Pachinko Progress (EDITED)

http://home.windstream.net/cardwwi/Pachinko.htm

26 of them.  He hadn't gotten the latest addition on before I posted this, so if you count it might show 25.  But there are 26 of the beasts!

Froggy made a great comment.  She said that his stash is bigger than mine.  He denies it, but I agree with Froggy.  And I'll remind him of that, when he teases me about how much yarn I have.  :)

**(Edit):  Bill said that he has 27 pachinko now.

Sunday Clutter

Or de-cluttering, actually.  It's a Borg Queen Day!

Otter hates Borg Queen Days.  Especially when she asked me what I wanted her to do about her desk and I said for her to Borg Queen it.  :)  She was not amused, but she did get her desk cleaned off.  I did the same thing to mine and also dusted, filed a bunch of stuff and hung the yardstick shadow box on the wall above my desk.

Since it's Sunday, we're doing laundry along with the cleaning/decluttering.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate doing laundry?  (Many times, I know).

Among the de-cluttering, I got into the closet in the office.  The office is the third bedroom, where we all have desks and computers.  The closet has two tall plastic shelf units on either side, both are 5 shelves.  One is Bill's and one is mine.  Bill's has a spare printer, the mailing supplies left from the eBay business and a whole lot of junk.  I try to stay away from his side, it makes my skin crawl not to be able to organize it!  My side of the closet is neater.  It has our winter/storm supplies (enough canned food to last a few days in case of ice storms or power outages), some misc. first aid stuff, Otter's & my sewing stuff and my Yarn Stash.  Some of the Stash was on the floor, in the picnic basket and a couple of tote bags.  It's now all on the shelf.  Still in the yaffa crates, picnic basket and several tote bags.  I knew I had a lot of yarn, but I didn't realize just how much I actually have!  I'm nearly through with the prayer shawl I've been working on, I got a lot done on it yesterday.  I have another project which is intended to be a de-stash.  I'm going to make 4 throw pillow covers for the living room.  That won't actually take all that much yarn, but it will be a quick project.  I need a quick project, after the prayer shawl.  I started the first pillow cover yesterday.  I can make the covers without actually having the pillow forms, they will be the same size as the other ones I've made.  The Dr. Who scarf is an ongoing project, it will take me a looooooooooooooooong time because I'm not in a hurry.  Also, Bill's blanket is still waiting.  It's probably going to wait awhile, I don't really like to work on big projects like blankets in the middle of the summer.  I'd prefer to wait until it's cooler because the blanket is big and warm.  Not what I want covering me up in the hot weather!  I frogged the crocheted piece I bought for 79 cents at the thrift store last week, it was actually quite a big of yarn.  Nearly a full skein, in fact.  It will go on the blanket.

I have a roast in the oven.  Today's title was originally going to be Sunday Pot Roast, but I changed my mind.  The dogs are haunting the kitchen, they got a tiny taste of beef which made them happy.  But they know that there is more in the oven, and once the roast cooks enough that they can smell it they won't leave the kitchen.  They are funny.  And also very predictable!

The hamster also got a treat, Otter occasionally gives her pieces of carrot and today she got carrot & celery.  Very spoiled little furball!  But that's the way it's supposed to be, isn't it?

Bill is a happy boy today.  He just got another pachinko machine!  He posts an ad on Craigslist every so often that he's looking for one and he usually gets answers.  Sometimes, the person is not realistic - they are not rare and they are not valuable antiques and they are not worth 100's of dollars!  Most of the time, people come to their senses and are willing to be realistic.  Today's was one of those times.  Bill's always polite about it, but he has what we refer to as the Pachinko Value lesson that he gives people.  Sometimes, they will decide to keep it but pay him to fix whatever is wrong with it.  He's done that a couple of times, that Electronics Engineer degree has come in handy! :)

I have a nice little bruise on my arm from the flu shot.  It's not big, but it is noticeable.  And it's not sore any longer.  I didn't sleep too well Friday night, Bill said I was restless.  I didn't feel too good yesterday, not as bad as I have sometimes felt after the shot but not the best either.  Today, I felt pretty good when we got up but now I'm back to not feeling 100%.  But today could well be allergy.  Otter's arm is not sore any longer, that's about the extent of the reaction she normally has.

I'm in the market for a small bookshelf.  Bill's been using the sofa table that is in front of the window in the living room as his indoor pachinko repair center.  It works very well, it's just the right size and - more importantly - it's an area that is easy to keep clean and decluttered.  That's the important part, with the Engineer.  But we've always stacked our (many) library books on the corner and sometimes (most times) we have way too many books for the small corner space.  I decided yesterday that I should probably just get a small bookshelf.  I've measured and it will fit just perfectly between the sofa table and the back door.  The books will be out of Bill's way, and we should (hopefuly anyway) be able to keep them organzed because we make frequent trips to the library.  And then we get mixed up on which books are due when.  Or at least that is the plan, anyway.

While Bill and I were out picking up his newest toy, we went to a thrift store.  Didn't really find much.  But it was still fun, I hadn't been to this particular one in several weeks.

It was a busy week, not any one thing in particular, just busy.  This coming week doesn't look quite so busy, but I've learned not to say that so we'll just pretend that I didn't.

Monday tomorrow.  Back to the real world!

The Redhead Curse Strikes Again!

Specifically, the part about bleeding a lot.

Otter and I just got our flu shots.  I didn't think to warn the girl giving me the shot that I might bleed a little.  Otter got her shot first, we talked about how she'd had years and years of allergy shots so shots are not even a blip on her radar.  Then it was my turn and I just forgot about it.  I got my shot and then I saw the technician's eyes get really big.  Like scared to death big.  Which is when I realized that the Curse was active.  I told her that I might bleed a little bit, but she was a basket case by that point.  I did bleed more than I normally do, but not as bad as I have in the past.  She had to go get paper towels & alchohol scrubs twice, then she finally put the bandaid on me.  But she was still pretty shaken.  I felt really sorry for her.  She was full of warnings for me, then I explained the Redhead Curse to her and she relaxed a little, but she was still pretty scared.  Well, she'll know the next time she has to deal with one of us!  She was fairly young, probably mid-20's.

Otter was wandering around the store at that point (shopping!), so I texted her and just said that I'd be a minute and the words "Redhead Curse."  A minute or so later, her red head peeks around the corner and the first words out of her mouth were "how much did you bleed this time?"  She's had to deal with it herself, so she knew what I meant.  The other thing is that I'm allergic to most adhesive on bandaids, so I've already had to take mine off because it was starting to itch.  It's still a little itchy, even without the bandaid because the reaction can take a little time, but not too bad.

Then we went to Subway for take-home dinner and then made our required stop:  Braum's!  Otter chose neopolitan this time.  It's in the freezer, we'll get into it later.  We'll even share it with Bill.  We figure that he earned it because he has to put up with us. :)

We got the shots in our left arms as we are both right-handed.  My left arm is getting sore, which is normal.  We take Motrin about an hour before we get flu shots, which does help but I'm beginning to feel iffy.  Which is my normal reaction.  I'll feel not-so-hot tonight and maybe a little bit tomorrow, which is why I try to schedule flu shots for Friday afternoon and already have all my big errands done.

Our errands today included the library, where Otter got 37 books.  About 3 of them are mine, but she's still got plenty to read this weekend.  She had to get a new card last week, the bar code was unreadable.  That's a good thing, by the way!

