Shhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

I have a beagle asleep at my feet and a hubby asleep on the other end of the couch from where I'm sitting.  Both of them have been known to snore, although at the moment it's all quiet.

Today is a fun day. It's National Coffee Day!  One of my favorite days, for probably obvious reasons.  Guess Bill didn't participate in observing it. :)

Is it only Tuesday?

Whatever Sunday and Dog Stuff Mostly

It was a pretty nice weekend, and today was a very nice day.  Mid-80's and very pleasant.  Unfortunately, it's still ragweed season (and a few other things) so I'm still having some allergy issues.  But nothing too bad.

I have a slightly fat beagle at my feet.  She's sprawled across her bed that is in the living room, every so often she'll get up and rearrange herself.  She is getting a little bit heavier, she had lost some of the weight and was at a pretty good size for a middle sized beagle.  But she's starting to look just a little bit round, so I may change her food slightly.  We changed the brand of food after we lost Frasier, because we'd been mainly feeding a type that was aimed at dogs with joint issues.  She doesn't seem to have the arthritis that he had, but it was ok to feed her the same thing.  After he crossed the rainbow bridge, we went to a different brand.  We just used a "regular" food, but they also make a food for dogs that need a little weight loss so I'll probably switch her to it, at least for a while.  She is still getting walks regularly but she probably doesn't get as much exercise in general as she did before.  Even though Frasier was older and arthritic, he was playful and active up until the very end.  We do get Maggie playing and running, but probably not as often as she did with the Chupacabra.  

Also, the amount that comes out of the dog seems to be a lot more volume than what goes in the mouth of the dog!  We also realized that the Coyote Dog was the one with the gas issues, not the carpet shark known as Maggie Moo.  (Otter said that she bought a costume for Maggie:  a shark.  Which is very appropriate!)

Froggy, this is for you:

You are the only person I know who would go on a frog hunt, considering how terrified you are of them!  (They are more scared of you, anyway.)

Checking Back In

No particular reason that I haven't blogged in so long, it's just been busy I guess.  Work wasn't, Younger Boss was on vacation last week so it was a loooooooooooooooong boring week and the office was entirely too quiet.  Younger Boss said the same thing when I was sick a few weeks back, it's just too quiet now.  We really miss the Teenager.  We both still talk to him, I tell him good morning when I get there and also report in to him after I've gone to see his lovely bride on Wednesdays.  His presence is still felt, but it's just too quiet now.

We went to Ace Hardware this morning, Bill needed wood putty and I got a refill on humidifier filters.  After we got home, I turned around and headed to Atwood's because they had two things on sale that we use a lot of:  coffee and peanuts.  I bought two large cans of coffee and one 5-lb. bag of peanuts.  After that, I followed yard sale signs.  I looked at a few, drove past a few but didn't stop and went to one estate sale.  I spent .75 cents.  I got a strawberry pot for Otter to use next spring when she plants things, that was .50 cents.  The other .25 cents was at the estate sale, it was half-off on the last day and I found a pink doily that was marked .50 cents but it was also half-off.

Bill had some "tummy troubles" mid-week, so he missed a couple of days of work.  One morning, I think it was Thursday, I didn't have enough time to walk Maggie Moo and she was not happy!  She was unhappy with me and she let me know - she barked at me!  She almost never barked, but apparently she thought that the situation deserved a bark.  Bill said she was quiet and calm during the day, but as soon as I got home from work that afternoon she was rarin* to go walking.  This morning, she was ready for her walk way before we were, and she was absolutely wired.  Bouncy and wiggly for about 30 minutes, then she could hardly be still long enough for me to get her harness on.  When I did manage to get her dressed for her walk, she just about yanked my arm out of it's socket in her haste to get to the front door!  She was happy because Bill got to walk with us this morning, she is really turning into a Daddy's Girl and she tried to walk as close to him as she possibly could.  Dorky little thing, cute but still dorky!  I surprised Bill about bought bacon, we had it for breakfast and the dog haunted the kitchen the entire time it was being cooked - she knows what that smell means!  I gave her a tiny amount of bacon grease on her dry food, which she pretty much inhaled as soon as I got out of her way!

