting off until Fall.  When it might be cooler, but also might be drier.  Of course, as soon as Bill cancelled his vacation request and decided not to paint this month, it quit raining.

I guess that's it for today.  Kind of boring around my house, I guess!

Please Tell Me That It's Really Friday

Because if it isn't Friday, I think I'll just go insane.

It's been a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong week.  I'm so glad that it's over and that tomorrow is Sabbath so I don't have to do anything!  We all need the break, actually.

Otter's last day of school was today.  She enjoyed it - I think she only had one actual class.  The rest of the time was Junior Jam, which involved food & fun.  She got to spend a lot of time visiting with her friends, and she said she really enjoyed the hamburgers they had for lunch.  Sounds like a fun last day of school to me.  BF wasn't there, he was a senior already and graduated last night.  I don't think she's going to get to see BF this weekend, he has a part-time job and works weekends.  But I'm sure that they'll be texting a million words a minute like they usually do.

Otter gets a Goof-Off day on Monday.  She gets to sleep in, and then she can be lazy all day or spend it in front of the tv, with a book, whatever.  The real world can start on Tuesday.

The dogs have now become official outside at night dogs.  One (or possibly both) of them left me several "nice" surprises this morning.  Not the wet, puddly kind either!  In the kitchen (3 times) and in the living room (1 time).  So my day started out with having to clean up dog poop, even before I had coffee!  They will be inside when we are home, but they will be outside at night although they will have access to the garage and the entire back yard.  They will not have access to the entire back yard during the day when we're gone, they'll still be restricted to the small area then.  This might be only temporary, we'll just have to play it by ear and see what happens.

After I picked Otter up at school, we went to a yard sale but didn't stop.  We did a drive-by and decided we didn't see anything.  We attempted to find another one, but couldn't find the street it was on.  We decided to just give up at that point and go to the grocery store since we needed to do that today.  Well, we probably could have skipped it but I'd kind of like to be able to eat this weekend!  We stopped at Subway and got dinner to go tonight.  It was pretty good, and I was absolutely starved by the time we got home.  I did eat lunch today, but it was just a small sandwich & a decaffienated diet coke in the car while I ran a couple of errands.  So that Subway meal was very much needed.

I have crochet plans for tomorrow, I am going to get more done on Otter's dog and then see what else I can come up with.  I might not get the dog completed, but I do have a few other things I might start on.  I think that this is going to be another one of those Saturdays that I spend lost in my yarn basket(s).  I always enjoy those days.

It's Still Thursday

And is much, much quieter than last night!

Yesterday was interesting, to say the least.  The forecast was that there would be storms, the severity depended a great deal on how warm the day got.  It rained early in the day, and was cloudy most of the day so we were hopeful that it would be cool enough to avoid anything bad.  But it was warm enough to cause trouble.

Otter and her boyfriend had a date yesterday right after school, they went out for dinner and to a movie.  Since neither of them have a car, I was the designated transportation after their movie.  They got off the school bus at his stop and walked to the shopping center where the chinese buffet is and the theater is next door.  They had already asked me to pick them up, and it started raining while I was waiting for them.  We ran BF (Boyfriend will be referred to here as BF) to his house and then Otter and I got home fast because the forecast was getting bad.

We got home around 7:00 and turned on the tv.  And listened to reports of a storm with a well-defined wall cloud that was heading directly for us.  The sirens sounded as it hit the county edge, which is pretty far from us but I still appreciated the warning.  Even though it was still aways (yes aways is a word if you are Texan - we have our own language, remember) from us, it was still a potentially dangerous situation for anyone in the area it was crossing.  When it got closer, we went to the laundry room (our safe spot) and hunkered down.  Along with the beagle, who promptly curled up and went to sleep!  Not sure if the dog was smart enough to know it was turning away from us, or if she is just that dumb.  With Maggie, it could be either of the two.  Anyway, the wall cloud hooked off east so that it went well south of us.  Eventually.  It was a very close call, not close in the sense that it actually sprouted a tornado (although it tried to more than once) but close in the sense that if it had sprouted we would have been in an inordinate amount of danger.  After we got the all clear report, we emerged from the laundry room.  By this time, it was dark and the thunder & lightning part of the storm had gotten to us.  I happened to be looking out the back window at one point and actually saw the wall cloud illuminated by a lightning flash.  It was on it's way due east and we were out of the danger zone at that point, but they are still scary to see.  The entire episode took a couple of hours, more or less, as Froggy can attest because we were texting back and forth - she's the first part of my prayer line!  Then she had to get regular status updates from me.

