Wow

I have not posted since January!  5 months, nearly.

I forgot my password and had to get blogger to send me a new one.  That's not why I haven't blogged in so long, that just happened today when I tried to sign in.

I am still here, Otter is still here (25 now!), Bill is still here and Maggie Moo the Wonder Beagle is still here.  Otter is still dating J, I think she said they are going on 4 years now?  I'm not sure if it is 3 or 4.  She still works for the same hardware store and has consistently moved up.

Maggie Moo has had a few health issues, but she is 13 now.  She had what was basically a skin tag on her left front "elbow" and the vet was watching it.  He did not want to operate because of her age.  He tried a couple of things including a steroid shot which did shrink it quite a bit.  But then she started licking it again and it started to grow, so he decided to go ahead and remove it.  He tried a different anesthesia that was safer for older dogs and she did great.  She had to wear a Cone of Shame for a few days,which she did not like!  But she's recovered very well and she's also lost some weight.  We had been feeding her Iams brand and we noticed that a) her weight ballooned up, b) she was pooping larger amounts than she was eating and also the vet was concerned that c) her liver enzymes were up.  We took her off the Iams brand, put her back on Pedigree and she's lost several pounds, does not poop mountains anymore and her liven enzymes are dropping a lot although they are not quite back to normal.  But they are getting there.  She's more playful also.

I have toyed with the idea of quitting blogging altogether and I've also thought about just creating a new one.  At this point, I am just going to continue this one although maybe not posting that often.  I'll try not to wait 5 months, though. :)

What have I been doing?  Lots of crochet and quite a bit of crafting.  We've been enlarging the pachinko business and it's going strong.  I've found more time to go to the library, something I try to do on a regular basis.

Normal stuff, in other words.

But I have made a change in a lot of my opinions.  I am still (and will remain) Christian.  But I am trying very hard not to be a judgemental one.  We were sort (ok, not just sort of) of heading in the direction of fundamentalism.  One of the things we were doing was observing Saturday Sabbath.  That's not the only thing but it was one of the bigger changes we made.  Was, not is.  It was something we tried for several years, the fundamental route and not just the Saturdays.  For various reasons, I realized that was one route I did NOT want to go down and so did Otter.  Bill took a little longer, but we all realized that it was a mistake and was potentially a HUGE mistake.  Most of those mistakes have been rectified, and one of them included changing churches.  We are still Southern Baptist, but not fundamental.  The church we belonged to was not officially fundy, but it had a lot of things in common with fundies.  But there were a lot of things that happened, which I have documented, and it started with the minister seeming to "check out" of doing anything beyond practically phoning in the sermons.  That was what got me thinking and since Otter was really unhappy with the church, I started observing things there a lot deeper.

After Otter moved out, I basically just said that I was quitting a lot of things we were doing and the Saturday observance was the first "casualty."  All the Saturday observance was doing was to make me (and Otter) miserable.  It caused more problems than it fixed, and it really did not do much of anything constructive.  A few Saturdays after I quit it, Bill said he realized that I was making sense and he quit observing it as well.

We were already looking for a new church and I really did NOT want to stay Baptist.  We visited a few Methodist churches but we really did not find "the one" so we quit going at all for a while.  We did not quit our faith, just attending the church.  We decided to visit a small-ish Baptist church that is a couple of miles from home and were very pleasantly surprised.  The first thing we noticed is that they observe Advent - something almost no Baptist churches actually do.  There was a Christmas Eve candlelight service.  There are a lot of other rituals and observances that have always been very meaningful to me/us.  We met with the pastor, he came over to our house, and we had a very nice talk with him.  We decided to join and we did, on January 1st of this year.  So yes, we are still Baptist.  But not fundamental and not stuck in what felt like a dead or dying church.

Among other things, while I am still and will always be pro-life, I'm not going to be militant about it.  I believe strongly that life begins at conception.  But it's between each person and God how they feel, and what they do.  I do not have an issue with birth control, at all.  I don't consider abortion to be birth control.  And I do as much as I can to donate to and assist groups such as the local ones that help teen girls who are pregnant.  But I'm not the type to picket the clinics, etc., I never really have been.  But I will continue to pray for all concerned in that situation.

I'm also basically going back to beliefs that I have held for years.  We can all love who we want and it's nobody else's business what anybody does in the privacy of their own lives.  That is something that I never really had an issue with.  I think a lot of the reason I ever changed my mind on that issue to start with is when I lost a very good friend to AIDS.  He was in his early 20's when he died.  It was a few years before I decided that his lifestyle was wrong.  But recently I have realized a few things, and one of those things is that it was his life and he had the right to live it as he wanted.  And that goes for everyone.  I have a very good gay friend and I told him (on inauguration day) that I supported him 100% and I meant that.  He's not the only one I support in that sense.  So, the basic thing I saying (or trying to) is that we all have to live our lives in the way that works for us.  And that I am not here to judge anyone.  What really matters is how we treat each other, that is the basic truth that a lot of people miss.  I missed it for years.  I'm not missing it any longer.

And I am sincerely sorry to anyone who I may have hurt.

Happy Thanksgiving! And More. (EDITED)

Hopefully everyone is having a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Just because Maggie Moo wants to say hi:

This picture is from a few days ago.  I came across this bandana in my craft stuff and Maggie looked kind of happy when she saw it.  So I tied it around her neck and she was very happy.  I left it on her for a long time and she seemed quite content.  She was eager to go out in the back yard when I took this picture, that's what the look on her furry face is about.  "Hurry UP!  I gots stuff to do!"

She attempted to get a squirrel this morning.  I let her out in the back yard and she was about half-way across the deck when she spotted a squirrel all the way across the yard, in the shady corner behind the shelf.  She went from slooooow mid-step to full warp speed the second she spotted it, and evidently she thought she could actually catch it.  But it was already too late, the squirrel saw her before she saw it and it was up on the fence and running down the top to safety before she was even off the deck!  Silly doggie. :)  By the time I was able to call her name, she was already half-way across the yard.  She is fast when she wants to be.  She was not happy that I wouldn't let her go after the squirrel, but he was long gone by that point.  Not that I would have let her get it, but she is a beagle and that is the instinct.

Otter's internet was not transferred after all yesterday.  The company had both her cell phone and J's, they also (obviously!) knew which apartment they were transferring from and which apartment they were transferring to.  The guy called her (she was at work) about 20 minutes after 5:00 and she told him that someone was at the apartment they were transferring from.  Then that was the last she heard of him.  At about 8:20, she called me so I could look up the office number for her and I gave it to her but I also told her to call him back at the number he called her from.  He said that he'd gone to the apartment but nobody was there so he left.  IF he even went at all, he went to the one that they are transferring TO and never to the one that they are transferring service FROM.  He never called either one of the phone numbers to say he was there or to ask where anybody was who might be waiting on him - both things he was supposed to do if he got there before J was at the old apartment.  I told her she should call him back again and remind him of all that, and demand that he get back and do what he was supposed to but she didn't have enough time on her break and is going to call the office Friday.  She's going to give them an earful, and it's going to be her version of *RHTW.  She is going to tell them that they need to get out there tomorrow afternoon, but who knows if they'll do that or not.  They will get it switched, it's just a question of when and if they will do what they are supposed to.