Wednesday Weeds

As in Ragweed.  And Johnson Grass, I think it's a weed as well.

Bill mowed the back yard just now.  He wouldn't let me help him this time, so I got out my leather gloves and pulled weeds.  The Johnson Grass gets tall fast, and it's gone for the moment now.  It will be back, it always comes back.

There was some ragweed, it was up against the house behind the iris plants.  It's gone now, too.

Then I had to immediately run to the shower, because if I didn't I probably wouldn't have any skin left.  Because I'd have scratched it all off!

I really hate ragweed.

It's been really nice the last couple of days, Monday was hot but Tuesday and today have been nice.  Cool the last couple of mornings, it was in the 60's last night and this morning really felt like Fall is close.  Hard to believe that it's already the end of August.  September is just next week.  Wow.

That means that Winter isn't far behind.  Wow, again.

We have some firewood, probably about a rick.  But we usually use more than that, so we'll start getting more in soon.  We try not to wait until we need it, it's best to get it well before it's needed.  It's one of those things where the price gets raised as soon as the weather gets cold, especially if it gets icy.  So we don't wait.

Guess I'd better make sure we have plenty of marshmallows as well.  We'll need those.  And graham crackers.  And miniature Hershey bars.

As long as I have my 'smore supplies, we'll be prepared for cold weather! :)

Monday's Thrifting Adventures

alternate title:  I've totally fallen off the wagon.

Here's why:

Yarn!  Specifically, this is a crocheted piece that is not quite long enough to be a table runner.  It was also 79 cents.  Yarn Rules say that I had to buy it.  It's going to be frogged and probably re-used on Bill's blanket.  Bill can't quite understand the part about buying it just to frog it, but I explained it to him in terms that an Engineer can understand:  just like buying something made from wood to take apart and use the wood (or screws, bolts, etc.) in his pachinko machine rebuilds.  Also, it's older yarn and vintage yarn is something that most people who crochet and/or knit are always on the lookout for.

This was also 79 cents.  It's not going to be frogged.  It's going to be added to on the sides, probably with a darker green.  Then it's going to be attached to a beagle!  Otter is always looking for cheap dog clothing, and this certainly fit the bill.  When I got it out of the bag, Maggie knew immediately what it was and she came a-runnin'.  (Texas language translation:  Maggie came running up to me excitedly).

I also found this little beauty today.  Amber, Daisy & Button and probably Fenton although it was most likely made for another company but is still considered Fenton by most of us who collect it.  It does have a chip, one of the teeth on the top rim.  But it's not bad and it was $2.49, which is well within my Fenton Gotta Buy It rules.

This is a really fun find.  I saw one of these on a friend's blog recently, it's a shadow box type shelf.  It's made out of a yard stick!  It will go on the wall by my desk, with the eventual destination being my sewing/craft/crochet/yarn stash storage room which is currently Otter's bedroom.  Let's be realistic here:  it's mostly going to be yarn storage!  I figure that I have a few years yet, so that gives me plenty of time to buy even more yarn.

Side view.  It's really cute and was $2.89 but it would have come home with me even if it had been higher priced.

It was a fun thrifting day!  Actually, it was a thrifting lunch hour since that's what I did instead of actually going to lunch today.  I had cheese & crackers so I didn't starve.  But I did have fun.

I got it all at the thrift store where I found the large bag of yarn a few weeks ago, and also where Froggy found a ceramic tree last year.  And where I found one for her this year.  We find a lot at this particular thrift store.  It's one of our favorites.

Sunday Steak

Anybody care to guess what we're having for dinner tonight?  And also the standard baked potatos.

Busy week.  Looks like next week could be just as busy.  We don't plan it, it just happens sometimes. :)  The school district Bill works for will start classes tomorrow, he knows that it will be a busy week.  The end of the month is always busy for me at work.  Otter's just busy because she's back in school.

Otter enjoyed the movie last night, she might do a review here eventually.  She said it was very funny.  BF took her to Fuddrucker's for dinner after the movie.

We went to Wallyworld just now.  I have been trying not to buy yarn lately, unless I need it for a specific project.  But Wallyworld was my downfall.  I came home with three skeins and Bill commented that he could see I'd bought yarn.  My answer to him was to ask him about that pachinko machine we just picked up this afternoon!  And about the one he got last Thursday. :)

In my defense, the yarn I bought today is a color I've been thinking about getting but didn't have a project for yet.  But WalMart had it on clearance, so I had to buy it.  It's the law of crochet, and probably knitting as well, when yarn is on sale YOU HAVE TO BUY IT.  It really is a color I've been looking at a lot.  But I was trying to be strong.  Not today! :)  Also, I can always come up with a project (as if I need an excuse to buy yarn) quickly.  Froggy, I'm sure you understand although in your case it is fabric and quilting supplies.

I probably should get out my stash again and take more pictures.  But, this time I think I'll get all of it - it wasn't all in the last pictures.  And I've added to it since then.

I think I'm going backwards, in my efforts to de-stash.  Well, I know I am.  But I'm not complaining.  It's a sickness, I know.  But I don't want to be cured.  I don't think it is curable, anyway!

Otter thinks she needs to stage a yarn intervention.  But I'll just have to remind her about the huge amount of craft supplies she has, which has taken over her room as well as sharing space on the shelves & workbenches in the garage.  Two can play that game!  :)

We won't even discuss the number of pachinko machines that Willieboy has.  Unless he wants to talk yarn amounts, that is.

Bill was going to mow the lawn today, but it's really too warm.  So he put it off for a few days.  The yard isn't that bad, it could stand a mowing but it's ok if it doesn't get it for a while.  We could use some more rain.  But I don't think that we're supposed to get any soon.  I haven't looked at a forecast, but I don't think that there is any rain anticipated any time soon.

I'm watching Frasier again.  The spot on his foot seems to have gotten bigger and he's chewing at it again.  It also looks like the skin is broken a little on the top, but that's probably from his teeth.  I have to keep an eye on it for specific changes and then we might have to take him to the vet about it.  Maggie Moo has to get shots next month anyway and I want to get them heart-worm tested since it's been a couple of years.  They've been on the preventative for it, but it's a good idea to get them tested every so often.  Also, Maggsters will need to get her behind squished again.  Which I'm sure will just please her so much (not).  And Fraiser will also have to put up with the vet inspecting his ears.  He's pretty good about it, he's used to it.  But Maggie will never accept that fact that her rear end needs squishing!

We have 4 hummingbirds at the moment.  I had to refill two feeders yesterday.  I got buzzed by a hummer when I was taking down one of the feeders, I don't think she was happy with me.  I noticed that as soon as I got the feeder up and got out of the way, she was back at it.  I only have three feeders up but there are four birds.  We've also seen a lot of dragonflies lately.  The advantage to hot & dry weather is that there are less skeeters to deal with.  But more flies!

We also don't have many morning glories.  I was thinking it was because of the lack of rain, but most of them are dead or on their way.  However, we've been watering them.  Bill thinks that there is something infecting them and I realized that the ones that died are all in the area where I planted the new seeds.  So it might be that the seeds had some infection.  We'll see what happens with them.  As soon as it's cool enough, I'm going to get out there and rip out all the vines.