Shortly after that, there was a report of unexpected rotation that was in our area, about 3 miles NW of us and we would have been in the direct line of fire on that one.  So, we headed back to the laundry room for a while.

The wall cloud eventually lost cohesion and dissolved, or whatever they do.  But it was a rough and tense evening for a lot of people.

We did get quite a bit of wind and rain.  This morning, we noticed that a small limb is off the tree to the side of the garage and Bill thinks that something might have been blown around one of the trees in the front because it looks like it had something wrapped around it at one point.

It was not a night I wish to repeat.  However, since we live in Tornado Alley...  (Yes, Dad I hear you).

On to other things.  Otter's last day of school is tomorrow.  The last day of school for the 11th graders is known as Junior Jam.  They will have food and fun, and she's looking forward to it.  But I think she's really looking forward to Monday.  She gets to have what she calls a Goof-Off Day.  She can sleep in and then she can spend all day doing whatever she feels like.  Then the summer job search starts in earnest, so she's going to try to enjoy every second of her Goof-Off Day.

I haven't had much crochet time this week.  Otter wants me to make her a dachshund, the pattern is in a book I have and looks fun.  I got started on it, I got the nose done but haven't had time to even think about touching it since Tuesday.  Last night, I had the time but not the inclination!  I'll probably get a lot done on it on Saturday.  It uses three different size hooks and they are all smaller than I like.  But the yarn is the standard size, so there is a little more precision involved in making the stitches.  But I love a challenge, and really enjoy doing something challenging involving crochet.  I'll post pictures of it on the craft blog, but it's probably going to take a while.  It is worked in several pieces and then sewn together.

Otter will probably have a movie review on here in the next day or so.  They saw the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie and she said it was good.  Bill wants to know how come (correct grammar for Texans) she won't watch Jaws or Aliens because they are scary and gory, but will go see a slasher movie?

Quick Thursday Update

Bad weather in the area last night but we are fine. Close call with a wall cloud, but nothing developed and it missed us.

I may post another update later.  So check back this evening.

It's Just Monday

And it's the first day of Maggie's new sleeping arrangements.  She's now been blocked from the hallway, Otter's room and the rest of the house.  Seems she's decided that she can leave us puddle gifts again.  The first one was Friday evening, we thought that she'd ralphed and cleaned up after herself like dogs will do.  So we put a towel down and then after the carpet was dry, cleaned it with a spot cleaner that I have.  This morning, we realized that she was leaking again.  Because I caught her in the act, several inches away from Friday evening's surprise.  I was going to block the hallway where she could still get into Otter's room, but Otter said that Maggie's been licking the blanket again lately (really licking it, not leaking) and she's tired of having to change blankets in the middle of the night.  So, Otter said to block Maggie from her room and that's what I did.  I don't like it, for one thing it means that Frasier can't keep me company as I blog, but we have no other choice.  We'll see how it works, then she might (if she's very lucky!) get access to Otter's room again.

Bill wants to just put the dog out and leave her as an outside dog, but that's not happening.  For a lot of reasons, not including the fact that she'd be bored & destructive on her own and Fraiser would be bored & destructive on his own.  So well see what happens.

One thing that did happen this evening is that we mowed.  And we weren't the only ones, it seemed like most of the people in the neighborhood were also taking advantage of the lack of rain today and mowing.  It was nice to be outside, it's pleasant and not too warm.  Otter weeded the rock garden - it has very little actual dirt that has gotten between/under the rocks, but there was just enough for the morning glory seeds from last year's vines to fall off and sprout.  They were all over it!  I really don't like to pull morning glories, but they would probably have died anyway because the dirt layer is so thin.