I crocheted 8 baby caps for an organization in Tulsa that has a baby cap drive each year.  They want knitted or crocheted caps in shades of purple, sized for small babies and newborns.  It's part of a program that tries to reduce the number of shaken-baby cases each year, they give newborns and hospitalized babies purple caps to wear home with the idea being that purple caps will remind the parents, etc., not to shake a baby.  I don't know if it works or not, but it may.  This is the 2nd year I've made caps for it.  I mailed mine off on Friday, they want them by the end of the month.  Although I didn't intend it to be a de-stash project, it did get rid of two small purple yarn balls and one lavender one.  I also got quite a bit done on Otter's slant-stitch poncho.

OK, Froggy.  I think I've hit the highlights of the week.  You can quit nagging me now!  (Froggy now texts me a particular phrase:  nagnagnag.)

One Down, Two to Go

To be ready for Winter.  Well, what the Borg Queen considers ready although the non-assimilated would probably consider it being over-prepared!

Actually, I just went to wallyworld and bought 40 pounds of birdseed plus an 8-pack box of suet cakes.  Big, exciting trip, huh?!

(The other 2 things are more filters for the humidifiers and firewood, in case you are wondering.)  :)

Remember these?:

This picture is from this past Spring.  It's the whiskey barrel planter that my mailbox post is in.  After all the blooms died and went to seed, I harvested the seeds and they are waiting in a bag in the kitchen until I find an appropriate place to plant them.  But apparently, the seed pods had already started dropping seeds - I was pretty sure they had.  I was right.  At last count, there are over 30 baby blues springing up!  I'm going to attempt to transplant some of them when they get just a little bigger.  The Teenager was very much a TEXAN and he loved them as much as the rest of Us did/do.  He was overjoyed when I told him I'd share my bluebonnet seeds with the hope that they would grow next Spring.  I kind of knew then that he would no longer be with us, just one of what we call "my feelings" and I was right.  But I still intend to have bluebonnets at the office, even if it's in his memory.  I told Younger Boss about my baby blues and he really wants them as well - so I'm going to transplant some of the current crop and see if they survive.  I have grown them in pots before, they get tall and not wide like they should but they still smell heavenly.  I'm probably going to plant seeds as well.  I'm still just astounded at the number of them that have come up.  I've had them come up at odd times of the year, but never this many!

In case I don't blog tomorrow:

Alright Already!!!

(Froggy, that title is for you.  :)  NagNagNagNag...)  (Just kidding you know.)

First things first.  Fun stuff:

(Notice that the girl minion is a REDHEAD!)

This is the little, wooden rocking chair that my parents gave Otter when she was about 1 or so.  They brought it to her and it was love at first sight, she loved that chair and wanted it to stay in the living room.  She sat in it when she watched tv, she rocked her baby dolls in it, and she was very attached to it.  When she outgrew it, it held stuffed animals.  When we moved to our current house, it went into storage in the attic.  When she moved out and her room became the Room The Yarn Stash Lives In, it needed something and that something was Otter's little rocking chair.  My stuffed, TEXAS-related animals are now sitting in it and the rubber crocodile underneath is also Otters.  Well, hers and mine actually - and his name is Crickey.  The chair and assorted animals occupy a space in the Yarn room.  The yellow yarn ball is in Baby Bevo's hands and so is a crochet hook - the long piece of yellow yarn is actually the first (and probably only) piece of crochet Otter ever made.

It's supposed to look like Baby Bevo is crocheting.

(Billyboy, this one is for you.)

This one isn't really appropriate for my work, but it does apply to someone I know who has to put up with really bad stuff at work.

This one?  Well, it obviously applies to me!

