Traditions

 We have a few traditions.  I know I've mentioned before that we have a Christmas Eve tradtition.  But we have a couple of others.

Tulips is one, for Otter.  This was probably taken a few days ago, since the violets still look like weeds here.  The violets have since started blooming, I think that they probably remember me telling them last year to straighten up and bloom.  Or else I was going to yank every last one of them out.

There is a violet visible in the lower corner of this shot, but look at that tulip!

This picture should actually be after the next one.  Since they are the same type of tulip, just at different blooming stages.

The one behind this one is probably a different variety, note the lack of yellow on the edges of the red petals.

It doesn't resemble one I've ever seen, but it's a bluebonnet!  It's a Misplaced Texan, and we sometimes react in strange ways to the non-native environment.  But it's a 'bonnet and I'm not complaining!  It didn't get much bigger than this and has in fact already been taken out to the back yard to fill in a hole the dogs dug.  But we enjoyed it while we had it.  It did not develop the strong, sweet fragrance that they normally have.  It was taller and not nearly as spread out as they generally are.  But who cares!  It was a bluebonnet and we enjoyed it.

This is one of our other tradtions.  I  guess you could call it one.  Redbud trees are just about my favorite tree.  This one is 3 years old now, it's grown quite a bit and is blooming more each year.  Otter took this picture this afternoon.  We had one at our old house and it was huge - much, much bigger than they normally get.  As a result, it was also extremely brittle and we eventually had to cut it down.  Sad day for me.  But then we put the pool in the spot where the tree had been, and because of that we didn't replace the tree.  After we moved to our current home, I informed Bill that I wanted a redbud tree and when we bought trees a couple of years later, the first one he bought was my redbud.

Here's a closer shot of the blooms.

Another tradition is that we have tacos on March 30.  Because on March 30, 1992, I made tacos for dinner.  And went into labor a few hours later!  Otter says that she knows she had no choice, she had to become addicted to Mexican food and the hotter, the better.  She's right, by the way.  So we had tacos tonight.  And beans.  And Nuclear Rice.  Otter made salsa, she used several jalepenos and one habenero pepper.  She also used a couple of tomatos, onion, bell pepper, salt and lemon juice.  She would have used more habaneros, but they were already going bad and only one was still good.  It was fairly hot, but not as hot as it sounds.  Or maybe we're just immune!  Whatever, it was still very good.

She is her parent's daughter, after all.  The hotter the pepper, the better it tastes.  If you can still actually taste something after that, it's not hot enough.

(Note of warning:  Expect political stuff soon.  And another warning:  We could well be considered the poster family for extreme conservatism).

Wet Tuesday Stuff

First off:  I wanted to address Froggy's comment about graduation being traumatic.  It is, it's a big life step and it is something considerable to experience.  When I graduated, I was fine up until just a few days before the ceremony.  Although I was in the school choir, I Lettered in Choir in fact, I made the decision not to be part of the choir at the graduation ceremony.  I wanted to walk in with my graduating class, and to be in the choir that night would have meant that I couldn't do that.  So my last official performance as a member of the award-winning choir was at a concert a few nights prior to graduation.  I wasn't the only one, several of us made the same decision.  Our teacher probably would have preferred that we perform with the choir until the end, but he was a wonderful man and he understood.  He also understood the fact that at the last concert, most of the sopranos (including me) were in tears during the last song - and trying to hold each other up so we wouldn't fall off of the risers we stood on!  (Along with a couple of the tenors and possibly an alto or two, it seems like there were a lot of us that graduated that year.)  Because that's when it hit us, all of us at once, that it really was the end.  That's what was traumatic for me and the rest of us, by the time of the actual ceremony we'd gotten over the trauma.  But that last concert was rough!  Even the teacher was emotional that night.  By the time the ceremony came along, we were all better but it was still an emotional time.

So I'm not surprised that Otter and her friends had a few moments.  But they are all fine now.  For the moment, I'm sure!

Froggy, what was your trauma?  I remember when you graduated, at one point all the parents of graduating seniors were asked to stand up.  Mom was holding my hand in a deathgrip (probably because she was having issues with her daughter being old enough to graduate!) and she yanked me to my feet when she stood up!