Because we originally thought we would still be moving furniture today, at least that was the probable plan if it had rained like it was supposed to do, we didn't really have anything in the way of Thanksgiving planned.  So J and Otter have gone with J's dad to visit his family outside of Tulsa.  Otter texted me earlier, they were giving her a tour of haunted sites in the county that they are visiting.  I think she was really enjoying it.  I have a frozen lasagne in the freezer and some garlic toast, Bill and I are going to have that tonight as our Thanksgiving feast.  I did get to Braums and managed to snag one of the two strawberry cheesecake ice cream pies they had left, so we even have dessert.  We have already gotten into the pie, we had a very light lunch and decided we needed dessert. :)

When she moved out of our house, she left her stackable shoe shelves and I used them with my craft stuff.  Bill bought a tall plastic shelf unit, like the ones we have already.  He put it in the office/pachinko/junk room.  He claims he's going to get a little more organized in there, but I'll believe it when I see it!  Anyway, I decided to get one for my craft stuff.  I put it together and put it in the room, but I haven't had time to really get it organized yet.  My stuff WILL be organized!  I'm also going to be able to get the sewing machines out of the closet and sit them on it and possibly some (or maybe all) of the fabric/sewing stuff - although quite a bit of the sewing and fabric related stuff is Otters and it may be going to her apartment at some point.  She said she wanted the shoe shelves since I'm not using them anymore, so I took them over to her new apartment this morning.  Nobody was up yet, so I left them in her living room.  Along with a hammer that Bill is loaning her and some wood.

When we were moving her furniture yesterday, Bill was moving her bookshelf and it kind of had an accident.  It's wooden and very heavy, about 6' tall and we bought it out of surplus and a local school district when we first moved into our old house when Otter was 2.  It has always been in her room to hold things and she's been using it lately as an actual book shelf.  It's huge and she also has more books than it can hold, which actually is a Good Thing.  Anyway, Bill got it (with the dolly) out of her old apartment, down the stairs and across the sidewalk to the door to the other side of the building without a problem.  But then he stopped to rest a minute and check his cellphone to see what time it was.  It was windy and cool, and as soon as he stopped and took his hand off of the bookshelf there was a very strong gust of wind and the bookshelf went right over.  It landed flat on the front and it landed hard.  It wasn't broken, probably due to the sturdy construction and solid wood, but there are a couple of places where it looks like part of it tried to separate at the top corner and bottom where the feet are.  It can be hammered back into place, but she only has a small hammer so Bill loaned her one of his (many, too many) hammers and also a few pieces of wood to use as hammering blocks.  She may also wind up using them as shims to secure it because when she and Bill put it in place, it looked like it was leaning to the front.  They moved it to another corner and it wasn't leaning.  She asked the apartment office about that, and they said what we thought - it's an old building and it's quite possible that there may be some settling.  Not enough to even be worried and the building is structurally sound.  But the bookcase may need a little support under the front if she decides to put it where she originally wanted it.

The plan at this point is that I'm going to the grocery store in the morning and Bill is going to take the El Camino to get the oil changed and also to get something checked on it.  If his car is going to be there for a while, I'll bring him back home.  If it's a quick thing, he'll either wait at the mechanic or walk around the grocery store with me - they are in the same shopping center and so is Otter's store.  She has to work the Black Friday opening and when she gets off work, I'm going to meet her at the old apartment so we can see about getting what is left moved.  I could tell that she and J did manage to get quite a bit moved after we left yesterday, but there is still more there.  When I talked to her about 8:30, I woke her up when I called her and she said she wasn't awake enough to think, much less converse with any sense!  I told her to go back to sleep, she worked her behind off yesterday with moving and then she had to work until midnight last night, getting the store ready for Black Friday so I think she deserved to sleep in a little bit today.  She couldn't remember how much was still at the old place but she thinks we may be able to get the rest of it moved in one afternoon, it's boxes and probably trash bags with stuff but all the furniture is moved already.  We hopefully will be able to get the cleaning done tomorrow afternoon as well, but she doesn't have to work on Sunday so that is our second plan of attack if tomorrow doesn't work out.  A lot of it depends on the weather, the rain that was supposed to start yesterday finally arrived this morning.  It may be strong rain but it might not be steady.  It could be off and on, and it could be heavy at times.  Sunday is supposed to be dry I think, but we want to get it done as quick as we can.  The apartment office said that they won't change the lock until Monday so she can have all weekend, but we don't want to wait until the last minute if we don't have to.  Also, we want to go to a local museum that has a really fun Christmas tree exhibit.  We haven't missed too many years of the museum exhibit and it's only there for a very short time, so Sunday is probably our only chance this year.  J has to work, otherwise he would go with us.

Hopefully, the El Camino is a minor issue.  The engine temperature light came on yesterday when Bill was on the way to Otter's.  He checked and there was plenty of antifreeze, the radiator was not leaking and the system seemed to be working.  The car had plenty of time to cool down but he said it came on again when he was on the way home (we took separate cars since I went earlier than he did) so he's going to ask them to check it when he gets the oil changed tomorrow.  It is very probably the sensor itself going bad, the car is a 1976 model after all and it is probably the original part.  But it is still odd/funny that out of three cars "we" have, two of them have similar issues!  My car had better not decide to join the party the other two are having!

**EDIT:  I turned the oven on about 4:30 for the lasagna, and I turned it off about 5 minutes later when the electricity went out!  We looked out the front door and it looked like it was at least our neighborhood, so I called the electric company.  I was the first person calling, so they couldn't tell me what/why/how long.  I opened the freezer long enough to toss the lasagna back in.  We waited a little while, then we decided to go in search of a restaurant that was actually open and had power.  The police department already had an officer out to direct traffic at the intersection closest to us, but there were lights on a little farther than that so we knew it wasn't very widespread.  We wound up at a Taco Bell, because they were open and had power.  Most of the actual restaurants and fast food places that were in the area with power were closed.  But it was still good and kind of fun, even if it wasn't what we expected to be doing on a rainy Thanksgiving night.  We were gone about an hour and when we got back the power was back on.  I looked on the news station website and I think it was a squirrel that caused the outage.  Maybe Maggie Moo had the right idea this morning?!!!!

Cars and Shower Curtains and Brownies and Pachinko Machines and Otters...

I made brownies on Thursday evening, and I made sure to double the batch.  Because otherwise, they would not be safe from Willie!  I frosted them this time, which I don't always do.  But I made them for J and his mom, to thank them for watching over Otter until we were able to get to her the night she had car trouble.