The moss rose that I planted in the fountain turned planter last year has come back.  Sometimes it will, but not generally when it's in an area that gets as much below freezing temperatures & ice as we get.  But it's back and I'm pleased.  The flowers are still planted, when they finally finish and die back they will be pulled because they are definite one-season plants.  And then the moss rose will do their thing, and I hope that they come back next year.  They probably will, if they've survived as cold & icy a winter as we just had, they are probably acclimated.

I've been meaning to get my hummingbird feeders out, but the rain and cool temperatures are probably keeping hummers away for a little while yet.  Probably this weekend, or in the next day or so.  At least one feeder to start, until I see the first bird.  Once one shows up, the rest will follow.  Some years we have a lot of them and some years we don't, but we have had quite a bit of other birds showing up already so I think that the hummers will be here soon.

At least, I hope so.  I'm ready for my hummingbirds!

Sunday Funyuns

Otter and I are running out of funny, food-related titles for Sunday so we might switch to something else.  Not yet, but maybe soon.  There are lots and lots of food related things we haven't mentioned, but they aren't necessarily funny.  Any suggestions are welcome!

I think Funyuns are probably Otter's favorite chips.  They are pretty good, even though they taste absolutely nothing like onions!

Otter's so happy this afternoon.  She got carded!  She was so excited about it.  Mostly, I think, because of the location.  The library.  She had to renew her card and the librarian started to ask me to verify her information, then I told him that she was 18.  He looked kind of surprised and asked for her ID as proof when I told him that.  Big moment, getting carded for the first time.  (Since she looks younger than 18, it's probably not the last time).  I told her to enjoy it, because I always looked older and didn't get carded even though I desperately wanted to be able to prove that I was in fact 18.  Later on, when I was a few years older, I realized that I'd had a golden opportunity to be bad because nobody would have asked for ID when I was underage.  Missed my chance! :)  I also told her that she needs to make sure her driver's license is with her at all times, because if she goes to see the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie (which I think is rated R), she will probably be carded again.

Maggie is nuts.  Moreso than usual.  She was wigging out all over the living room this afternoon.  We finally realized why - she was chasing a fly that was just out of reach.  She looked like she was having a wonderful time, with that crazed beagle look she gets.  Frasier was mostly just watching her, he reminded me of a spectator at a tennis game, just watching the entertainment.  Maggie never did catch the fly, it bothered us all through dinner and then it was walking on the kitchen floor but she ignored it.  I guess it's more fun to catch your prey when it's hard to get, as opposed to just licking it off the floor.

It did not rain yesterday like it was supposed to.  We had a couple of very tiny spells of sprinkles.  But that was it.  This morning it was cloudy and looked like it had rained, then there was a brief but very loud shower while we were in Church.  When Otter and I ran a couple of errands later on, it was sunny and warm but it got back to cloudy & humid pretty quick.

The humidity is really bad.  My lungs do not like it!  But I'm going to have to put up with it for a while, tomorrow is supposed to be the only clear day this coming week.  It's supposed to be rainy the rest of the week.  Since it's (maybe) going to be clear tomorrow, Otter and I are going to run our recyclables down to the recycle center in the morning on the way to school.  That's not at all fun to do when it's rainy or cold weather.

I had a productive crochet day yesterday.  I made a tomato to go with my carrot.  Then I made a pink beret for Maggie to match the flowers on her cape.  I also put a couple of rows on Bill's blanket and we put it on the bed to check for size.  There are still several rows needed, but it's getting there.  To Bill's way of thinking, I have a lot to do before it's big enough.  But my frame of reference is based on how much I've already done, so I don't see that there is that much left.  But it's a fun project.  Granny squares are always fun and triple stitch is a fast stitch, as well as easy.  When it's all done, I'll get a picture posted on the craft blog.  But that will be a while.  While it doesn't need that much to be finished, I'm making it out of scrap yarn and end pieces when I finish skeins.  So it has a lot of colors, and also changes color in the middle of rows - sometimes more than once in a row.

