2014

It has been a busy year.

January:

Otter started the year off with a bang:  she woke up puking her guts out!  It was allergy, but still not fun.

The next day, it was my turn!  But I didn't get "it" as bad as she did.

We had some snow.  On the 6th, it was so cold that I literally could not breathe outside and that is never good.

We decided to get a booth at a local antique mall. We started out with pachinko machines but then added a few smaller items.  I cleaned out a lot of things!

We had mice in the house, but that's a somewhat normal happening in the winter.

Bill ran out of gas - less than 1/2 a mile from home!

The first of many issues with my computer - caused by stupid windows updates!

Bill replaced the fuel gauge sensor in his/Otter's impala.

Our 29th Anniversary happened.

I started planning a trip to visit Froggy, probably in May.

February:

The groundhog saw his shadow.  And there were people wanting him skinned & turned into houseshoes all over the place!!

We had a lot of snow & cold weather this month.

Otter woke up with a bad headache one day, turned out she had the 2nd sinus infection she's ever had.  Fortunately, she does not have my sinuses.

I finally finished my afghan!

Bill came down with bronchitis, an upper respiratory infection and he also had a sinus infection.

The next day, I came down with it.  I didn't have the bronchitis, but I did have the URI.  And coincidentally a sinus infection.

We spent about the last 2 weeks of February dealing with the bugs and missed a lot of work.  We spent most of that time parked on the couch with blankets and didn't do a whole lot besides that.  Bill was worse than I was due to the bronchitis and had a lot of really bad pain from sore muscles/coughing.  But I have asthma which he doesn't, so I still had to deal with almost as much coughing and muscle pain just not the actual bronchitis.

Bill decided to get a UPS box for the pachinko business.

Booked my flights for my May trip to see Froggy, except that I had a strong feeling I needed to change it to June so I did.

March:

We were still dealing with the end of the illnesses for the first part of the month.

We had more winter weather!

We extended our booth into the booth space next to it, I sold quite a bit of stuff there.

Bill cleaned out a lot of the "useless collection" a/k/a his shot glasses.  He kept several, but he got rid of a whole lot of them.

Found a dead gopher in the back yard - very close to the back fence. Found a dead cardinal a couple of days later - in almost the exact same spot.  As if they had been tossed over the back fence out of someone else's yard and into ours.

Otter planted her crop - mostly jalepenos.

We had a hail storm.

Discovered (the hard way!) that I am allergic to something in the green tea Arby's sells.  I think it's the additive that turned it actual green - green tea is not named that because of the color!

Otter turned 22!  She picked a chinese buffet for her birthday dinner.

April:

2 Hot Flashes in one day!  Talk about miserable.

We had a hail storm with a lot of rain.

2 baby blues came up in the whiskey barrel!

I found honeysuckle at a local nursery, we planted several of them.

I had to replace our coffee maker.  We wore the last one out!

Dead frog mysteriously showed up in the same place as the dead birds in March.  At this point, we started walking along the back fence and talking loudly about all the dead animals we were finding - anytime that we saw the back neighbors out in their yard,  Amazingly, the dead animals stopped showing up.

Snow!  Not extremely common this late, but not unusual either.

One of Bill's sisters came to visit.

I'd been expecting a jury duty notice for a while, no reason for it but I expected it.  And it was in the mail this month - for the dates I originally planned to go see Froggy!

I came down with a cold.  I think I caught it from Otter.  I shared it with Bill.

We thought we were going to have another bad year for wasps, but they weren't as bad as we feared.

Otter's annual lung check at the allergiests - he is very impressed with her asthma status.

May:

RHTW had a nice long talk with PayPal!  They got the message.  I don't think that they liked it, though!

Bill's compressor broke.  Again!  This time, it was out of warranty.

I decided not to turn the old quilt top I bought into window curtains.  It was intended to be a quilt by whomever made it, and they put a lot of work into it.  It needs to stay a quilt, so I bought batting and backing fabric for it.

It was a fun Mother's Day, we saw Captain America 2 and went to Cici's pizza.

Jury Duty.  Which wasn't that bad, but it was pretty boring!

Froggy's cat, Chester, went to the Rainbow Bridge.  He was a good kitty, very fluffy and spoiled.  Just the way a cat should be.

J made a million and one brownie points with Otter - he got her Brent Spiner's autograph!

It rained.  A lot.  A LOT.

Otter and her friend (Roomie) started seriously thinking about getting an apartment.

We thought the deep freeze was going out, it turned out that Bill hadn't quite shut the door all the way and the water we saw was from that and not because the entire thing was thawing.

We decided to close down the 2nd half of the booth and just keep the original size.

June:

I got a lot of work done on a lap blanket I started in May for Froggy.  I took it to her!

My 20th anniversary at work.  I got a cake, a gift card for a local Mexican restaurant and a pretty good bonus.  Very good, in fact.  I was very surprised.

I went to see Froggy!  Among other things, we hit a lot of thrift stores and went to San Antonio.  And she took me to a COACH outlet!  Of course, I bought a purse.  The flight back from Austin was rough.  I spent several hours in the Houston airport on a weather delay - it's not my favorite place, to say the least.  But I did enjoy the visit and got to see Toadles.

Saw the first hummingbird of the year.  I think they were here already, but I just hadn't seen any.

Moved my yarn stash out of the closet in the office, they were put in the bedroom for a while then into the living room until I had a place for them because we knew by this time roughly when Otter would be moving out.

Bill's birthday!  I made him a pineapple upside down cake.  And we had bacon!

I got the work done on the car that it had been needing, but we never really had time to get done.  We still didn't have time, but we didn't want to wait any longer.  And it was determined that the previous (crooks) place didn't exactly do what they said they did as far as the power steering leak that was repaired - sort of.

July:

Vacation!  We stayed home.  Shopped a lot.

Bill started changing the office to his pachinko workroom.  That means that the machines have left the living room!

I went to the Coach store for cleaner and left with another purse.

Found out just how sharp a Ulu knife is.

We saw fireworks on the 4th.  Otter used her sparklers that we bought last year and she got sick before she used.

Otter started working on her cosplay outfit for TNT.

Bill got two or three wasps nests this month.

Brake replaced on the car.

Bill's sewing machine broke - just as Otter was getting to the end of a sewing project for her TNT cosplay.  I finished it by hand for her.

Otter had an ear infection.

Toadles' daughter went through Tulsa on her way to somewhere else, we met her and her kids at the Hog Trough (Golden Corral).

Otter got a raise - the 2nd on e this year and she also got a promotion but I think that was with the first raise.

The lumberyard started stocking firewood.

Bill broke in a new dermatologist.  He had a skin cancer removed from the back of his left hand.  Best of all, the doctor already knew all about Redheads and how to take care of us!

August:

10 years since we moved into our current house.

Otter's purse was nearly nabbed in Goodwill, I posted the details already.

Retro TV started running the original Dr. Who series!

I visited several fabric stores for Froggy.

Otter and I got our flu shots.  I had my usual reaction, it was a little worse than usual actually.

The world lost a major supernova and we are all so much poorer for it.

The doctor took 7 stitches out of Bill's hand but left a few in place.

Froggy's daughter graduated nursing school!

Bill's sister came to visit again, we had a really nice visit with her.

Bill cleaned out the first rain barrel and replaced the broken spout/spigot.

We had a lot of internet issues.  Our provider got more than a hint of RHTW in full flow.  They are now afraid of me, which is not necessarily a bad thing!

I took the rest of the stitches out of Bill's hand.

Bill bought a log splitter.  And had a lot of fun with it.

We got the chimney cleaned.

We had some limited water restrictions but not bad.

Otter and Roomie looked at several apartments.

I found the "holy grail" of purses  - at least, it was my "holy grail."  A Brahmin!

September:

Bought a new camera.

Otter and Roomie applied for an apartment, put a deposit down and were approved.