Otter saw a sign for a craft show and it was the same one I was going to yesterday, so we decided to go together.  Bill had the car loaded up with pachinko machines to take to the new booth and he dropped me off at her apartment and she was my chauffer.  For a while, anyway.  We went to the craft show and had a good time although we didn't buy much.  Then we went to Target in search of a new shower curtain for Otter.  Well, that was the plan anyway!  When we were pulling into the parking lot, the car light "low coolant level" came on.  So we called Bill, then we headed back to our house (I was driving the car then at Otter's request) and we watched the engine heat the entire way home.  It never really got very warm, it stayed in the normal range so we weren't worried about overheating.  Bill checked the car, it really didn't seem to need much anti-freeze but he added a little anyway and that's when he realized that the overflow tank was slightly bubbly.  There was apparently still a little air in the radiator and it was basically exhaling into the overflow tank.  He watched it for a while and let it run, he checked a few things and it seemed to be fine.  Otter and I went back to Target, Bill said it would be a good idea to drive her car and let it work any remaining air out of the radiator so we took it.  She wanted me to drive it, so I did.  She really doesn't have to drive very far to work, and our trip was the most distance the car had been driven and for the longest time since it was seen at the repair shop.

She found a shower curtain she liked, it's got bright colored stripes and it's very pretty.  She also found a matching bath mat but Target didn't have anything else that she liked so we went down the street to Walmart and she found a trash can that was not even made by the same company but it almost matched so we got it.  We also got her a can opener since she didn't have one, other than a hand-operated metal one that she said is almost impossible to operate.  When Roomie moved out,she left the shower curtain and bath set there which her mother bought when they moved into the first apartment.  It was never Otter's favorite, it's a nice blue but let's face it:  it's not exactly what 20-year old girls would have picked out for themselves! :)

Otter was going out to the not-quite-next-door small town that J lives in, she was still a little apprehensive about more car trouble so she asked me to take her.  I did, and drove her car.  It is probably all burped now, but she wants Bill to drive it this week and make sure.  I'll go back out there and get her in a few days.  Sometime between now and then, I'm going to go put her new bathroom stuff in place in her apartment and she also wants me to water her plants.    Otter is still moving in a couple of weeks, but she really does not want that blue shower curtain anymore - it's about the last thing that was Roomie's that is left in the apartment.  She's going to donate it to Goodwill or Salvation Army, but I'm going to wash the curtain and bath mat first. The apartment office changed the locks for her and Roomie did give us her keys when she moved out, but we didn't know for sure if she had given a key to her parents so I checked things a couple of times when Otter was gone last week/end.  Even though the lock isn't the same, Otter still wants me to go over there and check it a couple of times.

We went to the booth yesterday afternoon and took a couple of machines.  Bill realized that one of the walls was not strong enough for the weight of the pachinko machines and cabinets, so he talked to the owner and her husband stabilized/strengthened the wall last night.  We went back there this morning and Bill was satisfied, so he re-hung the machines on the wall.  We also put a fabric covered bulletin board on one of the side walls and it has a series of photographs, before restoration to after restoration of a pachinko machine.  The one Bill used is the Kanji-print fabric board that Otter made, she gave it to him when she moved into her apartment.  He also has a shelf which will hold pachinko balls, business cars and flyers.  The shop is opening for business on Friday, so we'll be back over there Thursday evening with the pachinko balls and also some how-to restoration dvd's.  We looked around the store a little bit, it's got a really good layout with good sized aisles and we hope that it succeeds.  Not just for us, she's a really nice person and she has a lot riding on this store.

Mags is very happy lately, I think she likes the cooler weather.  She's been pretty bouncy lately and is very playful.  As I type this, she is on her back and is attempting to catch her tail.  I guess it's easier to catch it that way? :)

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.

Day 9

Last day of my 9 day weekend.  Back to work tomorrow.

Bill and the mechanic neighbor looked at the car seat and determined that the part that broke is not the seat itself, but it is the frame that holds the seat in place.  Bill made a few calls on Friday but apparently a lot of places were also closed on Friday.  So he's going to check on it tomorrow.  Chevy was open but it was somewhere close to $700.00 just for the part (no labor!) from them and we are NOT doing that unless we absolutely have to.  Bill did consider getting a replacement from a salvage yard, but since it is a fairly important structural piece he's decided against that option.  I'll ride with him in the morning, he has to be in at 7:00 but leaves the house earlier to beat the traffic.  I'll get myself to work in the El Camino and then I'll pick him up after work.  Hopefully, we can go pick up the part right then and get home in time for him to install it.  The seat should just come out and go right back in.  We are probably getting rain mid week, starting Tuesday, so Bill's kind of in a hurry.  Me too!

Otter came over Friday morning.  She got her laundry done and then we went shopping.  We hit a few yard sales, drove past a few more and went to a few stores.  We got lunch at Long John Silver's to bring home and share with William.  Then we went to the booth store and another similar store.  We had a good time but didn't really buy much.  We did get to Big Lots, which is probably the only place I really bought anything at and that was mostly household stuff.  I bought her a little gasoline to replace what we used.  She and Roomie are still discussing their options but I think that they are leaning towards a 2-bedroom unit.

We had a fairly quiet 4th.  We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then to Hobby Lobby to get some sinew-type thread/string to repair Bill's houseshoes with.  While there, I did cruise the yarn aisles.  The summer colors are out and are everywhere, but the fall colors are beginning to be stocked.  I saw a few I really liked but I didn't buy any.  Yet!  Bill actually had the "unsmartness" to tell me that I have too much yarn - which is when I asked him to tell me again exactly how many pachinko machines he has!?  I also reminded just how much room his machines take up vs the corner of the craft/guest/YARN room that holds my stash.  He stammered out that he meant I had a lot of $$ invested in yarn and then I reminded him how much a skein of yarn is vs the $30 - $several hundred he's spent on machines.  At that point, he saw the light and shut up. :)  Which is good, because I was going to take no prisoners on that one!

Speaking of yarn, I finished the mink scarf yesterday.  I had it about where I wanted it when I realized that I'd made a mistake several rows back and had to frog out several inches.  It wasn't a mistake I could leave in and ignore, it changed the stitch per row count and the shape.  Mink yarn is harder to frog than regular yarn, I'm thinking it might felt very easily.  I used less than one ball of yarn so I still have plenty left.  I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, it is fairly expensive ($33. per skein 2 years ago) but I'm sure I'll find something.  (No, Bill.  It's still cheaper than your machine stash!)  I started a new scarf for Otter, we got the yarn for it a while back but I hadn't gotten a chance to work on it it yet.  I started it and did a few rows because I wanted to see if she likes the pattern I made the mink scarf it - which she does.  I will get back to it soon, I just wanted to get it started so I could show it to her.  She had two sets ordered from different yarns.  I had one scarf made already and made the matching hat this morning but I have to wait for her to come over again so I can check the size before I call tie it off and call it done.  But I'm going to get back on her poncho soon so her 2nd scarf/hat combination may wait a while - but they go fast.

I have some sort-of TEXAS flag printed wall border, the kind that a teacher would have used years ago over the blackboard.  I got it at a thrift store for about a buck many years ago and it's just been stuck in the closet.  I took two pieces of it, it's long, and taped them together.  Then I took one of my many yard sticks and marked it off in 1" increments with smaller marks at the half inch marks.  No, I would not have done that if it was actually the TEXAS flag!  It's now hanging on the wall, attached with pushpins at the top and bottom.  Now, when I'm making a scarf or one of many other projects that need to be measured I don't have to drag out the measuring tape or yard sticks, and then fight to get it flattened out on the floor.