If I'm lucky, Bill will let me share it.  He spent quite a bit of time last night hogging the blankets.  He kept grabbing all the blanket off of me and complaining that I was stealing the blanket.  Even when I was completely uncovered and it was all on his side!  Have to have a talk with him about that.

About that and also about not wearing his socks to bed.  They keep coming off of his feet in the night and winding up on my side of the bed.  And they are generally wool, so I'm awakened because something is making me itch.  Bill denies responsibility, but we all know he's guilty!  Either that, or his socks are running away from him. Come to think of it, I think that the socks are fleeing.  Maybe they think they are safer on my side of the bed?

Today's Post is Brought to You by the Letter "W"

As in wet.  Because it's been raining most of the day and will probably continue for the foreseeable future.  Like through Sunday.  At least.  I heard a weather report on the way home, apparently there is supposed to be enough rain coming down over the next couple of days to cause some localized flooding.  Joy (to quote Otter when she's in a sarcastic mood!).

Well, at least I'll have a full rain barrel.

But it's mid-May and we are still having to wear jackets for warmth.  I haven't had any time to sit out on the deck with coffee and/or crochet at all this year, and I'm ready!

But it could always be worse.

The weather in Tulsa yesterday was unusual, and it also had more tornados that originally thought.  The one in Sapulpa has been rated as an EF2.  The Tulsa hits number between 3 and 5 and there was even one in Bixby, which is a little town that is pretty much right next door to mine.  But none of them were big, and while there was property damage there was no loss of life.  It was a strange storm, none of the usual indicators that a twister is forming, they were just there and then not there.

Froggy had a near miss today.  In San Antonio.  It didn't develop, but I understand it was a very close call - both in development possibility and in distance to her house.  I'm glad that it didn't develop!

There have been other instances of tornadic storms in the SA area.  One time in particular, right after we moved into the house that my parents bought when I was in high school.  I think it was Thanksgiving, but I'm not exactly sure - Froggy, you know when I'm talking about.  It was raining and there was a pretty strong thunder storm.  As the storm was ending, Froggy and I both happened to look out the dining room window which faced the back yard.  And we could see the street behind, there were houses there but we could see over the tops of them and between them to the street.  And we saw what I will never forget.  It was either the end of a Strange, Very Low & Twisty Cloud that didn't quite develop or it was the beginning of a Strange, Low & Twisty Cloud that dissapated within a second or two after we saw it.  (And to the end of Dad's life, I don't think he ever really believed us!).  But we know what we saw.

At those times when SA had "that kind of weather", Dad would suddenly decide that he needed to change the subject of the conversation!  And he refused to ever go back to the subject of "that kind of weather" happening in Texas.  Apparently, it only happens in Oklahoma.  :)  Wish I could have one of those talks with him now.

I Take it Back! I Take it Back! I Take it Back!

About the weather in the area last night & this morning not expected to be bad.  It wasn't expected to be bad, but I should know by now that I can't say that it won't be.  Because it always is after I say that.  This morning was no exception.

Bill got up at 4:30, I got up at 5:00 and all we had was some lightning and a little rain.  We turned on the tv, and immediately started seeing reports of a storm in Tulsa that was strong enough to take the roof off of a shopping center and a few houses, as well as snap a few power poles.  The report at that time said it was straight line winds.  But later reports confirm that those winds weren't exactly straight!  They were twisty.  Not extremely strong, it was probably an F0 which is the smallest on the scale - but is still capable of causing damage to property.  Which is what it did.  There was also one in on outlying area, Sapulpa - Toadles, that's where we went train spotting last year.

Nobody was hurt, but I think I'd better just keep my mouth shut regarding storm predictions!  At least, I'll try to.

I can hear Dad so loudly right now.  I've been hearing him all day, in fact.

And I know just exactly what he'd say.

Bored Wednesday

Middle of the week.  I'm bored.  I don't have any crochet projects awaiting time to work on them.  I don't like that feeling.  But I don't know what I want to make next.  Also, I have a killer headache that is mostly allergy related and sinus pressure that is driving me to distraction.