We'd been collecting stuff for her for a while but now it was all moved to the living room and piled in front of the fireplace until she actually moved.

Froggy's cat, Callie, vanished.  She never turned up and they never figured out how she managed to get out.

2nd sinus infection of the year!

We got the notice that our insurance company is leaving the state next March.  Nobama care is the reason.

I finished Uncle Crazy's lap blanket.

Bill got a bunch of firewood.

Otter requested a bunch of comfort foods leading up to her move.

We got 10 crepe myrtle plants and they are planted along the back fence.

The passenger window fell down in the door frame on Bill's/Otter's impala.

The Chevy dealership we use for repairs was introduced to RHTW.  And RHTW won that round, but then She usually does.

October:

This was a big, very busy month.  At least at first it was, it got calmer towards the end of the month.  Especially on the first, when our nest because officially empty!

The TEXAS persecution was especially bad this year.

We decided it was time to get serious about finding a new church, we've been unhappy with our current one for a very long time.  We still haven't found the right one.

There was a lunar eclipse.

Bill fixed the oxygen sensor on his/Otter's car and replaced the windshield wiper blades.

This month is when we realized that Maggie was leaky and having lot of problems.

The vet thought that she mad a UTI, she was on medication for a while and it did seem to help a lot.

Bill went over to Otter's apartment one day and showed Roomie all the basic car maintenance things - she'd never been taught any of it, not even how to check her oil OR how important all those things are.  We officially refer to her as out Other Daughter and that's how we feel about her.

Otter had a tummy bug.  And she shared it with me!

My email quit working - thanks to another unwanted, unneeded update!

Otter had what she thought might be a cavity starting.  Turned out, she needed a root canal.

I started a lap robe blanket for Otter.

Major migraine - I have had several this year, but this one was the worst of the year.

Bill replaced the brakes on Roomie's car.

Halloween.

 

November:

 

Otter's root canal actually took place this month.  She had her typical Redhead reaction to the laughing gas.

We decided to have a low-key Thanksgiving.

Which almost didn't happen as we planned, the heating element on the stove went out.  The part came in a couple of days before, so we had the pizza we wanted.  And that Otter could eat!

Otter had a pretty bad migraine.

After running around all day, I finally found towels and stuff to redecorate the guest bathroom.

Snow!

Bill's other sister came to visit.

I had what I first thought was the flu, but it turned out to be "just" a bug and not the actual flu.

Froggy - this is when KN#3 contacted me about the towels you liked but couldn't find locally.  I got them and shipped them to her around Thanksgiving.  And you were very surprised with them on Chrismtas!

Thanksgiving.  We had our pizza.

We cleaned the living room carpet.  And realized that Maggie Moo had been leaking for longer than we realized.

 

December:

 

We decided to close out our booth.  We actually were thinking we'd probably get a new one in a few months, but a new antique mall opened and we were able to get a good deal on a slightly larger booth so we emptied the old booth and took the pachinko machines directly to the new booth.

Bill replaced the lights in the kitchen.  And I saw just how dirty my kitchen really was!

We had a spell of very foggy days.

Retro TV finally got to the episodes with the real Dr. Who, # 4!

Finally replaced our microwave.

I got Bill a leather wallet for Christmas, he got me a calendar - after I finally decided that was what I wanted.

Microsoft did it again, and this time I found the settings on the laptop to where I have to approve all updates before they are installed.

I had the 9th migraine of the year.  I haven't had that many in more years than I can count.

Vacation!

I got My/the Guest/Craft/Sewing/Front/YARN room mostly organized.

Otter went to Oklahoma City for Christmas with J and his mom.  She "met the family" finally.

We had a quiet Christmas.  It was nice, we had steaks & baked potatos and enjoyed it.  It was different, but it was nice.

I got snow on my birthday!  And went to a local flea market.

 

2014 has been a busy year.  It hasn't been a bad year, but there has been a lot that happened.  But at the same time, it's kind of hard to realize that it's already about to be 2015.

Tuesday?

I think it's Tuesday.

 

At any rate, it is cold and getting colder.  Our high was 32 degrees and we got there about 6:00.  A.M.!!  The next cold front is probably here, it was cold all day but when I was walking out of Wallyworld it felt like the temp was dropping and dropping fast.

 

Bill got up before I did this morning, then when I did manage to get up there was a nice, warm fire going.  And a beagle who moved around on her blankets several time - but never, ever took her rear parts off of the rocks around the fireplace!

 

A while back, I started a yarn wreath.  I put it aside for a while, since I didn't really have a place to put it.  But I knew I'd eventually have a guest/craft/sewing/YARN room since I started it after Otter started making her plans to move out.  Today, I finished it.  I took pictures, but blogger is having issues and not letting me post pictures at the moment.  I hope to eventually get it on the craft blog.  Blogger's issue is probably with the last (unwanted) update, because that is when a bunch of problems started.  Anyway, the yarn wreath is finished and it is now hanging on the door to the guest/craft/sewing/YARN room and I'm pleased with it.

 

Bill needed to visit the tool store today.  Otter was off work, so he didn't get to be waited on by his favorite cashier.  But he did get another tool, actually he got a special type of mask to use when sanding so that he can still breathe while operating the sand blaster.

 

I also went to Hobby Lobby, for fabric for another project.  I am making a shadow box.  I actually have one that Mom made.  It has things that belonged to a special aunt of ours, referred to here as AJ.  It has her watch (her wrist was impossibly tiny), a thimble, ring (no stone, just the ring part itself) and a few crochet hooks that she used when making doilies - as in thread crochet, and a small doily she made.  The glass came off of the frame a while back.  I decided to redo it, but this time I'm going to include a couple of things that were Mom's - a crochet piece that she started but never finished (it's a cover for a clothes hanger), a fabric strip that was her size marker for the clothes hanger covers and the plastic bag that both items were in (because she wrote on the outside of the bag what it was) and also a fabric scissor holder that I helped her make.  I bought a clear plastic box frame and today at Hobby I found some really pretty quilt-ish patterned fabric to line the back of the frame with.  Also will eventually be put on the craft blog, assuming that blogger and my fembot computer start talking nicely to each other!

 

While I was making the yarn wreath, I discovered something else:  I have no glue sticks for my glue gun!  I have a sneaking feeling that they might have run off to a certain apartment I know of.  :)  I had to go get lettuce anyway, so I went to wally and got glue sticks.  I paid for the lettuce, but it didn't get home with me.  Everything else did that I paid for, so I get to go back to Wally in the morning and get my missing lettuce!

 

Bill cleaned the hallway carpet yesterday.  When we (ok, he mostly!) cleaned the living room carpet recently, he stopped at the hall.  And it was obvious a) exactly where he stopped and b) just how dirty the carpet really was!  Now the hallway carpet is clean and the last of the dog-ish smell seems to be gone.  I hope that we can keep it that way.

 

Otter came over yesterday.  We took her the car Monday afternoon, we met her at an arcade she was at with J and a couple of their friends.  She went home and went to bed about 7:00 p.m, then got up at 1:00 a.m. to get to work at 2:00 a.m.  She worked until about 9:30 a.m., then she came over here and we had Christmas with her.  I wanted to go to Michaels and she wanted to go with me.  We hit a couple of other places and then stopped at Dairy Queen to get lunch to bring home.  I think it was around 2:30 or 3:00 when she left go to home.  She was pretty tired by that point, which was understandable considering how long she'd been up!  Anyway, she gave Bill a collection of sci-fi movies and some of them are pretty "bad" - exactly what he likes!  She got me something fun for Christmas:

Seems she's heard me (and many, many, many others - we are legion) talk about how all those cell phones (and a lot of other things we enjoy/use today) wouldn't even exist if a brilliant man had never imagined Star Trek.  So she got me my very own communicator!  Bill's had as much fun with it as I have, it makes assorted (correct) noises and has various ST voices with various ST phrases.

