Sunday Squirrels

We went to a local park this afternoon.  It has creeks, trees, birds, frogs and azaleas.  And a boatload of squirrels!  We sometimes take peanuts and feed them.  They are not tame, but they are very used to people and we can feed them from our hands.  Feed one or two, and you'll suddenly be surrounded by billions of little bushy tails!  We didn't feed them today, but they still follow people around if they think that there is the slightest chance of food.

We took Otter there to take pictures.  We decided to take her senior pictures ourselves, we weren't impressed with any of the packages we saw offered at any of the millions of photographers in the area.  The park is a local landmark and there are always lots of people.  In the spring, most of them are taking pictures.  Today was no exception.  Lots of little kiddos being herded (and chased down) by parents with cameras in hand.

My allergies didn't particularly like today's outing, but I enjoyed it otherwise.  So did Otter.  But we'll take peanuts next time.  Not that I expect the squirrels to starve, by any stretch of the imagination!

Movie Review:  Tangled.  It was pretty good, better than I expected.  It was funny.  I probably would not have been happy at theater prices, but we enjoyed it.  Especially the horse!

We have been watching, and there are almost no morning glories coming up.  We've always had a whole lot, but not anymore.  I'm thinking that the seeds we got last year must have been infected with something which is what we thought then, because very few came up from the seeds last year and even less of the already established ones.  This year, there are none at all in any of the areas I planted the seeds.  Including Otter's trellis.  There are a couple of vines that have come up at the end of the trellis, but they are the ones that were already established.  We bought several packages of seeds at the hardware store and I'll get them planted probably tomorrow.  Then we'll cross our fingers and hope.  (I'd plant them today, but my skin would probably run away if I spent that much time outside;  allergy overdrive!)

Several iris plants have blooms.  Several more have buds.  There are now two different shades of purple, and the yellowish ones have spread out.  Just no morning glories!

Otter has a movie review:  Insidious.  (I think that's the name).  She said it was good and that it was very scary.  She and BF saw it yesterday.  They also went to dinner.  They called it their Anti-Prom date.  The prom was last night, but neither of them wanted to go.  They wanted to do something that they would both enjoy, and the Prom was not it.  So they decided on dinner and a movie instead.  They actually went to the next small town over and had a Mexican dinner.  Otter said that she really is glad she got the shoes she did last weekend when we went shopping, but that she's now got blisters from them.  But they look good, and since she's her mother's daughter when it comes to cute shoes...

I did (finally) find time to crochet this week.  Yesterday.  I put 2 or 3 rows on the afghan and really enjoyed it.  I am going to work on it and a couple of other projects I've had planned for a while, then I'm going to get back to de-stashing.

Today is Palm Sunday.  We went to the early church service, which is what we usually do.  There normally aren't a lot of people, we are hoping that will change.  Because I don't see Pastor Dave keeping the early service much longer if he's only got 6 people in the audience!  Pastor Dave was complaining about how windy it has been lately.  He said that the wind was the reason he left West Texas.  He didn't pick a very good place, if he wanted to avoid wind!  Although we usually do get it earlier in the year.  But at least the area behind our house has grass now, it was scraped down to dirt when the building started back there and it was horribly dusty when the wind blew.

Like it always does here!

Friday

Soft & Fluffy Friday.  Or at least that's what I've decided today is.  Soft weather, also known as mist alternating with rain accompanied by a cold wind.  It's almost like an early Fall day, instead of early Spring.  It's been in the mid-40's most of today.

Yesterday, it was Spring (and in the 80's.)  With the standard Spring Storm as well.  We had wall clouds, two in particular that were very close but didn't sprout anything.  However, we had sirens going off and were ready to run to the safe room if necessary.  We didn't have to, thankfully.  But we did get a hailstorm.  Gravel size, and no damage to the cars or anything.  Just to the Asian Lillies I just planted!  Also, some of my hostas have damaged leaves and the tulips look like they took a few hits as well.  But it could have been a whole lot worse.