Froggy, the project for you that I was working on was bookmarks.  I decided that I didn't like the way they were turning out, but mostly because of size.  However, I don't have any smaller gauge yarn that would work color-wise at the moment.  You still get the one I made, but I'm going to have to find another project for the yarn I bought for it since I got it with you in mind.  I'm just not sure what it's going to be yet.

Reports on Monday's tornadic storms are that at least 3 of the twisters were EF3.  Which is middle of the range, but that still means that they were big.  The death count has dropped from 5 or 6 to 2.  Apparently, there were three children who were injured and they were transferred to a different hospital.  The first hospital's spokesperson didn't know what happened to them so he or she stated that they were dead.  Really tacky, those are the things that should be checked before somebody opens their big mouths!

We could get rain tonight and into tomorrow, but I don't think it's supposed to be bad.  Maybe noisy, but hopefully not B.A.D. weather like this area can get.

I'm going to go in search of a motrin now.

Spring is in the Air!

And in Oklahoma, that frequently means one of two things.

1)  Pollen overload.  We've had that for a few weeks and it's been a really bad allergy year for me.  Otter's not too bad off, but I have been miserable quite often.

and sometimes we get this one:

2)  Tornados.  We have definitely had more than our share of them.  Just from last night's series of storms.  The forecasters had been saying for about a week that conditions were looking like it was very probably going to be one of those "bad" days that we get every few years.  Well, for once, they we right.  Wish that they were wrong!

It was rainy off and on yesterday but it never got quite as warm as it was supposed to.  That's what saved us from having to deal with the really bad stuff.  We didn't have too much rain in our area, just a lot of wind but not much else.  There was rain, but it wasn't heavy or constant.  The wind was pretty strong, but we have had stronger winds.  We had the tv on, we have lived in Tornado Alley long enough to know that we need to be listening at certain times.  We went about our normal evening, dinner & misc. stuff.  But then we started to hear the first warnings and we pretty much stayed in front of the tv all evening, we were in the living room while Bill was working on a pachinko he's refurbishing.  We could tell early on that we were going to be ok, although we expected more thunder than we actually got.  (We did hear a tree frog at the height of the rain!). But it was pretty bad, north into Kansas was not good but the worst part was east from Oklahoma City (Norman was hit particularly hard) to south & southeast of us (Henryetta area).  We started seeing reports of damage and probable loss of lfe almost immediately and it just got worse and worse.  I have seen some of the reports today, there were probably 5 deaths attributed to the storms.  It could have been much worse.  The property damage from something like that is tremendous.  It's hard to describe the total devastation a tornado can cause.  We came through Oklahoma City just a couple of days after the May 3, 1999 storms and unless you've seen it, it is impossible to find words for it.  No word yet on the EF scale strength of the tornados (there were many, probably over 30 total in the state) but I won't be surprised if at least a few of them are big ones.

OK, subject change!

I realized yesterday that I don't have any crochet projects waiting on me.  That almost never happens!  I have Bill's blanket, but it's an ongoing project since it's using up ends & pieces of yarn (and I don't have any at the moment).  But I don't have anything else started!  I'll have to see about changing that.  I have a couple of planned projects, but none that are actually started.  And the planned projects are all small things.

Toadles:  Froggy and I have a project.  You've already seen the first part of it - the Liberty Falls Chicken Ranch.  But now we are on to something else.  Be afraid, bro.  Be afraid!

Otter has 1 1/2 weeks left of school.  Then she's got the entire summer before her.  She's planning on getting a job.  She'll have enough to keep her busy, if she can't find a job (which is a possibility with the general belief that we have a bad economy - which we don't believe, by the way), we'll find plenty for her to do!  I'm sure she won't mind.  :)

I went to three thrift stores today.  And didn't find anything at any of them!  I'm looking for something for Bill.  Which I think I saw Sunday but that was before he decided he needed it.  So I'm thrifting with a purpose now.  Well, I generally already am.

We had tacos, nuclear rice & refried beans for dinner tonight.  And I finally got the whack-a-mole made that was originally on Sunday's menu.  Tamales & chili Sunday, and now tacos.  I think that maybe I'm on a Mexican food kick.  Well, I frequently am!