We had homemade cheeseburgers for our July 4th meal.  We were going to grill steaks but it as supposed to rain so we decided against that.  Of course, it didn't rain.  There were quite a few neighbors that had fireworks, including some of the really big ones, so we stood outside and watched the show for a while last night.  There were several lightning bugs, I always wonder if they get confused on July 4th?  The mosquitos eventually showed up, so we came inside but it was fun.  Otter took her sparklers left from last year when she came over on Friday.

I have a prayer request:  The Teenager was hospitalized Friday for low potassium and general weakness.  He's a tough old bird, but the key word is old - he is 98, after all.

I Don't Have to go to Work Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you can't tell, I am really glad that my vacation has arrived.  Took long enough!  I wish that Bill was able to take the week off like we originally planned, but he can't take any time off at the moment unfortunately.  He is off Friday for the holiday, but that's also the day that Otter has off this week and we had already planned a shopping ramble.  I don't think he really cares, he wants to spend the day working on pachinko machines.  However, there is a chance of icky weather on Friday so we might stay in the Tulsa-ish area and not go as far as we have planned.  We'll still shop, thrift and possibly yard sale shop.  Froggy, we're also going to the steakhouse for lunch.

It's been a fairly busy, productive weekend.  Yesterday, Bill mowed the front yard and I got the limblets that had started up again on the trees in front.  Today he got the back yard.  We went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and Cici's Pizza for dinner.  We went to Ace Hardware today, I also went to Joann's Fabrics and Walmart this morning.  I got a lot of crafting and crochet done, Bill has been working on pachinko machines for a few hours.  He moved the freezer out to the driveway so it could be defrosted, then he moved it back in place.  It's plugged in again although there's nothing in it - we gave it to our (nice) next door neighbor and he'll get it sometime this week.  If he and Bill are able to move it to his house without laying it down then it can be plugged in again right away and he can start using it.  There was a big, blue dragonfly that kept zipping into the freezer and then zipping back out.  I think it was after the water from the thawing frost.  Maggie Moo got several walks, and she got to see her best canine friend this morning - Luna the wolf.

Maggie and Luna seem to be smitten with each other.  As soon as Maggie saw her down the street this morning she just about pulled my arm out of it's socket in her haste to go see her friend!  Maggie is not normally like that, she's fairly easy-going and walks well.  But as soon as she sees Luna, she's going to do everything in her power to get to her.  Luna is the same way about Maggie, although Luna is still very skittish about just about every other dog.  I got a picture of Luna with my cell phone this morning, I keep forgetting to take my camera with me when we walk in case we see her.  She's absolutely gorgeous.  Her owner said that she's not sure how Luna will do with fireworks, but her two others (one is part wolf) don't like them so she's already going to be staying home Friday and Saturday evenings.  Maggie Moo is totally unconcerned about them, Frasier never cared about them either.  Maggie is a very low-maintenance dog, Frasier was about as high-maintenance as it got.  I do miss him and I always will, he was one of those extra-special dogs.  But I have to admit that Maggie Moo is a much easier dog.  She is also smitten with her new bed.  When she's in the living room, she often is curled up in it or laying across it.  She sometimes sleeps next to it, but she usually has at least one and usually two paws/legs stretched out over it.  At the moment, she's napping and has her head on it like a pillow.

The electrical contractor is supposed to come out tomorrow to repair the damage to my yard from 2 months ago.  I would love for them to be able to bury the line that was put in place on Friday but the marking crew would need to come out first.  I'm very tempted to stand out on my deck with my leather whip at the ready, just in case they might need a little encouragement to do their job and do it correctly!  (Not seriously!  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Maybe.)

Froggy, I finally got around to getting a hair dryer.  My blow dryer went to Otter's apartment.  KN#3 was amazed that I didn't have one when y'all were here a couple of weeks back.  I also bought a full-size ironing board.  I've been using a table top size for years and it worked fine, I didn't have a lot of room at the old house so I used the small one and it was fine.  Then we moved here and even though the house is bigger and I have an actual laundry room, I didn't really have a place for a full-sized one.  So, I used the tabletop one on top of the dryer.  Also, I was hanging Bill's work shirts and jeans in the laundry room behind the door and then Otter's work clothing when she worked at the party store - Party City, in case anybody is interested in it (I didn't mention the actual name at the time for safety reasons.)  When she changed jobs, the uniform is one of their t-shirts and jeans so her clothing didn't really need to be ironed.  I just never changed my system, for some reason.  I took the iron holder/clothes hanger off the back of the laundry room door when we put Maggie Moo's pillow/bed in there and I decided to just go ahead and get a bigger ironing board.  It's now in my closet, it's collapsed and leaning up against the back of the closet.  Bill's work clothes are now going to be put in the front of his part of the closet.  I might eventually move it to the front/craft/guest/YARN room.

I might be done with my mink yarn scarf soon.  It's about 2 rows to an inch, and it is measuring about 56 or 57 inches.  My standard scarf size is about 60" in length.  I'll know "when I get there" if it's done or not, but it might be.  I'm going to get back on Otter's slant stitch poncho as soon as the mink scarf is done.  Then my UFO's will be done, with the exception of my scrap yarn lap blanket because I'm out of scrap end pieces for the moment and that's what I'm making it with, and Bill's quilt because I still need a little more fabric but I'm looking for things that fit his personality and interests.  I do have projects lined up, however!  Two scarf/hat sets for Otter and one for Froggy.  I also have a couple of non-crochet related craft projects. I'm finished with the tray I was working on and am nearly finished with the shadow box I'm making with Mom and AJ's stuff.  Next up is a mouse pad that I'm going to cover with the crochet pattern fabric that is on the bottom of the tray, and I may start on the Christmas ornament wreath soon.  I have a few small craft projects I'll probably work on soon, but they aren't anything major and can wait until "whenever" if they need to.

Not In A Hurry

For Monday.

I guess I can't stop Monday from coming, no matter how much I whine about it.

Oh well.  I'm off next Friday and the Monday after that, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much since I have two 4-day weeks with a 4-day weekend in the middle!

At least I don't have Otter's work schedule.  She goes in to work tomorrow at 2:00 a.m.!  Her store had a parking lot sale this weekend and they have to change all the price tags back from sale to regular prices.

Maggie Moo has had a good weekend.  Yesterday, I tossed her in the car (OK, I opened the door and she jumped in) and we went to Otter's apartment.  She hadn't been there before so it was a new experience for her.  She has had experience with stairs, she knew what to do to get up them although it took her a little while to understand the landings between the floors - there were all these doors and I wouldn't let her go up to any of them!  Eventually, we got to the 3rd floor and she got to go into a door.  Which made her very happy, especially when that door opened at Otter and Roomie were there.  She got lots of attention, petting and ear scratches.  We visited for a while, then we left and she managed to get down the stairs although it took her a little longer. I took her to Petsmart after that, we needed to get her a new name tag with the updated phone numbers on it.  She was happy to get there, there were lots of people and other animals to see.  She had that little beagle smile on her face the whole way home!