It was worse, after the storms (there were more than one) moved through our area and on east/northeast.  There was also a tornado well south of us.

So, while we are thankful that we are ok, let's not forget that other people are not ok and their have been some deaths.  Prayers will help.

Yesterday, I was going to wear my new shoes.  And I realized that there was no way my left knee was going to let me.  So, my lunch hour was spent returning the shoes to Payless.  It was not a fun trip because I really did NOT want to do that.  But I think it was the right decision, since I wasn't going to be able to wear them.  Then last night I twisted my left knee and it was agonizing!  I was reaching across the bathroom to throw something away and I think I just moved wrong, because my knee twisted pretty hard.  I should have just taken one or two steps so I could reach the trash can.  I had to take an extra-strength motrin when I went to bed.  It's better today, but it has reminded me a couple of times today that it's not happy.  So I spent today's lunch hour running errands and one of those errands was to go buy a big bag of chocolate!  Chocolate cures everything. :)

I'm just glad that tomorrow is Saturday.  I might actually get to crochet, I have not had any time since last Saturday.  I get cranky when I don't get to play with my yarn!

W(h)ine Wednesday

I haven't whined in a while, and it is Wednesday so I felt like it was a good title.  Actually, I'm not whining.  But I am tired.  I guess I could complain about that, that could be considered whining.

I think I'm going to go have a glass of wine and put my feet up.  They are ouchy for some reason.

Otter has a homework assignment for cooking class.  She has to create a casserole recipe and cook it for us.  I have to take a picture of her cooking it, as well as a picture of it after she's served it.  Then we have to write a paragraph about it which she will turn in along with the pictures and printed copy of the recipe.  She's got a few ideas, she's been cooking since she was small so it shouldn't be a problem for her.  She has to create her own recipe, she can't use one from a book or even from a family member.  It has to be original.  It won't be a problem for her.  I will post the recipe on the cooking blog after she's turned the assignment in at school.  Bill suggested that it have an ingredient also known as beagle, but that suggestion went over like a ton of bricks.

I still haven't gotten the hummingbird food mixed up!  I forgot about it yesterday, I was going to get it done after I showered all the allergens off but I got sidetracked.  Hopefully, I will remember it tonight.  Don't want the birds coming after me!

There's a yellow jacket, or possibly a hornet, starting a nest on the front porch.  We discovered it yesterday while we were outside playing in the yard with the weeds and Bill's going to take care of it this evening.  So far, there is just one insect on it and the nest is small.  But it needs to be gone.  We generally leave insects alone, except for spiders which have to be taken outside or the beagle will eat them, but not when they a) have stingers and b) are very close to the door.

Speaking of insects and beagles, there was a mayfly in the living room yesterday morning.  You know, big and look like mosquitos.  They are harmless, they don't even have mouths and I forget what they are the end life cycle of.  The one in question was flying low, right at beagle eye-level.  Dog went crazy trying to find it, she saw it once and then it got out of her sight.  She kept looking around for it, she wanted to catch it.  She gave up on it after a few minutes.  Then it appeared again, Maggie almost flew through the air herself, from one side of the living room to the other, and snatched it out of the air.  She didn't kill it, but she did wing it.  She opened her mouth and it more or less flew out, but it didn't get very far.  As soon as it landed, stupiddog smushed it - with the top of her head!  Then she tried to roll on it, but she kept missing it.  There is a reason why she gets called stupiddog!  She had a good time with it, although it got picked up and thrown away pretty quick.  It was really funny.

Frasier's latest thing is to wait until somebody is petting Maggie, then he will nonchalantly mosey over and lie down.  On top of Maggie.  She gets squashed against the floor or the couch on a regular basis.  Frasier always looks so pleased when he manages to trap her.

OK, still nothing to whine about!  Guess I'll have to try harder.  Maybe next time.

Gutters

(No, not mind in the gutter kind of gutters!)  Bill cleaned the rain gutters out this afternoon.  They were pretty full, lots of helicopter maple seeds, dirt, leaves and just general gunk.  They are nice & clean now.  If we ever get any rain again, they might actually do their job!  It might rain Thursday or thereabouts.  Hope so, we need it.