 

**But she got me something even more special for my birthday:

Meet Gerrold!  Actually, "his" name is Gerrold Irving Kahless.  I named "him" but "his" nickname is Fred.  (Because the Irving Feinberg was incorrectly referred to as Fred in something I read about Star Trek many years ago.)

For all 2 of you who don't know what Gerrold/Fred is:  Tribbles!  "His" name should be self-explanatory after you read the article, also you can probably figure out why "he" is in quotations and also why "his" last name is Klingon!

**I raised that girl right.  Birthdays are separate from the holiday they might happen to fall on/by.

The Borg Queen is pleased!

Day After Motorcycle Day

I got snow for my birthday!  It was very pretty, but it didn't include much in the way of ice so I was still able to go to the flea market yesterday.  The flea market opened at 8:00, I got there about 10:30 and left about 11:30.  Empty handed, but it was still fun.  Lots of overpriced Fenton this time, very little of it was actually rare or hard to find.  Just high priced.

 

The snow got heavier in the afternoon.  We still were able to get out for dinner, Bill took me to a local diner that we have never eaten at but always wanted to.  It was a nice birthday meal, I had chicken fried steak.  First time I've had it in something like 12 years, and it will probably be that long before I have it again.  But it was so good!  After we ate, we went to Hobby Lobby and looked around.  Of course I bought yarn!  It was a fall color and the fall colors are about to be replaced with the spring colors, so I got 2 skeins and it's now in the stash drawers.  I did get a little yarn de-stashing done yesterday, Roomie got a cap made in red yarn which I have had on hand for a long time.  And still have on hand, it was a larger size skein.  I think I used about a third of the skein on her cap.

 

I made my own birthday "cake" this year.  I made a pan of brownies, but I didn't get them baked until today.  I used an entire bag of chocolate chips in them this time, so they are going to be extremely chocolate!!  I went to Braums on Friday and got a carton of strawberry cheesecake ice cream, because you have to have ice cream with birthday cake!  Or brownies.

 

We closed our booth out a few days early.  And moved it to another antique mall that opened a few months back.  The new one is in a slightly better area, the old one isn't bad in the sense of crime or anything like that but the new one will get more traffic and is a little easier to see from the street.  It's a couple of miles closer to the house.  We went to the new place this morning to see if they had anything coming up in the near future, and Bill worked out a deal with the owner today.  We thought that we were going to have to bring the machines home for a while until we found a new place, but the owner of the new mall was willing to make us a good deal so we went to the old place as planned and retrieved machines and then took them to the new place.  It's almost the same rent, just $10 more and she does not charge the 10% commission on sales that the old place did.  And she advertises, unlike the old place.

 

Otter got back from her Christmas trip to Oklahoma City with J and his mom.  We met her this afternoon to give her the car, she goes in at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and nobody was willing to get up and get her to work at that awful hour!  She left her laundry here when she brought the car back to us last Tuesday, I told her that I would do it for her so she got a laundry basket full of clean laundry today along with the car.  She's going to let me know what her schedule is for the week and then we'll see which day we'll have Christmas with her.  Also, I hope to be able to have a shopping day with her sometime this week.

 

I have a picture I took yesterday that I might eventually get posted here - if Blogger will cooperate!  Actually, the problem probably is not Blogger but most likely the last windows update that changed so much on my laptop.  Anyway, the picture is one I took yesterday after the dogs went out in the back yard to play.  Frasier went out first, and it looks almost exactly like he was hopping on one foot and only one foot - he's got a lot of coyote tendencies and that is one we really notice, the single file walk that they do.  Maggie Moo, on the other hand, uses all 4 feet and it almost looked like she just jumped straight up and down, leaping from place to place instead of actually walking.  Silly dogs, but we like them!

 

I'm not making dinner tonight, we went out for breakfast and ate late.  Bill got into the cookies while ago and even though it's nearly 4:00 neither one of us is really hungry.  I'm thinking I might make nachos or something like that.  Maybe!  It's an F & F day for sure today.

Christmas 2014

(I've been trying to post a Christmas related graphic, but blogger isn't cooperating.  Bill had to do some work on my computer to fix other things that the last update messed up, and he thinks that wonderful(not) microsoft may have installed Windows 8 on my laptop.  Which they weren't supposed to do!)

 

It's been a good day, but a different one for us.  As Bill said, this is the first Christmas since we met that we haven't either had to run somewhere or had people over here - we've never actually had a "just us" Christmas before!  It just happened that way this year.

 

Christmas morning was nice, we had coffee and quiet time on the couch.  Bill had been up for a couple of hours by the time I got up at about 6:00 a.m.  The dogsters had already been let our for a while and fed, but they got a 2nd breakfast after Bill cooked the bacon - a little dry kibble with a little bacon grease on it.  Which they loved, not that there was ever any doubt about that!

 

We had a couple of gifts to open, but we saved the ones from Otter until we can have Christmas with her which will be sometime in the next several days.  Possibly not until the 1st, it depends on her work schedule after she gets back from her trip.  She's texted me a few times today, they are having a good time and she's really enjoying it.  She said that they might go see the movie Big Eyes this afternoon.  That one sounds good, it's one that is on my list to see but it might be when it comes out on video.

 

We are having steaks for dinner tonight, but it's 35+ mph winds so we're going to broil them in the oven instead of Bill grilling them.  It's sunny mostly, and warm.  The weather forecaster yesterday was talking about it being an above-average, unusually warm Christmas this year.  To which Bill replied "not for us!"  It's actually a little cooler than "normal" for us, even after 20 years here (nearly 21 years in fact), we still think of Christmas as being warm.

 

I finished one of my crochet projects, the scarf I was making for Sweetie.  I still need to fringe it, but the scarf itself is done.

 

At the moment, there is a fuzzy blanket at my feet.  Underneath that fuzzy blanket is a pile of fur in the shape/size/colors of a beagle.  Said pile of fur is snoring!  Loudly.  Both dogs had a bacon grease-induced coma for a while this morning, they've gotten to play outside in the back yard a couple of times but they always, always come back in and go back to sleep.

 

An afternoon nap sounds good, actually.  But it's a little late to take one, unless I want to be up all night.  Which I don't.

 

I am probably going shopping tomorrow, but I'm not going to join the mayhem of shopping After Christmas.  I want to look for a card table for the front room, to use when sewing.  I might make it to Lowe's for a miniblind for that room, and there are a couple of other things I just need to get.  But if I happen to be in wallyworld or anywhere that sells Christmas ornaments, I'll probably at least look in that department.  I'm collecting ornaments for the wreath I'm going to make.  It takes a lot of ornaments and I have several, but it take a bunch of them.

 

Well, the fur pile underneath the blanket just shifted position, I think she is awake now.  But not for long!! :)

Christmas Eve 2014

(Please see my other post today, it's below this one)

 

I know it's Wednesday, but it really feels like a Friday.

 

My day started early.  I didn't sleep too good last night, who knows why!  I woke up for the final time about 4:15 and basically stayed awake until about 5:00, when I just got up and started the coffee - after letting the dogs out and feeding them breakfast!  I had seen a listing on craigslist for a pachinko machine last night and the seller answered my email, so he and Bill made arrangements to meet.  Which meant that I had to go get $$ for Billyboy.  At 6:00 a.m., I went to the nearest ATM machine and got him the money he needed.  I left for work about 7:30.

 

(Bill actually had another person lined up to buy a machine from, so he met them both today and bought both machines.)

 

I got to work in plenty of time, there was zero traffic today.  There hasn't been much at all this week and there was even less today.  I had very little to do, Younger Boss got there not too long after I did and we pretty much just sat and talked for about an hour.  I was just about finished with my 10 minutes worth of work by that point, at about 9:45 he decided that since he didn't have anything to do and I didn't have anything else, we should just turn off the lights, shut the doors and call it good for the day.  The Teenager decided it wasn't worth coming in today.  I left shortly before 10:00.  Bill was just getting home from his pachinko shopping errand, we pulled into the driveway at the same time.