It's good.  I'm from south TEXAS.  It's natural.

Quick Weather Report

There has been some pretty bad weather in Oklahoma tonight.  Our area wasn't hit hard, we just had rain and some thunder.  But north of us into Kansas had possible tornadic storms and south of us was hit really bad.  There was a storm that developed just east of Oklahoma City and came due east.  It went well south of us.  It has spawned several tornados and there are deaths associated with it, as well as what is probably a considerable amount of property damage.  We are fine, but south of us isn't.  Prayers will help them, they are certainly going to need it.

We're fine.  And thankful to God that we are.

Sunday Tamales!

And plenty of chili to go with them.

My tummy is very happy.  I'll pay for this meal later, but it was so worth it!  Good tamales are very hard to come by in NE OK.  But my tamale source never disappoints.  Tamales covered with chili and a little cheese on top, heaven on a plate.  In Otter's case, it was just tamales - she's not a big chil fan (Texas sacrilege, I know).  I made my own chili recipe (it's on the cooking blog).

It's been a good Mother's Day.  We had intended to go to church, but nobody paid attention to the clock and it was too late by the time we realized it.  But Otter and I did get some thrifting in, we went to three thrift stores.  She found a pair of pants and several books and I found a purse.  Then we went to the library and proceeded to get our combined weight in books.

Then we came home and stuffed ourselves!

It's been a busy week, and the weather has been to both ends of the spectrum - warm early in the week (we hit 90) and now it's almost fall-like.  We've had rain off and on the last couple of days and needed our jackets today.

I started a small crochet project this morning that I will get finished up tonight, it's a carrot.  It's a pattern out of a book I bought quite a while back, not from the book Bill got me for Mother's Day.  I've already made one item from the book from Bill and have plans for other things.  (Pot holder plans, Froggy!)  The carrot just looked like a fun project to make.  Don't have any idea what I'm going to do with a crocheted carrot!  But I'm sure I'll think of something.  I may make a few crocheted strawberries to go with it.

Bill's been working on a pachinko machine refurbish.  There are bits & pieces all over the living room and he's on the business end of a wooden mallet at the moment.  He's making a whole lot of noise.  But he's enjoying himself, and so far there is no blood spilled. :)

Movie Review:  Where the Wild Things Are.  Otter loved the book when she was little and we knew that the movie did not follow the book beyond the special effects (the creatures).  I had heard that if you considered the movie as a seperate story and not as the book story, it was pretty good.  But the reviewer obviously didn't know what he was talking about.  The movie was really a waste of time.  It was badly acted, badly written, and very badly edited.  Don't waste your money, if you haven't already seen it.  It's not worth it.

Bill gets to pick next weekend's movie.  His choice?  The Men Who Stare at Goats.  Somehow, I'm not expecting a serious, dramatic movie!

Mother's Day

I'd just like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

This is what Bill got me.  I've already made something out of it.

And Otter got me some of this to go with it!

Friday Friday Friday

And not a moment too soon.  It was Monday for 4 days this week.  I don't like weeks like that!

I posted a new entry on the craft blog, it involves Maggie Moo.

Otter finished night school, she didn't have to take the final exam and she passed the class.  She's had a busy week, and decided to open a facebook account.  I'm not on facebook and don't want to be, but any relatives that are on it should expect a friend request from her.

Among other errands after work today, we went to the grocery store.  Otter tried a sample of corned beef.  And almost immedately thereafter got a headache and started feeling bad.  Not like food poisoning, but probably allergy.  She's had this same reaction the last couple of times she had teriyaki beef jerky and we're thinking that it's an allergy to something in the spice.  Apparently, she can't eat corned beef either!  She does have some food allergies and this is apparently one.  I don't think it's food dye, that has never bothered her.

I had an allergy issue myself, yesterday.  I cleaned some of the plants up in the indoor atrium at work and then spent most of the rest of the day attempting to scratch all my skin off.  I never did figure out what specific plant caused it, because none of the plants in there should have been a problem for me.  The only thing I can think of is that my allergies were already on full alert this week and maybe it was something minor that was just enough to push me over the edge into a full-blown skin allergy attack.