After he cleaned the gutters, Bill replaced the filter in the drain pipe to the rain barrel.  It's basically a pantyhose leg, periodically it needs to be replaced.  It works wonderfully, actually.  It's a creative way to recycle torn hose.

I did some yard work this afternoon.  I planted two Asian lily plants in the whiskey barrel.  One has red blooms, although they are called purple, and the other one has light pink.  They are supposed to be perennial and full sun.  We'll see!  I pulled a few weeds around my hosta plants and cleaned out leaves, etc. from the same area.  The hostas have come back well this year, they are starting to spread and self-propogate and look very good.  My skin has been on high alert ever since, I'm heading for the shower very soon in hopes that the itching will go away.  I scrubbed my arms up as far as my elbows after I came inside and it did help.  But I still got itchies!  Also, my sinuses are not happy with me.  They weren't happy before I played in the dirt, and they are really angry with me know.  But at least I got to spend some time outside.  That's always a good thing.

While we were outside, I noticed that quite a few of the iris plants in the back yard have buds.  They should be blooming very soon.

No shuttles for Tulsa.  I'm surprised and at the same time, I'm not surprised.  There were 20 other cities attempting to get one, there were only 4 available.  The surprise comes in from the fact that NASA had rules for this, and the majority of the cities that will receive one did not meet the qualifications.  Sounds like some politics involved!  Well, it's not the first time and won't be the last.  But it would have been really neat to have one here.  Even if it wasn't the Enterprise.

I think I'm going to head to the kitchen now, and mix up some hummingbird food.  I have been meaning to for a few days but keep forgetting.  They'll be here soon and will be hungry.  I don't want to disappoint the little needle beaks!  They have been known to dive bomb us before, being redheads were are already targets for them.  I don't want to give them any more reason to attempt to stab us!

Fingers Crossed & Breath Held!

Tulsa's trying to get something.  From NASA.  Something very special.

Here's the article.

Tulsa's hopes

(Tulsa's hopes is a play on a line "All my hopes.." which any self-respecting ST Geek will recognize).

Tulsa has been trying to get it for months and months.  It sounds like Tulsa actually has a very good chance.  We certainly hope so.  The decision will be announced tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. local time.

And the best part?

This is the one that Tulsa wants:

In case you can't tell the NAME, see the next picture for a hint.

And if you still can't tell:

It's The ENTERPRISE!

Sunday Snakes

No, not the reptilian kind with the forked tongues & scales. 

I'm talking about the plumbing kind.  This week's adventure was having to play plumber (well, Bill did anyway).  The a/c drain pipe in the garage was clogged up.  The clog was actually in the pipe between the a/c drain and the kitchen sink which caused both ends to overflow.  Bill discovered it when he went out into the garage to get another pachinko machine to bring in to work on.  There was water running down one side of the garage - the side the pachinkos were on, of course.  We had a rapid rearrange session, then he figured out where the water was coming from.  This was Wednesday evening, so we didn't do anything about it then.  Aside from turning off the a/c (it was cool that evening) and not using the dishwasher or kitchen sink, the dishwasher had just finished running and that is probably what caused the overflow leak.  Thursday morning's breakfast dishes were washed in the bathroom sink.  Bill talked to the plumbers at work and they told him that it was probably a clog and not anything more severe such as a broken pipe based on the symptoms, so he stopped on the way home from work and bought a pipe snake.  It did the trick, and we can now use the sink, dishwasher and a/c again.

I'm really glad that it was the other day and not today, because I don't think I could stand not having the a/c on in the house.  It's in the 80's, not extremely hot outside although the humidity is a problem for me.  The problem I'm having today is simply because I'm a 49 year old woman!  I haven't had a hot flash in several months and the one I had today made up for any that I've missed.  I've seldom been this miserable, it was very windy and cool this morning so I stood out on the back deck in the wind for quite a while.  Then I came inside and stood with my head in the freezer.  After that, I moved to the bedroom and turned the fan on high - and stood in front of it.  I am not looking forward to the next few years, if today's was any indication of what's on the horizon.