It was kind of rainy today.  We had thunderstorms sometime late last night, or possibly very early this morning, I'm not sure exactly.  They weren't bad.  There wasn't much rain, but it was wet and misty all day.  Cool and cloudy and not spring-like at all.  It is supposed to be cool tomorrow, I think, and then warmer by the weekend.  I hope so, I'm ready for Spring!  (But NOT SLS!)*

*SpringLikeStorms

Sunday Spring?

Spring?  Really?

Can't prove it here.  It was in the 30's last night and might get to the high 40's today.  If we're lucky.

It's cold & damp, not quite misting but just kind of yucky outside.  Yesterday was a little warmer, but we also (I think) got a little bit of sprinkles.  I guess that this is better than that other type of spring weather we get in this area, so I'd probably better not complain much!

Because it's Sunday, I'm doing laundry.  I generally try to do some during the week so it doesn't all pile up on me by Sunday, but that didn't happen this week.  So I have a large pile of dirty clothing waiting on me.  Bill bought a new gizmo, it's an indoor dryer exhaust.  The dryer exhaust vent/pipe in the house might be clogged up again, which wouldn't surprise me as it's been about 1 1/2 years since we had it cleaned the last time.  But it seems to clog up fast anyway, probably because it's all straight up and is pretty long since it goes to the top of the roof.  So we'll see how the indoor vent affects drying time.  Bill's an engineer, and that means that he likes just about every gadget that comes out!

We had lunch out today.  We went to Cici's Pizza.  Well, Bill and I did.  Otter is off with BF and they are going to have barbecue at his house.  So I don't feel too sorry for her, missing the pizza.  Cici's was very crowded and the buffet line was loooooooooooooooooong.  We go to early church and are out around 10:00, so we'd kind of forgotten about the early afternoon post-church crowd.  But I got my spinach pizza, so I'm happy.  We also went to the Blockbuster that is closing and found a couple of dvd's, to Bill's other home (hardware store) and to the dollar store.  Didn't buy too much at any place, but it was still a fun trip.

Movie review:  Skyline.  We were not impressed.  At all.

I think Otter has gotten over her emotional crisis regarding graduation.  She reports that all of her friends were back to normal on Friday, so I think that the crisis has passed.  (It wasn't much of a crisis, really).

I've managed to get some de-stashing done.  I've made 3 hat/scarf combos and some other misc. stuff.  I'm going to quit the scarf/hat combos for a while and get a few other projects done.  I'll get more scarf/hats done, I'm just going to work on some other stuff for the immediate future.  As I use yarn and just have small amounts left, I'm tossing it in a bag and then later on I'm going to make a few more clothes hanger covers with that yarn.  I might get some more crochet done today, I'm working on a project that is slow going.  I got some done on it yesterday, when I finished the 3rd hat.

If it ever gets warm enough, I have a few other craft projects that I want to get done.  Some of them involve paint or glaze, so it has to be warmer and dry.  Possibly this next weekend.  It's  supposed to be back in the 70's and clear.

We'll see.  I'm not going to hold my breath on this one.

Couple of Quick Friday Thoughts

This is so me.  Lola is a cartoon about a knitter, but it applies to crochet as well.

There are happy tummies around my house.  We brought home Fajitas!  Well, for Bill & myself.  Otter got tamales.  But the point is, we had Mexican food and we are stuffed.  Happily.  I think Bill's going to make margaritas in a little while.

Otter thinks that this is the beginning of a good joke:  I can't drink cheap tequila, because I have an allergy to something it's made with.  I have to have the good stuff!  I don't drink much anyway, and tequila is not my drink of choice so I don't have it often.  But I agree with her, if she could come up with a punch line that works she has the beginning of a funny joke.

Otter came home from school yesterday in the midst of an existintial crises:  Graduation supplies were delivered!  That means cap & gown, tassles, invitation, etc.  She said that she suddenly realized that the End of School is near.  At least, compulsory school.  Apparently, the herd she travels with (horde? group? flock? collective?) all had the same reaction to receiving their supplies.

Turning 19 in less than a week isn't even a blip on her radar.  Graduating from High School?  It's major trauma!

Middle of the Week Stuff

Not much stuff happening, actually.  It's just Wednesday.  My major activity today, aside from going to work, was to buy groceries.  And I got the car washed, along with three or four other people who were in line ahead of me.  So if it rains, it's not entirely my fault.

We could use some rain.  This time of year is known as Fire Season for a very good reason.  This year seems to be living up to the name.