Also, as soon as we see tulip bulbs in the store we're going to grab several packages.  It was about this time last year that we got so busy with the rent house becoming vacant and getting it ready to sell, and by the time we got finished up with it and had time - the tulips bulbs were all gone.  Although we did have them come up again this year, they don't normally come back more than one year so we are going to be sure to get bulbs this time.  It's a little early yet, but they'll be stocked within a few weeks.

Then we'll get the tulip bed ready so we can plant them in about November.  At that point, all we will have to do is sit back and enjoy the winter.

Winter.  Cold.  Soon?

Friday Thoughts

First of all, I'm really glad that it's finally Friday.  It's been a week that hasn't had anything particularly bad or hard, it's just been a long one.

One of my thoughts this week is that we are probably going to have a dog wash on Sunday.  Both of them need it, we've treated them on a regular basis with flea stuff that goes on their backs and it does work, but we've had such a flea problem in this area of OK that we've had to treat them more often than normal and they look greasy.  So they will probably get a washing on Sunday.  Which I'm sure that they'll just both absolutely love (not).

Otter is overjoyed, the state of Oklahoma no longer includes parallel parking in the driving test.  That's the only hurdle, she has been driving on a regular basis and is a pretty good driver.  But I can't teach her to parallel park since I can't do it myself because of my depth perception issues and Bill hasn't had much time.  But Grandpa found out that they don't require it anymore and when I called to get info from the license place, they said that they stopped including it in the test last year.  She's still going to have to wait a while, they work on appointments and are booked up for the next few weeks.

Knees are also in my recent thoughts.  As in my knees.  And how much they hurt!  They've both been really bad lately, they had been better but I'm working on losing weight again and it always affects my knees.  I am losing it slowly, and I have been on a plateau but I'm off the plateau now.  While I'm not actually losing, my knees have a period where they don't have to constantly adjust to my changing weight.  They still are not good then, but they are better.  It's a trade-off, lose weight and knee pain or don't lose weight and have other issues to deal with.  The thing is, weight loss will help them.  But nothing will cure them.  Because the problem with my knees, while weight aggravates it, isn't caused by weight.  They've been really bad this week.  I deal with it, I'm used to it.  But that doesn't mean that I like it!

Knees, depth perception and inability to match colors (can't tell the difference well) are all things that I can thank my family heredity for.  I guess that it's still a trade-off:  Red Hair and the cost of it is knees, depth perception and the aforementioned color problems!  :)

Oh well, at least it's Friday.  That's always a good thing.

I have other thoughts today.  Among them, flu shots.  We're still thinking we're going to get them this year (probably Friday of next week).  But we have had a re-think this week.  Since the H1N1 (swine) flu is now included in the flu shot.  Maybe we'll get double ice cream next week! :)

And of course I always have crochet thoughts!  Lion Brand, which is pretty much my favorite yarn brand, will be debuting their new Fall colors in the next couple of weeks.  I can hardly wait!  I'm going to keep myself occupied with crochet this weekend, I want to get as much as possible done on the prayer shawl as I can.  I'll probably spend most of tomorrow working on it.  It's a fast one, it's just that it's also a fairly big project.  But it's for someone who has a serious illness and I want to get it to her as fast as I can.

Otter's not a fan of the Twilight series.  She read the books and liked them at first, then she realized just how stupid and sappy the stories are.  She did see the first movie.  It was after that when she had her "awakening" to the awfullness of it.  She was really amused to see that there is now a Twilight parody movie out.  She and BF are going to see it tomorrow, she might even post a review of it on here.

TGIF!

Too Long A Day!

My day started early.  Billyboy had to be in early today, so he got up at 4:00.  Well, the alarm was set for 4:00 but I think he actually got up before that.  I got up about 4:15.  And I've been on the go ever since.  Let me tell you, there is not enough coffee in the world today!

The Borg Queen is tired.  The drones are off somewhere, doing whatever they do when the Queen isn't watching them.  (Run, doggies!)

I'm very ready for Saturday.  But there is still one more day to get through first.

I'm too tired to even crochet!  That almost never happens.

I did manage to get some done on my prayer shawl project, I took it to work yesterday and spent about 1/2 of my lunch hour working on it.  It's coming together nicely, I'm just anxious to get it done since it's a gift for someone.  I think I'm probably about 1/4 finished with it, so there's still a ways to go on it.  (A ways is correct Texas grammer!).

And I forgot what else I was going to say.  Think I need to go to bed early tonight. :)

Please Read

First:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/15/oklahoma-lawmakers-seek-voter-backing-ban-shariah-courts/

When this first hit the news, there were a lot of comments about how Duncan is so misguided and wrong.  (In case you are wondering, we are FIRMLY on Duncan's side in this).

Now, read this:  (My comments are at the end).

Note very carefully the paragraph in bold.

This was written by a woman born in Egypt as a Muslim. This is not heresy, and it will scare you. Make sure you read the paragraph (in bold) towards the end.

Joys of Muslim Women

By Nonie Darwish

In the Muslim faith a Muslim man can marry a child as young as 1 year old and have sexual intimacy with this child, consummating the marriage by 9. The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy.

Even though a woman is abused, she can not obtain a divorce.

To prove rape, the woman must have (4) male witnesses.

Often after a woman has been raped, she is returned to her family and the family must return the dowry. The family has the right to execute her (an honor killing) to restore the honor of the family. Husbands can beat their wives 'at will' and the man does not have to say why he has beaten her.

The husband is permitted to have 4 wives and a temporary wife for an hour (prostitute) at his discretion.

The Shariah Muslim law controls the private as well as the public life of the woman.

In the Western World ( America ) Muslim men are startin g to demand Shariah Law so the wife can not obtain a divorce and he can have full and complete control of her. It is amazing and alarming how many of our sisters and daughters attending American Universities are now marrying Muslim men and submitting themselves and their children unsuspectingly to the Shariah law.

By passing this on, enlightened American women may avoid becoming a slave under Shariah Law. Ripping the West in Two. Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.

She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.

Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before immigrat ing to America in 1978, when she was eight years old. Her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza .

When he died, he was considered a "shahid," a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.

But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture a nd upbringing. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television.

In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping sharia law - what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.

For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed. Westerners generally assume all religions encourage a respect for the dignity of each individual. Islamic law (Sharia) teaches that non-Muslims should be subjugated or killed in this world.

Peace and prosperity for one's children is not as important as assuring that Islamic law rules everywhere in the Middle East and eventually in the world.

While Westerners tend to think that all religions encourage some form of the golden rule, Sharia teaches two systems of ethics - one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims. Building on tr ibal practices of the seventh century, Sharia encourages the side of humanity that wants to take from and subjugate others.

While Westerners tend to think in terms of religious people developing a personal understanding of and relationship with God, Sharia advocates executing people who ask difficult questions that could be interpreted as criticism.

It's hard to imagine, that in this day and age, Islamic scholars agree that those who criticize Islam o r choose to stop being Muslim should be executed. Sadly, while talk of an Islamic reformation is common and even assumed by many in the West, such murmurings in the Middle East are silenced through intimidation.

While Westerners are accustomed to an increase in religious tolerance over time, Darwish explains how petro dollars are being used to grow an extremely intolerant form of political Islam in her native Egypt and elsewhere.

In twenty years there wil l be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. To elect the President by themselves! Rest assured they will do so... You can look at how they have taken over several towns in the USA .. Dearborn Mich. Is one... And there are others..