 

We both wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, so we headed up there.  Yes, I actually got Billyboy to go shopping on Christmas eve, and he went willingly!  I got modge-podge "glue" and some clear acrylic sealer for a project I'm working on and he got model paint to use on some of the pachinko parts.  We went to Cici's pizza buffet for lunch and there were only a couple of other people there.  We went to Big Lots next, I found a few Christmas ornaments for my wreath project and a couple of other things I wanted.  There were a few people there, more than were at Hobby Lobby and Cici's, but not very many.  The next stop before heading home was the liquor store - that's were the crowd was!  It's Wednesday, so that means wine is 10% off.  That usually is a big draw for their customers, but this was the Christmas Eve stocking up for the festivities crowd.  I did buy a bottle of wine, as well as vodka and both will last us for quite a while.  But most of the people in there seemed to be buying several bottles of lots of different things.

 

It's been a fun day, somewhat different than usual for Christmas Eve.  For one thing, Otter is out of town.  She went to the Oklahoma City area with J and his mom for Christmas, they were going to go today but J's mom said it would be easier if she could come get Otter after work yesterday and take her back to their house then they could leave earlier this morning.  Otter worked about an hour later than she was originally scheduled for yesterday, then she kind of flew back to our house to bring the car home - as well as the little amount of dirty laundry she had accumulated since Saturday (I told her I'd wash it for her if she'd bring it). She also wanted to pick up a tote bag from me to take her clothes, etc. for the trip and also I had gotten her some more allergy medicine since she was about out.  I took her home and visited with Roomie for a few minutes, then J's mom got there just as I was leaving.  I really like J's mom, she's a very nice person and I was comfortable with Otter being driven to another part of the state with her and J.  Not that it matters, Otter is an adult but still...  Froggy, I bet you know exactly what I mean!

 

We had sunshine yesterday and blue sky, for a couple of hours.  It was very nice, for the short time it lasted.  Last night, it was supposed to be winter again but it never really got here.  This morning, when I was running around for Billyboy at 6:00 a.m., it was pretty chilly and slightly misty.  I saw one or two tiny snowflakes, but that's all we got.  I still needed my leather jacket when I was out and about, but it's more cool than cold.

 

After much discussion, Bill and I are still having our traditional Christmas Eve picnic, but on a smaller scale.  We have fritos and bean dip, but not potato chips and onion dip; we have some different cheeses that I'll slice up and some ritz crackers as well as some type of wheat cracker that I forgot the name of.  But no captain's wafer crackers this time, and just a couple of different cheeses.  We have a Hickory Farms sausage that will go with the cheese and crackers, and I got a can of black olives.  And a jar of Claussen pickles!  But we don't have that much of any of the ingredients although we'll probably have leftovers.  And I'll have my soy eggnog, with a little bit of rum added to it.  We're having bean-bacon-cheese tacos for breakfast in the morning, the bacon is not negotiable - we only have it a few times each year, and Christmas is written in stone that we will have bacon if it's at all possible!  We did have it an extra time this year, it was part of Otter's comfort foods she requested before she moved out.  But normally, it's three times each year:  Otter's birthday, Bill's birthday and Christmas.  Since Otter's moved out, she will probably have to manage it on her own for her birthday breakfast!  Also, we'll probably have it a couple of times in the next few days because there's just the two of us to eat it. :)

 

Otter will probably get back on Saturday, which is my birthday but she might not be home until late in the day so I'm not anticipating seeing her then.  We'll see her on Sunday, I'm not sure if I'm going to go get her and bring her back here to get her laundry and the car or if we'll take the car and laundry to her at her apartment.  Either way, she will have the car by Sunday evening because her work shift on Monday starts at 2:00.  AM, as in just past midnight!  Ain't nobody willing to get up and get her to work at 2:00 a.m.!

 

Either Sunday or Monday, we're going to the booth and get all the pachinko machines we have for sell there.  We have decided to close the booth up, we actually decided early in the month and gave the shop owner notice.  It was a success for the most part, but we are going to call a halt for a while.  Bill may get another booth at another antique mall in the (possibly near) future, he hasn't decided for sure about that yet.  He sold 2 or 3 machines through the booth and I sold most of the small stuff I had.  But I don't have any more small stuff and neither of us are really willing to get back into that side of things - it would be a matter of buying things just to resell and we've "been there, done that" before.  We did it with eBay for a few years and it worked great, but it also can take up a lot of time and room.  The last few machines that Bill sold were actually sold through our website, 2 of them were at the booth so we picked them up and shipped them off to their new owners.  So, it's time to close out the booth.  For now, anyway!

 

Now, I think I'm going to get busy with my yarn.  I'm about half-way through with Sweetie's scarf and then I'm going to make a cap for Roomie.  Roomie wants a red one, so both Sweetie's scarf and Roomie's cap can be considered de-stash projects.  I don't use much red, but I have a couple of skeins of it on hand.  I might buy more of the yarn I'm making Sweetie's scarf out of, it's my favorite Red Heart color:  Monet.  I like to always have it on hand, I find a lot of uses for it.

100 Years 12/24/14

‘I shall never forget it’: 100 years since WWI Christmas truce

Published December 24, 2014

FoxNews.com

                              

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  In this image provided by the Imperial War Museum, World War I German and British soldiers stand together on the battlefield near Ploegsteert, Belgium in Dec. 1914. Soldiers who had been killing each other for months climbed out of their soggy trenches to seek a shred of humanity amid the horrors of World War I. (AP Photo/IWM)
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  In this photo taken from an image in the collection at In Flanders Fields Museum provided by the family of German soldier Kurt Zehmisch, a German World War I soldier of the 103rd Saxon Regiment wears the hat of a British soldier as he sits in a trench with other German soldiers in Warneton, Belgium. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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  Hands reached out across a divide the narrow divide, presents were exchanged, and in Flanders Fields a century ago, a spontaneous Christmas truce briefly lifted the human spirit. (AP)

With British and German forces separated only by a no-man's land littered with fallen comrades, sounds of a German Christmas carol suddenly drifted across the frigid air.

"It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere: and at about 7 or 8 in the evening there was a lot of commotion in the German trenches and there were these lights -- I don't know what they were. And then they sang, "Silent Night" – "Stille Nacht." I shall never forget it, it was one of the highlights of my life. I thought, what a beautiful tune," Pvt. Albert Moren, a British soldier, wrote in a journal.

Then, during that first Christmas Day during World War I, in 1914, something magical happened, at least in some areas. 

Soldiers, the number is hard to quantify but believed to be around 100,000, who had been killing each other by the tens of thousands for months, climbed out of their soggy trenches to seek a shred of humanity amid the horrors of war.

Hands reached out across a narrow divide, presents were exchanged, and in Flanders Fields a century ago, a spontaneous Christmas truce briefly lifted the human spirit.
"Not a shot was fired," Lt. Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxony regiment wrote in his
diary that Christmas.

On the other side of the front line, Pvt. Henry Williamson of the London Rifle Brigade was amazed by the goodwill among his enemies.

Few could believe their eyes, on this patch of Belgium and northern France where crimson poppies had long ago shriveled in the cold. Peace allowed for dead bodies to be recovered from the fields and given a proper burial.

Fighting continued in many other places on the front line and some generals ordered the troops to get back into position and feared there was a softening. But it was a momentary peace in a war that would last for nearly four more years.

Frank and Maurice Wray of the London Rifle Brigade settled in to keep watch when they suddenly heard a German band in the trenches play songs "common to both nations," they later wrote in an article. "Quite understandably a wave of nostalgia passed over us."

