Just Friday

It's been so much calmer lately that I kind of forget about blogging!  I know, I know - I said I would try to get back into the swing of it.  But we went from crushing stress & worry for over 2 years to none and it's taken a little time to get used to that now!

I have spent a lot of the week with assorted allergy symptoms.  Today's main thing has been sneezing.  A LOT!

When I took Magginator to the vet last week I thought they did the heartworm test but it turned out that they didn't.  So I took her back yesterday and she got the all-clear, so she's now back on the heartworm preventive pills.  We usually only give them during "mosquito season" but with the mild to the point of not actually happening winter we had, the skeeters have already shown up.  In March!  I'm thinking that we'll just make it a year-round thing from here on out.  She's doing very good, she has one pill left of the antibiotics and she's a playful, 12-year old puppy.  She seems to enjoy Bill being home so much, she is really crazy about him and it's funny.  We made tacos for dinner tonight.  Maggie spent the entire time we were cooking sprawled out on her belly, watching every move we made.  Piglet!

Hancock Fabrics announced last week that they are closing.  The entire chain.  There are two in Tulsa.  Otter heard about it and told me, then we went into Tulsa on Monday and went to one of them.  I found a little fabric and two crochet pattern books.  Otter bought fabric as well, and then as many patterns as she could carry!  Ok, she didn't buy quite that many patterns.  :)  But she bought several.  We are going to the other store sometime in the next few days.  They have always had a nice yarn department.  They don't have a lot and the brands that they have are fairly common at other stores.  But they usually have colors that are harder to find.  I had intended to look for yarn (Bill - hush!) but the yarn was consolidated down to one small aisle and it was basically all tossed together.  I took one step and could hardly breathe plus I was one big itchy, watery-eyed mess because of the wool and my allergy to it.  I looked at a couple of skeins but it was all piled together and just touching a non-wool skein made my skin start to react badly because it had been squashed into a bin with the wool yarn.  I'm hoping that the other store is a little better as far as their yarn department goes.

However, I am not allergic to this:

And that is a Very Good Thing.

Those are this year's crop in my front yard.  The whiskey barrel had somewhere around 30 babies come up in it.  Probably not all of them survived, but most of them seem to.  And they are ALL blooming.  Plus there are about 8 plants outside of the whiskey barrel in the yard itself and they are blooming!  The scent is heavenly!  They smell like Home.  It's very strong and the honeybees are very happy.  They are such a deep blue and we are really enjoying them.

It's a TEXAS tradition to take pictures of your children and/or pets with bluebonnets and we missed out on that when Otter was little.  But we have pictures taken from a couple of years ago of Otter with our 'bonnets and then I took some more of her last week.  I'm not posting them because her face is visible, but the pictures turned out very well.  After all, she is a TEXAN and they are bluebonnets.  The fact that they are in NE Oklahoma doesn't matter a bit.

It's just our own, special little corner of TEXAS.

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?!!!!

Middle of Vacation at Home Week

I don't like the word "staycation" so I don't use it.  I'm just having a vacation at home this week.  Mostly by myself, Bill had had to work.  He is off today, but that's because he wasn't feeling too good this morning and he's been pretty much doing nothing today - kind of like me! :)  Except that I'm goofing off by choice and he's just not 100%.

Anyway, I'm glad that he was home today (although I wish he hadn't been feeling icky.)  Because the electric company showed up unannounced this afternoon.  They figured out that last Friday's problem was caused by a line in my yard (they're buried where we live) and that it might need to be replaced.  They brought their backhoe and got right to work digging a fairly deep hole.  Pretty close to one of the maple trees and they did have to break through roots to get to the line.  The line did have some issues, it was probably nibbled on by voles and they'd eaten into the insulation which exposed the actual line to the dirt.  They had to turn our power off for about 10 minutes while they replaced the line.  They did that, put all the dirt back in the hole and took the cable that they'd laid all over my yard last week.  I think that we are finally done with the problems.  Although I won't be surprised if there are other problems with the lines, considering how many underground rodents we have to deal with!

Yesterday, I went to a fabric shop to get something for Froggy.  I also went to 2 antique-ish stores I had been meaning to get to but just never quite did.  They are both booth-type stores and are in a neighboring town.  I wasn't impressed with either of them, but it was still fun.  I also went to the library and to our old booth store looking for something specific and then Bill came home early because he wasn't feeling too good.  I went to the post office, also.  Big exciting day!  Actually, except for the part about Bill not feeling too good, it was an enjoyable day.

Today I went to another fabric store for Froggy, but I will be going back there for something else she needed but I'm not sure when because I think Otter wants to go with me.  I had a couple of other stops, I went to Atwood's because they had coffee on sale and then I went to Wallyworld for misc. grocery items.  But I've spent more time at home today than I spent out, I did some crochet and had time to just sit and read.

I'm enjoying the stay at home vacation.  Yesterday, after Bill left for work, I went back to bed for about an hour.  Actually, I curled up on the futon and snoozed, and Maggie Moo went underneath it for her nap.  It was pretty comfortable, although the beagle snores!  Maggie Moo has enjoyed being able to stay in the house and not get put out into the garage, but she's slept just as much inside as she probably does in the garage!  She has access to the outside when she goes to the garage, but she doesn't seem to like being outside nearly as much as Frasier did.  Her water dish always goes out with her and she has two padded places in the garage which she snoozes on.  And she gets to visit her treat can...

I'm not sure about tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll probably just hang around the house and read, craft, crochet and possibly take a nap.  I might also make a loaf of bread, the one I made on Monday is just about gone.  On Friday, Bill will be off and he'll be at home working on pachinko machines but Otter and I have a shopping day scheduled.  Destinations depend on the weather, we could get rain.  Until then, it's just hot and humid!  But it might affect fireworks displays Friday and Saturday evening.  Bill wanted to grill steaks on Saturday, but they might be broiled in the oven instead of grilled.