I think everyone in the U.S. Should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!

It is too bad that so many are disillusioned with life and Christianit y to accept Muslims as peaceful.. Some may be but they have an army that is willing to shed blood in the name of Islam.. The peaceful support the warriors with their finances and own kind of patriotism to their religion. WHILE AMERICAN IS GETTING RID OF CHRISTIANITY FROM ALL PUBLIC SITES AND ERASING GOD FROM THE LIVES OF CHILDREN THE MUSLIMS ARE PLANNING A GREAT JIHAD ON AMERICA . . . . . .

This is not just fear.  This is not just misunderstanding.  This is not just misinterpreting.  This is not just religous bigotry.  For the most part, American Muslims are peaceful and just trying to live their lives.  But if this womans' fears are right (and we believe that they are), American Muslims will not be the majority.  What is very possibly going to happen is that they will be considered as needing to be re-educated by "real" Muslims.  That will happen.  And it will change most American Muslims opinions, and their actions as well.

For the record, we do NOT believe that God and allah are the same.  I've researched that one, and allah is actually a combination of three gods that were worshipped in the general time/area of Mohommad and were combined/created by him for his theology.  There is a lot more to that which I might go into later.

And yes, we do still support Duncan and will continue to.

Sunday Shopping Part 2

Bill couldn't come up with a use for the Sears gift card - actually he didn't have time to go to Sears - so he gave it back to me.  Otter and I went to Sears today, since the card was only good for a week starting today.  She found another t-shirt and I got socks.  For a total of just over $2.00, since the card was for $10.00.  Pretty good deal, actually!  This is the shirt she got, it looks really good on her.  The eyes seem to glow, they are luminous.  It's the Cheshire Cat from the recent Alice in Wonderland movie.

We also went to Michael's.  And, as much as I wanted to check the yarn out, I managed to stay away from that side of the store completely.  Otter is taking an art class this year and needed a specific type of sketch book, as well as ebony pencils.  Michael's had what she wanted, and that was the last of the supplies she needs for this year.  At this point anyway, there may be more things later for specific assignments but that's not a big deal.

We bought her a new umbrella Friday, since we might eventually get rain.  Sometime.  Maybe.  Fall actually can be pretty wet in this part of NE OK.  She had an umbrella last year but it didn't survive the school year.  She has also requested rain boots.  We haven't seen them in the store yet, except for Sears and we didn't want to pay nearly $40.00 for a pair of rain boots.

We had a chance of rain today, it was supposed to be rainy off and on all day.  But beyond about 6 drops of rain on the car window this morning, nothing yet.  I cleaned out my rain barrel last week, it was just about empty and what was left was a very bright, almost flourescent, green.  It's waiting to be refilled, it just needs rain.

I think we're going to get our flu shots towards the end of next week, around the 27th.  We'll still be earlier than we have been before, but only by about a month.  If for some reason Walgreen's runs out, we'll wait until the Visiting Nurse Association starts theirs, which will be around October 1.  I'd just really like to get it over with so we don't have to worry about it later.  Or about not being able to get it later on because of Fall allergies!

I got quite a bit of crochet done yesterday on the latest prayer shawl.  I started it Friday evening and got the first row done, yesterday I got 2 more rows done and part of another.  It's turning out nicely and the yarn is absolutely lovely.  I'll post pictures on the craft blog when it's done, it is a fast project but it's also a fairly big one so it will take me a little while.  I don't always have time during the week to sit and crochet.  But we'll watch a little tv tonight and I'll probably work on it then.

We watch Ice Road Truckers which might be on the History Channel, I can't remember!  We also watch a show called Top Shot, which is a shooting competition and it's on after Ice Road.

Otter and I also went to the library today while we were out.  We frequently do that on Sunday afternoons, the big library is open on Sundays.  We both found lots of books, they have added new crochet books to their shelves and that was a nice surprise.  One of the books I got was on crocheted pot holders, Froggy.  Just in case you might be interested in that fact!  :)

We Survived!

The first day of 12th grade.

This is part of what Otter wore to school today.  She bought these in San Antonio when she was there a few weeks back.  Her Uncle Crazy chipped in towards them, so we sent him a picture this morning because Otter wanted him to know she wore them today.  She's been wearing them already, she likes them and they are comfortable.  Besides, they have the Batman logo and are Converse - two of Otter's favorite things, Batman and shoes!  She has a couple of other pairs of Converse, she loves the brand.

We splurged on a pizza tonight.  It's always been our tradition that on the first day or school Otter gets a special breakfast and dinner.  Her version of special breakfast is simple, today it was waffles.  Since I knew we wouldn't have a lot of time - nobody was willing to get up early enough to make waffles, I made them in advance and put them in the fridge.  The we just put them in the toaster this morning.  Dinner has been take-out most years, although the very first day of kindergarten was dinner at Luby's.  Last year, she requested buffalo burgers so it was homemade.  This year, she wanted a pizza from Little Ceasar's and I also got an order of crazy bread and sauce.  She eats cheap, anyway. :)

I ventured into a new yarn store today.  I'd already been to the first location, which I was not impressed with - they weren't friendly, and if you don't knit then they don't want to even talk to you.  So I wasn't expecting much when I went to their second store but it's a yarn store so I didn't have a choice!  I was pleasantly surprised.  Although the majority of the yarn they carry is wool like the main store, the people were very nice, very customer-oriented and crochet friendly.  I didn't buy anything (wow!), but they do carry the yarn I fell in love with in San Antonio and brought home in my tote bag on the plane.  I just barely brushed up against wool yarn with my left arm and didn't really pay attention to it at the time, beyond knowing that my arm had come into contact with something.  A little while later, I realized that my left arm was itching pretty heavily and then I realized that the yarn I'd touched lightly was in fact wool.  My allergies are on red alert at the moment, ragweed season is starting.  So I guess I'll have to be even more careful of wool right now, since I just barely touched it in the shop.

Walgreen's has a big sign out that they will have flu shots soon.  I called and talked to a pharmacist, they should start on Monday.  Last year, Walgreen's was insisting on a prescription from the doctor before they would give the shots but they've come to their senses this year and it's walk-in.  I did some checking, because the wisdom used to be that the shot immunity wouldn't last more than a few months but it's been improved - or maybe the doctors just know more about it - and by getting the shots this early we will still be protected through next summer or thereabouts.  So we might get our shots next week or the week after.  It will still be on a Friday afternoon, because I do generally have a mild reaction and not feel too good for a few hours.  But I'd really love to get it over with so that we don't have to worry about getting the shot later.  The later we wait in the year, the harder it is to get the shots because of our allergies.  The ragweed is just getting started so we're ok for a while, before we start our fall allergy games.

Bill came back here a moment ago, just to make an announcement.  Fraiser burped.  Apparently, that's big news for some strange reason.  I told him to be glad it was "just" a burp where Frasier is concerned!

I spoke with Virginia a little while ago.  She's doing pretty good, overwhelmed at the moment but that is to be expected.  She's got her hands full with the grandkids right now.  Her mother's services are Monday evening for the Rosary and then the actual funeral and burial is Tuesday.  She's just been through so much, I worry about her.