At dawn, a German called out, "We good. We no shoot," and the Wrays noted: "And so was born an unofficial armistice." Men walked out, extremely apprehensive at first, many fearing some deadly trick. Then human warmth cracked the freezing cold.

Another said that at about 30 scattered points across many miles of Belgium, similar scenes occurred. Others happened across the Western Front, which ran from the North Sea to the Swiss border.

Apart from talk in a shared language or merely with hands and kindred eyes, the men exchanged gifts, using everything from bully beef and barrels of beer to small mementos. Some played soccer.

The New York Times identified the last survivor of the truce as Sgt. Alfred Anderson, from Scotland. He died in 2005 at 109. That same year, The Times ran a column noting some soldiers' journal entries

"We stood inside the circle like street corner orators. … What a sight -- little groups of Germans and British extending almost the length of our front! Out of the darkness we could hear laughter and see lighted matches, a German lighting a Scotchman's cigarette and vice versa, exchanging cigarettes and souvenirs," Cpl. John Ferguson, a Scottish troop, wrote.

German soldier Werner Keil scribbled his name on a piece of paper and gave a uniform button to 19-year-old British Cpl. Eric Rowden of the Queen's Westminster Rifles on Christmas Day 1914. "We laughed and joked together, having forgotten war altogether," Rowden wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Mixed Vegetables

It's no secret that Otter is not a big fan of vegetables.  Especially mixed ones - she absolutely hates mixed vegetables.  The rule when she was little was that she had to eat a certain amount of whatever vegetable I served for dinner.  She usually managed to do that, but she absolutely drew the line at mixed vegetables.  When she turned 18, she could have stopped eating the vegetable offering if she wanted to - however, she never realized it and so she continued eating vegetables at every meal.  When she was getting ready to move out, I asked her if she was going to serve vegetables at every meal just to see how loud she would squeal NO.  It was fun, actually.  What was even more fun was when I told her that she could have stopped eating them at all when she turned 18.  Talk about a "deer in the headlights" expression!!!!  It was one of those priceless parental moments, and I don't think she's going to forgive us for that one anytime soon.  :)

 

We like mixed vegetables so we've had them pretty often since Otter moved out.  Tonight, we had them again.  I warmed them in the microwave.  The old microwave took 2 1/2 minutes to warm them up enough.  I put them in the new microwave tonight and gave it 2 minutes.  About 1 minute, 45 seconds in to the cooking time, they started mixing on their own.  All over the microwave!  Corn, potatos and carrots were exploding all over the microwave.  Full-scale veggie slaughter!

 

Otter, you should have been here.  Of course, I probably would have asked you to clean the microwave up after the explosions...

 

Monday is done, only two work days left until Christmas/Holidays/Vacation!

They Lied!!!

We were supposed to get sunshine yesterday.  I was outside several times, and I never saw it.  It was breezy and cool, today is misty and cold.  And wet, not rainy but just clammy.

 

But maybe they just missed their forecast, like they usually do.  Anyway.  It's been colder today than it was supposed to be.

 

I'm finally finished with the front room.  I finished repacking Otter's fabric stash into the Rubbermaid boxes I bought yesterday and they are stacked in the closet.  I emptied one of her picnic boxes, it had misc. craft stuff that she wanted including her emergency sewing kit which she's been looking for ever since she moved out.  The picnic boxes are on top of the Rubbermaid boxes and a plastic tool-box style sewing box is on top of the picnic boxes.  Yes, it is a tall stack.  But it is not in any danger or falling.  In the other side of the closet is the three sewing machines, the tote bag that hold the controls to the sewing machines and my "bag of bags" also known as my totebag stash.  I use all of them at various times, they just get put back into one specific large tote bag to keep them all corralled.  Also in the closet beside the Rubbermaid boxes is one of the flat underbed style boxes that used to hold part of Otter's fabric stash.  I'm using it for my quilting projects, the fabric I'm collecting for the lap quilt I'm going to make for Bill and the quilt top that I bought a while back with the intention of turning it into curtains.  I decided to finish it out as a quilt instead.  Eventually!

 

The closet has an organizer in it, we put it in the closet for Otter when we first moved here 10+ years ago.  The center is 5 or 6 box-style shelves.  Three of them have craft/crochet/sewing related books.  One of them has the TEXAS tote bag Froggy sent me last week along with the doilies - it's now holding the doilies.  Also on that shelf is another tote bag which has my netting collection - the netting will eventually be cut into strips and crocheted with.

 

I'm using the shelves Otter had her (millions and millions of) shoes on for misc. stuff such as the family quilt I'm working on repairing for Otter, my two wreath projects and I put the cast-iron stove lamp on the top shelf.  It's just slightly higher than the top of the desk and it works perfectly beside the desk.  It is in front of the window a little bit but it fits nicely.  I bought Otter's boom box from her a while back, it's also on the top shelf.  I like to listen to a local gardening show on Saturdays, I had been moving the boom box around to where ever I happened to be but now that I have a play room, I'm leaving the boom box in there to listen to it on Saturdays.  Also on the shelves are several plastic shoe boxes that are still empty, but I'm sure I'll find something to put in them.  On the other side of the desk is the plastic shelf unit that Otter gave me, the bottom two drawers have office supply stuff and the top three are still empty.  At one point, my doilies were in the top drawer but Froggy sent me a bunch more and there are too many for the drawer now.  Not enough for the curtain drape yet, however!

 

The red plastic "milk crate" shelf unit that was in the Pachinko workroom is now in the front room.  It still has envelopes and misc. office-related stuff in it, and it also has a pachinko machine on top.  Yes, I know.  I told Bill that I did not want any pachinko machines in there!  But this one is mine, it's the Steampunk Pachinko Machine Bill and Otter made for me a while back.  Bill bought gold pachinko balls for it and I've already been playing it.  It's noisy!  Which I like, actually.

 

Otter's boxes are still stacked in the corner, which will probably be there for a few months until we put them in the attic.  Otter left me her small corkboard, I left it on the wall near the light switch and I put a few of my crochet/yarn related articles that I've collected.  Bill hung all three of my fabric bulletin boards on the wall and I have even more crochet related articles & jokes on two of them.  One of them is over the desk and has family stuff on it.  Beside one of them is the Armadillo Wall Hanging that Froggy made me.

 

The wall that the corkboard is on is also the wall that my yarn stash is backed up to.  Ignore the diet coke!  It's not there any longer.  :)  The large box on top of the wide short drawer unit contains Otter's silk flowers, she uses them in some of her crafting.  It fits nicely on top of the wide drawer unit.  I have labels from the yarn in front of the drawer so I can see what kind is in each drawer when I'm looking for a specific yarn.  I generally know where the various yarns are, but the labels just make it a little easier.  I have quite a bit of Red Heart brand, it's a sturdy all-purpose yarn.  But I also have some better yarns and some Really Good (also known as you get what you pay for and I paid for a lot!) yarns - they are in the drawer with the TEXAS longhorn decal on the front.

 

At the side is the stack of boxes containing the stuff Otter wants us to store for her.  It goes nearly to the ceiling.

 

Otter has a wooden shelf that had cutout shapes of horses, one of her Aunts turned the horses into carousel horses and gave it to Otter when she was a baby - carousel horses was the theme we used in her room when she was a baby.  At some point, Otter will probably want the shelf but for now it's still on the wall in there.  I have my tiny, decorative spinning wheel on it along with my collection of yarn spools.  I'll eventually get a picture of it, but blogger is refusing to load the pictures from my camera again.

