Fragmented

Well, it is Friday and there's another opportunity to gather up the bits that won't make a whole post and present them for your enjoyment.  Ooo, pressure!  Mrs. 4444 is the hostess for this link up and you will find her here.

1.  My "Christmas" cactus is budding again.  Which means that it's really a Thanksgiving and Easter cactus.  I'm rather hungry for the sight of flowers, so I'll be happy to see them.

2.  My experiment with sending post cards has had mixed results.  The cards I've sent to Finland and Singapore have already reached their folks, but I haven't received any post cards from anyone else yet.  But it makes me eager for the mail to arrive each day.

3.  Letter writing has been fun, too.  I received a long hand-written reply from my son which was the best of treats!

4.  Though it isn't "depression" by any means, something about February makes me tired and bored---which resulted in me changing up my eating plan a bit.  Instead of my very famous whole grain cereal, I made me a whole big batch of homemade granola.  It is calorie laden and I add it to a dish of banana for a satisfying breakfast.

5.  I've decided that if I want to continue to succeed on my "weight loss journey", I need to weed out my closets and cupboards again and bring a couple bags of clothes to Goodwill or St. Vinny's.  I get complacent when I have any clothing that is roomy.  

6.  Good Guy told me yesterday that the date has been picked to celebrate Aaron Rodgers Day!  In honor of his jersey number, it will be celebrated on 12/12/2012.  (Which, for decades now, has also been my birthday celebration-----and my cousin's------and my daughter-in-law's!)  We may have to have a real blow-out party this year!

Have a great weekend!

A Little Sheepish

Our Saturday jaunt in Beaver Dam and environs took us to Knitty Gritty, a wonderful shop outside of Horicon, where we met these critters.

In addition to a wonderful selection of yarns, there is lovely washed fleece for sale. Since I haven't had my spinning wheel out for a coon's age, I resisted the urge to buy more fleece, but I know where to go for more.

Another errand had Lynn retrieving woodcuts which she had matted and framed as a birthday gift for Brotherbob. They look just wonderful and the trick was to get them hung before he and Good Guy returned home-----and then to see how long it took him to notice them. I think there were six of them and she rearranged existing artwork to make places to hang these new additions.

We left on Sunday morning and he hadn't said anything yet, though we were busting with the urge to point them out. She called in the afternoon when he asked her how long they'd been hanging there. So it didn't take him long at all!

Good Guy's response when I say, "Do you notice anything different?" is a "deer in the headlights look" and an "Uh-oh!!"

My response to Mardi Gras, so far, is to make a batch of home made granola, which is drying in the oven as I write this. That will be the extent of the sweets for Fat Tuesday, I think.

Are you taking on any spiritual burdens for Lent? I should limit computer time---but I still have a few hours to decide. I think it should be adding something positive, not deprivation. But

what do I know!

Roll Call---She's Absent Again

With all the February projects on my list, I don't seem to have much creativity left for this outlet.

I do wish I could report that I am churning out finished socks like a factory, but that isn't quite true. I started the lacy sock pattern with all the "new techniques" so I'd have the support of the knit along group when I got stuck. It was a good idea, but when I posted my problem on Ravelry nobody responded and I worked through it on my own.

Which is fine----as long as I figured it out, I don't care. The other socks had a different technique for doing the toes, too. I did it, but it's way more complicated than what I usually do---plus it isn't better looking, or more durable. (So what's the point?)

Well, that just makes me sound grouchy. And I tackled these to learn---so I'm just resistant to learning.

I also did a life expectancy quiz that popped up during web browsing. The good news is that with my health history and habits, I'm likely to live to be over 100 years old. Just enough time to finish the socks.

I get a message from Milkshake in my e-mail each morning. This is usually news about green products and good deeds to know about. This morning the news was about "Jams", which are gatherings of people who tackle problems together. There is no announced agenda; they decide what to solve when they gather.

Here's the address: Jams I hope that this will get you there----the first link I pasted went to my e-mail.

(It is obvious to me that this isn't a Presbyterian effort. A committee without an agenda??? Horrors! and laughter.....)

Since I have both a morning with my quilter and knitter friends, and an afternoon with my reader friends, I'd better get at my letter for the day out of the way early. And since the afternoon soiree is here, perhaps some attention from the dust mitt is in order. (Don't worry, I won't strain myself.)

Another great thing about the readers is that one of our first rules is that the hostess never has to provide a dessert. Tea or soda maybe, but never sweets. Are we not smart?

So I'll leave, wishing you a happy Wednesday, and a retroactive happy Valentine's day. Or maybe I'm just early for next year.

Cheers!

Heart to Heart

Wasn't it a good idea to take up letter writing during Valentine month?

I just finished writing a letter to my oldest son. I should preface this by admitting that we are not a family that keeps in touch much. It isn't because we don't care about one another or are estranged in any way, but we're a bunch of introverts who are pretty self-sufficient.

My kids admit that they look at the calendar, say something like, "Hmmm, it's Joe's birthday!" and smile and go on their merry way without making a phone call or sending a card. And no one in the family is offended, that's just the way it is.

(It might make the spouses annoyed, but the siblings don't mind.)

But I so enjoyed the time I spent, pen in hand, to share some thoughts with my son----I may have to make a habit of it.

Lynn and I once spent an afternoon reading a basket of post cards which we found in our bed and breakfast. Two sisters who were maids in the same town kept in touch, before telephones, by dropping each other a few lines each day. It was a peek into someone's life-----someone long gone, and we enjoyed it very much.