This is interesting:

March 25: Waffles of the world, frolic! Today is International Waffle Day!

We have had waffles a couple of times lately, so we probably won't have them on the 25th.  Which is Friday, and work/school days are quick breakfasts anyway.  But, hopefully, somebody somewhere will have them!  Froggy?

 

Otter's tulips are looking good.  There aren't as many as we hoped, but some of them may be slower to come up than others.  We have a variety of colors & types planted.  Two have already started blooming and the rest have buds.  They are ahead of the daffodils this year.  I took a couple of pictures with Otter's camera yesterday, and she'll eventually remember to get them uploaded on my computer so I can post them here.  Or I will, since I forgot it too!

 

Otter's had two migraines in the last month.  She had the 2nd one yesterday.  She woke up with it.  She took a motrin and went to the couch, where she stayed most of the day.  She's also had some allergy issues lately - and she's not alone there.  But it's Spring, and that means allergies for us.

 

OK, I've updated my exciting life!  Now, I think I'll go crochet.

A Couple of Spring Monday Thoughts

The last day of Fall last year was cold.  The first day of Winter was warm.  So now it's spring.  The last day of Winter was warm.  The first full day of Spring?  It's cool and windy.  We had to turn on the fan in the bedroom last night and I put the humidifier away.  So it's cool now.  Figures!

Peeps!  Always a sure sign of Spring.  And of Easter being right around corner.  Of course, most peeps are soft & squishy & pure sugar... We saw some at Target today that I've never seen before.  They are standard peeps, then covered in chocolate or a similar candy coating, then dusted with sugar.  Not sure if they sound good or not!

Otter found this a while back, last month when we were snowed in.  I forgot to post it.  It says Southerners, but it could also apply to Texans.  You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it enough to see.

This is not Frasier, obviously.  But he does this on a regular basis, when he's coming inside after a day outside.  He gets to the end of the kitchen and forgets to slow down to make the turn into the living room.  Sometimes, I have to move the table back in place because he frequently crashes into it while he's sliding and trying to turn.  Never slows him down, however.  I love the blissful expression on the face of the dog in the picture.

All for now!  Think I'm going to go see what's on tv and then probably attack a crochet project.

Sunday Spells

Alternate title:  How do you spell __________?

Bill keeps asking me to spell words for him.  Since I couldn't decide on a good title for today, Sunday Spells it is.  There are not a lot of words that I can't spell.  But they are sometimes the words that Bill needs!  That's when it gets really fun.

Today is the first day of Spring, although I think it's actually still Winter until something like 11:23 tonight.  But as far as I'm concerned, Spring has sprung.  It's an absolutely beautiful day.  I spent a little time outside, I pulled weeds from the morning glory bed and a few brave weeds that dared to come up in the rock garden.  Actually, they were on the edge of the rock garden since it's got several layers of thick plastic underneath the rocks.  I did notice a few morning glory sprouts coming up.  I didn't stay out very long because a) the allergy thing has shown up and b) I'm still using the mederma scar cream and I have to avoid too much sun exposure.

I'm going to keep using the mederma, it is making a difference.  It is still itchy at times, but not as bad as it was.  I did some research and I think that the extreme itch reaction I had was most likely due to my sensitive skin.  I probably should not have been surprised.  But the scar is thinning out and fading, a lot quicker than I expected it to.  It's still sensitive to the touch, but I think that's normal.

Otter enjoyed her Spring Break.  It's back to school for her tomorrow.  Also back to work for Bill.  The dogs probably enjoyed Bill being home last week, they got to stay inside all day.  The snoozed a lot, but they'd have done that anyway even if they'd been outside.  They can be a tad bit lazy. :)

Blogger seems to be acting better today, I really wasn't sure if the last entry would post or not.  It looks like it did.  I'm not sure what the problem was, Blogger acts up at times and it gets really frustrating but I'm glad that it's working today.

The only remaining Borders store in this area has been added to the closing list.  They are supposed to start their clearance sales in the middle of the week.  Otter and I will go, but we really would prefer that they not have to close.  I won't be surprised is the entire chain eventually goes under.  Especially since they have started to add a lot more stores to the closing list.