After I cooled down, we managed to make it to church.  Where the a/c was on and I actually got a little cold.  And enjoyed it!

I think I might get a hummingbird feeder up soon.  I haven't seen any yet, but we've seen quite a few birds suddenly appear and I expect them soon.

Otter and I went shopping this afternoon.  We both needed Easter dresses and also something to wear to her graduation.  We went to Penney's with the intention of hitting Dillards next, but we both found what we wanted at Penney's.  Love their sales!  My dress is a totally different size than I was looking for, I knew I'd lost a little more weight but I really didn't think I'd gone down any more in terms of clothing size.  Until I tried on the size I thought I would wear and it swallowed me.  The next size down actually is almost loose, but the size down from that would probably not work (yet) and I don't think that they had the next one down anyway.  No luck in the shoe department today, although we did try.  We both bought sundresses but mine has a shrug-type jacket.

Well, I guess that gives us an excuse to go shoe shopping this week.  Like we need one!

While we were out, we went to Lowe's and found a couple of plants.  Not much in the way of herbs, which is what Otter wants to grow this year.  She found a rosemary plant at the grocery store last week and would like to find another mint plant, probably peppermint specifically.  We bought 4 small jalepeno plants and a couple of lillies (forgot what kind) for the whiskey barrel.  We'll look at another store this week after school that usually has more edible plants than Lowe's does and see what we can find.

Then, we'll probably go shop for shoes. :)

It Was Otter's Turn Today

Allergies!  We can't seem to dodge them, this time of year.  Otter's been fighting hers for a few days and the wind is not helping.  She has been taking benadryl at night for the last couple of nights.  This morning, she woke up feeling cruddy.  So she took a benadryl and went back to bed.  Where she stayed most of the day.  I went to work, she was fine by herself.  And she had two doggies to look after her.  She's feeling a lot better this evening, but she's still got the allergy issue to deal with.  However, she will probably be back at school tomorrow.

She did manage to get out of the house for a few minutes.  We had a local election, so I picked her up after work and we went to vote.  We also stopped at Wallyworld and got milk as well as a rotiserie (sp?) chicken from their deli.  The chicken was dinner tonight.  I had a filling lunch from the so-called Chinese place by work and Bill went to lunch with some people he works with and had (not the best) Mexican food.  Otter had chicken noodle soup for lunch but she doesn't have much of an appetite when her allergies are acting up.  So I got a deli chicken and dismembered it.  Bill and I made wrap sandwiches with it, Otter's portion is on a foil-covered plate in the fridge for whenever she decides she's hungry.  The next time I decide to make chicken salad, I'll probably just buy a deli chicken instead of cooking one myself.  There isn't much of a price difference, actually, and it would already be cooked so it would save time.

We've been looking for chairs for the back deck.  We have plastic adirondack chairs that we've had for several years and we've enjoyed using them.  We spend a lot of time out there in the spring & summer.  But, after many years of being used and then left outside to freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw/etc., they are starting to break.  We decided to go with wooden ones this time.  The hardware store we like had some nice ones on their website, sturdy and not too expensive.  We went up to the store while ago, but they don't have them in stock yet.  So we ordered them off of the website.  I'm not sure how long the delivery will take, we're having them delivered to the store and I'm not sure if they are assembled or not.  I think they are, but I'm not sure.  But it will be nice to have chairs that I'm not afraid of landing on the ground in!

(Otter reported that her chicken was very good.  She had it with potato chips and ketchup, so I think her appetite is returning).

It did get to freezing last night.  Our area was 29 degrees this morning.  But it didn't feel like it was that cold.  It was nice this afternoon, sunny and around 70.  We are going to have a couple of nice days with more rain chances this weekend.

Hope we get rain, we could sure use it.  We could see smoke from grass fires from the house this afternoon.  Not a comforting sight!

