Friday Friday Friday

(I'm still title challenged, in case you can't tell.)

Froggy sent me a jokey email: 

Did You Know... One of several old weather folk lore sayings goes as follows “If the first week in August is unusually warm, the coming winter will be white and long.” That kind of winter is hardly likely in Texas but it is nice to dream about this time of year!

I guess we are in for it big-time this winter.  Better get Bill motivated to start getting firewood!
 
Hopefully, this will describe my weekend, or at least my Saturday:
 
 

Bill and Otter are trying to convince me that I really do need to make my Dr. Who scarf as close to the original as I can.  Not necessarily in the color pattern, and mine will be crochet as opposed to knitting.  But the original is 12" wide.  AND 20 FEET LONG.  Bill's been attempting to convince me that it has to be realistic, and I told Otter what he said thinking that she would be on my side.  Of course, she was on his side.  So now I have two voices, at least they are in stereo!  (For the record, it probably will be 12" wide and 20' long.)

 

But I have to finish Otter's black & white scarf first, which will either be tonight or tomorrow.  Then, I'm going to de-stash.  As much yarn as I have, and I do have a lot, my stash is actually smaller than a lot of people's.  I'm thinking I can probably get it down quite a bit, if I make the Teeth & Hair scarf.  And then I can go buy more yarn to replace what I use on the scarf!

 

Here's the original:

 

 

Mine will probably be more girly, I have a lot of bright colors that I'm going to use as well as some variegated and just whatever colors I feel like at the time.  Or I might just do a random Reach into the Stash and Grab!  Needless to say, it's not going to be a quick project.

FYI, Tom Baker really is the BEST Doctor.  Hands down, no contest.  I liked Christopher Eckleson (sp?) in the role, he was very good and David Tennant was tremendous.  But Tom Baker is the absolute best.

 

 

I just thought that this was a cute picture.  Of course, the next shot probably involved the puppy running for it's life!

I love the look on this cat's face.  I'd say that it has a serious yarn addiction.  I should know.

Thursday Thursday

This is actually my second post today, I wanted Froggy's birthday wishes to be alone so that it wouldn't get missed.  I had a lot of fun looking around on the internet for that picture, there are some wild ones out there.  Of course, some of them are not polite, but there are some interesting pictures that come up with you search for birthday frog!

Otter's given up on the contact lenses.  She has managed to get them into her eyes, but they won't stay in.  She's having pretty much the same problems I had (many, many years ago) when I tried soft lenses.  At the time, I thought it was my eyes drying out too much which they have done over the years.  But now, I've realized something.  When I got my soft ones, the doctor told me that I could have a problem with them because of astigmatism - which is pretty common in near-sighted people, in fact it's something that most near-sighted people actually have and is what generally causes the near-sightedness.  I realized that the problems she had are probably because of her astigmatism.  She's tried several times and kept trying way past the point that most people would.  She finally decided today that it's just not going to happen.  I called the 1-800 Contacts place where I ordered replacement lenses from, and they said that it's no problem to cancel the order.  It's already shipped & on the way to me, they'll send me the return label so I can ship them back and they will issue a refund to the credit card.  Otter really did try, but she's going to have to stick with glasses.

JediMom and her kids came through our area Tuesday.  We met them for lunch at the Hog Trough.  The meal was great, the kids had a good time playing before they had to get back in the car to continue their trip.  We haven't seen them in about a year.  We really enjoyed the visit.

School starts 2 weeks from today.  Otter's just so overjoyed (not).  Oklahoma has a sales-tax holiday next weekend, so we're going to go shopping for school clothing then.  All clothing is included, so if Bill or I need anything we'll get it then as well.  Shoes are considered to be clothing, so no sales tax on shoe sales.  Most stores have sales in conjunction with Sales Tax Free Weekend.  We cleaned out Otter's sock drawer last night, she bought a boatload of really cute socks when she was in Texas last week so she doesn't need those.  But there are always new shirts & jeans, and of course she has to look at shoes.

Schedule pick-up is next Wednesday, and she'll also get her locker assignment then.  As well as a parking permit.

I'm much closer to being finished with her scarf.  I have only had a little time to crochet this week, but I managed to get several rows done.  I might get back on it tonight, and I may well finish it.  Or possibly not until Saturday, but I should be able to get it finished in one session.  Then I get to start hiding all the "tails" which are the end pieces of the yarn on both the beginning row and the final row of each section.  That's what will take the longest, hiding tails!  And after that, my Teeth & Hair scarf will be the first thing on my list.  (It's a Dr. Who reference, fyi).

Our neighbor came over the other day, to thank Bill for taking care of the cat for her.  It turns out that her daughter did let the cat out, but it was on purpose and she let both cats out just to hurt her mother.  Apparently, there has been an ongoing problem between the woman and her daughter and the upshot is that her daughter is no longer living there.  It sounds like a really bad situation.