Now I have to sort through my interests to decide what to Pin on Pinterest. My friends have fun checking that out. What do you think?

Have a great Thursday!

Old notebooks

I started this post to share a letter with you regarding this being Congenital Heart Defect month, and the letter is great and was in my e-mail. It's about a child, now two years old and progressing normally who has already been through a lot of surgery, fear, and pain due to his heart defect.

Unfortunately, you will have to take my word for it, since I'm too tech impaired to figure out how to "blog this".

But in the meantime, I retrieved a little notebook. Since I'm thrifty (in some circles, I'm known as cheap-----but it is usually only regarding my own wants and cravings.) I am using up a clump of blank pages for short term memory aids. The sort of things that I won't have to write into an address book, or permanent records somewhere.

But I did find notations that are funny, puzzling, and odd.

Funny: Consciousness----that annoying time between naps.

IRS motto: We've got what it takes to take what you've got.

A note that says, "The dog is with me."

Our dog has been in that great Boneyard in the Sky for about five years or more.

A page of notations in Good Guy's printing about his dad's brothers and sisters and their years of birth. Not complete. He must have been remembering and jotting stuff down.

A couple to-do lists of mine.

Two soldier's addresses from Soldiers Angels.

Three post card addresses for overseas from Postcrossing.

Web addresses.

My son, Alan's, new phone number.

How to do the toe decreases on Finnish socks. (You never know when you'll be caught away from home and be ready to knit the toes of socks!)

Calculations for the number of Wt. Watcher points in a slice of banana bread. (Don't ask! Try to avoid quick breads!)

People who were on sthe prayer chain at one time. (That can speed things up at the doctor's office. I think if you are using the waiting time to pray, there are forces at work who try to speed things along in the other exaemining rooms.) That's not a scientific observation---just a thought.

Lists of books recommended by friends.

And a note to myself to opt out of google----which I may or may not obey. Anyone following my life and every move I make online is quite likely to die of sheer boredom. (Like knitting or quilting as an Olympic Event.) Yawn!

Have a pleasant Hump Day!

Oh NO, It's Friday

You too can hook up with Friday Fragments hosted by Mrs. 4444, of Half Past Kissin' Time. She hosts this Public Service Event weekly---bless her heart.

Now to sweep up my fragments:

1. We have a great many "anniversary" celebrations here since I mark events on the calendar when they happen, and transfer them when the new year comes. This week we celebrate the six year anniversary of the arrival of our "old cat", Sweetie. I had seen her in our alley in January, while I was walking the dog and she was very thin, cold, and wild. (Since the dog was with me.)

When we lured her in, she was very scrawny, but the vet rehydrated her and checked for disease, pronouncing her very healthy and already spayed.

She is an important part of our household now.

2. I have some February commitments including a sock knit along, writing a snail mail letter each day this month, and making the blocks of the month for the online class I'm taking. It's good to have something to pull me along the tracks in February----winter blahs can set in, even with a mild winter.

3. My walking partner has reached her goal at Weight Watchers. I'm so proud of her! Since we haven't been walking outdoors, I have stalled out completely----since the middle of December. Time to pull up my socks and get to work!

4. We have decided it is the year to make a change. Our furnace is older than old and we need to bite the bullet and spend the money, before the dollar isn't worth anything at all. Ouch!

5. Bird visitors this week include juncos, mourning doves, redpolls, chickadees, nuthatches, finches, pigeons, and a couple of starlings. Good Guy saw some cardinals, too. Yesterday while the squirrels were in the feeder we had a rabbit just chilling under the lilacs. He sat perfectly still for about half an hour.

6. Super Bowl weekend again. (yawn!) Noteworthy because the quilt shop is having a big sale all weekend! As though I need more fabric!!!

I think that does it except I miss those of you who are taking the month off from blogging. I know I told you to do whatever you need to do, but I miss you anyway. Just sayin'....

Wednesday (Reading and Knitting)

I have been doing both, but I am finding it difficult to get the e-books I order from the library finished in the allotted two week time. My reader is handy in some ways, but I find I'm still partial to actual -------pages and covers------sort of books.

Above we have the January knitting projects that had to travel with us. On the left is the thermal stitch lower border of Anne Hansen's hat pattern. It is really a beautiful texture and I made it of washable wool. It is very like the color of Good Guy's sweater, though it is a different yarn. Honestly, it really is. It matches his jacket---so I guess he must like that color.

The sock is the one Mrs. 4444 teased me about "knitting from a book". I really used wool yarn for this too. It is from a pattern in Nancy Bush's first edition of Folk Socks-----the Finnish sock. I am ready to start the toe on the first one. I thought this would be very challenging, but it is much simpler than it appears.

We are reading Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen for book club. It was a real page turner for me, sort of a Perils of Pauline plot. (Not full of deep thoughts, if you're looking for philosophy but entertaining in its way.)

The books I didn't finish on my e-reader were Children of God by Mary Doria Russell, the sequel to The Sparrow. The second was Zone One, a grim tale about NYC post plague and some other apocalyptic event which made human life worth very little. Very depressing stuff.

The book I need to finish today is The Wedding Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini. Since I'm going to hang out with my quilting friends today, I need to stop hanging out here and read instead.

Thanks for the visit. Come again, as my mom used to say.