A Few Observations on Monday

First of all, it's cold again.  It could freeze tonight.  We had the a/c on last week and the heater today.  I know that Texas weather is very quick to change.  But it doesn't even begin to hold a candle to Oklahoma weather!

Along with being much cooler today (50's), it's also been extremely windy.  We have Fire Alerts, which means that there is no outdoor burning allowed.  At all.  There have been some serious grass fires and there was one house fire late last night that became 2 houses completely gone and many surrounding houses with roof damage, due to the extremely high winds.  It's very dry here, which doesn't help matters.  We had a chance of rain last night, but we didn't really get anything out of it.

Froggy asked me about the March book list, seeing as it's April now.  Froggy, you apparently haven't been paying attention because I haven't posted one since the January list.  There wasn't one for February.  I'm not doing them anymore.  I've decided to comment on a few books as opposed to trying to list all the books I read.  The February list was probably the biggest one, or it would have been if I'd kept it.  I didn't even start one for March.  I'll occasionally post stuff about books.  I have been reading less and less fiction and more history and biography type things lately.  I think I've just about read everything the library has in the way of crochet books.  I have not found much fiction lately that I want to read.

Maggie Moo went to the vet today.  She and Frasier enjoyed their car ride.  Frasier parks in the back seat, which he takes up completely.  Maggie rides in the area between the two sides of the front seat.  She just fits.  She always pays attention to the direction we are going, and she knows exactly where we have to turn to go to the vet's.  The vet moved, however.  He's in the same strip center he was in before, but he's moved to the opposite end and has a much bigger space.  Maggie was being watchful today, when we didn't turn in to the parking lot where we usually did I noticed that she looked happy.  Then when we did turn, she wasn't aware that we were in fact at the vet.  She got out of the car easily, and happily went in the door with Otter and Frasier.  Then she saw the vet standing at the front desk, and that's when she realized just exactly where she was.  She was not amused!  She was even less amused a few minutes later, when the tech came to get her.  The tech had to play a round of Drag the Beagle.  When the procedure (behind squash) was over, the dog more of less flew out of the procedure room and straight back to Otter.  And she couldn't wait to get out of there and back into the car.  Not that I blame her.  Frasier weighed in at 69 pounds, or so.  He wouldn't be still on the scale, so he could actually be closer to 70 or 71 pounds.  Maggie has lost about 4 pounds, she's just under 25 pounds.  Which is a good thing.

We finally finished Otter's birthday cake.  It was good and it took us a while, but it's finally gone.  When we went to the bank earlier, the teller couldn't believe that she was even 18 let alone 19!

She graduates in just over a month.  That is simply not possible, she just entered kindergarted a few months ago!

Sunday Shortcakes

Got strawberries, angel food cake & cool whip in the fridge!  Which will be eaten later today, since we're all kind of stuffed from the chicken wraps we made for lunch.

Yard Sale Season has begun.  We went to one in the neighborhood last week, where we found a smaller desk for me and Otter found some craft stuff.  We went to three today, Otter found a necklace at one but that was all we bought.  We followed signs to another one, but they were apparently yesterday's signs because it wasn't there.  We also hit a thrift store, but that is a regular activity for us (no luck there).  Sunday yard sales are not really common here, for some reason.

While we were out, we also went to the library.  Which is also a regular activity for us!  Otter found a bunch of books, she also turned in the majority of the last haul.

It's been really warm lately.  Yesterday was so pleasant, we had the house open most of the day with a fan in the window.  It was breezy, but we were able to sit out on the deck in the morning and it was really nice.  Today is warmer and still pretty, but it's also WINDY.  Enough that I was nearly blown off my feet by one gust.  It's another one of those days where we keep expecting to see the beagle fly by.  We could get rain tonight, with the chance of more tomorrow.  Hopefully, any rain we do get will be ended by the afternoon.  The beagle has to go get her rear end squished at the vet's and I do not look forward to the idea of loading wet dogs in the car!