I might not get my book list for July posted until Sunday.  Otter wants to go to the library tomorrow (big surprise, right) and reload, since she turned all her books in before her trip and hasn't had time to go since she got back on Monday.  I'm sure that neither one of us will have a problem finding books.  Many, many books.  And in Otter's case, more books than the law allows!

Ribbet Ribbet Ribbet

Happy Birthday, Froggy!

Just Stuff

Last Sunday morning.  It was on the way to land and it was only visible for a few minutes.  It was close but not quite as close as the picture makes it look.

Maggie, doing what Maggie does best!  There isn't a picture of Frasier today, every time he sees the camera he leaves.  I don't know why he's afraid of it, but he is.  We've been keeping a comforter on the couch, the couch is leather and really comfortable but it's leather and it's warm!  So we keep a blanket on it so that we don't break out in a sweat just by sitting on the couch.  Maggie likes blankets, anything that hits the floor is fair game for her and she will do her best to pull down enough of the one on the couch so that she can at least lay on a little bit of it.

I just think that this one is funny.  We have spiders that have to be rescued on a regular basis, if we don't take them outside and relocate them to the safety of the yard - Maggie eats them.

This one just fits my family.

I found a picture of Frasier, it's from a while back but it's one of the few I have.  He simply will not let me take his picture.  Maybe he's afraid of papparazzi hounding him!  (Yeah, bad pun).

This one is just cute.

It's the middle of the week and not much going on around here.  It's warm and humid, and I find myself wishing for winter & snow.  It's not the temperature, it's the amount of moisture in the air that is a problem for me.

Monday Monday

Otter's home!

And Maggie was pretty happy to see her.  So was Frasier, but Maggie was more enthusiastic.

I was pretty happy and so was Billylboy.  But Maggie was the happiest!

Otter unloaded her suitcase directly into the washing machine.  She did shop a lot, but she bought mostly clothing & a boatload of cute socks, so she was able to get it all into her suitcase without having to ship anything home.

Anyway, Otter had a great vacation.  She got to see assorted relatives, went to a theme/water park, had many meals at various restaurants, shopped until she was exhausted and got contact lenses.

We ok'd the contact lenses for her, Nana took her to actually get them and she got them through 1-800 Contacts but actually at a WalMart pharmacy.  Only problem is that the WalMart stores in Oklahoma don't have that arrangement anymore, or so they told me when I called them just now.  They are the 2-week disposable kind, so she'll need more soon.  I called 1-800 Contacts directly and ordered a few week's worth through them so they will be shipped to us instead of WalMart.  Which is actually easier.  Otter hasn't worn them very long, she will start with them in the morning.  She had some difficulty getting them in and out at first, but that's normal.  (So she decided to wait until she got home to actually start wearing them.)  I went through that when I started wearing them.  She just has to get a little practice in, and she should be able to wear them without a problem.  She'll be used to them by the time school starts in 2 weeks.  She wants sunglasses - cool ones.  (I wore them for years, the only reason I stopped wearing them is because my eyes are just too dry for them anymore.)

Otter is pretty tired, she got up at 5:00 this morning and was at the airport about 15 minutes later.  Her flight was not until 6:15, but the security line was so long that by the time she got through it they were announcing the final boarding call for her flight so she had to run through the airport and just barely made it.  She thought that maybe the flight was early, but she called me at her plane change in Dallas and was right on time.  She said that she'll probably go to bed early tonight.  I don't blame her.

I have a frozen lasange in the oven and when it comes out, in go the garlic toast slices.  It's easy tonight.

I guess that's it for now.  Real exciting life we lead, huh.  :)

Sunday Stuff

I couldn't think of a good title for today, it's Sunday and we've done a lot of stuff so Sunday Stuff it is.

Let's see, what have we done?

I've been up since about 5:30.  I usually get up about 5:15, and I was going to get up about 6:15 this morning anyway but I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up.  The dogs still had to wait until about 6:00 to come in and get fed.

We got busy early with mowing the lawn this morning.  Before it got too hot.  The temperature is not actually extremely hot, high 90's, but the humidity and lack of breeze is a big issue.  We got the mowing done, but it was the first time in 2 weeks for the front because it's been so hot or it's been just rainy enough.  The back was mowed last week, so it was easy.  But the front was hard because the grass was so tall and there is enough shade that it was still pretty damp from overnight dew.

The resident bull frog was hanging around the dog's water dish this morning.  Sometimes he hangs out in the water dish, and I've seen him all over the place but mostly he's close to the water.  He's a pretty big boy.

I actually got Bill to go shopping with me!  Of course, he needed something from the hardware store so that probably has a lot to do with why he agreed to go.  While we were out, we went to a thrift store and the dollar store.  And to another hardware store.  We were only out and about for a couple of hours, so he didn't have time to get ShopCrazyBored.