OK, now that the jokes are out of the way.  My Fenton collection increased last week.  Otter and I went to one of our favorite junk-tique places and I found something:

(That is a stock photo and not mine.)  I've been looking for a piece of Fenton in the color known as Amberina.  I found a huge compote, thumbprint pattern and in the Amberina color while we were there.  IT WAS $5.00.  And it is perfect.  The larger pieces in general are becoming more rare, it is glass after all and glass breaks.  This color is pretty hard to find and the thumbprint pattern is somewhat uncommon - not really rare, but getting there.

Fuzzbutt Beagle, also known as Maggie Moo, went to the vet yesterday.  It's been two months since her last rear gland cleaning and nail trim, she was starting to drag her rear around so we knew she was ready.  The vet said that she wasn't completely impacted this time, but that she was close.  So, we'll keep her on the two months schedule unless we need to change it to more often.  She hates to have her claws trimmed and we got tired of fighting her so every time she goes to the vet for any reason, we have them trimmed.  While we were there, she met another dog that was just leaving and she seemed to be pretty happy.  Until the vet's assistant came to get her.  Then, it was time to play Drag the Dog!  Literally.  I had to lift her up off of the floor so the assistant could get her,and she immediately plopped herself right back down.  She literally had to drag/walk her to the back so they could gets her needs taken care of.  When she was done, she just about yanked the girl's arm out of it's socket in her haste to get back to me!  She is 28 pounds, which is about a pound and a half over what she was in July but she's still within allowable range for a small to medium beagle.

However, she is still known as BowlingBallButt for a good reason!

Dog House!

I think that Bill should just move right on out to the dog house in the back yard.  I mean, it's not like Maggie ever uses it and neither did Frasier.  I saw a squirrel hanging out in it one time, getting out of the rain.  But that's it.

But Bill needs to go out there.

He gave me the cold he caught at work!  I had the bug that was going around, then I got over it and got my flu shot.  I spent Saturday feeling cruddy from the shot reaction.  Bill was coming down with the cold sometime last week, I've kind of lost track of time/dates on that.  Sunday evening, I felt the first tickles in my throat and the beginning of a soreness.  Monday, I was pretty sure it was on the way.  I went to work on Tuesday and gave Younger Boss a very strong warning about staying away from me - which worked, because he was gone all day long!  Bill went in to work yesterday but he left around lunch time because he was feeling so bad.  Bill called in today.  I went in, but I knew it was very much a moment of RIF* but I had a couple of things I had to do.  I got them done, then I came home.  I stopped to get chicken soup fixins** on the way home.

Otter texted me that she was on the way over to do laundry just as I was getting the soup on the stove, she got here just before it was ready so she had lunch with us.  She made a point of staying as far away from us as possible, because she is smart and doesn't want to risk a cold or a cold-induced asthma spell.  We had a nice visit with her and Maggie was overjoyed, especially when she got to take a walk with Otter.

I'm going to work tomorrow and will try to stay, but I don't know if Bill will even attempt to go in or not.  He is better tonight, but he's still coughing a lot.

Dog house is waiting on him!  :)

*Resistance is Futile!

**It's a Texan Thing.  If you have to ask, you might not understand!

Labor Day 2015

It's been a fairly enjoyable Labor Day, for me anyway - Bill is still coughing his lungs out but that is actually good at this point.  He was already planning on staying home and working on pachinko machines and that is what he did, so he had a good day.  He just is getting tired of the coughing.  He mowed the front yard yesterday morning and the back this morning.  He was careful not to exert himself and I kept bringing him water and making his stop for frequent rest breaks.

I felt much better yesterday although I still had a few moments of feeling tired.  I feel much better today, I think I'm pretty much over the Wave/flu shot reaction.  Saturday, I was kind of thinking it might be a long, drawn-out reaction like I sometimes have but it turned out not to be.  Just Saturday mostly, I felt cruddy most of the day but I woke up feeling fine and have felt good all day.  I saw Otter for a few minutes yesterday when I took some stuff to her, I met her at her store just before her shift started and she had a couple of minutes to talk.  She had a headache off and on but that was it, her arm wasn't even as sore as it sometimes is.