Maggie Moo went out to the back yard with me this morning.  And she went straight to the shed.  She did not want to listen to me when I told her no, so she came back inside.  She was funny when we took our early-morning walk today - there was a lady who was walking 3 dogs (and carrying a 4th) one and at least one of those dogs is not friendly to other dogs - which Maggie apparently knew, because it started barking at her at pretty much the same time she was angry barking at it, with a beagle baroo thrown in for good measure!  We haven't walked the last few evenings, the humidity has been too bad for me to be able to breathe.  But I don't think she particularly has wanted to, I don't know if the heat is why or if she's just lazy!  Probably both.

There is a mockingbird that is building a nest inside the trellis on the back deck.  I saw it several times but I haven't seen it since we were outside with the electric company.  It's possible that mama bird decided that there was too much traffic and went elsewhere, but I'm not sure yet.  I did finally get my hummingbird feeders refilled this week, after they were empty for a while.  At least one hummer was on one of the feeders this afternoon.  We also have had two very large squirrels playing chase across the top of the fence.  Not sure if it was a boy chasing a girl, if they were just playing or if one was annoyed with the other one.  But I've seen more squirrels since we lost Frasier, I think they know he's gone and maybe they feel safer now.

Since I was home and had time, I made a pecan pie this morning.  I found a frozen pie shell in the deep freeze when I moved everything from it to the kitchen freezer.  I figured that was a sign that I needed to make pie!  We're having mini pizza for dinner tonight, I think pecan pie will go very well!

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.

ZZZZZ Yawn ZZZZZ

Ottermom's tired!

I've been running all over creation since Thursday afternoon, when Froggy & her daughter (KN#3) arrived.  So far, we have shopped at:  3 fabric stores, 1 thrift store, 3 antique malls, l very large flea market, 1 museum gift shop, 1 grocery store and a couple of convenience stores.  We also went to a museum, attempted to find family graves at a small cemetery about an hour away (no luck), have eaten at 3 or 4 different places, went to one park (fed about a billion squirrels!), one used book store, have taken a bunch of beagle walks and have gone to 3 or 4 small towns surrounding Tulsa.  They'll be here through Tuesday, so we have one more day of shopping and we've got 2 fabric stores planned plus Braums.

Otter and J have been to all the places with us, but Otter has to work tomorrow so she won't be able to go with us. But I understand that they both have tired feet, like the rest of us!

Think it's going to be an early-to-bed kind of night!

Mother's Day 2015

Happy Mother's Day!

My day has been a lot of fun.  Otter and J came over for breakfast, we had Monkey Bread and assorted fresh fruit.  They stayed for a couple of hours and we had a nice visit.  Otter gave me kitchen towels, which I needed badly.

Bill gave me a set of craft blades, similar to X-Acto knives but they came from the store Otter works at.  It was also something I needed, I originally wanted another cactus but then I realized that I needed the craft blades so I changed my gift request to that.  I actually went and got that one myself, because I had to pick out the specific set I wanted.

Bill and I went to a couple of thrift stores today.  This is what I bought at the first one, it was a grab  bag (clear plastic bags, not a mystery bag) and it was $6.98.  For all of this:

It's on the couch with a blanket for background, but it was a very full bag.  The next picture is what I actually bought the bag for:

Yarn spools!  8 regular ones and one larger one.  And for what is a ridiculously low price, especially considering everything else that was in the bag.  I've seen these priced (and selling for) for upwards of $5.00 each, sometimes more since they have thread on them and the bigger one would probably sell for more than the entire bag.

The tag says it's a handmade purse, silk fabric maybe.  I'm not sure if it's a keeper for something craft related or it it's going to be sold or re-donated.  It's sort of evening bag size.  I didn't even see it in the bag when I bought it, it was in the middle of everything else but I grabbed the bag as soon as I saw the yarn spools.

These are small hats, hand crocheted obviously.  I'm not sure if they are for dolls such as an 18" doll, or if they might be dog hats.  Because also in the bag were three dog outfits.  (The hats are probably for dolls.)

The orange and pink/blue one are obviously hand crocheted.  The pink one is Martha Stewart brand, which I think is really funny.  I did try it on Maggie Moo so I could text a picture to Otter, but it's wool and I didn't even have to look at the tag to figure that out because I started reacting to it as soon as it came into contact with my skin.  The dog clothes are all in the donate pile.

The blue fabric has a tag from when it was purchased originally, I think it was somewhere around $4.00.  The cotton collar is probably not new, but I don't think it's been worn before.  It's very clean and still has that "stiff" feeling.  Not sure if it's etsy, donate, if Otter wants it, or what.

This might be hand-knitted or it might have been done on a knitting machine, but it is homemade and not professionally done.  It's a vest with a sash.  I thought it was an uncompleted cardigan style sweater but the sleeve openings are too big.  It might fit Otter, for a size comparison - I don't think it's anything she would want, but I might well put it on her and have her model it for an etsy picture if I decide to sell it.  The final yarn ends are still attached but they are tied off.  It has a button on the bottom.  It's clean and there is no smell that I can tell.

Froggy, got any idea what these are?  They are obviously holders for "tape" or ribbon of some type and I think they are sewing related.  Possibly etsy bound as well, but maybe not.

There were a few other things, a bag of small safety pins and some misc. stuff.

The next two pictures are from the 2nd thrift store.