Otter is off with Aunt Froggy and crew today.  I think the plan involved shopping.  Or at least that's what Otter was hoping.  She comes home tomorrow, bright and early.  I'll probably go into work a little early, then leave at around 8:30 to go to the airport.  Her flight gets in at 9:15 and I'll take her back to work with me.  She's going to be tired, she has to be at the airport in SA around 5:00 a.m. so she'll have gotten up really early.  But she'll be able to rest and take it easy at work, then when we get home she can take a nap if she needs to.  That is, when Maggie Moo lets her, dog's been clingier than normal this week.  I think she misses her person.

We saw a hot air balloon this morning when we were mowing.  It was bright red.  I tried to get a pictutre of it, but it was landing by the time I saw it so I didn't have enough time.

Not a whole lot going on around here at the moment.  Just laundry, but that's my normal Sunday afternoon activity.  I'm going to go crochet in a few minutes, I'm about half-way done with Otter's new scarf.  It's going really fast.  When I'm finished, I'll post pictures on the craft blog.  But that's about the extent of my exciting day.

Friday? OK, yeah, it's Friday.

And that's a good thing!

I talked to Otter earlier.  She's having a good time.  Froggy, she's looking forward to seeing you and your crew on Sunday.  She hopes that you have shopping planned.  She's her mother's daughter, what can I say! :)

We splurged tonight.  We had Domino's pizza for dinner.  It was pretty good.  I've been extremely good this week since I knew we had pizza plans.  We also had an order of their cheesy bread which was ok, but not spectacular.

We also have dessert.

Froggy, I just bet that you can guess where it came from without any hints!  (But I'll give you one anyway - It starts with B and ends with 'S, with RAUM in the middle).

We haven't gotten into dessert yet, no room!

We have a new digital camera!  It was a surplus item that was given to Bill this week, and I'm happy with it.  It's a Sony, not the same as the one that croaked on us but similar.  It's a good camera and since it was free, I'm not complaining.  I had to get a carrying case for it, it's just slightly too big to fit in my purse comfortably.  So that meant a trip to Wallyworld.

While I was there, I just happened to browse through the yarn section.  Relax, I didn't buy any.  Today.  Yet.  But I did price crochet hooks and Walmart sells a set similar to the three that were in my fantastic buy at the thrift store this week.  The ones I got were in seperate packages, but either seperate or in the set - the cost of the hooks was more than what I paid for the bag I got.

I hit a couple of thrift stores on the way home this afternoon, but didn't have much luck.  I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, but I was trying to kill time.  But it was still a fun trip.

Thrift shopping is always fun.  Sometimes, it's really fun!

Otter!

Maggie Moo misses you.  She's lost her head.  She needs you to come home and help her find it.

We think that Frasier might have buried it out in the back yard.  But he's not talking.

What Makes Me Happy

Finding all of this at a thrift store for $3.99.

Side A:

Side B:

There are over 11 different skeins.  Four are full and unused, 2 are possibly full and unused, the rest are partial but still plenty of yarn.

And I consider this part of the bag to be a bonus:

It's a good day!

Busy Tuesday

It's been a long day.  It started out at 5:00 a.m., I usually get up around 5:00 or 5:30 anyway  I usually don't have to be out of the house until 7:30, but today I had to leave at 6:00 to get Otter to the airport in time for her flight.  Because Otter is 18 now, I wasn't able to go to the gate with her.  Which is exactly what I expected.  Since I was so early, it was before 7:00 when I headed to work, I went to WalMart and walked around for about 30 minutes before heading in to work.  I was still early, but not as early as I would have been if I'd gone straight to work.

Work was kind of busy, then I had to come home at lunch and the library books I forgot this morning.  Two very large paper grocery bags, mostly Otter's.  After work, I had to go to the cell phone place to get Otter's phone fixed.  Again, but a different problem this time.

Otter has my cell phone, her phone would not turn back on last night so I charged mine up and she took it with her on her vacation.  We didn't discover that her phone wasn't turning back on until somewhere close to 10:00 p.m. and she had to be at the airport way before the phone place opened for the day.  I took her phone after work and they were able to fix it, they scavenged a part from the old phone that she had.

Otter gave me strict instructions about not letting her Dad near her phone.  Seems she's afraid he'll text all her friends (probably BF specifically) or something.

Anyway, she had a good flight and got to SA mid-morning.  She's been swimming already, and probably will go a few more times.

It's quiet around the house.  Maggie is snoozing and Frasier is being lazy but Maggie will probably start moping around soon.  She hasn't figured out yet that her person isn't here and won't be here tonight.

Because we are Texan, we had chili for dinner tonight.  Our area has had heat warnings for days and still has one.  But we eat chili all year round, and it was very good tonight.  We might make pineapple ice cream later or tomorrow, when Otter's not home we usually have a flavor that she either can't eat or doesn't like.  Pineapple is actually pretty good, but chocolate is of course better!  For pineapple, we use the vanilla recipe and then add crushed or chopped canned pineapple.  I think Bill also has used some pineapple juice in the mix as well.