I have a crochet project I'm about to start.  I'm going to work on another prayer shawl.  Toadles - this isn't the project for Robyn that I needed her height for!  I found some absolutely georgous, soft yarn in variegated turquoise blue and chocolate brown at Michael's yesterday and I'm anxious to get started on it.  I was going to start it tonight, but I'm really tired so I'll wait until tomorrow evening or more likely Saturday.  It will go fast, the pattern I use will be the same as the other two I've made and it's quick.  It's also a fun pattern.  I'll post pictures when I get it finished.

Th-th-that's all, fffolks!

Prayer Request

As many of you are aware, I have a very close friend named Virginia.  Virginia is really more like a sister than a friend, we are that close.  She has had more than her share of tragedies.  In the last 5 years, she has lost her father, her daughter and her husband.  She is raising her three grandchildren on her own as their father (her son-in-law) has abandoned them.  Last night, her mother passed away.  Her mother had been ill with dementia and the family knew that it was coming, but they thought that it would still be several months.  However, last night God took her home.  While we are all happy that she is now free from illness and confusion, it is very hard on Virginia and her family to cope with.  I would like to request prayers for Virginia and the family.  They need our prayers very badly.

Hot. Tired. Tuesday!

OK, so the first week of August being extremely hot means a long, wet winter.  What does the 2nd week of August being extremely hot mean?

It means that the air conditioner in my car acts up.  Fortunately, it was minor and a cheap fix.  But it reminded me that I've been through two car air conditioners conking out on me and I think both times before, it was the first or second week of August!  (One was a car that was on it's last legs, the second was the Impala that is now Bill's and the warranty covered the replacement so it wasn't as bad as it could have been).

The thing is, I am used to the heat.  I grew up in it, after all.  But that doesn't mean I like it!  It's just "there" and we deal with it.

Only one more day of freedom for Otter.  She's as ready as she ever is, to start school.  She gets a Lazy Day tomorrow - no chores, she can sleep in and spend the day in front of the tv if that's what she decides.  Which it probably will be, she's got several movies she can pick from and I would imagine that her favorite actor will be featured in most/all of them. :)

And that's the extent of my exciting Tuesday.

Sunday Shopping Fun

Tax Free Weekend!!  We, along with just about everybody else in the area, took advantage of it.  We spent over $150 and saved over $13.00 in sales tax but most of what we bought was on sale in addition to the sales tax break.  It might sound like we spent a lot, but we got a lot for the money.  A LOT.  We're fairly good shoppers.  Otter has several new shirts, socks, a whole lot of other stuff.  Bill needed another pair of jeans, I found a t-shirt at Wallyworld as well as lots of socks and some misc. items.  I'm not sure what the total price would have been with the normal prices, since just about everything we got was on sale but we probably saved at least $30.00 or maybe more.

Sears also had a special, if your purchase was over $50 it earned a $10.00 gift card.  Since our biggest haul was at Sears, we got the gift card and have given it to Willieboy since I'm sure that he'll need a tool or something.  He always does.

The sales tax free items include things like shoes, undies, hose, most non-uniform clothing but not things like specific shoes (like football or golf shoes), purses, backpacks or uniform items and it doesn't include things like wedding attire or similar.  Most stores have additional sales that coincide with the tax free weekend as well as extended hours.  So most people take advantage of it.  At one point, the state did consider adding school supplies to the list of tax free items but that didn't happen after all.  I'm not sure about outerwear such as coats, but they aren't really out yet anyway.  Otter is going to need a new coat this year, but that's something we'll get later on when the stores have them in stock.  Sears did have a couple, but they were really more of a heavy jacket than an actual coat.  I don't think that things like pajamas would be tax free, but I'm not sure about that.  Hats are tax free, which kind of surprised me.  I don't think that things like summer wear (swimsuits) would be tax free.

My feet hurt!  We've been running around two different Walmarts and the mall.  But Otter is now ready for school, at least as far as clothing goes.

I didn't get any work done on my Dr. Who scarf yesterday.  I did crochet, just not on it.  I might get some done today, it's a possibility. :)

Bill did some car work today.  He replaced the brakes on his Impala.  I think he got overheated, too.  He's now parked on the couch with the fan going and drinking lots of water.  The dogs are keeping him company - he's on the couch and they are parked on the floor, snoozing.  Bill's watching a movie, I'm not sure what it is, but I can hear him laughing.

My plans for today included cleaning out my rain barrel, but I've put that off because I need Bill to unhook it from the rain gutters for me and I don't want him out in the heat again today.  We're back under a heat alert, it was nicer yesterday and breezy but today is hot & no breeze again.  The rain barrel is just about empty and it's due for a cleaning out anyway, but it can wait a few days.  We aren't supposed to get rain for a while, there isn't any in the forecast as far as I know.  But if we did get rain before I got the barrel cleaned out, it really wouldn't be a big deal.  I just like to clean it out occasionally.

Next week is shaping up to be a busy week.  I have to get the oil changed on my car and Bill's car may possibly get some other work done that it needs, and then school starts on Thursday.  Hard to believe that summer break is just about over.  It's been a busy one.

Since it's August, it's ragweed season.  I think that the ragweed have already started blooming, based on the symptoms that Otter and I have been having for a few days.  We normally have to avoid certain areas in stores like Dillards, such as the perfume department.  Today, we had no choice - we had to walk through it to get to where we needed to be.  I think that they must have just sprayed a perfume sample when we came through, because my face started itching and when I put my hands up to my face - my arms started itching.  Whatever it was, it was not a good moment because perfume and related things don't normally cause a skin reaction and it's never, ever a good thing when a new symptom shows up.  If it's a perfumed soap, it can cause an issue then.  But I've never had a perfume in the air cause a skin reaction, just an understandable lung reaction.  It could well mean that my allergies are changing and quite possibly, getting worse.  Urgh.

OK, back to my usual Sunday job:  Laundry!  I have my usual few loads which have been expanded, because of all the new clothes we got today.  We have to wash just about everything before we can wear it, thanks to being allergic to so many things!

Friday's Shopping Report

Well, we did shop today.  So the title is accurate.  But there's other stuff to talk about, too.

Otter went to work with me today.  For what is, in all probability, the last time.  We thought that same thing at the beginning of the summer, because she had job plans.  But that didn't happen, so she's been working for me this summer.  It's been going well on my end of the agreement, but let's just say that she does not see her future plans to include being a maid.  :)  Anyway.  Since this might be the last time, I took her to lunch today.  Which I did frequently, but usually to something fast food-ish.  Today, we went to a Chinese buffet and had a great meal and a nice time.

Then we walked next door to TJ Maxx's and went shopping.  Otter tried on a couple of things but didn't like them.  By then, we had to head back to the office.  After work, we went to the library (of course!) and a couple of things and then to Target.  Where she tried on 3 or 4 t-shirts and rejected them all.  Apparently, the style is either skintight (not too small just tight) or way low cut.  She did find a few more pairs of cute socks - she's got nearly as many pairs of socks as she has shoes!  We then had a couple of other, non-shopping related errands to accomplish and our final stop was Wallyworld.  We found mostly what we were looking for there, but it was "foundation garments" and not fun clothing shopping.  But it was all tax free, so it made sense to get "those things" today.  Because tomorrow is Sabbath, we will not be shopping.  But come Sunday, we'll be at the mall!  Otter really doesn't need much, she's pretty well covered on all bases now anyway but she would like a few more shirts.  And I'm sure we'll have to look at shoes.  For some reason, I think she'll want to.  Can't imagine why!