2 square doilies which were marked 49 cents each but then they turned out to be half price so they were 25 cents each.  There is also a very long table-runner size doily, I think it was 79 cents.  It has a couple of spots I need to mend slightly and it also has a reddish stain but I think it will come out.  All three are bound for my doily curtain.  The reddish crochet thing is a hanging towel, it has a granny square front and a backing crochet piece.  Not sure if I'm going to copy the pattern or what, but it was somewhere around 70 cents or maybe less.

This is a clear ruler, used in sewing and also in things like crochet.  I'm not sure if it's an etsy item or if I'll keep it, as I frequently need something like this but I have a clear plastic ruler I use.

I keep talking about etsy, I think I'm finally going to start listing things in the store I set up a few years ago and then never used.  I have a few ideas for crochet pieces that are not scarves & hats, because the market is basically flooded with that sort of thing.

We also bought an old nut cracker that it mounted on a wooden board.  It was etsy bound at first, but now I'm thinking we may keep it.

After the 2nd thrift store, we decided to have lunch at Cici's pizza instead of cardboard pizza from wally.  We also went to a fabric store.

Speaking of flooding, we've had so much rain the last several days that there has been some street flooding in the area.  The ground is over-saturated.  We've had several instances of hard rains the last couple of days, yesterday afternoon (I got caught in it literally and got soaked) and this morning were very strong storms.  My back yard literally looked like a lake, the ground can not absorb any more water and it was beginning to stand - which is really saying a lot.  I've drained the potted plants a few times, Bill had to clean out one of the downspouts because it was clogged and the rain gutters overflowed.  The ground is so soft it's almost like walking in a swamp.  There is water standing in ditches and on the side of the road in places it never actually does, and we saw evidence of a few street areas that had obviously been under water at some point either yesterday or this morning.  Next week is supposed to be dry and warm, it's going to be very humid for a few days and then it will be mosquito season so I'm trying to get rid of any standing water I find.

I'm thinking that Maggie Moo might have another UTI or bladder infection.  She's "leaked" twice in the house in the last 3 days, I caught her at it in the hallway yesterday and she would not stop - even when I yelled at her.  I don't think she could really stop.  She's acting like she might not feel too good, she really acts like she did before when she had one.  She might also need to get her rear glands cleaned out, it's been 2 months since the last time and we did think that 2 months would be about right.  Or it could be both.  Either way, I'm calling the vet tomorrow to see if I can get her in there.  She's perky when I say the W or R words (Walk or Ride) but even when she actually gets to do either of those things (or both!), she's not acting like she's 100%.  I don't think she's moping around over Frasier not being here, she seemed to get over that and she acts like she doesn't feel too good.  She's finally sleeping on the pillow we bought to make her a bed out of, at least.

(I did give in the my asthma last Friday and stayed home.)

Time for ice cream now!

Yeah, I Know

3 is a collection, 4 is an addiction.  But I'm not sure if that applies to me or not!

After all, it's not a Coach!

 

I have 3 Coach bags, but this one is Something else entirely.  However, it's my 6th "Better Bag" so it might count.  Actually it's my 7th, but one of them was a thrift store purchase although it is a leather, SAS brand purse.  Actually, my "gateway" Coach was also from a thrift store but I was actively looking for a Coach at that point.

 

I already know what Froggy will say.  But in my defense, I have been lusting after a Brahmin for quite a while but I was having a problem paying that much for a bag.  Even if it is top of the line leather!  They almost never actually go on sale.  Otter and I were in Dillards, which I probably should avoid but I never do, and I mentioned to her that I was probably safe to walk though the better purses section since Brahmin pretty much never go on sale.  Except, today, apparently they do!  The one I bought is more of a cream color with light gold-ish highlights, but it's the same purse as in the picture.  The leather is very good and it is made to look like crocodile although it isn't.  However, it does have that distinctive smell that really good leather has so it's not where I normally park my purses - I'm taking no chances with this one and it's well out of dog/coyote/chupacabra reach!

 

On to other things.  Otter and I took advantage of the fact that she was off work today and ran off to go shopping.  We started out at a couple of fabric stores, she found a pattern she liked and also fabric to make another circle skirt (her cosplay pattern was a circle skirt) and I found the perfect fabric for the back of the lap quilt I'm making for Bill - I'm currently collecting fabric for it that fits Billyboy - tools, hammers, robots, Dr. Suess, bandaids, etc.  It's going to be a lap sized blanket.  The fabric I bought today is reminiscent of pin-up girls from the 40's and 50's, cowgirls (mostly redheads!) and cactus.  We went to the mall so she could get a Build-a-Bear puppy made for a friend's birthday gift and I managed to stay out of the Coach store - not that it mattered!  We went to Michaels and she found a few things there.

 

While we were at Dillards, we had to check out the shoe department.  I've been having worse issues with the plantar fasciitis lately and I've had several people recommend croc shoes to me - I think that they are pretty ugly and not something I'd really ever wear but I'm at the point of desperation.  The salesman was very attentive and he showed me several different brands that also will work - Dillards trains their people very well and he was actually very enjoyable to deal with (I know about Dillards employee training from experience, I worked at Dillards a long while back and they are very thorough.)  The problem is in my heel, it's essentially a bruised muscle and what actually helps it is arch support with a little padding on the heel.  I did wind up with a pair of crocs shoes, but they are not the tackytackytacky clog-type shoes.  These remind of me of swimming shoes, but they feel pretty good on my tender heel and they don't hit on the wrong spot below the weathertoes.

 

Froggy, you said you were going to live vicariously through me today since you are still housebound, I hope I gave you enough details!

I Think I Beat My Own Record This Year!

Because I had the tree and all the decorations put away by 5:00 yesterday afternoon!  Like I've said before, for me - when it's over, it's over.  The table is back to normal, the wreath is back in it's bag, the stockings & all the ornaments, small Nativity set, etc., are all put away and the tree is in the box it came out of.  The tree itself is still in the living room, I'm waiting for Bill to be physically able to help me move the tv out of the way to get the cord unplugged and then the tree just might get moved to the "donate" pile.  I"m not sure yet.