 

I'm going to get a small table, probably a card table, which will be used for sewing.  The plan is to set it up in front of the window when somebody wants to sew and then it can be folded up and put away when whomever is finished.  I saw one in the Big Lots ad for $29.00, but I'm going to check a couple of other stores.  I'm also going to get miniblinds cut for the window, probably next week when I'm on vacation and we might get a ceiling fan then as well.  But I am done for the most part, we will eventually paint that room but not until spring or summer when we can leave the windows open because of paint fumes.  We had discussed getting an inflatable air mattress instead of a bed or pullout couch for guests, but Bill suggested I rethink that plan.  Because there will be sewing which means needles potentially being dropped on the floor - not a really good idea to mix needles and air mattresses!  So we'll probably go with a pullout couch or a futon-style with a trundle bed.

 

Froggy, you and KN#3 better come see me next year!

Early

We have a tradition of going to the Dollar store on Christmas Eve, and if we can, we also go to a thrift store.  It didn't start out to be a tradition, it just kind of became that.  Otter will be out of town over Christmas, she's going with J and his mom to spend Christmas with his mom's family - and she's nervous about "meeting the family" also!  :)  They are leaving on the 24th, so we decided to still get our traditional shopping in.  We just did it early!  When Otter brought her laundry over, we went up to the dollar store and it was very crowded.  We also went next door to WalMart for something I wanted and they were busy but not as busy as I've seen them on a normal day.  Otter did not let me forget about a thrift store, we hit Goodwill as our last stop.  She found a couple of things there, I did not but it was still fun.  They were pretty busy, too.

 

While she was here, Otter got her chocolate chip cookies made to take with her over Christmas.  She made a few dozen and Bill got the "leftovers" so he's not feeling left out.  Actually, her got the ones that were a little too brown but he's not complaining.  :)

 

What I bought at WalMart is 4 Rubbermaid boxes with lids to hold Otter's fabric stash.  They hold about 18 gallons and stack well.  They fit very neatly into the closet.  I combined two smaller, flat boxes and one large flat box into three stacking boxes and there was still room for a little more.  I have one more box to fill and two flat boxes to empty still.

 

We finally rented the movie Guardians of the Galaxy.  I might be in the minority, but I really thought it was stupid. Not good stupid, just stupid.  Otter saw it when it came out and she liked it already.  Bill enjoyed it, but I was really bored and not amused.

 

Froggy, I did finally discover that Blogger has added the word verification to all the blogs.  It's an anti-spam measure, I'm not so sure it works though.  I still get spam comments, but they don't go through because I have comments emailed to me to approve.

 

As of today, Billyboy has one week left in being married to a younger woman!  I catch up with him next Saturday.  Toadles, you still don't get a motorcycle!

Still Here!

It's just been one of those weeks and I feel like I've been running behind all week.  Meeting myself coming and going!

 

Anyway, I thought I'd better check in before Froggy gets too antsy.  :)

 

I keep thinking about how this time last year, it was so cold.  We'd had a couple of snows already (at least one anyway) and it was a whirlwind leading up to Christmas.  This year is much calmer, it's just that I've been on warp speed all week.  Getting ready for vacation and reminding the Boys that I'll be gone in a week, and that they will survive me being gone, is a big part of it.

 

I got a "nice" letter from my bank this week.  Apparently, another store has been hacked and my debit card might have been in the compromised bunch.  We haven't seen any untoward activity, but I have to go through the rigamorole of getting another debit card issued.  I can keep using my current card until the new one comes, if there are any unauthorized charges the back would reimburse me - but it could take 48 hours so I cancelled my card the minute I got the letter, if there are any attempts they would not be honored by the bank since I did that.  I think I'm going to go back to writing checks, this is the 4th time in 12 months!

 

I had the 9th migraine of the year this week, which wasn't fun.  It wasn't bad, but it still was a migraine and I don't like them!

 

Otter's been over a couple of times, she brought laundry Monday evening and then yesterday (Wednesday) she came over and made a double batch of brownies to take to work.  She reports that they more or less vanished immediately upon being put out for her fellow employees.  She's coming over Saturday to make several batches of chocolate chip cookies to take to J's family.  She'll be spending Christmas with J and his mom, and his extended family so we won't see her from the 24th until somewhere around the 28th or 29th or maybe not until the 1st.  More or less, she's not sure exactly what the return date is but we'll probably have our Christmas with her on New Years.

 

This Christmas is going to be very quiet, just me and Billyboy.  And the dogsters, of course!  Since we aren't doing the big "Bill Breakfast" this year, Bill has requested bean, bacon and cheese tacos on Christmas morning.  I think we're going to have steaks for the main meal of the day.  I've already given him his gift, he needed a new wallet and I got him a nice leather one.  I have finally come up with something I want, I want another robe and that's what he's going to give me.  I have to get this one myself, but I don't particularly mind.

 

One week and counting until vacation!  Bill starts his vacation Monday, tomorrow is his last day of work for the month/year.  He is taking a couple of vacation days, since he works for a school district he's actually off for several days in a row.  He's going to get the carpet cleaner out one day and clean the hallway and I think the first bathroom as well.  Beyond that, he's planning on spending most of his time off working on pachinko machines.  I don't have anything planned, other than the fact that I'll probably crochet.  And of course shop!

Since When...

is microsoft in charge of what I need or want on my computer?  I'm pretty sure NEVER.  Last night, it took two hours for the updates to install.  Then I had a problem getting on the internet, I was able to get them to text me a temporary password and I thought I had it set to where I could go online automatically.  That took about an hour, just trying to find out how to get them to text me the temp password.

 

Today, I turned on my computer to discover that the (unwanted) upgrades also changed a lot of my settings and I had to input my password just to turn the computer on.  Except that I did not have it set that way.  And microstupid wouldn't recognize my password (I do have one for it) and I spent a long time trying to log in.  I turned the computer off in disgust and came back to it later.  I was going to actually call microstupid and trust me, they would not have enjoyed it.  RHTW* was already set to make the call.  I turned it on and gave it one more try - it took the password immediately - the same one it rejected over and over and over and over to infinity and beyond last night and today.

 

I changed a bunch of my settings back (again) and this time, I am fairly certain that I have the updates set to where I have to approve them.  Last time, microstupid's updates took out my entire email and that took days and days to resolve.

 

Not sure why people who a) I don't know and b) don't know me think that they are supposed to be in charge of decisions for me!

 

OK, enough whining.  For now, anyway.

 

I had a couple of things to do yesterday morning including the post office.  I went to an antiqueish junkish store and didn't find anything but I still enjoyed it.  I was on the way home when I decided on the spur of the moment to go to Goodwill.  Along with a whole lot of other people, it was very crowded.  I'm glad I went.  $3.99, amber (yellow ish) thumbprint pattern small compote!  I go years and years without finding any thumbprint Fenton and then I find two in a row.  :)  That's a Good Thing, by the way.

 

I also got Otter's lap blanket finished yesterday.  I texted her a picture of Maggie Moo with the blanket draped over her.  I tried to get a picture of both dogs, Frasier was cooperative for once but the picture was blurry.  When I tried to take another picture, he got up and walked out the dog door - and I just barely managed to snatch the blanket off him before he got to the doors!  Maggie was quite happy to pose for me again though.  She was happy because she got the blanket!

 

I got a little bit more done in the front room.  I'm really about done in there now, except for the miniblinds and the doily curtain drape, and we might put a lighted ceiling fan in there too.  Bill hung three of the four bulletin boards for me and I started putting the sewing & crochet stuff on the shelves that formerly held Otter's shoe stash.  I have a tiny decorative spinning wheel, it came apart so I got the hot glue gun out and put it back together.  It is sitting on one of the two wall shelves Otter left, along with all 4 (or 5?) of my yarn spools.  I have a thread holder made from yardsticks, it is now on the wall in front of the desk beside one of the fabric covered bulletin boards.  At the moment, there are several large plastic boxes (the kind for under the bed storage) in the middle of the room.  They have a lot of Otter's fabric stash, and there are also three picnic baskets in the closet that have a lot of her fabric.  We may get into that when she gets over here in a little while with her laundry.  Or we might do that later in the week when she comes over here to get the car again - Bill will have it for the next couple of days.