It's been a busy week.  We had a FutureJedi invasion yesterday.  JediMom brought her herd (actually, I think she called them a horde) by on their way back to Texas from her hubby's family reuinion.  We met at the Hog Trough again and then they came home with us.  We had a great time, the kids are always fun.  Frasier was in his element, he loves people and he especially loves kids.  MaggieMoo, well she was a little confused at first.  She was friendly, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of all these little peoplepups running round her yard!  She got the idea eventually and joined the fun, but she was really happy this morning when she discovered that those little peoplepups know how to give belly rubs!  Otter was happy because she had someone to play Twister with - since Twister would probably be the end of me. :)

Froggy, I never heard anything back from the people about the quilt shower curtain.  But I think you would be able to make one fairly easy.  I can't remember the shower curtain dimensions, it's been 28 years since I sold them for a living (yikes!) but I think that they are 72" wide.  Measure your current one, I don't know what you have in your bathroom but the one in KN3's bathroom is a standard size.  And then send me pictures when you get yours finished!

Dr. Who scarf update:  It's coming along.  I think it's something like 18", I know it's past the one foot mark.  Otter found a graph icon for me that I tried to post here but was unable to, but the gist of it is that it compares Dr. Who incarnation lifespans with scarf length.  Teeth & Hair is the longest-lived Dr., and she told me that I'd better get on my scarf project and keep going.  I need a couple of smaller projects to work on when I get bored with doing the same stitch over and over and over and over....  I have a couple of ideas for that.

Bill's pachinko collection increased again.  I think he's up to 23 or 24.  He got this one at an auction yesterday, for under $10.00.  Can't beat that with a stick, as Mom used to say!

OK, I guess that's it for now.  I'm tired, my feet are yelling at me for being on them so much today and it's just about time to go keep the couch and tv company.

Tuesday Funnies

"We Americans got so tired of being thought of as dumb a**es by the rest of the world that we went to the polls last November and removed all doubt."

24 Bumper Stickers For Women

1. SO MANY MEN, SO FEW WHO CAN AFFORD ME.

2. GOD MADE US SISTERS; PROZAC MADE US FRIENDS.

3. IF THEY DON'T HAVE CHOCOLATE IN HEAVEN, I AIN'T GOING.

4. MY MOTHER IS A TRAVEL AGENT FOR GUILT TRIPS.

5. PRINCESS, HAVING HAD SUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE WITH PRINCES, SEEKS FROG.

6. COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN. . . SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH.

7. DON'T TREAT ME ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU WOULD THE QUEEN.

8. IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST IN BED, SLEEP IN THE KITCHEN.

9. DINNER IS READY WHEN THE SMOKE ALARM GOES OFF.

10. I'M OUT OF ESTROGEN-AND I HAVE A GUN.

11. GUYS HAVE FEELINGS TOO. BUT LIKE...WHO CARES?

12. NEXT MOOD SWING: 6 MINUTES.

13. AND YOUR POINT IS...?

14. WARNING: I HAVE AN ATTITUDE AND I KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

15. OF COURSE I DON'T LOOK BUSY...I DID IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

16. DO NOT START WITH ME. YOU WILL NOT WIN.

17. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT, SO PLEASE SHUT UP.

18. ALL STRESSED OUT AND NO ONE TO CHOKE.

19. I'M ONE OF THOSE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.

20. HOW CAN I MISS YOU IF YOU WON'T GO AWAY?

21. SORRY IF I LOOKED INTERESTED. I'M NOT.

22. ANOTHER DOPELESS HOPE FIEND

23. IF WE ARE WHAT WE EAT, I'M FAST, CHEAP AND EASY.

24. DON'T UPSET ME! I'M RUNNING OUT OF PLACES TO HIDE THE BODIES.

Murphy's Law for eBay:

1. If you miscalculate shipping in your listing, your buyer will inevitably live on the other side of the country.

2. If you ship to US only, you will get questions for quotes to Canada.

3. That item you are glad to finally be rid of will only be sold to the woman/man who:

     Recently had surgery and can't get to the post office.

    Credit card expired

    Will be mailing a check when you ONLY take MO/Paypal

    Kids "accidentally" bid on your item, also should be noted "accidentally" bid on the same item and won      it cheaper same day.

4. You sell some odd-shaped item and every box you have is either 1/2" too small or a mile too huge. The perfect box for this item does not exist

5. When you spend 45 minutes creating the perfect listing, you'll click CONTINUE and ebay will have lost it all.  Of course you didn't save it anywhere.

6. You pay for priority to get your stuff, then the seller doesn't ship for it for two weeks anyway.

7. You do your research and wait until there are no other items like yours listed - then you list the item and, within a few hours, you discover that half a dozen other sellers have done the same thing.

8. You buy an item on ebay, then go to a store the next day and see it 60% cheaper.

9. The first time you don't wait for a check to clear...it will bounce.

10. Your search of completed listings for a certain widget you've been waiting to list turns up sky-high prices, so you list yours and find out 7 days later that you missed the "wave". Or, you sell your widget dirt cheap and the following week, everyone and their dog wants one and causes one of those "waves"

11. You list the item that one of your regulars begged you to find and then they tell you it is not quite the size they were thinking of.

12. If you allow an in-person pick up of a widget, they will inevitably arrive while you are in the shower, eating dinner, or using the potty.

13. Your winning bidder pays $20 plus for OVERNIGHT shipping because they need the item IMMEDIATELY, but they pay by Paypal eCheck, which takes four days to clear.

14. If you misspell a word in your listing, it will be the worst possible word to misspell, and change the meaning of your entire listing (never, ever, ever miss putting the "o" in count).

15. Flaws will only become visible in items after they have sold for twelve times what you expected.

16. The sound of the garbage men collecting your trash will coincide with a call from a seller asking you to check your shipping boxes carefully for a 1 carat diamond that fell out of her engagement ring.

17. Priority mail delivery does not follow the usual laws of the space-time continuum.

18. Your printer will only run out of ink in the middle of a mailing label.

19. The odds of your internet connection going down or a power outage happening are proportional to the number of great deals ending soon in your watch list.

20. At least once you'll see your boss is a winning bidder on one of your auctions. And it will always be an item whose profit is all in your handling fee.

21. Clothing on eBay is smaller than it appears.

22. Your cat will invariably choose to curl up for a nap in the one box that will wind up being used for the buyer who is most allergic to cats.

23. Never say "Hah! There's no way the Post Office can possibly break this widget with all that packing material.", as it tends to anger the gods of Chaos.

24. Your child will only take an interest in a toy after it's been put up for auction and gets a bid.

25. You will see stuff you bought at yard sales, couldn't sell on eBay and sold at your own yard sale be sold on eBay by another seller for embarassingly large sums of cash.

26. You spend countless hours preparing the perfect listing for that rare and sure-to-be-a-goldmine widget... and it's only up for a few hours before someone does a BIN.

27. Your Internet connection chooses to go down for 30 hours, about 15 hours before your earliest auctions end. And of course, it's on a weekend when there's no one at the help desk anyway.

28. You ignore your family and friends all weekend, stop cooking meals and answering the phone so you can finally get 50 listings up on Sunday night. Minutes after you've uploaded them, you get an eBay notification that tomorrow is 10 cent listing day.