The boxes are still in the garage and not in the attic, but that's because Bill's got the cold he's been fighting and he has no business a) out in the cold garage or b) climbing into the cold attic.  And he won't let me into the attic by myself.

And since I'm showing early signs of the cold myself (gee, thanks Bill), I'm not in any particular hurry to get up there anyway.

Otter and I did get a little shopping in today.  We went to a fabric/quilting store this morning that we'd been wanting to go to but just hadn't had time until today.  It was a fun place, small but filled to the brim with some of the most beautiful fabric I've ever seen and the prices were also pretty good especially when you consider the quality.  Otter, Froggy & KN3 and the seamstresses in the family, but I do sew occasionally.  Also, since Otter is my Chief Enabler for the yarn addiction I felt like I needed to return the favor! :)  We had a couple of other places to go to but not anything spectacular, beyond Otter trading in one of her game systems at Game Exhange (name?) we didn't really find anything.  We came home for lunch and piddled around the house for a while, then we decided to go to Wallyworld since I needed batteries and paper towels.  I figured that we'd just make it into our grocery run while we were there, but we still didn't buy much because we didin't really need much.  However, we did have to get light bulbs because Otter was suddenly in the near-dark in her room this afternoon!

One of our stops was a junktique place that we love but don't get to often - Froggy, you remember the Hitching Post?  When we walked in the door, there was an odor that I first thought was natural gas.  I don't think it actually way, but it was similar.  That's when I noticed the first tickles in my throat, which I thought were just my allergy letting me know it didn't appreciate the scent of whatever it was.  But my throat never got better, usually it will go away once I'm away from whatever it is that is setting my allergies off.  We went to Wallyworld after that and we've been home for over an hour but I still have a tickly throat that is now on the verge of becoming an actual sore throat.

Bill, you better start running now!  Because I am NOT going to let a cold keep me from enjoying my birthday tomorrow.  We're going to Incredible Pizza for lunch and I intend to enjoy it.  Bill's a lot better, he's still got his cold but he's on the mend.  He will go with us for lunch but probably not anywhere else we go - I'm also not going to let a possible cold keep me from shopping/thrifting on my birthday.

Run, Billy Boy, Run.

Sunday Blind Ambition

Kind of a blah day today.  We've been busy, but I'm tired and Bill's probably closer to being exhausted than tired.  He's been fighting the bug for over a week now and is refusing to even consider the fact that he probably should have gone to the doctor several days ago.  He's mostly over the fever, but he's still got a lot of congestion, sneezing & coughing.  He's choked his way through the last couple of nights due to the cough.  Which means that neither one of us has really gotten much sleep for the last few nights.  We can't blame it on the dog this time!  Can you tell I'm not particularly happy with him at the moment?  :)

We bought mini-blinds for the dining room windows today.  There is one large window with two smaller windows, one on each side of the large window, they are bay windows so they are extended out a bit and are angled.  I measured them today, and then had to measure them again because the two small windows are not the same size width.  And all three of them are different lenght-wise as well.  ??  Anyway, we went to Lowe's and looked at their mini-blinds and I decided to just go ahead and get them while we were there.  They cut them to the correct size, or at least we hope they did.  We'll get them hung in the next couple of days, depending on Bill and how he feels and hopefully I won't have to return them for size correction.  I had sheer curtains there at first, then I switched to actual curtains but we never closed them so it could probably have just been left "open."  However, there is now construction happening in the area behind us, which was a cow field when we first moved to our current home.  Who cares if the cows can see inside?  Not us.  But now we're faced with houses getting closer and closer to us, and the roofers on the closest two could probably see inside one of the smaller windows so the curtain was closed until they were through.  Instead of constantly closing & opening the curtains, which is what I would have been doing eventually, I decided to just go get mini-blinds and not have to worry about it moving everything out of the way (including lots of plants) just to be able to close the curtains.  I've been thinking about replacing the curtains in the one window in the living room - which also looks out on the back yard and will eventually have a house back there.  I'm probably just going to move the curtains from the dining room windows to that window, and then most likely donate the current curtains in the living room window.

(I prefered the cows, actually.)

Froggy, Otter and I got into the boxes of fabric today.  She will probably use most of it, at some point.  There's a lot, so she's got a good-sized stash and she's happy.  It's all in a large, under-bed plastic box.  Which is now under my bed, since hers has no more room underneath it for anything!

We watched the last 20 minutes or so of American Hoggers this afternoon.  I have to admit that it makes me Homesick to watch that show sometimes.  Something about the great outdoors of TEXAS, and also the fact that they sound like us just gets to us.

I think I'm going to make chili tonight.  With lots and lots and lots of chili seasoning.  Maybe it will help Willieboy?  Can't hurt him, at any rate.

Besides, we are TEXAN and chili is part of our lifeblood.  It was the menu before we watched the hog hunters show, but now we really want it.

Non-Black Friday

Otter and I had our annual Black Friday experience.  We went to the local museum and enjoyed their annual exhibit.  We had a few other errands and one of them was Michael's, but it was just to get paint for me and a couple of things for Otter and they were normal stuff so I'm not sure if that actually counts as Black Friday shopping.  Probably not, and that is fine with us by the way.  We also went to a couple of other stores, one was the farm & ranch-ish store we like that has peanuts in bulk and the other was to the grocery store for pizza fixins* since that's what we're having for dinner tonight.  (And also a couple of meals tomorrow as well!).  And the video store.  I prefer not to be part of the Black Friday madness, thank you very much.