I have been busy with a crochet project.  Otter wants a new scarf, she chose a black & white pattern and I had gotten about 1/4 of it done.  But then I realized that my gauge was off and it didn't look right, it was bigger on one end than the other - a lot bigger.  So, I frogged it and started over.  So now I've only gotten a few rows done, but it is turning out much better the 2nd time around.

I'm also going to make myself another scarf.  Anybody who is a Dr. Who fan will understand when I say that it's inspired by "teeth and hair's" scarf.  (Comment if you need an explanation).  But not until Otter's scarf is finished.  Which won't take too long, scarves are easy and fun to work on.

I guess that's about it for my Tuesday update!

Sunday Rodents

Before I forget, here are my newest glass & Fenton pieces!

This is a cologne or perfume bottle, this one IS Fenton.  I have not seen too many of them in milk, most are in opalescent like the other one I have and very few have the actual stopper so the stopper is actually the important part.  This one is a fairly rare piece and was given to me by Nana when I was in SA recently.  It's now part of my collection and I'm thrilled with it, and since it was a gift from a wonderful person in my life I am even happier.  (I'm lucky, I have two mother-in-laws and they are both very special.)

The lamp base is one I've had for a while and may be Fenton, it's not marked and they made so many different styles of lamps that it's pretty hard to verify.  But I'm not too concerned with Fenton authenticity in this case.  I like it and it goes well with my other stuff.  It's on the nighstand on my side of the bed.  The chimney (upper piece that covers the light bulb) is the new piece.  It was also a gift from Nana!  It doesn't match the base exactly, but it looks good with it and it works.  The base is hobnail, the chimney is a different pattern but they look very close and go great.  I don't think that the chimney is Fenton, but again - I don't care.

This is what it looks like when the lamp is turned on.  Because it was daylight and in front of an open window curtain, it looks kind of strange to me.  But it's a nice light.

This is the big basket I bought in SA at the thrift store.  $9.99 is generally above my ideal price range - I'm cheap when it comes to Fenton!  But this piece was definitely worth it.  It's pretty big, actually and heavy.  And it's in perfect condition.  This is a close up.  The next picture gives a better idea of the size of this piece, it's one of the bigger pieces in my collection.  This is one of the harder to find pieces, not a lot of them have survived and the ones that do show up occasionally are generally not in good shape.  It is glass after all, and glass breaks!

Movie Review:  Fantastic Mr. Fox.  One word comes to mind.  Confusing!  Also waste of time and money, badly written, badly voice acted, badly edited, but those are more than one word.  It was just not very good.  I think it originally was a book, maybe the book was better but I would not recommend the movie.  If I manage to get moving today, I'll take the dvd back.  Sometimes we re-watch the movies we rent, but this will not be one of them.

I'm not at 100% today.  Probably allergies.  I have had some sinus pressure and a slight sore throat off and on, but no fever (I did check) or anything so I'm leaning towards allergies.  We've had enough rain lately that it might be mold-related.

Otter is packing at the moment.  She's excited about her trip.  I know she'll have fun.

Frasier now has a new collar.  His bright yellow one was faded quite a bit and was also fraying pretty badly.  He's now sporting a very bright red collar.  He's very stylish now!

The story behind the latest cat is that I discovered it dead in the back yard.  No sign of what killed it, it hadn't been chewed on or anything.  But we're pretty sure it was Frasier just based on his history of killing them.  It was the "less than responsible" neighbor's Sphinx (hairless) cat, which she's had to look for before - always with a story about her irresponsible daughter letting the cat out even though it's not supposed to be let out.  Since they are fairly uncommon cats and we knew she had one, we were pretty sure that it was hers.  We walked over to tell her, and she said that he daughter had let it out again.  We did not tell her anything about Frasier, just that we found it dead in the back yard which is the truth.  She was upset, and I don't blame her, but this kind of thing has happened before with her and will probably keep happening, unfortunately.  Bill asked her if she wanted us to take care of it for her, and she agreed.  So it has joined the hamster, mouse & two birds buried in the back yard.  I really hate that this happend, but we don't feel like we are responsible for it.  Frasier was in his own yard and the cat in question was let out when it shouldn't have been.  When we let the dogs out in the back yard yesterday morning, Frasier went right to the spot where the cat had been.  Obviously, it's not there now.  But he knew where it was, which is just one more reason that we think he's probably the reason.

Frasier is also the inspiration for today's title.  Because when we were mowing the back yard, Bill found a dead mole in a place where Frasier had been rolling.  Shortly after that, we noticed that it smelled like something was dead in another part of the yard and I found a dead rat there.  So that's two rodents in one day, most likely yesterday afternoon for the rat and possibly this morning for the mole based on decomposition.  And the lovely smell!