29. you will get requests from non-winning bidders for items that you only have one copy of, while your second chance offer for the only item you have a duplicate of won't sell to the second high bidder

30. You step away from the breakable items you are packing to get more bubble wrap when you hear a sound that makes your heart sink.

31. you have auctions end one week before a postal rate change..it will take one week & a day for buyer's MO to reach you.

32. Your cat will know when it's "Ebay picture-taking time" and manage to somehow get a paw or the tip of a tail into at least one shot.

33. The day your last neg disappears for a year, a non-paying bidder decides to add color to your feedback.

34. (never, ever, ever miss putting the "o" in count).

35. You are browsing ebay listings and some naked guy will take a picture of a shiny object and use a gallery picture.

36. You spend endless emails trying to get a deadbeat bidder to pay up and then they finally pay your $235.00 invoice only for you to find that they used PayPal and have an unconfirmed address. Of course, you have in all your listings that you do not ship to unconfirmed addresses if payment is made with PayPal. So, you have to refund and start all over again trying to collect.

37. You find an item at a local store at a good price, list it and it sells like crazy. You then go out, but another dozen, and no one touches them.

38. You buy a breakable item, pay extra for good packing, it arrives in a shoe box wrapped in Kleenex and is in many pieces.

39. You change all listings to buy it now, they are selling quickly, buyers are paying ......and your internet goes down for the rest of the day.

40. 10 cent listing day will find you laying in bed, too sick to even move, never mind listing

41. Your beloved collectible widget sells high to someone very appreciative, they pay fast as lightening...you are packing it up ready to ship same day and CRACK..you broke it beyond repair. No way to replace or repair...boo hoo!

42. You find the widget that you have been searching months for, win it, pay for it...It gets lost in the mail.

43. You list your widget and watch it for days while the hit counter goes nowhere. Only after the widget finally get a bid you realize you made a mistake in the title, meaning it won't turn up in a common search but you can no longer revise it because of the bid.

44. The item that goes in a 4"x4"x4" cube package that barely has room for the address and return address is worth $100.00 and needs all of these: a Delivery Confirmation form, an insurance form (for over $50.00), a Fragile stamp, a first class stamp (notation) pasted on it while the item that is worth $2.00, has no insurance, DC or other labels for fragile or first class goes in a long padded mailer that could hold your will written on it.

45. When you mix up the shipping labels and send Sue X's item to Sue Y, and vice versa, they will be expensive Priority packages rather than light weight and cheap First Class Mail

46. You go out to put two small packages into your mailbox...only to find the carrier was here early today! ~ any other day...the !@#%#mail carrier doesn't deliver your mail till after 4pm

47. ONLY the high dollar item you sold you find out the Delv Confirmation sit & spins on "the USPS was notified to expect your packagage for shipment on xx-xx-xx" for over 15 days......before finally THANKFULLY being delivered.

48. The bidder on a widget you've been hoping would finally sell, becomes a NPB. (non paying bidder).

49. Worse still, the bidder on a widget you finally got sold... sells to a scammer who tries the Nigerian overpayment scam or Ukranian stolen credit card scam on you.

50. As a seller, you list lots of items, and the few that sell, only sell for the starting bid. But as a buyer, the ONE item that you have been looking for and finally found on eBay after months (or years) of searching for it, gets bidded up to some ridiculous price!

Funny Warnings:

 

On Sears hairdryer: Do not use while sleeping.

(Gee, that's the only time I have to work on my hair!)

On a bar of Dial soap: Directions: Use like regular soap.

(And that would be how?)

On some Swann frozen dinners: Serving suggestion: Defrost.

(But it's *just* a suggestion!)

On a hotel provided shower cap in a box: Fits one head.

(Really?)

On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert: (printed on bottom of the box) Do not turn upside down.

(Too late! You lose!)

On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding: Product will be hot after heating.

(Are you sure??? Let's experiment!)

On packaging for a Rowenta iron: Do not iron clothes on body.

(But wouldn't that save more time?)

On Boot's Children's cough medicine: Do not drive car or operate machinery.

(We could do a lot to reduce the rate of construction incidents if we just kept those 5 year olds off those fork lifts.)

On Nytol sleep aid: Warning: may cause drowsiness.

(One would hope!)

On a string of Chinese-made Christmas lights: For indoor or outdoor use only.

(As opposed to use in outer space?)

On a Japanese food processor: Not to be used for the other use.

(Now I'm curious.)

On Sainsbury's peanuts: Warning: contains nuts.

(But no peas?)

On an American Airlines packet of nuts:Instructions: open packet, eat nuts.

(Have a lobotomy)

On a Swedish chainsaw: Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals.

(What is this, a home castration kit?)

On a child's Superman costume: Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly.

(That's right, destroy a universal childhood fantasy!)

At the Costco Eatery, there was a sign that said: Employes MUST Wash Hands

(One would hope)

TEXAS Stuff:

If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Texas;

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas;

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas;

If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas;

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas;

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas;

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas;

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas;

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody's passing you, you may live in Texas;

If you find 60 degrees 'a little chilly,' you may live in Texas;

If you actually understand these jokes, and share them with all your Texas friends, you definitely live in Texas or are a Texan.

 

Real Woman Cooking Tips:

 

Ladies - If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix-me-up."

Real Woman - If you over-salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too damn bad. Please recite with me, The Real Women's motto: "I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes."

Ladies - Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

Real Woman - Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink. You might still have the headache, but who cares?

Ladies - Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

Real Woman - Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake. You are probably lying on the couch, with your feet up, eating it anyway.

Ladies - To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Real Woman - Buy boxed mashed potato mix and keep it in the pantry for up to a year.

Ladies - When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the inside of the cake.

Real Woman - Go to the bakery - they'll even decorate it for you.

Ladies - Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.

Real Woman - Sara Lee frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I just don't do it.

Ladies - If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

Real Woman - Go ask the very cute neighbor guy to do it.

And finally the most important tip....

Ladies - Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

Real Woman - Leftover wine??

Teen Age Daughters:

Congratulations!   You are now the proud new owner of a teenaged daughter. Please read this manual carefully, as it describes the maintenance of your new daughter, and answers important questions about your warranty (which does NOT include the right to return the product to the factory for a full refund).

IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR TEENAGER IN ERROR:   To determine whether you were supposed to receive a teenaged girl, please examine your new daughter carefully. Does she (a) look very similar to your original daughter, only with more makeup and less clothing? (b) refuse to acknowledge

your existence on the planet Earth (except when requesting money)? (c) sleep in a burrow of dirty laundry? If any of these are true, you have received the correct item. Nice try, though.

BREAK-IN PERIOD: When you first receive your teenaged daughter, you will initially experience a high level of discomfort. Gradually, this discomfort will subside, and you will merely feel traumatized. This is the "Break-In Period," during which you are becoming accustomed to certain behaviors that will cause you concern, anxiety, and stress.  Once you have adapted to these behaviors, your teenager will start acting even worse.

ACTIVATION: To activate your teenaged daughter, simply place her in the vicinity of a telephone. No further programming is required.

SHUTDOWN: Several hours after activation, you may desire to shut down your teenaged daughter. There is no way to do this.