Bill's a little better today.  He's been feverish off & on the last couple of days, he's been coughing and sneezing his head off and has felt cruddy.  He hasn't slept too well the last few nights due to the congestion.  I don't think he's got the flu, he's probably just got the bug that seems to be going around.  It might be what I had a couple of weeks ago, but I don't think he got it from me because of the time between my being sick and his getting it.  I don't want it back, though.

Froggy, the 2nd box you sent arrived Wednesday.  We opened it and Otter got into it a bit, but we haven't had time to really dig into either box yet.  She did find the buttons in both boxes and she found the yarn, which is now in my stash and is happy there.  We'll probably dump both boxes out into the middle of the living room floor tomorrow and see what all is there.

Now, it's time to go get the pizza dough started in the bread machine.

*Do you really need to ask what this word means?  And why it's correct spelling & grammer? :)

Splurge Day

It's been a full day.  We went to the small town with the antique/craft/junk store we like so much and had a good time.  Otter found a few things there, but that was all.  I did see a few things I liked, but decided against them.  Bill didn't find anything either.  But we enjoyed getting out.

Probably the most we bought was what I called our splurge.  We had lunch at Goldie's.  It was really good, we don't eat there too often because we never think about it for some reason.  Anyway, my splurge was the onion rings I had with my burger.  They were so good!  I seldom actually eat fried food and I will pay for it since my system can't tolerate it too well, but they were worth it.

Otter and I went to the other Hancock's Fabric store this afternoon.  She found a few things, mostly fat quarters in patterns she liked.  I found something there as well.  I've been thinking I needed a new tablecloth, I have a few but they are specific to seasons mostly.  Hancock has a pretty large selection of felt-ish backed plastic tablecloth material and they had one I liked.  Well, of course I liked it.  It's all TEXAS-related stuff!  So, I bought enough for a tablecloth and I'll get it made in the next few days.  Basically, all I have to do is cut the ends into a rounded shape which will be easy since I'm going to put one I already have on top of it and mark the pattern.  I might do a small hem on the ends/sides, but I'll figure that out when I actually cut it.  It's not anything that I worry about it running.  I have quite a few TEXAS related plates & so forth, but I don't think I have any placemats to go with it.  Well, not yet anyway!

I seem to find a great deal of TEXAS stuff in NE Oklahoma.  Strange, I guess?  But there are actually quite a few of us here so that might have something to do with it.

We still haven't gotten anything done on the doll house refurbish project.  I'm thinking that will be the rest of the week's project, it needs to be taken outside and given a good dusting but it's kind of warm and nobody wants to go outside for that.  Probably in the morning, before it gets too warm.  Then, the painting of the roof & outside will most likely be the first thing attempted.  The rest of it is inside the house, wall paper and so forth.  None of it is particularly hard, but it might be a little time-consuming since it will involve things like time for paint to dry and glue to adhere.

Also, since they are red-white-blue (and we just like them), we had another splurge.  We bought a box of bomb pop popsicles at Wallyworld this afternoon.

Big spenders, I know.

Sunday Girl Bonding Time

Otter and I had some much-needed Girl Bonding Time today.

In other words, we went shopping!

I didn't really find anything, but Otter found two t-shirts, a game for the Wii and a few other things.  But, what she's most happy about is the X-acto knife kit she got at the hardware store.

What can I say, she's her parent's daughter!  And sharp objects make her happy.  :)  And she likes hardware stores.

We went to a fabric store, but didn't find a thing.  That almost never happens, and when they have a huge sale and coupons and we still don't find anything, it's a very unusual occurance.  They do have a small yarn section, but it was either stuff I already have or it was wool.  We were going to the dollar store, but we were tired and ready to come home after spending a few hours at the mall so the dollar store will have to wait.

Shopping is a good way to start our vacation.  We're going to do more of it this week, we're going to the antique/craft mall where Otter found a $20 pachinko machine one time.  Froggy, it's the place with the train cars that is beside the concrete place with the gorilla.  You might have found stuff there, I don't remember, but I know you will know where it is.  We're going to do that one day this week.

It's clouding up.  I'm wondering if we might get rain.  It would be nice, but I'm not sure if it's in the forecast or not.  The clouds might just be a tease.

I'm not sure what today's forecasted temperature is supposed to be.  We've been over 100 for the last week or so.  We are supposed to be back in the high-90's for a few days, which is closer to normal for this area.  It's getting dry, we need some rain but probably not as badly as other parts of the country do.

The last few mornings it's been cool enough to spend a little time out on the deck before work.  Yesterday was nice, it was breezy and cool for a while.  It got pretty warm during the day, but the morning was nice.  We sat out there and had coffee, while we listened to (and watched) the mockinbird that hangs around the trees in our yard. Last week, the bird was doing cat noises - it sounded exactly like a cat meowing from the very top of the tree.

Bill's been working on his latest project, wall-mounted cabinets for the pachinko machines.  He's been using assorted power tools.  So far, no blood has been spilled.  But I don't want to temp fate so I'm not going to say any more!  (Not that I really believe in fate - I don't, by the way).

Otter reports that the movie Brave is very good.  I won't let her tell me too much about it, I'd prefer to see it firsthand and will hopefully soon.  But she said it was very good.  Of course, a redheaded Scottish girl who kicks butt!  What's not to like about that?

Monday Stuff. Warning: Politics

Monday.  Back to the real world today!

The real world being work.  Which was busy, I'm cleaning out a lot of old files and stuff that should have been thrown out/shredded/donated years ago.  I got a lot done, until the 95 year old teenager got there.  Then progress was slowed considerably, but that's ok.