The other thing that I noticed when we mowed is that there are a lot of bumble bees.  I was beginning to think that they might be in the tree that I mention later as having a limb down, but I never could see anything that looks like a swarm.  But there are a lot of them, and they are bumble bees - the big, fat kind that are so neat to watch.

And Bill did let me mow, but not much.  He said I was making too many mistakes and then he sent me inside.  Which is his way of overprotecting me and since I didn't feel the best, I didn't argue.  But I did miss a lot when I mowed so I see his point. :)

Weather:  Friday evening, I noticed that it was suddenly getting dark.  Darker than it should have been for the time of evening and darkening fast.  We looked out the window and saw clouds.  Lots of them.  Dark ones.  This is the view over the back fence:

That's when Bill told me to take Otter and go to the laundry room (our safe spot).  On the way, I changed the tv from the dish to a local station and the weather warnings were for clouds that looked worse than they were but were "just" thunderstorm variety but fast moving.  So, even though the sky was terrifying it was not dangerous.  That's when Otter got her camera and took the pictures.  I took a few, but I didn't have the camera on the right setting and they came out too dark to see anything.  But it's her camera and she knows the settings so she became our official photographer!  She did a good job, too.

This is what it looked like over the house:

The dark edge at the bottom of the picture is the crest of our roof.  The next picture is taken from a slightly different angle.

That's the top of the chimney in the picture.  The clouds were very, very low.  And then we realized that we could see a "circle" area that was cloud edges with light behind it, but not a circle in terms of a twister.  However, it was definitely rotating!  It is hard to describe, it was rotating but not fast and not forming anything.  It was probably a possibility, but it wasn't anything we had to worry about at that point.  The storm moved on pretty quickly, at least these clouds did but we got a good thunderstorm out of it.  We almost lost power, it flickered a couple of times but never went out.  But we discovered yesterday morning that a tree limb was down in the back yard.  It was the limb that Bill was going to cut off today anyway, it extended over the deck and over the roof a little bit but when it tore loose, it didn't quite come off all the way and was hanging straight down.  He didn't quite cut it all off, just the parts that he could reach with the short ladder which was the one he grabbed out of the shed.

I'm just glad that he didn't need the chainsaw for once!  Bill, ladders & power tools with blades are just not a comforting thought.

The End of a Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong Week (*EDITED)

This has been a week that I've been ready for Friday since Monday at 8:00 a.m.!

Work was crazy.  Not because I was gone last week, I actually got caught up by about 8:30 Monday.  It was just wild, one of those "if it could go wrong it did" weeks and I'm glad that it's over.

We're having a heat wave.  The temperature isn't really all that hot, mid 90's.  But there has been very little breeze and we've had enough rain lately that the humidity is as high as it can get.  Which means that I can't breathe if I'm outside.  So I've been spending more time inside.  Which means that I haven't had my outside time lately.  Which means I'm cranky!

(Bill did manage to get the lawn mowed this week.  He did it over 2 days, he drank a whole lot of water.  And wouldn't let me help.)

I like my outside time.  I'm hoping to have some tomorrow.  Usually, when we get up on Saturday mornings, Bill & I will take our coffee and sit on the deck for a while.  Otter is usually still asleep, she gets to sleep in on Saturday mornings.  But sometimes she's up with us.  The dogsters are generally always out there when we are, they alternate between watering assorted spots and sleeping on the deck.  Or, in Frasier's case anyway, hoping to knock my arm so I will spill my coffee!

I have crochet plans for tomorrow.  And I have several books that I got at the library this week.  It's Bill's turn to get the movie for Saturday, we will be watching Fantastic Mr. Fox.  All I know about it is that it's animated and about a fox.

There was a yard sale in the neighborhood today.  We went, but didn't see much of anything.  Otter got something, but I didn't find anything.  They had quite a bit of glassware, but most of it was what I call "Wal Mart stuff."  In other words, new & junky.

Otter's trip is Tuesday.  She hasn't quite packed yet, but she's been getting her stuff ready.  Sunday, after laundry!, she'll get her suitcase actually packed.  Then I'll take her to the airport early Tuesday (Early!) and she'll be home the next Monday.  She'll have a good time, she will spend several days with Nana & Papa David and hopefully get to see her cousins.  She'll get to see Froggy (and hopefully Uncle Crazy) and some of the cousins on that side (my side) of the family.  She'll probably be exhausted when she gets home.  But she'll have a good time.  It will be quiet around our house and Maggie Moo will mope, but we are glad that she gets to do things like this.

School starts in less than a month!  I am not quite sure where the time has gone, but there is no way that she could possibly be 18 and about to be a senior!  And driving, dating, registered to vote and all the other things that go with it.  She's still supposed to be the little girl in the blue dress standing in the kitchen, smiling at the camera and 18 months old!  Sigh.