Otter learned a new recipe yesterday.  We made salsa.  It's fairly easy, mostly it's just toss a few tomatoes, onion and pepper with a small amount of lemon juice into the blender or food processor and it's done.  Otter added garlic to hers and she used lime juice instead of lemon juice.  The store was out of jalepenos the other day, so we used soreno peppers.  They are ok, but I like the flavor of jalepenos better.  It was still good, still spicy and tasty.  I really like the Ninja food processor/blender that Bill got me for Christmas (or maybe it was birthday).  It's perfect for making salsa.

Other than that, just normal Sunday stuff going on.  Bill's been working on a pachinko machine and listing stuff on eBay, Otter had a few chores and I'm doing laundry.  The dogs have been out in the back yard for a bit, they weren't too crazed this time, and are now back to napping in the living room.  I also got a little crochet done and will probably do some more later.  Or maybe I'll follow the dog's example and take a nap!  That sounds really good, actually.

Friday. Long Day and I'm Tired!

And Blogger is acting up again, for whatever reason.  It wouldn't let me sign in for a while, then it just got flakey.  I'm hoping that this will actually post!  I guess I'll find out.

I've enjoyed my day off.  It started with waffles, which are fun to make.  And fun to eat!  Then Otter and I hit the road with shopping in mind.

We ran a few errands such as the bank, post office, etc., but most of our day was spent trying to find something to buy.  We had very little success, but it was fun.  We were looking for Pachinko machines for Billyboy's always-expanding collection but didn't find any at all.  We have gone from finding them everywhere we turn to not finding any at all.  We stopped at a flea market and did find someone selling Girl Scout cookies, so we got two boxes of Samoas since we forgot that kind when we bought them before.  Otter wanted to look at a particular booth, but it wasn't open on Friday.  So we were on the way back to the door when we walked past a booth that was open.  And it had Fenton.  And it was cheap.  $5.00 each for two pieces.  Needless to say, they came home with me.  Both are milk glass in the hobnail pattern.  One is a vase, one is a hat - but a different style than the hat I have 4 of.  It's actually a fairly hard to find piece.  The seller knew what they were, and I enjoyed talking to someone who knew what he had but wasn't interested in skinning me.  The funny part was when he asked if I was a Tulsa native.  Which is when I pointed out my TEXAS Longhorns t-shirt.  We both laughed at that.

We went to a couple of thrift stores and antique stores.  Otter found several books and a really cute dress.  I found two more shot glasses for Bill's Useless Collection.  But we really didn't find much today.  It was still fun.  The most we spent was at the grocery store, and that was under $25.00.

When we got home, both dogs were crazed.  They were happy to see us and that turned into a session of chasing each other around the living room.  So Otter took them out to the backyard and they ran around for a while.  She ran around with them, so all three of them were tired out!

Very shortly, I'm going to head to the kitchen.  It's Friday, so we have a fun dinner.  On Friday we usually either cook something that we don't have often or will occasionally bring home something.  Tonight is Digorno's pizza.  Then I think I'm going to have a glass of wine and put my feet up.  I have tired feet, I've been on them all day.  So I think it's time to get off of them.

Now, let's see if this actually works.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, a Milestone and Other Stuff

First, the milestone:  This is Post # 1001.  Yippee!

And I can't forget about St. Patrick's Day, after all we are Irish.

I just thought that this doggie was really cute.  And the fact that it's wearing a green CROCHETED scarf/collar certainly helps with the cuteness factor.  I did briefly consider attempting to dress Frasier up, but it would end badly. :)  Anyway, I hope you all wore your green today.  We certainly did.  But we don't have a big celebration, we're not partiers.

I do have a pot of pinto beans on the stove, but I don't think that counts!  I guess I could consider the cornbread I'm also going to make as Irish, but it would be a stretch.

I am taking tomorrow off.  Otter and I are going to shop!  We have a couple of thrift stores we want to go to, at least two antique-ish stores and wherever else we feel like.  We did discuss a ramble trip with Bill, but we decided to wait a little while on that.

Otter went to work with me today, we went to the mall for lunch.  We had Chick-Fil-A and then we still had time to look at a few stores.  She found some really cute earrings, and made a point of showing me a couple of t-shirts and then talking about the fact that her birthday is 2 weeks from today.  I got the point, Otter!  But you still have to wait until your birthday to find out what we get you.  We went to the library after work, Otter had to text me from the second floor of the library to tell me that she had lilterally gotten more books than she could carry.  That's my girl!