We have a state election coming up this month.  There is a specific race that is a new state office, it's a new senatorial seat that covers the district we live in.  It's actually a district relocation, and there is no Democrat candidate.  All four are Republicans.  Seeing as how I'm the only person in my house actually registered with a party (Republican, not that anyone is surprised), I'm suddenly very popular with people I've never even met before!  Because Oklahoma is not an open election state, if you aren't registered with the party - you can't vote.  Which is basically taxation without representation, but that's another argument.  I'm also only registered with a particular party affiliation so that I can vote in the primaries.  I'm as conservative as it gets, but I prefer to make my own decisions about who I want to represent me.  The point is - anyone who has that R on their voter's registration is suddenly getting visits, mail, phone calls, etc. about the upcoming race.  It's a primary, but since there are only the R candidates, the winner takes all and wins the seat.  One of them came to the door a week or so ago, but I was having to wrangle a large & furry dog who was suddenly not sure he wanted anyone to talk to me - Frasier gets like that when it's me and Bill's not within sight.    Bill was home, but he was in the other room and Frasier was "on duty" as we call it.  So I only talked to the man for a moment.  Today, Otter and I were just getting home and were actually still in the driveway when the next candidate showed up.  I had time to talk to him, since the dogs were safely in their yard and we were in the driveway.  My first question, as always, is "are you pro-LIFE?"  If the answer is no (it never has been so far), then my next comment will be to say that there is nothing I have to say to them and to say goodbye.  Today's politician said exactly what I'd hoped - that he is pro-LIFE without any exceptions.  So far, I'm not sure who I'm voting for in that race.

I am also not sure at all about the Presidential race in November.  I can NOT under any circumstances, and will NOT under any circumstances, vote for the incumbent.  Probably not a surprise to anyone.

Problem is, I'm not sure I can vote for Romney either.  It's not just me, it's all three of us.  Bill probably said it best:  "There is no way I justify myself when I stand before Father God at the judgement day and explain that I voted for someone whom I consider to be godless."  Yes, that does mean that we don't consider the mormon religion to be Christian.  Which does not mean that we think mormons are bad people.  I've known several and they are generally nice, like most people and they are very pro-family.  But I've done a lot of research on their religion - and many others as well - and we don't believe that it's a true or Christian faith.  For a lot of things, and I'm not going into details about their belief system - but a good book to read is Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakour and there are several others.

That was part of today's discussion at work.  It got a little heated for a while there, the 95 year old teenager believes almost everything he reads and he read some Romney campaign material.  Then we had a history discussion, which I was correct about, and it got kind of interesting to say the least!  Among other things, he told me that faith needs to stay out of politics and shouldn't have any basis on who we vote for or in how we live our lives.  ????  I told him that we are supposed to live our faith in all things and that does include politics.  He knew he was on shaky ground at that point and changed the subject.  (I was never rude, I was always respectful but I was also always firm.  And he shouldn't have been surprised!)

OK, politics over.  For the moment.  Soapbox has been safely stored, but it's ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.

Otter and I did some rearranging yesterday.  Her craft/fabric stash outgrew the corner of her room where it's been stored.  A while back, actually.  I made some room on my craft/stash shelves in the office closet and she relocated some of her stuff to it.  She still could use something else, maybe a small shelf unit, in her room to contain the rest of it.

On Friday, I am acquiring a new niece.  Scooter (Froggy's oldest) is getting married!  Because it's on a Friday, and the specific Friday it happens to be, we aren't going to be able to attend the wedding.  Froggy, I expect a full report - with pictures - as soon as possible!  Do you have any suggestions for Mrs. Scooter's blog name, or is Mrs. Scooter ok?  (Scooter is Froggy's oldest's nickname from when he was very young).

Allergies are making their way back today.  I've sneezed a lot, but I was also dealing with a lot of dust today.  Billyboy was noisy all night.  Otter reports that she's starting to feel the tightness in her lungs that usually means asthma is thinking about showing up.  We had a long-lived thunderstorm last night, most of the night in fact, and it's been sunny today.  That means that things are going to bloom on overload for the next few days.  Joy.

We also had a lot of wind, although we don't have any tree problems this time.  Probably because it's already been blown out of/off of the tree!  There seem to be a lot of other people who have had tree issues, just not us.  Not that I'm complaining!  I'm not happy that anybody else has problems, I'm just glad that we don't this time.

Spring?

I think it got to the high 40's today, but it certainly didn't feel like it! It was in the low 40's the last time I checked. We had a couple of things that had to be done outside and it was really windy and really cold. We are supposed to get a hard freeze tonight, so the bluebonnet is watered & covered up again.

Among other things we had to do outside, Bill had to get out his Dremel and put the grinding wheel on it. Then he had to take said Dremel to the MANY VERY LARGE & VERY RUSTY NAILS that were sticking out of the fence. Right at dog level. The nails that originated on the other side of the fence, which were put there by our lovely neighbors. All the way down the fence. And not when they originally fixed it, these just appeared about Friday evening. Which is when I heard hammering after dark and wasn't sure where it came from. Bill did use a long screw when he patched up one of the many holes their dogs made, a few months back. But it was one and it was not rusty and not all that sharp. Now all the nails are cut off at the fence. We'll watch and see if any more appear. Their dogs were barking their heads off at us the entire time, I heard her yell at them to shut up a couple of times but the dogs kept barking and she never came out. And for the record, our dogs have not been out in the main part of the yard for days except for a couple of hours two night last week and then we let them out Friday but they spent most of Friday until now inside, asleep.

While we were out there, Otter got to clean out the dog's small yard of all the "gifts" they left out there. Then I brought in about 3 armloads of firewood for tonight.