Well, at least it's Friday.  And I have a bottle of wine in the fridge that is waiting on me.  Think I'll go get into it shortly.

*EDIT:  I let Maggie Moo outside after posting this and discovered something.  Frasier did what he's known for. Again.  Frasier 3 (that we know of), Cats 0.

Three!

That's the one word answer that Bill just gave the census worker that came to the door, when she said she had some questions she'd like to ask.  That is the only thing he said.  Then he shut the door.

Good answer!

We filled in our census form when it came - but they didn't get anything beyond 3 people who are citizens and Human Race.  That is all that we will EVER put on a census form.  That is all they need, after all.  No matter what they claim, that is all that they need.

The word "human" is our stock answer for any question at all that asks for race.  ALWAYS.  Although Bill did answer with "American" 10 years ago on the census form.

Other people don't like this, then that is their opinion and they are entitled to it.  But this is our blog, so you get our opinions.

Some Miscellaneous Monday Stuff

It was back to work for me today.  I had a problem getting up at 5:00, but I was up two or three times last night because my muscles got pretty stiff.  Yesterday morning was the same, I woke up stiff & sore after not sleeping well because I was stiff & sore.  And I'm still stiff and sore!  With tender knees, not like they normally are but additionally tender because they both feel a little bruised.  The right one is bruised, and the left one just feels like it.  Also, my left arm muscles at my elbow and above it are sore, as well as my upper back and between my shoulder blades.  All thanks to falling over the dog!  None of it is bad enough to go to the doctor, it's actually better today.  I just get stiff if I don't move often and today I've spent a lot of time at my desk at work.

Trying to find the top of my desk, that is!  It was kind of buried under a mountain of paperwork.  But I made pretty good headway into getting that problem solved.  It's going to be a pretty busy week at work, but that's ok.  I had such a good time last week that I don't mind.

My box got here today.  It was around $15.00 to mail it to myself.  Everything was intact, there was no damage whatsoever.  Otter had a good time with the bubble wrap, memories of when she was little and loved the stuff.

She's been doing research regarding Maggie Moo's little problem.  Dogs can get diabetes and one of the symptoms is increased urination.  But there are a bunch of symptoms and that's the only one she has.  Actually, I don't think it's increased as much as just inside.  Same thing for urinary tract infections, so we don't think that's the problem.

It rained this morning.  I heard thunder around 3:30 (I was awake already) and then it started raining when I was on the way to work.  It was pouring by the time I got to work, but it quit long enough for me to get into the office.  It didn't rain too long, but the ground was already pretty soggy and now it's squishy.  I don't know when it's going to dry out enough for Bill to mow (he probably won't let me help) but I hope it does dry out soon.  The grass is getting tall.

Otter got to have an official Lazy Day today.  She slept in, no chores, just did whatever she wanted to.  Which mostly involved watching tv and playing video games.  I came home when I got off work and picked her up, we hit a thrift and Hobby Lobby.  I found a book at the thrift and she found some misc. craft stuff at Hobby Lobby.

Otter is going to Texas next week.  She'll be visiting Nana and seeing Aunt Froggy.  She goes next Tuesday and comes home the next Monday.  She volunteered to leave me a chore list while she's gone, but I told her that it wasn't really necessary as I have plenty already! :)

Sunday Puffy Tacos

Texas Bliss!  These are puffy tacos.  And they were delicious!

Obviously, this post is to detail the last week and it will deal with TEXAS.  Since I spent all of last week there.

Monday morning, we were up early to get me to the airport about 6:30 for my flight.  The flight was fine, I had a plane change in Dallas with a layover of about an hour.  So I had time to go check out the airport book store that Otter told me about.  The flight to SA was about 20 minutes early, which is a change from how it usually is for me.

Froggy and family met me at the airport.  We spent the next few days eating things including the puffy tacos pictured above, and shopping in as many thrift stores, antique & craft stores as we could find.  And one particular store that deserves special mention.  It's called Yarnivores and it's all yarn.  It was a fun place.  Of course, I bought yarn!  I brought the yarn back with me on the plane, it showed up on the scan of my carry one bag as a ball.  Confused the girl running the scanner, she couldn't figure out why I had a ball in my tote bag.  No idea what it will be used for as yet, I thought about a scarf but I'm not sure.  However, it will be fun to work with.

My brother (Toadly) and his wife showed up, we had a great visit with him and went to the Pig Stand.  Anyone from SA or the general area of Texas will know about the Pig Stand.  I had a Pig Sandwich.  Which was excellent.  And a Black Cow!  (Black Cow is a rootbeer float made with vanilla ice cream).

No pictures of my food this time, but here's the sign in front of the business.

We saw this sign on the way to a thrift store.  It's on the back of a Yield sign.  It took me a minute to figure out what it is.  Opus the Penguin!