Bill cleaned out some junk from the shed while Otter and I were out hitting yard sales.  We have wasps in there.  They get in at one end, by the door, and then they can't find their way out.  They go to the window at the opposite end from the door, since they see the light shining through.  Then they spend their time batting against the window, trying to get out.  We have to go open the door and let them out on a regular basis.  They are not smart, it takes them a while to figure out that all they have to do is go back the way they came in and they'll be fine.  They are not nesting in the shed, we check frequently.  They just aren't too bright!

Otter saw the first honey bee of spring today.  She was cleaning out the dog yard, which is her least favorite chore and I don't blame her.  She said that the honey bee was busily collecting pollen from all the dandelions that have suddenly sprung up.  We also heard the first frog of the year yesterday, so Otter replaced the bricks in the dog's water dish because we don't want drowned frogs!

Bill didn't quite get to the bikes when he was working in the shed.  But I'm thinking that we're going to have to get them out pretty soon.  Someone gave us a bike that they weren't going to use a while back, so I'm thinking that I might start riding it in place of the one I bought a couple of years ago.  My bike isn't quite tall enough for me and it also needs new brakes.  If the other bike is in decent shape, which it looks like it is, I'll probably start riding it instead of buying new brakes for mine.  Depending on how tall it is.  I'm fairly tall, 5' 9".

My allergies are both better and worse today.  The respiratory allergies are better, which is surprising considering the wind and the fact that everything is blooming.  But my skin allergies are starting to kick in today.  I'm itchy!  I don't particularly like having allergies to so much stuff, but Otter's are even worse than mine.  I'm allergic to lots of things, she's allergic to nearly everything!

TGIF! Cough, Cough, Achoo

I've given in to my allergies today.  They have been getting worse over the last few days, and after hardly sleeping because I couldn't breathe last night, I decided to just give in and let them have their way.  So, I'm home.  With my coughing and sneezing!  And slightly sore throat.  And two dogs, who are curled up in the living room floor. Where they've been since breakfast! Which was the only reason they interrupted their sleep - food, followed by more sleep. Smart doggies.

I hate allergies. I have a lot of sinus pressure, but not actual sinus pain so I'm not worried about an infection. But I am not enjoying it! This spring is predicted to be a bad one as far as allergies go. The freezing weather we had in early February delayed the blooming cycle of some plants/trees. So they are all blooming at once, instead of being spread out somewhat.

Otter enjoyed her birthday.  We took her & BF to the restaurant known as the Hog Trough in the family but it has another name, Golden Corral, which is what the rest of the world calls it.  We met her grandparents there and had a fun meal.  Then we came back to the house for birthday cake.  Which was really good, and of course we had to have ice cream with the cake.  Froggy, any guesses on where the ice cream came from?  After the cake & ice cream, Otter and BF took the dogsters out in the back yard and ran around with them.  When the dogs decided that they'd had enough play (which took a while), both poochies came inside and crashed on their blanket.  And stayed there, unmoving, for hours.

OK, my crochet is calling me.  Although I'm not sure I have the patience for it today.  Along with having sneeze/coughing outbreaks, I'm also grumpy.  Maybe I'll just go make some herbal tea and watch tv for a while.  I'm sure the doggies will be more than willing to keep me company.

Traditions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a closer shot of the blooms.

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

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

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

Wet Tuesday Stuff

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

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

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

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

*SpringLikeStorms

Sunday Spring?

Spring?  Really?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Couple of Quick Friday Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

Middle of the Week Stuff

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

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

This is interesting:

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

A Couple of Spring Monday Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Spells

Alternate title:  How do you spell __________?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday. Long Day and I'm Tired!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now, let's see if this actually works.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HELP

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

Pray. Pray hard. And then pray some more.

Signs?

Sunday Sleepies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's Our Beffday!

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

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

March is International Crochet Month

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

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

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

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

This one could also be titled Death Row Kitty!

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

Just Tuesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GO!

Go see this.

As soon as you can.

Even if it's just because of the snake!

(You'll understand after you see it).

Sunday Selling?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Today is a Fun Day!

It's Dr. Suess Day!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today is

International Pancake Day, in case anybody is interested!

Food for thought, I guess.