Otter and I had to run to Wallyworld this afternoon. I ran out of bell peppers and since we eat them in just about every meal, it was a Major Catastrophe that had to be remedied right away. While we were there, we looked in the fabric department. All that is left is a few partial bolts of fabric that nobody in their right (or wrong) mind would want and a few remnants. I got a remnant piece for 5 cents. It's going to be the liner in the case I crocheted for my crochet hooks. There was a big sign about how in April the fabric department would now be a newer & better craft department. The sign was a "fill in the blank" type where the month went. Also, I've seen a couple of examples of the "newer & better craft department" and it's not either of those things. In fact, they are smaller and have a whole lot less inventory. Oh yeah, I also got my pink camo yarn. And two bell peppers!

I got the second coat of Kilz paint on the shelf Bill made for me. I have some very light pink paint that I'm going to use on the shelf. I wanted a barely-there color for it. I hope that the paint I bought is pale enough, there are not a lot of pale shades of pink available. I think I'm going to put my Fenton basket on the shelf with the two Fenton hummingbirds on either side of the basket. The basket is a creamy, pale color with pink highlights and is painted with small flowers. The two hummingbirds are pink, they are not exactly the same shade of pink and they are shaped slightly different from each other. I think it will look nice. I still need to hit the back of the shelf with Kilz, which I'll probably do tomorrow afternoon. Then as soon as it's dry, I'll start the color coat.

My dog is such a silly boy. When I got up this morning, he was curled up at the foot of the bed and I think he was waiting for me. Bill had already gotten up and fed the poochies, but Frasier is very much a mama's boy. He's spent a lot of time today as close to me as he could get, and he's currently curled up on the floor beside my desk, napping. He sighs every so often. Maggie is probably curled up on the foot of Otter's bed, where she likes to snooze. Can we say spoiled? :)

Rainy Friday

It's been raining pretty much non-stop since yesterday evening. It rained off and on yesterday and today has been alternating between a nice, slow rain and thunderstorms with lots of water. Lots of water! And a few bouts of striking lightning, but nothing bad in our area. But we need this rain, so I'm not complaining. However, there has been a little hail mixed in with the rain at times and I could do without that.

I'm home with a sick Otter today. She is much better but not quite school-ready so she stayed home today. I've been doing laundry and cleaning, I also made bread. I think the dogs have enjoyed Otter being home, they got to stay inside. I did put them out for a little while, they were not amused! But they got a treat and got to come back in soon.

I've realized something. I set out to simplify and slow down, but it's been the opposite for about the last month. I have been busier than I have in a long time. I think it's time to get back to slowing down. I have a tendency to overload myself and I think I did it again. Gotta work on that!

Bill has had a big project, the garage cleaning, and I've been helping him with that. He's just about done. He has a new project that he's nearly through with: insulating the attic over the garage. He has done most of it, but the part that's left is the area where he put wood down to make flooring and there are shelves & boxes there. Those things have to be moved, the wood has to be taken up, the insulation will be put down and then the boards will have to be put back down. They are nailed down so it will take a few hours. I think we'll work on that Sunday afternoon. It's something we can still get done even if we do get the cold, wintery weather that is forecast.

Then I think it's time to work on calming down again! I actually prefer a slower paced life, we all do.

I noticed something at WalMart last night. They have nearly done away with the fabric department. A year or so ago, WalMart announced that they were going to close that department. Then there was an outcry and they backtracked. But at the same time, the fabric department in the stores in our area started getting smaller and the clearance area got bigger. There was an announcement made around that time that new stores would not have a fabric department. One of the local stores did away with their fabric department several months ago, and also most of the craft stuff as well. Then last night at the store by our house, there were clearance signs all over the fabric area and most of it was already gone.

I hear Cute & Stinky (also known as Maggie & Frasier) in the living room, sounds like they might be into something so I'd better go check on them. They are good dogs, but they are also sneaky sometimes!

Discoveries

This is what I discovered this afternoon:

Daffodils! We are going to have a lot of them, they tend to spread. Which is fine with me, they are among my favorite flowers. They really multiply.

Tulips! The tulips are up! About a dozen of them, this is one of the bigger ones. Most are just barely poking through the dirt. There should be several more, which should break through the dirt over the next few days. Once one starts, they all start.

The full shot of the tulip/daffodil bed. Not visible are the several earthworms I accidentally uncovered while I was pulling weeds. The worms got buried back again, where they are happily doing what they do.

But this is the biggest discovery of the afternoon. It might look small, but it's huge.

It's a BLUEBONNET! It's in the whiskey barrel and is tiny still, that is Otter's finger holding the leaves up for a size comparison. Sorry it's not a clearer picture, the camera that I was using is the older one and it's losing a lot of close-up focus. But the point is that last year's naturalized bluebonnets have sucessfully seeded. Or it could be from a seed I planted, but the seeds were off of last year's naturalized plants. Happy, happy!

There was another picture, but the disk decided it didn't want to cooperate with me. At the end of the tulip bed is a gate, which leads to our back yard. The picture had a dog nose sticking through, Frasier was watching me the entire time I was weeding the tulip bed. Guess he wanted to help me play in the mud.

I left him alone for about 15 minutes this morning, in the living room without picking up the small trash can we have in there. And that was long enough! I discovered a trail of candy wrappers and peanut shells, from the knocked over can to his blanket. And he was nowhere in sight. Shortly after that, Otter went outside and discovered that he'd also left us a trail of pretzel bag pieces to follow. Frasier stayed way out of my reach while we were picking up, but he watched us closely. He probably knew he was in trouble, because he avoided me for a while. Dog's too smart for his own good sometimes.

Since I had the day off, Otter and I went thrifting. We didn't find a lot, but she did find a pair of jeans that she needed. I saw several Fenton pieces at one particular thrift, the Salvation Army on the expensive side of town. And they were all way overpriced, so they are still there. One piece was a rarer piece, but it was still more than I wanted to pay. The other stuff was reasonably common, but still overpriced!