 

I also have a new project idea.  I really need a clock in the front room, I was thinking that I could probably make a clock with a doily as the face of it.  I looked online, apparently a lot of other people also had that same idea because I found a lot of pictures.  Bill suggested that I use a wooden tray instead of a round piece or square piece of wood as the base, I think that will work nicely.  I'm going to get on that in the next few days.

 

Also, I think we are going to get one of those inflatable mattresses instead of an actual bed or pull-out couch to use for guests.  The kind I'm talking about is big, not like a pool float air mattress.  I noticed that Academy Sports has one on sale in their ad, but the regular price is not nearly as much as I expected them to be.  Also, it comes with a pump so you won't have to inflate it yourself, Froggy! :)

 

Bill's been making cookies today.  He's been cooking all afternoon and the house smells so good!  He ran out of vanilla, so I went to Wallyworld (which was a nightmare!) and I could smell cookies baking before I even got to my front door.  He's taking a bunch to work tomorrow.  When Otter gets here tonight, she's going to make brownies to take to her work.  I told Bill that I'd be his clean-up crew, which is actually self defense on my part.  He loves to cook and I love to let him, but he has this one problem:  he heads into the kitchen and it immediately looks like a nuclear bomb went off in there!  This time, he actually got flour all over the lower cabinet doors.  Not sure how he managed that.

 

Maggie Moo is curled up on her blankets, where she's been for a few hours.  Snoozing.  And snoring loudly!  We've had the back door and windows open because it was so hot in the house due to the oven being on and also the dryer was running.  But I think I'm going to have to close up soon, the rain that we were supposed to get starting this morning is finally hitting (it's nearly 5:00 p.m.)  It's getting colder, too.  I think that Maggie's snoozing might be connected!  Or maybe not, dog might just be a little bit lazy.  OK, so she's a lot lazy.  Frasier is also conked out on the floor at my feet, but he's only been there for a little while.  He spent most of his afternoon out in their yard, barking at nothing.

 

*She's a little miffed that she didn't get to give microstupid a dose of What-For.  If anybody has anyone that needs a Talking-To, RHTW is more than ready and willing!!  But I think She'll be satisfied with one of the many cookies Billyboy made. :)

Waving

It's Thursday, I think!  (I know it is, it's just been a long week and I'm ready for it to be over & done with.)

 

We are watching the vintage Dr. Who on Retro TV tonight.  We watch it most nights, or try to.  It seems to be pre-empted often, usually for local or semi-local sports and for some reason it generally switches to sports in the middle of the game.  Makes no sense to me.  Anyway, we are in episode 4 of the final arc with # 3.  That means that # 4 is next!  Two more episodes to go!

The REAL Dr. Who, as far as we're concerned!  Although a few other the others were good, # 3 was actually very good and we did like him in the role.  But # 4 is the definitive Dr. Who.  # 9 was good, although he didn't stay with it for very long.  # 10 was spectacular, he was probably the best one besides # 4.  But, # 4 will always be the best one.

We don't really like # 11 (or 12, if you believe the War Doctor storyline) all that much.  # 11 likes bow ties, but we much prefer 20' long knitted scarves!  # 11 tried, but he had a very hard act to follow and he tried too hard.

 

OK, Dr. Who addict moment over.  Maybe.  Probably not, actually.

 

About a year ago, my microwave went wonky.  It quit working, then it started working again so we decided it was ok.  Periodically, it would quit and I figured out that if I reset the clock it would work.  Until the next time!  It was ok for a while, but it's been quitting more and more often lately, so I decided it was time to find a new one.  I looked at a few and found one I liked at Target.  I bought it on my lunch hour today.  Bill moved the old one off the counter and I realized that it had not been moved since we put it in place 10 + years ago - and it was pretty dirty underneath.  The new one is just a tad bit smaller but it's got the same wattage, 1100.  I don't think it will last 21 years, like the last one did, however.  I didn't let Bill have much voice in the decision, he has a tendency to just get the biggest and most expensive model!  I told him that I'd found a few I liked, and he said as long as it had a "popcorn" button he would be happy.  He just brought me a package of popcorn because he couldn't find the popcorn button so I had to go show him where the button is.  He's happy now!  The old one still works, Bill is going to use it in the garage to warm his molds when he's casting pieces.  He's been using it for that for a while and he'll use it until it finally dies.

 

I got busy in the front room this morning before work.  I moved Otter's old shoe shelves out of the closet and put them beside the window by the desk.  I moved the fabric storage boxes out from under our bed, two of them fit in the closet but the other ones are too long for the space.  I'm going to get a little more arranging done in there this weekend and probably get the bulletin boards up.  When Otter gets over here on Sunday, I think we're going to see about sorting out the fabric.  I don't think she will get rid of any of it, but it does need to be gone through.  I'm not at all sure just what fabric she has and she probably isn't either.  But I'm not going to make her get rid of any of it!

 

I completely understand that she needs a large fabric stash.  After all, I'm seriously at S.A.B.L.E. stage!

 

 

2 Weeks, 1 Day

until my much-needed vacation!  Not a moment too soon.  Bill's time off starts in a week and a half, he's really in need of some time off.  I'll have a week and a half off, he'll have two weeks.

 

We went to a local museum on Sunday and we took Roomie along with us.  It was fun, they have an exhibit of Christmas trees (and some of them are pretty far out there) and gingerbread houses.  The houses are made by children's groups, some are school groups and there are always lots of scout groups.  One in particular got our attention.  It was in the shape of a blue London police box and it had multi-colored beings around it made from ice cream cones - you know, the ones that yell "EXTERMINATE" at the occupant of the blue box.  Lots of detail and it was really cute.

 

I'm about finished with the front room/my room/craft-guest-YARN/pachinko-free room.  At least as far as the desk is concerned.  I still need to get my bulletin boards on the wall, but I was starving and making dinner was more important than hanging things on the wall.  I still need to measure the window for miniblinds, I keep forgetting to do that.  I got all the desk stuff situated, the desk itself is going to be sewing/craft related and doesn't actually have anything in it office supply related.  That's all in three of the 5 drawers of the plastic drawer unit beside the desk.  One of the other 2 drawers has the crocheted doilies in it and the other one is empty for the moment but it won't be for long.

 

Otter will be back on Sunday (with her laundry!) and we'll get the sewing machines out then.  We bought her a surplus machine from Bill's employer a few months back but she's never actually used it.  She used his machine on her cosplay last summer.  Along with her machine, he was given another machine that doesn't have any control cords, etc., with it.  We are going to test her machine and the control cord for her machine might fit the other surplus machine so we'll try it and see.

 

Frasier just gave me a scare.  He was snoozing in the floor and he started dreaming.  At first, I really thought he was having a seizure because he was jerking around so much.  Then I realized he was just dreaming and is in a small area on the floor, but I called his name anyway and petted him - which woke him up. He gave me the "leave me alone mom" look and went right back to sleep, after rearranging a bit.  The beagle brat is where she's been for about 30 minutes - asleep at my feet, under a blanket.  When Frasier first parked himself for his nap, he actually sat on her.  On her head, I think!  She was not amused!  But she was under a blanket at the time, so not sure what else she could expect!

To Remember

December 7, 1941

Never forget their sacrifice.

C is for Cookie!

And that's good enough for me. :)

 

How many people actually sang that song in their head?  I did.  And in the voice of a certain furry, blue monster!

 

Anyway.

It's National Cookie Day!  Which has got to be one of the best "invented holidays" ever.  EVER.

 

I changed out my table décor this morning, I finally got the Fall tablecloth put away and took the Thanksgiving placemats, etc. off the table.  I put my Christmas décor on the table and it will stay there until probably about 2:00 or so Dec. 25th.  Because after that, it becomes clutter!