It's really nice today.  It's in the low 80's and sunnny, there is a breeze that is stiff at times but it is a very pleasant afternoon.  When we got home, Otter took the dogsters out to the back yard and let them run around for a while.  She also played the game we call Winding the Beagle!  It's easy.  All you need is a beagle, and a lot of running room.  Place one hand on the beagle's head, the other on the beagle's rear part.  Then you turn said beagle in a circle, the proper Beagle Turning Manuever is done multiple times and sort of quickly.  Then, you get out of the way as fast as you can!  The next step is to watch the beagle run around and around and around and around the yard - she's not dizzy, she's energized.  Beagle Winding is best accomplished by running around with the wound-up beagle.  Frasier likes to play Wind the Beagle.  He doesn't like to be wound up, but he does like the after affect of all that running and running and running and running...  Then the beagle will collapse in a heap somewhere and snooze.  Preferably, as close to her Otter as she can get.  But anywhere will work.

I'm just glad that tomorrow is Friday, and that I'm off.  It's been a looooooooooong week!

HELP

This is virtually the same message I posted after the Haiti earthquake.  As bad as that was, I think that Japan's is worse.  They've been hit with a double whammy, because of the tsunami.  And now, the nuclear catastrophe they are facing.


Here are a few links for anyone interested in donating to the relief efforts. Their need is so great right now, anything at all that you could donate would help them.


http://www.redcross.org/  I'm not a fan of the Red Cross, but when they do their job they do it well.

http://crs-blog.org/ You don't have to be Catholic to donate to the Catholic Relief.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf  The Salvation Army is one of the best there is.

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/give/ This link might not work, but it's the only one I could find. UMCOR is the United Methodist Church, and they do a great deal around the world. If the link doesn't work for you, try Google and maybe you can find a better one.

Southern Baptist Church   This is the Southern Baptist Church's link. They are also in areas where quite a few people won't go.

Pray. Pray hard. And then pray some more.

Signs?

Sunday Sleepies

Hope everybody remembered to Spring Forward this morning.  We're sprung.  And eventually, I'll catch up with it but I don't like it.

Spring Break is this week for Otter.  Bill's using some of his vacation time, so he'll be off this week as well.  I'm taking Friday off.  Not sure what we're going to do, we don't really have any rambles planned at the moment.  I'm sure we'll think of something.  We did discuss the zoo, but allergies are starting to get bad so we think that might wait a little while.  We might go thrifting, look for yardsales or something along those lines.

Otter has her annual lung recheck at the allergist on Tuesday.  I don't anticipate anything changing, she's doing very well as far as the asthma is concerned.  Her allergies are not horribly bad, it's just the time of year for them.

It's gotten colder again.  It's not cold, but it's definetely cooler than it was for a while.  It's grey and cloudy today, we could get rain later on.  Maybe, anyway.

I managed to get some crochet time in yesterday.  I'm nearly through with the third scarf to donate.  It will also get a hat to match.  Then I think I'm going to switch to a few other projects, and come back to the scarf/hat combos later.  I have a few things I want to work on.

I have soup in the crockpot.  It will be dinner tonight, and probably tomorrow night as well.  Along with some being frozen for Bill's lunches.  It was going to be lunch, but I didn't have enough time before church to get it started.  So as soon as we got home, I got busy chopping vegetables and got it going.  It will still have time to cook, we'll just eat a little later tonight than we usually do.  I'm also going to make a pot of beans, probably Tuesday.  And cornbread!  Gotta have cornbread with beans.

I put some yarn scraps out for the birds yesterday.  I've always just tossed them out in the yard, but I am trying something different this year.  I put the yarn pieces in a suet holder and we'll see if that works.  The birds use it for nesting material, they always find it on the ground.  But someone said that they use a suet holder and the birds find it, so I'm trying it this year.  So far, I'm not impressed.  But we'll see, it's still early and the birds are just now starting to think along the lines of needing nests.

The tulips are coming along nicely, I'm not sure that all the bulbs we planted are going to come up.  But there are still plenty, and lots of daffodils.  I'm also thinking that there may be a morning glory or two starting to sprout, at Otter's trellis.  But there are also weeds under the trellis, we haven't gotten out there to pull them yet.  I did pull weeds from the edge of the rock garden, but I haven't done much outside yet.  I pulled up what was left of the mum plant in the front of the house, I'm not sure if I'm going to plant something else there or not.  Also, we aren't sure yet what we'll put in the whiskey barrel.  We would love to be able to find bluebonnets again, but they haven't been offered the last few years.  But we still have plenty of time, it's only mid-March.  Our volunteer bluebonnet is starting to bloom, although it looks funny.  But it's a bluebonnet and we're happy.