Mother's Day is Sunday.  I've already gotten my gifts.  This was one of those times when Bill didn't have a clue, so he asked me what I wanted and I had an answer for him.  A crochet pattern book.  He asked me if I'd get it myself, and since he tends to get dazed & confused in the craft section at the bookstore (overwhelmed & bewildered actually), I didn't mind at all!  Otter got me yarn, I needed basic colors so that was easy.  We're having tamales, I found a tamale source a few weeks back and we're very happy about that.  I'm also making chili, because tamales without chili are just not a happy thing, and I think I'm making nuclear rice.  I'll probably open a can of refried beans.  Have I mentioned how much I like Mexican food?  Well, just in case I haven't - I like it.  A lot.  A LOT. :)  Good tamales are hard to find in this area.  I bought extra, some of them are going to be put in the freezer. Maybe, if they last that long!

Which might not happen.  Things like that tend to have a (very) short life around my house.

Tuesday & A Challenge

Here's the challenge:  What are your 5 favorites?  Any category, food, movies, color, etc.  Just any 5 different categories.  You can use the same ones I have on my answers, or different ones.

Here's mine:

Color:  Sky blue.

Car:  1976 Chevy Corvette, either creme color or black will be acceptable.

TV show:  I'm sure that this one will come as no surprise, and I probably wouldn't even have to post it because it's a well known fact that I'm a fanatic.  (Star Trek, for those rare people who don't know!)

Food:  Mexican for type to eat, pizza for type to cook.  (I know that is two answers but I couldn't decide between them!)

Hobby:  Also probably no surprise, but crochet.

Anybody else want to participate?  Email me or you can leave it as a comment and I'll post it on a later entry.  I might have another similar challenge later, I still have more favorites!

Otter's finished with night school!  The last class is actually Thursday, but she's qualified for exemption from the final test.

Otter was home all day today, she has been fighting allergies and the allergies won the battle this time.  And promptly triggered her asthma!  So she stayed home today, she was parked on the couch with a blanket and a beagle.  And her inhaler, as well as lots of water.  She still went to night school, since exemption is partially determined by attendence and she was much improved by the time I got home from work.  But night school was one class in one room, and not several classes spread out over a fairly large campus which entails running to each class and also having to be outside frequently.  She's been taking benadryl at bedtime and might take it tonight.  But she seems to have headed this one off before it could become really bad.

We finished mowing the lawn today.  We absolutely love this house, and really do enjoy the larger yard.  It's just that because it is a larger yard than our old house, mowing is a bigger chore.  We trade off every few minutes on who gets to run the mower, so it's not so bad.

Frasier is grooming Maggie at the moment.  She's got the most blissful expression on her furry face that I've ever seen!  Otter says that both dogs spent most of the day napping.

I'm going to surf the 'net for a while now, I probably won't crochet (although I'd really like to) because I make myself take breaks from it and I think I need one now.  I could easily crochet 24 hours round the clock, but I restrain myself because it can be very hard on the muscles in the arms and hands, especially the wrist.

Monday's Mowing Adventures

OK, so it's been a boring day if mowing is considered an adventure!

We did mow, it just isn't anything to get excited about.  I think we've got about 8 different kind of weeds in the back yard alone.  We'll tackle the front yard tomorrow, and probably identify a few more species.

I have sore arms now.  From mowing and also from the fact that I did a huge amount of crochet this weekend.  I had a project which I am pretty much finished with, and then Otter had a request.  Both will be posted on the craft blog later.

I do have a prayer request.  Miss Dorothy has been feeling a little under the weather the last few days.  Her doctor wanted to do blood tests today and the results should be back tomorrow.  It is possible that she just has a bug, but she's also had some medication issues in the past and I think he wanted to rule that out.

I'm heading to Craigslist now, haven't found anything there lately but I'm always hoping!

Sunday Meat Loaf & April Books

I made meat loaf tonight, and also posted the recipe on the cooking blog.  So that explains the title!