I went to two thrift stores today, I found several doilies at the first one and nothing at the 2nd one but it was still fun.  Although it was apparently "screaming, unwatched child day" at the second thrift!  I bought sheer curtain yesterday and a sheer valance that is decorated with crochet-ish edging on the bottom.  The curtain just reaches to the bottom of the window frame in the Guest/Front/Craft/YARN room and I'm going to attach the doilies to it to make my doily curtain.  I tried pinning a few doilies together and they would have worked that way, but I wanted them to be more secure.  The sheer curtains will work very well, they are a very pale off-white color and won't really show much with the doilies.  The valance may show a little, but the edging will work very well.  The valance doesn't actually match the curtains, it's a different brand and very slightly different in color but it will still work.  I hadn't planned on a valance but the large doily/tablecloth will need a little more support as well.  I think I'm going to pin the doilies on to the curtain at first, because I may move them around until I get them how I like them.  But I am probably going to get out needle and thread and sew them on once I'm happy with their placement.  I have a boatload of doilies, but I'm not sure if I have enough or not.  When I was laying them out on the floor to get a general idea, it did not look like I have enough to make it as full as I want.  But once I start placing them on the curtains, I may have more than enough.  I'll figure that out as I go along.

Pictures will be posted on the craft blog at some point.

Waving Hello

I'm riding the Wave, in case that isn't obvious from the title.  The flu shot wave, to be precise.

I was a little achy when I went to bed last night and I didn't feel too good.  I slept well and woke up about 7:00 this morning with only a slight headache so I was hopeful of a mild reaction.  But after I'd been up for a while, I started to feel cruddy so I decided to stay home and hibernate today.  I did have to get out briefly, aside from the mandatory beagle walk, I had to go pick up mail for someone who is out of town but that was just a quick trip.  I was feeling better after lunch, so I ran my errand then with the idea of possibly stopping at a specific store but I realized that I was pretty tired out from just driving to get my errand done so I came home.  I took a long nap on the couch and it helped, but I feel a little feverish and just not very good at all.  I was afraid that I might have a stronger reaction this year, based on how fast it hit me yesterday.  The speed of the wave hitting doesn't always mean a worse reaction, but I've never had it hit me within 2 minutes like this year.  I expected a worse reaction last year and I had it, but this year seems a little stronger.  Otter is doing pretty good, she said she woke up with a headache and felt a little tired but she was thinking that she'd be able to work her closing shift tonight.

I made myself a nest on the couch with several things within reach (3 of them are crochet!) but I haven't done anything beyond just take it easy and watch a little tv, aside from my errand.

Bill has been sneezing his head off and coughing a lot, but the congestion he has had is beginning to break up and it's actually good that he's coughing so much.  He's not enjoying it, but it will help to get his lungs cleared.  He's not asthmatic, but the principal is the same.  He is probably going to sleep on the couch again tonight so he can be propped up better.

I really need to get back on Otter's poncho, it won't take me that long if I can just get on it and have some time to work on it.  Fall is not that far away.  We're also going to start getting firewood soon.  I don't think we'll need it very soon, but I'd rather be prepared early than wait and wish we'd gotten it sooner.  We do still have some left from last year, but not enough to get through the winter.

OK, Froggy.  You can't get on me now!

Got It Done

Otter and I both got our shots today.  I picked her up after work, we stopped at the UPS box to clear it and then we both needed to go to the bank so we did that.  We stopped at Wallyworld, yeah I know - on a Friday afternoon and a holiday weekend Friday at that!  But we got in and out of there fairly quick.  It was a required stop, I got our post-shot ice cream at the grocery store yesterday but I told Otter I'd get hers as well.  We took her ice cream (and cranberry juice) to her apartment and then we went to Walgreen's.  When we took out our new insurance, they said that flu shots were covered but that it had to be done at a doctor's office.  But the clerk ran the insurance through to check and it turned out that it did cover the shots at pharmacies as well, so we saved $64.00.  We had to wait about 20 minutes until the technician could give us the shots.