In TEXAS, mid-March is the time to start planting.  But in NE Oklahoma, it's still winter.  We could possibly still have winter weather and need the heavy coats, there are still several weeks until we should have spring weather on a consistent basis.  Spring weather as in temperatures and not spring storms, please!  We had too many of those last year, and I really don't want to go through another year like that.  But it could still have been a whole lot worse.

It's Our Beffday!

Our Mommms said that todday is our beffday.  Wee didn't knowed it was todday.  They gave us treeeats!  We ated them already.  The treeeats were gooood.  We're gooood doggies.

Our Mommms said that todday is also a people beffday, wee don't know the people but her name is Clrrra.  Sounds like a gooood name for a dog or a people.   Wee think it mustt bee a speshul day, wee are gladd that we have our beffday on the same day.

March is International Crochet Month

So I thought I'd post a few funny, yarn related pictures.

I love this one.  The cat looks so surprised (and guilty).

This could also be a dog, I dropped a yarn ball the other day and the beagle was right after it.  I got to it before she did, but she wanted it badly.  And Frasier also has a history with yarn balls being left within his reach.

I can't use wool because of my allergy, but this one is still funny.

This one could also be titled Death Row Kitty!

I find it ironic that I've had hardly any crochet time this month.  I'm going to remedy that situation asap, but it might be Saturday before I get a chance to get back to it.

Just Tuesday

Just Tuesday.  Almost middle of the week.  Rainy, cold and icky.  Not quite Wednesday.

That about sums up my day today.  Just so exciting!

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  I'm not sure about Lent yet, I'm still thinking about what I will be giving up.  A lot of people think that Lent is "only" for a certain religous group, the Catholic and Methodist churches both observe it as a group but not a lot of other groups do.  Which is a shame, really.  It's a Christian tradition, for all of us and not just for a select group.  Lent is meant to be a time of reflection, looking inside ourselves and searching our hearts as well as a time of waiting.  It's a somber, but not necessarily a sad time.  The Methodist and Catholic churches both have the Imposition of the Ashes as part of their rituals, we always participated when we belonged to the Methodist church.  It's a tradition that I really miss.  The ashes are an outward sign, to remind us and people that see us what it's about; it is to remind us that we were created out of the dust and that we will return to dust after death.  The physical parts of our bodies will, but the inner part also known as the soul is eternal.  Traditionally, the ashes are from the previous year's palm leaves that are part of the Palm Sunday observance.

Giving something up for Lent is part of learning self-denial.  That's why we are to give up something that we care about, be it food or an activity.  But it has to be something that really means something.  In other words, it would be supremely stupid for me to give up something like smoking because I don't smoke.  I have given up chocolate in the past, but I don't really eat a lot of it lately (by choice, too much fat!).  I've given up cokes before (Texas cokes so that means all sodas) but I'm not drinking too many of those lately either.  I'll figure it out, hopefully before tomorrow!

It's a time of reflection, we are to reflect on God's sacrifice of his Son for us.  It can be a dark, quiet time but that is part of the reflection.  It's a time of waiting, waiting for Easter and what it really Means.  It's a time to take things a little slower and learn patience.  A lot of people have problems wtih that one, I certainly do at times.

I posted pictures of Otter's quilt on the craft blog while ago.  I'm calling it the 13-year quilt because it took me at least that long to make it.  But I'm not sure of that, it might have taken me longer or maybe less because I can't remember when I started it.  I was thinking that it was when Otter was in kindergarten, but it might have been 1st or 2nd grade.  Either way, it was years ago!

We saw this next sight when we were on the way to the theater Sunday to get tickets for Monday's movie:

It's supposed to be a shampoo bottle.  We hope that the person inside the costume was paid well, because it does NOT look like a shampoo bottle to us!

GO!

Go see this.

As soon as you can.

Even if it's just because of the snake!

(You'll understand after you see it).

Sunday Selling?

(This is my "regularly scheduled Sunday" post.  It's also the 2nd one of the day.  TEXAS deserves it's own entry, free of the usual clutter.)