These were just a few of the many ducks that live at the pond in Froggy's neighborhood.

This is a very sweet dog, her name is Cookie.  I called her Cookie Monster but then started calling her Cookie Dough because she's just so sweet!  She's Froggy's by the way.  Very spoiled, mostly dachsund with maybe a little beagle thrown in for good measure.

Wish I could grow these!  They do grow up here, but they don't like the weather we get in the winter.  They can stand a little snow and a very small amount of ice, but not too much.

A closer shot of one of the blooms.

And of course no trip to SA is complete without this!  We didn't stop there this time, but we did drive by.

I went with one suitcase and one carry on tote bag.  I had one very full, almost too full suitcase when I left.  And the carry on tote bag which was much fuller than when I went to SA.  And another carry on tote bag which was also full.  And I had to ship a box back that weighed just under 22 pounds!  It should arrive Tuesday.  It's got some fun stuff in it, including two Fenton pieces and several skeins of yarn that I found at a thrift store for 49 cents each.  And a few other things including some t-shirts that make great padding for a box of breakables.  There is enough bubble wrap in that box to make several trips to the moon and back.

I got back in on Friday evening.  It was great to go Home last week but it was also great to get home after the trip.  It was busy and we ran a lot but I'm so glad I went.

Otter did a great job keeping things under control around the house last week (such as her father the crazy man!) but she said that she's not in a big hurry to have to take care of her own household.  She kept the dishes & laundry caught up and general house cleaning that normally needs to be done.  She did a great job.  Thanks, Otter.  I really appreciate all your hard work.  She even made sure that Billyboy had lunch every day to take to work and that there was dinner each day.

Frasier was very glad to see me, he is normally a very affectionate dog anyway but he's been much clingier than normal the last couple of days.  Maggie did great, no accidents at all.  Then I came home and she immediately had an "on purpose" in front of me.  It was yesterday and it was not good - because as I was dragging her outside, I tripped over her.  And fell.  On the hard, ceramic tile floor of the kitchen.  I was able to fall in such a way that I'm not injured, but I am sore all over.  I do mean all over, and not just a little sore either!  And have a nice, big bruise on my right knee.  It could have been very bad.  I'm not sure what we're going to do, but Otter is doing research to see a) why the dog might be doing this and b) how to stop her.  Maggie is Otter's dog, otherwise I honestly think that Bill would find a new home for the beagle.

Anyway, on to other things.  Thrifting!  Otter was housebound last week, so I took her thrift shopping today.  I found two more Fenton hats, for 79 cents each.  For that price, I can not pass it up.  So, I now have 4 Fenton hats.  We also went to the library and came home with an armload each of books.  My book list for this month might not be as big as normal, I didn't get to read much last week.  We went to a book store and I got a book of crochet that was on last month's list as a library book.  It's the one about Creepy and Cute Crochet.  Really fun stuff.

This is Chester.  He's KN3's cat.  I think he's at least part Maine Coon Cat.  They are very large cats, not just fat but large in general.  Chester had an abcess on his ear and it was treated & healed, but his outer ear is a little "special" now.  He's a fun cat.  Froggy has two other cats, Cally and Muskrat.  Cally is skittish and doesn't like anybody outside of her family.  Muskrat is Cally's daughter and is more friendly.  Among other things, I crocheted some clothes hanger covers for Froggy while I was there.  I woke up early one morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to crochet a few more.  Well, I reached for the yarn in the dark only to discover that it was furry and meowed!  Muskrat is a black cat and she was asleep on top of the bag that Froggy put the yarn in.

Another local landmark in SA.

More ducks!  These were the babies that were at the pond in Froggy's neighborhood.  There are a lot of ducks.

Now, I think I'll go find another motrin.  I have been sitting down long enough that I'm starting to get stiff again.

Fast Friday Update

Just a quick update, now that things have finally slowed down around here.

This is why I was so busy this week and didn't post much:

Anybody care to venture a guess as to where I went?

Sort of Middle of the Week Update

It's been a busy week for me.  More details later, in the next day or so.  Expect pictures!  Lots of them.

Sunday Sparklers

This post was nearly titled Sunday Spankings.  Because Otter thinks that Billyboy deserves one.

She might be right.

At the end of church this morning, the choir sang a patriotic song.  At the very end of the song, the two launchers on either side of the stage launced confetti & streamers into the air.  The two launchers that just about everybody else in church saw - except for Otter!  She jumped what looked like several feet in the air.  She was not alone, lots of people were surprised (Bill and I weren't).  But we were in the front row so Otter essentially jumped out of her skin in front of the entire audience.  And Bill isn't letting her live that one down.

She's ready for revenge.  She probably has a few plans already.  I might not stop her!

We got a few fireworks.  Nothing very big or noisy, Otter just wanted smoke bombs, sparklers and a couple of packages of poppers.  It was rainy all day yesterday and we have a chance of more rain tonight, so we didn't get a lot of noisemakers.  There are several places that do professional level shows which we can see from the back deck, so if it's not rainy we'll be out there watching.