She had to get a tag with updated phone numbers because we got rid of our landling (home) phone last week.  When we bought our home, we took over the existing phone number that Bill's dad had when it was his house.  But the phone lines were not the best, every time it rained the connection would get worse and we had the company come out more than once to check it.  One time, it got to the point that the phone was basically useless.  They ran new lines, replaced a bunch of stuff and it got better but never good again.  We checked, the problem was external and not in the house so it was their lines.  We discussed getting rid of it a couple of years back and going to strictly cell phones but after one particular ice storm when the cell towers all went down due to battery issues,we decided to keep the landline for a while - this was before the time it got so bad.  But we realized that we hardly ever used it and most people that needed to contact us called us on one of our cell phones anyway.  So, last week we cancelled the landline.  Maggie's tag had the home phone and my cell phone on it, but the home phone was the first number.  She now is sporting a dog-bone shaped, pink tag with her name and both our cell phones on it.

I bought a miniblind for the front/craft/guest/YARN room last week.  Bill installed it today.  There is a lot more light in that room now, and I can open or close it easier than the curtains.  Plus, it gives us a little more privacy than the one remaining curtain did.  Otter had 2 curtains in there, one inside the window seal and one set on a curtain rod.  Both were navy blue, she wanted privacy since it was her bedroom after all, and less light at night.  But I need a little more light in there when I'm crafting, which I've been doing a lot of lately, or crocheting, which I do a lot of anyway.

Not that I ever manage to decrease the amount of yarn I have.  It seems to grow on it's own!  I don't help it at all.   :)

Call Batman! The Joker Has Escaped!

Joker (Otter) and Harley Quinn (J) were sighted in the Dallas area last weekend.

J's mask was originally a little different, but parts of it were apparently thrown out when it was in pieces waiting for paint to dry.  Otter's suit came from a thrift store, I think it was $10.00.  Her shoes were from a shoe store, the props were made from either things they had already or dollar store toys.  Otter bought her wig online, it was a little tight on her but she can probably fix that.  She made the vest, J found the purple tie and they both sewed his costume.  He's pretty tall and has big feet, he couldn't find any shoes in his size in the black and red combination so he finally took some he had and painted them.  There may be some fine-tuning on the costumes, but they looked great.  They will go to TNT, the anime con in Tulsa in the summer, in these costumes.  Otter said that there were a few other female jokers,but no other male Harley Quinns.  As such, they got stopped for pictures often.  They tend to go with less common, unusual costumes or combinations and they get a lot of attention.  Even in an arena where everybody is in costume, they get a lot more attention than most attendees.  They had a lot of fun, obviously.  The first picture has a third person, I think it's one of the people they went with.  Possibly J's mom.

Maggie Moo got her shots today, it was time for the rabies shot and DPT/whatever it's called!  We didn't go to the vet this time.  I called them to ask what she was due for and they reminded me that if I brought her in there I would have to pay for an exam, so they suggested I take her to one of the local agriculture/farm/pet stores that has shot clinics since she's been in there recently twice and had exams.  So, we went to the store in our little town since they have theirs on Wednesday afternoons.  Maggie was happy, she wasn't sure at first about the car ride but once she figured out that we didn't turn where we normally did for the V.E.T., she gave me a big puppy grin and curled up in the seat with her tail wagging on full!  At one point, she stood up and put her paws on the dashboard to see out (we were stopped at a light) and she was quite happy to get out of the car.  She got to visit grass she hasn't visited before and she also got to meet two other beagles that were at the shot clinic.  She was quite happy to wait in line until it was our turn.  Then we went into the exam room and she figured it out!  Cue droopy beagle.  She buried her face in my stomach and was very happy when I lifted her off of the exam table after her shots.  Then she was happy to leave, we visited more grass she hadn't been to before and she got in the car willingly.  She's a little quiet tonight, which is usual after shots.  But she's fine otherwise.

She is not eating herself into a food coma, I filled up the food reservoir with the remaining food in the bin and it was just almost enough to fill it up.  She ate however much she wanted this morning, but she didn't keep eating.  Every so often, if I'm in the kitchen she'll go in there and see what I'm up to.  She sometimes grabs a piece or two of kibble, but mostly she just looks at it - I think she's checking to see if it's still there!  We'll watch her anyway, if she does act like she's going to eat eat eat just because she can then we'll start putting it up on the counter after she's eaten breakfast.  At the moment, she's snoring.

I bought mini blinds to put in the front room today.  The front room is also known as the guest/craft/YARN room.  When it was Ottter's room, she had a darker curtain inside the window sill and then a navy blue curtain on the curtain rod.  It's always gotten a lot of light.  She didn't want a lot of light in her window when she was trying to sleep.  After she moved, I wanted a little more light since it's where I do most of my crafting, so I donated the curtain from the inside of the window sill.  We still have the outer curtain in there, but I think it's a little too sheer to use in the room guests will sleep in.  So, I got a mini blind and Bill will put it up in the next few days.  The navy blue curtain will get put in the donate bag.  Eventually, I will have enough doilies for my curtain project - I got another 3 or 4 last weekend.

Froggy, want to help me piece it together and see where it stands?

It Had Better Be...

This short, 4-day workweek has been never ending.

And it's still raining.

We have had so much rain that there is nowhere for anymore water to go.  Which means street flooding, at least during rain storms such as the one late this morning that lasted until mid-afternoon.  But it's still not as bad as what TEXAS had to deal wit last week.  It's just that there is still more rain in the forecast for tomorrow.  I don't remember what Sunday's forecast is, but it might be rain early and then stopping.  The early forecast for next week is dry.  No rain forecast!  Woo Hoo!!!!!

The beagle will probably agree, she feels very short-changed on her walks.  She usually gets a short one in the morning and then a longer one in the afternoon.  Otter wasn't able to walk her at all last weekend when she house-sat for us and I've only been able to take her on a few this week.  None today, at all.  I did get Maggie Moo to go out into the back yard but I think she only went out because she absolutely had to - dog hates rain in the strongest way!  She was bouncy when she came back in so I played with her for a while, first time she's wanted to play since April 23.  Now, she's camped out on her pillow beside the couch and I hear snoring.  Hopefully, we can get a walk or two in tomorrow.  She's much better when she gets some exercise and the walking is good for me as well.

I discovered something when we were in San Antonio last weekend.  Texas is not backwards.  (We already knew that!)  I'm referring to the fact that I was able to buy local wine at the grocery store - which is 2 complaints (1 is that very few local wineries actually sell at liquor stores here because of Oklabackwardshoma laws and the fact that it was at a grocery store - something else not allowed here) and I was also able to buy it on a Sunday!  I think I'm going to crack open the bottle tonight and see what I can do about not letting it get lonely.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to do some stuff around the house.  There will probably be a lot of crafting going on!  With possibly a trip to the library in there somewhere.

At Least Monday is Over

But it's not Friday yet.  Unfortunately.