CLEANING YOUR TEENAGED DAUGHTER: Having a teenaged daughter means learning the difference between the words "clean" and "neat." Teenaged daughters are very clean, because they take frequent showers that last more than an hour. They will scrub themselves with expensive, fragrant soaps which you

must purchase for them because like I'm sure I'm going to use like the same kind of soap my mom and dad use. When they have completely drained the hot-water tank, they will step out and wrap themselves in every towel in the bathroom, which they will subsequently strew throughout the house. If you ask them to pick up the towels, you are confusing "clean" with "neat." Teenagers are very busy and do not have time to be neat. They expect others to pick up after them.  These others are called "parents."

FEEDING YOUR TEENAGED DAUGHTER: Your teenaged daughter requires regular meals, which must be purchased for her at restaurants because she detests everything you eat because it is like so disgusting. She does not want you to accompany her to these restaurants, because some people might see you and like I'm sure I want my friends to see me eating dinner with my parents. Either order take-out food or just give her the money, preferably both. If you order pizza, never answer the doorbell because the delivery boy might see you and ohmigod he is so hot. Yes, your daughter's idea of an attractive man is the pizza boy.

CLOTHING YOUR TEENAGED DAUGHTER: Retailers make millions of dollars a year selling stylish and frankly sensible clothing which will look adorable on your daughter. If you enjoy shopping, you will love the vast selections which are available to you. Unfortunately, your teenaged daughter wants to dress like a lap dancer. You may be able to coerce her into putting on a cute outfit before leaving the house, but by the time she walks in the schoolhouse door, she will be wearing something entirely different.

OTHER MAINTENANCE: Teenaged daughters require one of two levels of maintenance: "High," and "Ultra High." Your daughter is "Ultra High." This means that whatever you do won't be enough and whatever you try won't work.

WARRANTY: This product is not without defect because she has your genes, for heaven's sake. If you think this is not fair, talk to your parents, who think it is hilarious. Your teenaged daughter will remain a teenager for as long as it takes for her to become a woman, which in her opinion has already happened and as far as you are concerned never really will. If you are dissatisfied with your teenaged daughter, well, what did you expect? In any event, your warranty does not give you your little girl back under any circumstances, except that deep down she's actually still there -- you just have to look for her.

Sunday Stash & July Books

First things first, my stash.  Here it is:

It might not look like a lot.  But these crates are very deep and they hold a lot of yarn balls.  A LOT.  (That's Bill's foot in the upper right corner.)

From the other side.  And this isn't all, there are a few other yarn balls that aren't pictured because they are part of a UFO and also the Really Good Yarn that I bought at the yarn store in Texas.  Also, my Good yarn is in a picnic basket that isn't shown here but it's full, too.

I took these pictures shortly before I started my Teeth & Hair scarf.  It's going to take me a while, but it's also going to be easy.  It's all single stiches, 40 stitches wide and then I start the next row.  The color changes are going to be what I feel like at the time and I'm sure I'll repeat colors.  Not that I honestly expect to wear the thing, although Bill thinks that I will.  Considering that it will probably be big enough for all three of us at once and maybe a couple of other people...

Did you know that Otters make nests?  Mine does.  This is her normal Saturday spot, on the loveseat with a blanket and a bunch of books.  The books are stacked on the top back.  Quite frequently, there will be a beagle on the floor beside her.

We've been cleaning out Otter's closet today.  We're going shopping for school clothes next weekend, Tax Free Shopping!  She really won't need a lot, but we'll still have fun.  She could probably use a few more nicer blouses, she's probably got enough t-shirts.  She is going to need winter shirts & a new coat, but they aren't out yet.  She has a few pairs of jeans so if we don't find any next weekend, it's not a big deal but we'll probably look anyway.  We know that she won't need shoes!  But I'm sure we'll still look. :)

We took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill just now, and the majority of it came out of Otter's closet.  We did look for other things, she tried on a shirt and a pair of jeans but they didn't fit and we didn't find anything else.

It occured to us this morning that today is 6 years since we moved.  Just interesting trivia.

July Book List:

1.  Obama Zombies, How The Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation by Jason Mattera.  This is one that Otter recommended to me and I'd recommend it to anyone.  The author is a rare species - young conservative (which Otter also says she is) and he knows what he's talking about.  He's done his homework.  It's very well researched and well written.  And it should be required reading.

2.  The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies by John Scazi.  I don't recall too much about this one, but it was a guide to sci-fi movies with a lot of details.

3. & 4.  Batman

5.  Stray Sock Sewing Too by Daniel.  Fun patterns for sock animals.  Not just sock monkeys.

6.  Disney Pixar the Art of UP by Tim Hauser.  Up is a charming movie and this was a fun book.

7.  Hooks Only Crochet From Start to Finish edited by Carol Alexander.  This one is for crocheters who love the crochet process but not the sewing it all together part - like me!

8.  Wrapped in Crochet - Scarves, Wraps & Shawls by Kristin Omdahl.  Nothing of interest in this one, but I'm always looking for patterns.

9.  Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo.  First book of a new series which has promise.  It's a murder mystery.

10.  If You Really Loved Me by Ann Rule.  Many time a rerun, but Ann Rule is always good.  I started reading this on the plane to Texas and hardly had any time to read while I was there, so it took me a long time to actually finish this one.

11.  Pray For Silence by Linda Castillo.  Sequel to # 9.

12.  Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.  Otter also recommended this one.  It's anime-style, it's the story of a young girl coming of age in Iran just before and during the mess that started in the late 70's.  It's a true story and was very good.

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.  Batman

19.  The Time of My Life by Patric Swayze and Lisa Niemi.  This was a good book, I think he died very shortly after it was published.

20.  Trust the Dog, Rebuilding Lives Through Teamwork with Man's Best Friend by the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation.  This was a heartwarming book.

21.  Walt Disney's Fantasia.  About the making of the original movie.  Lots of great pictures of the artwork.

22.  Laura, the Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Donald Zochert.  This was her actual biography, not exactly what the Little House series covers.  It went over some of the things in the Little House series but it had a lot more detail and also a lot about her later life.  As well as a better timeline.

23.  Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy.  A rerun.

24.  The Life We Were Given by ?  I forgot to write down the author's name.  I was not impressed.  It was about Operation Babylift, which was when many babies from Vietnam were brought to America to be adopted.  It wasn't perfect, there were a lot of mistakes made, nobody is disupting that.  But the book was written from the perspective that all adoptions were/are wrong, I think that the author has a personal bias against adoption.

The gas company came out a couple of weeks ago to check our meter.  Apparently, it hasn't been reading right.  They've been estimating our natural gas usage and billing us accordingly.  The guy that came out said that he was going to try to fix it but that it might have to be replaced entirely.  Well, he was right - it has to be replaced and they will be out tomorrow afternoon.  It's only supposed to take them about 30 minutes.  They have to have access to any appliances that use natural gas, so Bill will take the day off and be here with them.  He cleaned out a path so that they can get to the heater and water heater without being in danger of an avalance.  They also will need to check the oven.  They have to be sure that they get any air out of the lines before they can leave.  The dogsters will be blocked out of the house and their gate will be shut, so they will not be able to get into the bigger part of the back yard.

On Wednesday, Otter gets her schedule for the school year.  Then she starts school a week later, on Thursday August 12.  It would be a whole lot easier if they'd start on a Monday.  But, as Otter says, this is her last year of compulsory schooling.

OK, back to my laundry now.  It is Sunday, after all.