Our small town has a permit for fireworks, it's good for the evening of the 3rd and 4th until 11:00 p.m.  So a lot of people shoot off fireworks.  Yesterday was cloudy when we got up, we had coffee on the deck and came inside for a refill and it started raining when we were inside.  And it continued nearly all day.  Not a hard rain, it was a nice slow rain.  But it rained just late enough so that there weren't a lot of fireworks last night.  There were some, it did quit well before 11:00 but there are usually a lot more.

The dogs are not bothered by fireworks.  They are pretty unconcerned about any noise, really.  Except for the sound of something dropping into their food bowls, that always gets their attention.  And Frasier doesn't particularly care for the vacuum.  But fireworks, thunder and gunshot type noises don't even cause a blip on their radar.  They generally sleep through everything.

Froggy, the "bunch of things" I'm making for you has been added to.  Again.  I made another one yesterday.  As soon as you get them in your possession, I'll post pictures on the craft blog.

Beyond that, I'm not telling.

I also added some to Bill's blanket yesterday, I have a lot of small pieces that I've been adding to it and as big as it's getting I still didn't finish another row!  I am making a determined effort to de-stash a little bit.  I have a few ideas of things to crochet, but not anything really spectacular.  But I do have quite a bit of yarn and it needs to be used.

I might not post much the next few days, it is shaping up to be a fairly busy week.  And on that note, I'm going back to my laundry now.  I really don't like to do laundry!

234 Years

Found It! June Books

Not much time this morning, so here goes:

1.  Me, the Mob & the Music by Tommy James.  Eh.

2.  Coraline by Neil Gaiman.  The movie was very good, the book was better.  This is just a good story, Otter recommended it.

3.  Abandoned Tulsa by Zllison Zarrow.  Photographs of abandoned buildings, etc., in Tulsa.  Interesting.

4.  The Best Kind of Different, One Family's Jouney with Asperger's Syndrome by Shonda & Curt Shilling.  Curt Shilling is a pro baseball player, this is the family's story of years trying to figure out what was wrong with their son and then discovering that he had asperger's which is a form of autism.

5.  Inside the Hurricane, Face to Face with Nature's Deadliest Storms by Pete Davies.  Interesting, this is a factual story of a British reporter covering storm season one year.  Only problem - he needs to look at the map before he starts declaring what part of Texas is East and what part is West!

6.  Think no Evil by Jonas Beiller with Shawn Smucker.  This is about the shooting in the Amish schoolhouse a few years ago.  It was pretty well-written.

7.  Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson.  Complete & Utter waste of time.  A sure sign of yarn addiction is getting books because they have yarn on the cover.  However, that doesn't make it a good book!

8.  Hello Georgeous! Beauty Products in American 40's - 60's by Rachel C. Weingarten.  This was funny, it's basically a collection of ads for beauty products and some of them are hilarious now.

9.  As If We Were Prey by Michael Delp.  Short stories, not impressed.

10.  Crack of Noon by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman.  Zits comic book.  Funny.

11, 12, 13:  Batman

14.  Orlando Bloom has Ruined Everything - a Foxtrot Collection by Bill Amend.  Funny.

15.  Big Beastly Book of Bart Simpson.  Not a Simpsons fan but it was ok.

16.  Fugitive From the Cubicle Police, a Dilbert book by Scott Adams.  OK.

17.  Creepy Cute Crochet - Zombies, Ninjas, Robots & More!  by Christen Haden.  I'll buy this one.

18.  Trail of Blood, a Father, a Son & a Tell-Tale Crime Scene Investigations by Wanda Evans.  My notes say it's a true crime book and that I enjoyed it, but I don't remember it.

19.  Punk Rock Domestics, 54 projects by Heidi Minx.  Not impressed.

20.  61 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer by Randa Safan.  Not impressed.

21.  33 Questions about American History You're Not Supposed to Ask by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.  I already knew a lot of things that were in this book, it's interesting.

22.  Terror by Night, by Terry Caffey w/ James H. Pence.  True crime and a sad story.

23.  Teaching the Pig to Dance by Fred Thompson.  Autobiographical and good.

24, 25, 26, 27:  Batman

28.  Sweater Surgery, how to Make New Things with Old Sweaters by Stephanie Girard.  A few ideas.

Quite a few of the books on my list this month were either recommended by Otter or were in her stack of books.

Booked

My book list has temporarily run off.  When I locate it, I'll post the June books.  I think I read over 20, but I really don't know for sure.

I thought it was in my tote bag that I carry just about everywhere.  It wasn't.  The next place I thought it might be was in my purse.  No luck there.  I looked on my desk, in the pile of stuff I need to file but it's not in there either.

It's around here somewhere.

I hope.