Bill sanded the switc hplate down to the wood, the one I threw out and then rescued from the trash.  I painted it again, with the white basecoat and when the paint is dry I'll cover it with modge-podge glue and put the scrapbook paper on it that I found.  It's supposed to be small doily-ish patterns and I like it.  After the modge-podge is dry, then I'll apply a sheet of clear mylar.  Then the fun begins!  The part where I kept messing up.  Cutting the holes out and cutting it around the edges!  After all that's done, I'm going to hit the painted (but unpapered) sides with clear sealer and then they just have to dry.  Then I can actually put them on the wall.

I'm not as tired today, but I do still have Redhead Anemia issues.  Not as bad, it's just "there."

I'm also having more allergy issues this afternoon, but that generally happens after I pull weeds in the rock garden.  Literally, IN the rock garden for part of it.  And around the edges.  I found a frog in the rock garden.  Actually, I almost picked "him" up with a bunch of weeds!  Did you know that frogs can give dirty looks?  This one did, anyway!  :)  He was not a huge frog, but I think he was still fairly young.  He hopped away from me, to the other side of the rock garden and probably is happily hiding in the honeysuckle now.  He might be the one I've been hearing the last few nights.

I've also heard tree frogs lately.  Especially when it rains.  I haven't seen them yet this spring, but they are obviously here already.

No sign of hummingbirds yet, but I put out two feeders Sunday.  I thought I might have seen one zipping by but it was hard to tell.  It's still a little early though.  But sometimes they arrive early, and just because I haven't seen them does not mean that they aren't here yet.

Fraiser is a little creaky today.  He and Maggie Moo were happy to go out in the back yard with me.  While I was pulling weeds, Maggie Moo was sitting on her behind and staring at the ground.  After a minutes, she reached down and pulled a large beetle grub out of the dirt.  Then she ate it!  Frasier was walking around like he does, looking for spots to water.  But then I noticed he was laying down in a grassy spot and when I called him to come in, he didn't want to get up at first.  He seemed to be more than a little stiff, but he did get up and came inside.  Then he went out the dog doors and to their yard.  He laid down in his usual spot, and I took an anti-inflammatory to him.  He hasn't needed them lately, but it's been cool and damp which seems to affect him  I called the vet and ordered a refill.  I still had one pill left for him, but I also had some from Maggie Moo's bladder infection she had last fall and the vet said that I can use them.  They are still within a safe date, they are the same dose but were cut in half for her.  I was going to take the brush to Frasier while we were outside, but that will wait a day or two.  Mostly because of my allergies, I didn't want to stay outside any longer than I had to.  He love the brushing, and so does Maggie Moo but she's not long haired so it's just a fun experience for her.  At the moment, they are both in the living room and both of them are snoozing.  Frasier is probably snoozing because of the medication, but Maggie Moo is just napping because it's what beagles do best, after all!

Spring?

I know it's not officially Spring until this coming Friday.  But it sure feels like it today.  It was rainy all day Friday, into early yesterday morning.  Then it was cool and overcast most of yesterday.  But today started out nice and has stayed that way.  Warm-ish but not hot, the sky is blue and beautiful.  It's slightly breezy.

Unfortunately, things are beginning to bloom and I'm a little sneezy when I'm outside.  But it's worth it, at least so far, just to get to be outdoors.  The ground is a bit soft from all the rain and it is muddy in places - my dogs have spent quite a bit of time decorating the kitchen floor with a paw print pattern!

We had intended to go back to the Methodist church today but we overslept.  We'll go back there next Sunday.  Bill brought me a cup of coffee in bed this morning, it was nice to sit in the dark and wake up slowly.  I still am not a fan of Daylight Saving Time!

Otter came over yesterday to do laundry. We went to Wallyworld and I got sheets for the futon, as well as a couple of pillows.  I also bought a desk lamp which is very similar to the Pixar logo.  I didn't realize that until the cashier mentioned it - he was a friend of Otter's from high school, which explains why he always looks so familiar to me!  Anyway, the lamp works very well beside the desk.  Bill checked the light fixture in the ceiling and found out why it was so bad - two of the three bulbs were burned out!  Amazing how much brighter it is in there now...

As we were walking out of Wallyworld, there was a girl scout troop setting up a cookie booth.  Needless to say, we bought some.  I have about 7 or 8 boxes in the freezer, I'd like to get a few more boxes, hopefully I'll see at least one more booth but they only sell them through the end of March I think.

My tendinitis is really bad in my left arm.  It's actually better than I've had it in the past, it's just that I keep forgetting about it and using my left arm for something I shouldn't and then it hurts.  So, I'm forcing myself to take a crochet break.  Believe me, it ain't easy!  I had a few craft projects I had on the shelf but hadn't gotten around to yet so I'm working on them now.  I got the base coat of paint on the shadow box and part of the first coat of blue.  I was hoping it would only need one coat, but I think it's going to need two for an even color.  Otter always says that it is not a good day unless she gets paint (or markers, glue, etc.,) on her hands.  So I guess it must be a really good day for me!

Movie review: Big Hero 6.  I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  It's funny and the storyline is good.  A little predictable, but still good.  The animation is pretty good.  The best part?  The Stan Lee cameo!  It's actually an end-of-credits scene but it's really great.  Bill told me to put this one on the "to buy" list.  It was cute and I highly recommend it.

Just a Dusting Today

Both snow and real dust!

The forecast was for a light dusting of snow, dry and no ice really expected.  They seem to have gotten it right, which is somewhat scary in fact! :)  Anyway, it's very cold and that actually started last night.  The flurries were supposed to start overnight but they were a little later than expected.  It might have finally quit now (mid-afternoon) but the snowfall was heavy at times this morning.  It's only sticking a little bit on the ground, it's a fine powder and grainy.

I've also been dusting in the living room.  We cancelled the satellite tv service a couple of weeks back, since we pretty much never watched it.  Even before Otter moved out in October, we didn't watch it very much and we watched it even less after she moved.  We probably should have cancelled it a while back but it didn't really occur to either of us until we decided to switch internet providers.  The equipment was rented, I couldn't remember if we bought it originally or if we were using their.  Since it was theirs, they sent us a box to return it to them in and a list of what they needed back.  Bill had to get on the roof and get something off of the dish itself, which he did Thursday - before I got home, even though he insisted that I had to be here in case he did what he's known for!  When I got home with a carload of groceries as originally scheduled, he'd already been up there and got the piece.  The receiver box, both remotes and some other equipment needed to be unwired from the tv and that's what we did this morning.  We had to get the attic access cleared again because some of the wiring, etc., was in the attic.  Bill didn't realize that until AFTER he'd put all the pachinko machines back in place after the recent clogged drain/leak we had.  So, all the machines had to be moved back out of the way and Bill got to get up in the (very cold!) attic this morning.

While he was up there, he also got another plastic shelf set out for Otter - he couldn't find the last piece so she's getting a 4-shelf unit instead of a 5-shelf set but I don't think she'll care.  She has a complete one now, she's using it as her pantry shelves since her apartment doesn't really have one.  She wants to use one as her craft stash shelf since her dining room is now becoming her craft room.  I think she'll probably use the 5-shelf set as her craft shelf and switch the pantry stuff to the 4-shelf unit.