We also hit the fabric store, Otter chose a dark blue fabric for the back of her quilt. Then we went to Michael's, she has a craft she wants to make, and we bought yarn while we were there for the tie-offs on her quilt. It's a brightly variegated yarn and will look very pretty.

I also finished pinning up the hem of her prom dress. I am going to get the hem actually sewn in the next couple of days, but I'm thinking about how I want to do it. The material is stretchy and the skirt is designed to be fuller towards the bottom. Otter is getting her hair cut after school tomorrow, then Friday when I pick her up I am taking her for a manicure.

Frasier just came to the door of the office, smiled at me and wagged his tail. Then he turned around and left. I probably should go see what he's gotten into this time!

I'M FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the quilt that I started years and years ago. At least, I'm finished with the top. I have to go buy batting and the backing fabric, but I'm done with the main part of the quilt. We might get to the fabric place tomorrow when we go to the library and probably thrift stores, but soon anyway. Then it won't take that long to completely finish up. Otter likes it, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out. We spread it out on her bed and it will actually work for a bigger bed as well. She says that she does want dark blue fabric for the backing. Then I think I'll use blue yarn on the front. Yes, I will post pictures. But it's not at that stage yet.

It was a nice Valentine's Day. Bill loved the roast, but then he generally does. He liked the chocolate I got him and the video game. Otter loved the video games and non-chocolate candy we got her. And I really liked my surprise present from Bill. Besides the chocolate, he got me something I've wanted for a while - an MP3 player! It's not an Ipod, but it's the same thing. Just a different brand. And a lot cheaper. I've been busy uploading all my cd's to it. My car stereo is equipped with an input jack so I can plug it in there and listen to my music through the car's speakers. Happy, happy! But I need to get a few more cd's, I don't have anything within the last few years since I didn't have a cd player in the car. So I think I need to take a page from Otter's book and go get more music! And a headset, the ear buds that came with it are not the easiest things on the ears.

We rented a movie, The Miracle of St. Anna. It was not exactly what we expected. The basic story was good, but it could have been told in a lot less time. It was edited choppily and the acting wasn't that good. It was ok, rated R because of a couple of brief adult scenes and the language. And one I think we would have been very disappointed with at theater price.

The prom is next Saturday. Otter is going to get a haircut Tuesday or Wednesday. Then she's getting a manicure, which we will probably go get on Friday after school/work. We thought about going on Saturday, but sometimes there is a line and we decided not to wait until the last minute. I have her dress pinned up part of the way, I will finish that and get it hemmed up probably tomorrow.

Froggy, the box is packed & ready for shipping. I think that UPS is open on Monday, that is probably how I'll send it to you. I think you'll enjoy all the hummers, hopefully Uncle Crazy will enjoy the surprise of coming home to redecorating! :)

Some Boring Sunday Stuff

It's early, 6:43 a.m. as I type. But I'm probably going to update this during the day so by the time I actually get this posted, it could be midnight! :)

I had a Borg Queen moment yesterday. In what was formerly known as the eBay closet, we have two plastic 5-shelf units. One on each side. One of them still has eBay stuff (actually empty shelves where eBay stuff used to go), and the other one is half mine and half Bill's. My half has sewing & crochet stuff, Bill's half has computer stuff & a printer. We each have two shelves. The 5th one has some surplus stuff and some of our weather emergency supplies. Anyway, back to the point. I think I had one anyway. One of my shelves had about 4 large paper grocery bags and the box my sewing machine came in. All were full of scrap fabric, misc. fabric and sewing supplies. I took them to the living room yesterday and dumped them out. Otter and I went through them and found a lot of older fabric to put on eBay, a large plastic trash bag is now full of fabric and older clothes and is destined for Goodwill, and we now just have one bag of fabric/family clothing to keep for eventual quilt squares. I now have a place to put my picnic basket with my crochet stuff, I was tired of tripping over it. I still need to go through my second shelf, but mostly it needs to be rearranged. It's got stuff like my sewing machine and my thread on it. I don't think that there's much, if anything, that I'll get rid of on that shelf since I cleaned it out several months ago.

Maggie thought that she should get to play with all the stuff we had piled in the living room yesterday. When she wasn't allowed to, she got right up in my lap and pretended to be unloved. Frasier had zero interest in the fabric, etc., he just wanted to get Maggie's chewbone. Which he did, as soon as she came over to help us.

I thought about taking my cactus back out yesterday morning, but I never quite got around to it. Which is a good thing, because we had a nice rain storm in the late morning/early afternoon. A little thunder, but not really bad weather. Just a nice rain. And Bill had to go unclog one of the rain gutters in the middle of the storm, since it was overflowing and he was afraid that if he waited the entire gutter might fall. It just had a couple of leaves that were blocking it. But he did get wet!

Among other things, I did get my pink robe put back together. The same one that Mom brought me in the hospital when Otter was born. Yes, I still have it Froggy! I've put it in the quilt scrap pile several times, but I keep taking it back out. It's had seams that came apart as the thread is kind of old, the hem came out and both sleeves hems were coming out. All of it is because of the thread. I've made several attempts over the years to replace my robe, but I'm very attached to this one. I found it in the quilt scraps pile yesterday and I decided to go ahead and patch it. So I got the sewing machine out and got busy. I know it seems strange, but this robe has a lot of good memories associated with it - Mom gave it to me and Otter's first days of life. So it was never going to be tossed, it would and may still eventually become quilt scraps.

Ok, it's nearly 7:00 now. Time to go get Otter out of bed! I'm sure she'll be pleased. Well, that's what I'll tell myself anyway! She probably hopes that I've forgotten what I told her at bedtime last night: the house is a wreck and we're going to clean today! I feel another Borg Queen moment coming on.