It was about 5:30 when we got them, and I felt the first hint of the Wave hit me at 5:32.  The first thing I noticed was a sudden feeling of coldness, more like a wind hitting me than a chill and I thought it might be breeze from an a/c vent at first.  We went to Subway to pick up dinner, where we were waited on by the slooooooooooooooooooooowest sandwich maker ever and were stuck behind the ditzyest mother and daughter customers ever.  We were probably waiting in there over 30 minutes.  We discussed going to another store, but it was peak traffic time so we decided to just stay there and wait.  By the time we left there, I was really feeling tired and my (left) arm was beginning to feel a little sore.  We went into the liquor store in the same shopping center - where Otter was promptly carded - and that was at least quick.

I dropped Otter off at her apartment and then I headed home.  I didn't get home until around 7:00.  The sandwiches were good, they just took a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time for the girl to make them.  But I think she was fairly new and she was just trying to be thorough, she was nice and it was obvious she was trying to do a good job so we didn't say anything about the lack of speed.

Bill spent lat night on the couch again.  He was feeling bad last night but the congestion was beginning to loosen up.  The air was a little dry and that was causing him problems, so I set up one of the humidifiers for him.  He still needed the fan, he figured out where to put the fan so that it didn't blow away the steam from the humidifier.  I heard him sneezing and coughing a few times - in the opposite end of the house, other his fan, my fan and the humidifier.  He felt feverish last night but he didn't feel feverish this morning.  He wants to sleep on the couch again tonight with the humidifier, so I'll make him another nest.  He doesn't get a flu shot, but he does get ice cream since he has to put up with me after I have it!  He just had a bowl and he said it was good.  He feels better but he's still sick.  He's still insisting that it's allergies, but I think he has what I had last week.  It takes a few days to work it's way out.  Otter said that J might be coming down with it, too.

I'm probably going to bed early tonight, I feel really tired.  My arm is a little sore, I had to take the bandaid off already because of my allergy to the adhesive.  I did bleed a little bit, but not much at all - even for a non-red!  I think a big part of the way we react is probably due to the RedHead Curse.  I'm hoping not to have a bad reaction, but then that's what I say every year.  But I'd still rather put up with the reaction and not have to deal with the flu itself.

Sheepies! And Other Stuff, Too

I find this very interesting, and also very strange:

Baa Baa Baa

They got 80 pounds or so of wool off of this animal, enough to make 30 sweaters!  Bet he feels a lot better today.

I was thinking that Bill had the bug I had or was coming down with a sinus infection the last couple of days, but now I'm thinking he's having allergies.  He isn't allergic to much, but ragweed is one of his triggers.  Ragweed is going crazy at the moment, I'm having some issues with it but not nearly as bad as what Billyboy is dealing with.  He was home sick yesterday but he went to work today.  He already had tomorrow arranged as a vacation day and Monday is a holiday (for both of us!)  He's been sneezing his head off since he got up this morning.  He slept on the couch last night so that he could be propped up and he might do that again tonight.

Otter came over yesterday to do her laundry, and she also babysat her sick dad.  She was gone before I got home, but I will see her tomorrow.  I'm picking her up after work and we are going to get our flu shots.  I picked up ice cream for us at the grocery store just now, along with a trunkload of other groceries, and I told Otter I'll get her some tomorrow before I take her home.

Hopefully, I won't spend all weekend reacting badly to the flu shot.  If I feel halfway decent on Saturday, I might go to the flea market in Tulsa.  Bill will be home, holding down the couch is my guess due to his allergies.  Of course, I may well be holding down the couch myself, if tradition holds!