Also, Bill got a small wooden rocking chair that was stored up in the attic.  It was Otter's when she was a toddler, she used to sit in her little rocking chair in the living room at our old house and play with her toys or watch Sesame Street on tv.  She used it a lot and she still has fond memories of it.  It's hers and will always be, but I'm going to use it as a decor item in the craft room (that's what I'm calling her old room today.)  I'll post pictures later, when I get it situated.  It was pretty dusty, I didn't realize that it was not wrapped or boxed but was just up there.  I wiped all the dust off when I was dusting the rest of the living room and I think I'm going to hit it with pledge or whatever wood cleaner spray I have - I forgot what kind it is.

The main dusting was the entertainment center, which I hadn't done in a while, and the Fenton glass that was on it.  After the satellite receiver was undone and off the tv, Bill also removed the surround sound unit.  It was going out, two of the four speakers quit a while back (the ones by the couch) and Bill took the rest of it down today.  All that's left besides the tv is the vcr/blu-ray and the vhs recorder (we occasionally use it) and that left two shelves empty.  Which means that we now have enough room for all the dvds/blu-ray movies we have and the Bibles which were stored on one shelf are now being moved to my library shelf so I have plenty of room for the Fenton now.  I dusted it as I put it back on the entertainment center and it's only somewhat arranged.

I did quite a bit of rearranging in the craft room yesterday.  This is the current state of the Stash:

The two smaller drawer sets are stacked on top of the 5-drawer units.  The purple one in the corner doesn't have the wheels on because one of them kept falling off so it looks shorter than the rest but they are all the same size.  I took the wheels off the two smaller units.  On the flatter set, the top drawer is holding the doilies for my eventual curtain and the white 3-drawer set has netting in the middle drawer instead of actual yarn.  The netting will be used for dish scrubbies, eventually maybe if I ever get around to it and my skin cooperates!  Netting is pretty hard on the skin when crocheting with it.  I did get a little more yarn at Michael's last week, but the Stash hasn't really grown much.  I just spread it out a bit.  I have labels in front of each drawer showing what kind is in the drawers.  The two with TEXAS stickers has the Really Good Yarn.

I would love to actually get to use it, however the tendinitis is really bad at the moment.  It was getting better, treatment is mostly just resting my arm and I've been doing that.  But I did aggravate it a bit when I was rearranging my craft room yesterday but I was still able to put two rows on KN#3's blanket yesterday.  But then we had to move stuff around today and all the stuff I've mentioned already, and the end result is that my left elbow really hurts right now.  I'll rest it again a few day and let it recover.

This is the doily project I have in mind.  This is the window at a specific vintage/antique store that Otter and I go to whenever we get a chance.  When we were in there a couple of weeks ago, I asked it I could take some pictures since I got my idea here originally.  The lady that owns the store was quite happy to let me and very interested in what I'm going to do.  She wants to see a picture when I get it finished, but that may be a while.  It will take a huge number of doilies.

She used a pink fabric on the curtain rod to give her curtain a little color but I'm using different colored doilies in mine and it's going to be on a window that will have a minblind so I probably won't use the fabric underneath it.  Also, she has a shaped pattern and mine probably won't.  She said that her doilies are pinned together but I'll probably sew mine to attach them to each other.  It's really pretty in person and she did a great job.  I've bought a lot of my doilies there, she realizes that they are not worth a whole lot of money and sells most of her for anywhere from 50 cents each to a buck or two for the bigger or fancier ones.  Which is a fair price, but I still see them in antique stores/booths for several dollars each - for the little, plain ones!  They aren't that hard to make, I just don't like thread crochet and I don't mind paying a little more for the old ones or intricate ones.  But plain doilies in one color with basic stitches?  No.

Otter come over yesterday after she got off work.  She brought the car back for Bill for this coming week, brought her laundry (of course!) and brought fixins* for the salsa she planned to take to J's Oscar watch party today.  She used my Ninja blender to make it.  I suggested she make more than she intended to, salsa has a tendency to disappear fast and hers is pretty good.  She used Bill has her taste-tester and then she make sure to leave him a bowl full.  He ate his already!  Anyway, she had asked me to take her to J's mom's house for the party and since we were concerned about the weather for today I actually took her over there yesterday.  J's mom was glad to see her and she'll be there for a couple of days.  On the way, they live in a small town that's not exactly neighboring to our small town but is still pretty close, we went to a thrift store.  We went to Goodwill and they were more crowded than I have ever seen them.

Turned out, all their clothing was 50% off and they were selling a lot of it.  Otter and J are going to TNT this summer, they have already decided on their cosplay and Otter's basically consists of a purple suit (pants and jacket) and a bright green shirt, with a bright orange necktie.  She found a pair of pants that are slightly too big but we can take them in easily.  She found a blazer style jacket that is not even the same brand and the pants but it's almost the exact same color, it might be a little big but that will actually work for what she's going for.  She found a long sleeve not quite acid green shirt and the entire outfit costs her less than $10.00.  She is probably going to buy some bright orange fabric, possibly felt, and make the necktie.  She's going to use on of Bill's ties as a pattern template.  The pants and blouse were fine to be washed in the machine so I tossed them in with my laundry today.  The jacket has to be dry cleaned, I was going to take it this morning when I got out before the snow got too heavy (it never did actually get heavy) but they were closed  I'll drop it off tomorrow and pick it up Thursday.  She's still working on the shoes she'll need, but she does know she'll need a short green wig - bright green.

This is the costume idea, the Joker and Harley Quinn from Batman, specifically from The Animated Series:

(Ignore the small kid in the middle of the picture, this just was the best picture I could find that would show the costume characters).  The Joker has a darker tie in this picture but her idea is orange and a regular necktie, as he's shown in a couple of different ways and the orange tie will still be Joker appropriate - it does matter in the cosplay world!  Same thing for the shoes.  The makeup will be easy, basically just white with bright red lipstick for the Joker's mouth and probably Harley's as well but I'm not sure about that.

However, there is a twist to their idea.  Figure it out yet?  Go back and reread the paragraph before the picture if you haven't quite got it yet.  I think they have a wonderful idea and it will probably set them apart from just about anyone else who decides to go as the Joker and Harley.

Which is what they are going for, actually.

*Fixins is one of our favorite words!

Gusty Sunday

It's windy.  Very windy.  Like I needed an anchor when I was outside earlier!  I have to get out again in a couple of hours, I'm Otter's transportation home from work today since Bill needs the car tomorrow.  Otter had the car most of last week and drove it to work today, then I dropped Bill off there when I was running an errand and he got the car.  But since it sounds "howly" outside the window, I don't think the wind has died down at all.

 

Froggy, I started on KN#3's blanket earlier today.  I texted you (and her) a picture of the first row.  I have a couple more rows on it now.  I have several projects going, which is how I like to be.  Bill has a pachinko machine on the way to get restoration work and pin polishing is part of the work it needs.  I'm the "official pin polisher" so I'm trying to get as much crochet done as I can while I still can - pin polishing kills my arm muscles for crochet for a few days.