First things first, books:

1.  Worth the Fighting For by John McCain.  I did enjoy this one, but not as much as his earlier book.  This was partially biographical and also had a lot of historical information on other political figures.

2.  Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.  I was extremely disappointed by this one, I didn't even finish it.  It promptly got put into the donate pile, I'll let somebody else attempt it.

3.  Your Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora.  This was about the series of movies in the 1980's that starred the actors collectively referred to as the "Brat Pack."  I have one comment that is really directed to the author:  They're just movies!  They aren't guides to life!  Some movies are just entertainment, some are historical and some are important from a life standpoint.  The movies this book is about fall firmly into the first category, but the author seems to think that they are the most important things ever.

4.  By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I started the series in March when I was out of anything to read and read a couple of the books this month when I was still out of things to read.

5.  Teasing Secrets from the Dead, My Investigations at America's Most Infamous Crime Scenes by Emily Craig.  This one was actually good and I did enjoy it but it wasn't the best written book I've ever read.

6.  Voice for the Dead by James E. Starrs & Katherine Ramsland.  Don't bother with this one.

7.  History in Blue, 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives and State Troopers by Allan T. Duffin.  I just skimmed this one, it was so-so.

8.  Dead Reckoning, the New Science of Catching Killers by Michael Baden, MD.  He's the former New York City medical Examiner.  2nd author Marion Roach.  This one was interesting and I learned a few things I didn't know.

9.  No Heroes, Inside the FBI's Secret Counter Terror Force by Danny O. Coulson.  This one was very good, I really enjoyed it.  It's well-written and is an autobiography as well as a history lesson.  The fact that the author is a typical Texan is pretty obvious, which is just one more reason to recommend this one.  It's a pretty big book, but I am glad I read it.

10.  Blueprint Crochet, Modern Designs for the Visual Crocheter by Robyn Chocula.  Not impressed.

11.  Couture Crochet Workshop, Mastering Fit, Fashion and Finesse by Lily M. Chin.  I don't remember much about this one, so it must not have been anything special.

12.  Amazing Lace Crochet by Doris Chan.  Interesting, but I'm not going to crochet lace.  Too many tiny details!

13.  Where Hope Begins, One Family's Journey out of Tragedy and the Reporter who Helped Them Make It by Alysia Sofios.  This book was not the best written book I've read but it was interesting.

14.  Eye Cathing Crochet, Fashion Accessories You Can Make by Janet Renfield.  This was was ok.

15.  Bow the Dog.  Puppy pictures, really funny.  Also a little about each featured breed.  This one was also on Otter's reading list.

16.  World War Z, An Oral History of the Zombie Way by Max Brooks.  This one was really fun, it's a sequel to a book that Otter recommended to me several months back about how to survive a zombie apocolypse.  That book was written as if it were a real instruction manual and this is the sequel.  It was very well done.

17.  Get Your Crochet On! Fly Tops and Funky Flavas by Afya Ibomse.  Not sure if I have her last name right.  This book had several interesting patterns and I'll probably make a few of them.  A few weeks back, Otter went to a teen program at the library and the head teen librarian was knitting while the kids were working on their project.  I asked him what he was knitting and it turned out to be a beer bottle cozy, but we compared notes on crochet (which he also does), he recommended this book as one that had a good sock pattern.  He was right about that.

18.  Rowan Company's Crochet Workshop Complete Course for the Beginner to Intermediate Crocheter by Emma Seddon and Sharon Brant.  Not impressed with this one.

19.  The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I did get quite a bit of crochet done yesterday, Otter had a request and I'll post pictures of it later on.  It's pretty much finished, but she requested I add something to it.  It was a really fun project to work on, she had a wonderful idea and I really enjoyed it.  I also read a couple of books which will be on the list for April.

Today, one of Otter's friends came over and they worked on a project for school.  We also went to an estate sale (no luck) and a thrift store (found a couple of things).  It rained most of yesterday and the ground is still somewhat spongy, so we put off the mowing until tomorrow.

It wasn't a particularly busy weekend, and we enjoyed it.