We're (attempting to) sell(ing) stuff on eBay today.  Bill's finally gotten around to decluttering!  He's got a couple of pachinko machines up, as well as some misc. r/c airplane and model components.  I have my french yarn listed and might get a few more things up.  Possibly even Fenton.

Yeah, I know.  I said I'd never sell any of my Fenton again.  But I really don't need 4 identical hats!  So, if I get around to it, 3 of them will be on eBay.  They might not sell, they are fairly common pieces.  Which is why I have 4 of them.  There are some pieces that I probably want/need spares for, but hats are not in that category.  I have a hat in a smaller size and in another color, along with the white one that's still on the Fenton shelves.

Speaking of decluttering, I have managed to get some destashing done.  I have used most of 4 different skeins and now have 4 very small amounts left.  I'm not necessarily trying to use up all of my yarn, just get the amount down because it doesn't do anybody any good if it's just sitting in the closet.  I've made two hat/scarf sets for my military donation project and have the yarn picked out for the next set.

I see a lot of crochet in my immediate future.  I really need to keep my hands occupied for the next several days, possibly a few weeks, as the cut on my face (from the car door a month ago) has now healed up and I'm treating the scar.  I'm using Mederma, which was recommended by the pharmacist at Walgreen's.  It does work, I've been using it for 3 or 4 days and can tell a slight difference already.  But it also itches!  Worse than you can even imagine.  But that means that the healing process has started.  It can take up to 3 months, depending on scar size and a couple of other things.  Since it's a new scar and not huge, it might not take that long.  It's still driving me absolutely bonkers.  I think that my overly sensitive skin is possibly a factor in the intensity of the itching, I've used a scar cream before on my surgical scar and it wasn't anywhere near this bad.  I've discovered that holding something cold against the scar helps, which is why I spent a lot of time yesterday holding a coke can up to my chin when I wasn't crocheting.  When Otter was little, we had a washcloth that was sewn into a bunny shape, with an area for an ice cube to be inserted.  It's meant to be used on small bumps, cuts, etc. as a soothing agent.  She called it her icy bunny.  I found it in the freezer yesterday, I think I'm going to start using it myself!  We always just kept it in the freezer so we'd know where it was at, since it's supposed to have an ice cube in it.  I'd forgotten all about it, actually.**

Otter and I went thrifting today.  No luck.  We went to the Border's that's closing.  No luck.  We went to an antique store.  No luck.  The only thing we bought today was a snack at a convenience store and advance day tickets for the movie we're seeing after school tomorrow.  (Rango, in case you are interested).

It's kind of hard to believe that this time last month we had 2' of snow on the ground and were in the middle of a 3-storm spell.  Today, it's sunny and breezy.  Still cool, but not cold.  It's been very windy, but it generally is this time of year.  I changed out the bedding today, I put the camo quilt away and put my patchwork quilt on the bed.  Bill made both of them, the camo is lightweight but extremely warm and the patchwork is still fairly warm but more of a warmer weather bedspread.  I also realized that we have a LOT of blankets!

I think I'm making sloppy joes for dinner tonight.  There is still a little bit of the spicy spaghetti sauce in the fridge, not really enough for spaghetti but probably enough for sloppy joes.  I have another jar of Ragu in the pantry in case there's not enough - I pretty much always have spaghetti and sauce on hand!  As Bill and Otter can attest to. :)

**Mom always kept her toothpicks in the refridgerator.  I grew up thinking that they just belonged there, so I always put mine there as well.  One day, I realized that it didn't make any sense and asked her about it.  She told me that it was so she always knew where they were when she needed them, which was perfectly logical for her.   Now mine are on the table.  But there are still some in the fridge for Mom!

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Today is a Fun Day!

It's Dr. Suess Day!

This is what brilliance looks like.  And genius.  Did I mention brilliance?  Mom read these to me (and probably Froggy as well) and that is one tradition that we definitely continued with Otter.

When Otter was little, she had all the Suess books. She loved them all.  When we read this one to her, as soon as we were finished she would head straight for Bill.  And if he was sitting down, she'd go hop on him.

But there were a few that were more special.  Hop on Pop was certainly one, as was One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

This was the most special of all of them.  We had to read it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

I still know most of the words one by heart.  I think we all do.

And most people probably still think that they are "just" kid's books.  When in fact they are something else altogether.  And they are sheer brilliance.

Today is

International Pancake Day, in case anybody is interested!

Food for thought, I guess.