 

I'm really enjoying having a craft space.  I am working on a recipe box for Otter, she knows about it - she picked out the box.  But she doesn't know exactly how it's going to be "decorated" and won't know until I get it finished.  I'm also going to have two other craft projects soon.  One is the clock I think I've mentioned before - I'm going to make a clock with a wooden tray; I'm going to attach a crocheted doily to the inside front of the tray and the clock parts will be put on it.  I'm also going to be making a shadow box, which I might have mentioned before as well.  I had a small shadow box that Mom made, it had specific items belonging to AJ but the frame fell out of it and I decided it was a little too small so I didn't repair it.  I have some items that were Mom's and I'm going to put all the stuff together in a larger box.  I bought some fabric that will be the backing.  I bought a clear plastic box-style picture frame but it wasn't big enough either so I took it back to Michaels and found a bigger one.  What I bought isn't actually a shadow box, it's a box with a plexiglass lid but it will work fine.  I priced actual shadow box frames and they are outrageous - like $90+ for the size I wanted.  The box I bought was somewhere in the $10.00 range and it will actually work better.  The lid looks like a picture frame, but it doesn't latch shut.  Bill looked at it and he thinks he can attach a magnetic closure like he uses on some of the pachinko machine wall-mounted cabinets he makes.

 

We are possibly going to change internet providers.  We had a bad time with Cox a few years ago and finally switched to the phone company we use - it's not Bell/AT&T or whatever they are called.  The only one available where we live is a smaller carrier and it was fine at first.  But there are so many houses out here now and only so much bandwith available.  The internet literally spends more time down than it does up.  After the fiasco with someone cutting the lines a few months back, it's gotten worse.  The wires being cut was not the companies' fault, the problem was their reaction to it and the lies they kept telling me about how it was fixed when they hadn't even sent out a repair crew.  We may well be going back to Cox.  A lot of the problem we had with them was similar - the lines were being cut on a regular basis by construction crews and they were not sympathetic to their customers.  But the houses are pretty much all built now.  Their service was good, that was never the problem.  The current service is becoming a serious problem.  Bill's going to talk to Cox and see what it would take to get service with them again - mostly the monthly fee.  Otter's internet service is through them and she told me what she pays, it should probably be similar.  We'll let everyone know when we make the switch, as the email addresses will be changed.

 

And at the same time, we are probably going to do away with the satellite service.  We both realized at about the same time that we hardly ever watch it.  We have a boatload of local stations and we generally watch them.  When Otter was younger, she watched more of the satellite than we did.  If Cox's service is higher than what we pay now for internet, and it might be because we may have a bundled package discount, we will still be seeing a cheaper cost because the satellite is a big chunk of what we pay each month.  We are not going to change the phone service, at least not yet.  We have a lot of issues with it, like every time it rains!  Although that is better, because we've been able to address each leaky spot in the buried lines when we have rain issues.  They are still there, just less problems.  Also, we want a landline.  There have been a few times when we've had weather related issues where the power might be out for a few days and that includes cell towers!  We have pretty good cell service, but the towers only have a certain amount of battery power and eventually they run out.

 

Tomorrow is our 30th Anniversary.  We're celebrating big:  I'm picking up pizza from Little Ceasar's on the way home!

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!! :)

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!

It's Just Wednesday. That's All. Just Wednesday.

Middle of the week and nothing much has happened that was exciting, but I haven't blogged since Monday and I don't want Froggy getting after me!

 

Otter had the car today, Wednesday is Truck Day at work and she has to be in at 5:00 or 5:30 - ain't nobody willing to get up that early to take her to work!  So, she came over yesterday afternoon and got the car.  She brought it back this afternoon, she's off tomorrow and Friday plus Bill needed the car for something he has to do tomorrow.  When I took her home, I made a side-trip to Hobby Lobby.  I needed another skein of yarn for the blanket I'm making for her so I got that but I might actually need another.  I think I've mentioned that before.

 

Maggie Moo was overjoyed to see Otter.  We were in the office/pachinko room when we saw her pulling into the driveway.  Bill yelled "who's at the door" and Maggie answered him - literally, she was talking and running at full speed to the door to greet her Otter.  As soon as Otter was parked, I let Maggie Moo out the door and she slinkywalked all the way to Otter.  Maggie greeted her and then turned back around and headed in the general direction of the front door - she took a short side trip off the porch into the dirt but she got back on task immediately and went back in the front door.  Frasier was happy to see her, he's just a little more reserved than silly Maggie Moo.

 

I heard a report on the local news this morning.  Firewood sellers are stocking up on their supply and have also raised prices from what they were charging last year.  The general forecast is that we'll have a cold winter, similar to last year although maybe not quite as much snow/ice as last winter.  I don't mind the cold weather, but I can do without the ice!  Snow is fun, as long as it's not accompanied by ice.  We are probably ok on firewood, since Bill got so much as the lumberyard when they were giving it away.  He might get another load or two, he hasn't decided yet.

Otter didn't go through any of the craft stuff today, but she's been cleaning out/consolidating/donating stuff each time.  We had been planning on putting it in the attic when she gets through, but I'm rethinking that idea.  I am probably going to clean off the shelves by my workbench in the garage and put her craft stuff there.  A lot of it is stuff that I use, and we know that as soon as it gets packed away it will turn out that somebody needs something out of it!  So, I'm going to turn my craft shelves in the garage back into craft shelves.  The shelves have a few plant items on them and my birdfeeders.  But the main problem is that Bill's junk is still all over my workbench.  I'm going to remedy that situation soon!  AGAIN!!

The Things You See in Tulsa on a Random Weekend...

Introducing:

Paige the Sketchbook and Tony the Talking Clock, from the slightly odd and off-kilter story Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared. 

(Also known as Otter and J.)

 

(Keep in mind that Otter is very much her mother's daughter and not everyone will like the story!  OK, it's actually a creepy story, so consider yourself warned.)

Otter made her own costume, there is a red skirt underneath the white skirt but it's not visible in this picture.  The clouds, orange, pencil, etc., on the skirt and blouse are felt that she painted and appliqued on.  She's wearing long satin gloves and tights, and obviously a multi-colored wig - I think nearly everyone that was there in cosplay had on either a hat, headpiece or wig depending on the character they were portraying.  Plus she is also wearing white face makeup with black accents (the glasses are hers and are real, she's nearsighted) and she's carrying a magnifying glass.  J's costume is a suit jacket and black slacks, and he's wearing white gloves.  He made the sash and the clock applique, he's carrying an apple which Otter was originally going to paint on one side as if it was rotted but the apple is plastic and the paint probably wouldn't have stayed on very well without scratching off.  J's eyebrows are also yellow, which Otter colored with chalk dust, basically.

 

They were very popular and quite a few people wanted their picture.  Otter said that she will probably re-work the underskirt idea, she might use red tulle and attach it to the bottom of the white skirt instead of actually wearing the 2nd skirt.  The idea is that she pulls up the edges of the white skirt in a curtsey and the red skirt (which was supposed to look like raw meat) shows but the red skirt kept sticking to the white one.  She's wearing several fluffy petticoats underneath and they stuck to the red skirt which stuck to the white skirt, and the point is NOT to show her undies!

 

(Yes, J really is that tall.  And Otter is on the petite side.)