 

While I was digging out the Christmas table stuff, I found a few more doilies that I'd bought recently.

 

This is a general idea of what I'm going for, although my idea doesn't really look like an actual curtain but is more of a side-drape/window scarf style:

It will be quite a while yet, this project is going to take a huge amount of doilies.  I'm always on the hunt.  Size, color, shape, age - none of that really matters although I don't really want anymore huge ones and I prefer not to have a lot of damage.  A slight amount of damage on very old ones is ok, but I want this to look nice.

 

The CDC announced today that they have probably missed their prediction as to what flu strain(s) would be dominant this season.  By as much as 50%!  That is not good, and they are predicting that it will be a bad season.  It was probably because the virus mutated, which is what viruses do.  I thought that bug I had a couple of weeks ago might be the flu, but it was probably "just" the flu-like bug that was going around.  I hope that is all I have to deal with.  The last time they missed with the vaccine I got the flu and it was not pretty!  Same thing for the time before that when they missed.  I'm normally an optimist, but this time I'm almost pessimistic because of past history.  IF at any time I think I might be coming down with it, I'm running myself to the doctor immediately and getting it confirmed so I can get Tamiflu if I do have it.  I might not get it, but like I said before - past history.

 

We're concerned about Frasier.  He acted like his teeth were chattering last night, but he was begging for a treat and he does that sometimes.  But this morning, he was actually shaking like he was shivering.  He wasn't cold and he didn't feel like he was feverish.  It was not a seizure.  He was awake and seemed glad to see me.  He was able to get up and he eventually ate his breakfast, but he was shaky for a very long time.  Bill was off today, he took a personal day and was busy replacing the rest of the light bulbs so he kept an eye on the dog all day.  Frasier eventually stopped the shivering, he was happy to see me when I got home, but he was very careful and tentative.  That's the only way I can describe it.  He did greet me when I got in, and then he sneezed at me.  After I petted him for a while, I decided his ears were dirty enough to need cleaning.  I took him outside and did that, which he did NOT like but he at least let me - the first one was easy, the 2nd ear took a bit of patience because he kept trying to turn his head away from me.  After I let him go, he went to the opposite side of the yard from me.  And pretended not to hear me when I called him!  He loped by me a few times on his way around the yard, and he would sort of look at me and then look away - bratty baby!  He finally decided to come to me and then he was much happier after he got a treat!  He seems better this evening but he's still not 100%.  Bill thinks it's probably just old age catching up with him and that is probably what it is.  I've talked to the vet about him before, and at this point I don't think it's necessarily time to take him in but we'll watch him and see how he does.  And we'll keep spoiling him as much as possible.  And Maggie Moo, she won't be left out of the spoiling!

 

It has been rainy all day.  Not a hard rain, just enough to be messy.  And it's been foggy all day, again not bad but still there.  But it's gotten really foggy this evening, by about 4:00 it was really starting to drop and now at nearly 6:00 p.m. the visibility is down to very bad.  Of course, Otter works tonight.  She goes in at 6:00 p.m. and works until "2:00 a.m." or whenever they get finished with the repricing or restocking, whatever it is that they are doing tonight.  Being her mother, I can't help but worry.  The fog is supposed to lift a little bit in the next few hours but it will probably be rainy.  Tomorrow could be very hard rains, at least in the morning.  She goes to the dentist tomorrow afternoon to get the permanent crown put in place, hopefully it will not be hard rain then.

 

Frasier just came back in from their yard.  He grunted, shook his ears and is now parked on the floor.  I think he's about to join Maggie Moo in a nap.  Hopefully, he won't snore as loud as she does!

Discovered Treasure

Otter has always had a habit of just leaving coins she got in change where ever it happened to land.  As she was getting ready to move, she found coins in just about every place she looked.  In her closet.  Under her bed.  I found it in her desk when I cleaned it out.  It was in the plastic drawers.  It was in just about every nook & cranny in her room and then some.  As she was boxing stuff up, she would toss any coins she found into a plastic shoe box.  The idea was to count it after she found it all.  I told her I'd buy the change from her so I counted it up tonight.

 

Kiddo had $14.23 cents in various coins in her room, collecting dust over the last few years!  She had a wheat penny which I'm giving her 2 cents for, so I'm actually giving her $14.25 and there were also two foreign coins that might be Canadian pennies - I don't remember what they were.

 

But we never found her sunglasses, which were in my car for the longest time.  She brought them inside one day to put in her purse so she'd always have them when she started driving the 02 Impala more often than she drove my car.  And that was the last she saw of them.  We know that they made it to her room, she didn't actually put them in her purse - she put them on her bed and then they just vanished.  I kept thinking we'd come across them somewhere when she was packing or when we were cleaning out/organizing what was still here.  But we've finished that, she's moved everything she's going to move and we've gone through what she left here for storage, and we went through everything she had.  No sunglasses!  At least that aren't prescription! They are the $20 model that fits over prescription glasses.  I bought my own pair a while back, since I used to use hers when she left them in my car.

 

Otter, you should have taken my offer when I said I'd buy your pair from you!  I was going to give you the full purchase price since I wore them more than you did at the time.  Considering that I originally bought them for you, you would have come out way ahead. :)

 

I vacuumed in the front room (the front room is what I'm calling Otter's old room now to keep straight which room I mean) tonight and decided to move my yarn from the short/wide 3-drawer unit into the tall 5-drawer unit that Otter gave me.  I will also probably move the yarn from the short but taller 3-drawer unit into the tall unit as well.  Then I'll put my misc. sewing stuff (some of it is probably Otter's) into the short/wide unit and the office supplies into the short but taller 3-drawer unit.  Some of the office supplies will be put in the desk, but the desk is going to be used more as a sewing desk than a work/office desk.  I will probably switch all the yarn, etc. around on Saturday.  I'll probably rearrange the furniture in there as well.  It's not much, the desk and the yarn drawers are the only furniture in there at the moment.  We eventually will get either a pull-out couch or maybe a daybed with a pull-out trundle so guests will not have to sleep on the floor.  We want to get a ceiling fan with a light on it to replace the not very good light fixture in there, and we'll put miniblinds in the window.

 

I have a project I'm working on for the window covering in the front room.  It involves crochet, which surprises exactly no one!  I saw a draped style curtain made out of assorted crocheted doilies which were sewn together at ends and sides and then draped over a curtain rod and it drapes down on both sides.  It hung over the top of the rod a little bit and is uneven because of the fact that it was made out of different size, shape & yarns doilies.  It's at a small vintage/antique store that we sometimes shop at.  They have two front windows done this way and it looks amazing.  It is exactly what I want to do in there.  It could be tacky very easily, I'm going to try to avoid that but I'm also not going to worry too much if it is!  I've been collecting doilies for a few months, it will take a bunch of them a huge amount.  I had a few already, some that Mom and our special Aunt made and also Sweetie gave me a round tablecloth doily that is going to be the centerpiece of the curtain.  I only have one window in there and it is a big one, so it's going to take a whole lot of doilies.  I find them at antique stores, yard sales, thrift stores sometimes.  I refuse to pay a lot for them, unless they are obviously very old.  I do know how much work goes into them, and there is a reason I refuse to do thread crochet.  But I also know about how much they are worth and for a while I was finding them in large quantities.  But then handmade items became "collectible" and that meant that they were apparently worth a lot in a lot of people's minds.  The market seemed to get flooded pretty fast, and now I see them just about everywhere.  The overprices seem to be dropping and I've added a few more to my collection recently.  But I still have a long way to go.  I think I'll probably get them out again and now that I have a place where I can shut the door to keep a certain beagle from sitting on them, I'm going to spread them out a bit and see just how many I actually have.  I have various colors, sizes, thread size and styles.  I just don't have enough yet.  I probably won't actually start construction until I have enough doilies.

 

Tomorrow, I start my vacation countdown!