See it.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
My namesake
Finally I have a baby named after me! Took a while and much nagging but here she is. Little Kari
Saturday, July 08, 2006
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
The old lady, who had been dong so much better lately - even getting out and gardening - fell down our front steps yesterday morning. Backwards. Onto her walking stick. Damnation.
Well it could have been worse - she did crack a vertebrae in her lower back probably right where she hit the walking stick. But she didn't break a hip, or shatter the vertebrae so badly she needs an operation.
However - this means a couple of months of pain. A couple of months of me doing more. And a couple of months of not going anywhere.
Oh well. Ken was out of vacation anyway. I will use my remaining days taking the old lady top the doctor and maybe just working around the house - which I admit is a big giagantic mess.
Crap though, you know? So rather than getting my hair cut this weekend and going down to Tangle wood to see the BSO - we're sitting home. I am going to clean and work in the garden. Oh and drink margaritas in the evening. What the hell!
Well it could have been worse - she did crack a vertebrae in her lower back probably right where she hit the walking stick. But she didn't break a hip, or shatter the vertebrae so badly she needs an operation.
However - this means a couple of months of pain. A couple of months of me doing more. And a couple of months of not going anywhere.
Oh well. Ken was out of vacation anyway. I will use my remaining days taking the old lady top the doctor and maybe just working around the house - which I admit is a big giagantic mess.
Crap though, you know? So rather than getting my hair cut this weekend and going down to Tangle wood to see the BSO - we're sitting home. I am going to clean and work in the garden. Oh and drink margaritas in the evening. What the hell!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Yippee
My Boye Needlemaster knitting needle set arrived! Got it on eBay for a total (including shipping) of $30. Took me about 20 auctions to get it that low but I fianlly made it. I probably could have gotten it a bit cheaper if I wanted to keep trying - but I want to start my cabled ruana soon and I really needed this set. Think about it $30 for all those needled sizes/lengths when I could have spent over $10 just for one circular needle. Well worth it!
Am also waiting for a delivery of the best shoes I have ever seen - but I will wait and talk about them for when they arrive so I can model them.
Am also waiting for a delivery of the best shoes I have ever seen - but I will wait and talk about them for when they arrive so I can model them.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Catch up
OK let's see... rain rain rain, more rain, warm rain, a downpour, sprinkles, some rain and a wee glinpse of sun. Then rain and rain and wind and rain and more wind and now clouds and wind and a threat of rain. That's about it.
Tulip is getting very old - just calculated th other day and it is as iff she were over a hundred. So the fact that her back legs are going shouldn't be a surprise. She spends most of the day sleeping but then at hight she wanders around and bumps into things. Crazy old girl. Won't eat much of anything anymore either.
I figured out a cable pattern for the ruana I am going to knit - I am basically making this up on my own - just taking the measurements from Big Girl Knits. Going to use Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Winter Night. It is brighter than I orginally thought about the ruana but after swatching that and the Ink color of Elann's Highland Wool I decided that the cables would benefit from a lighter color. And hey - the price doesn't hurt. Anyway hoping to get started this week - if the old lady will give me a break from digging and planting!
Tulip is getting very old - just calculated th other day and it is as iff she were over a hundred. So the fact that her back legs are going shouldn't be a surprise. She spends most of the day sleeping but then at hight she wanders around and bumps into things. Crazy old girl. Won't eat much of anything anymore either.
I figured out a cable pattern for the ruana I am going to knit - I am basically making this up on my own - just taking the measurements from Big Girl Knits. Going to use Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Winter Night. It is brighter than I orginally thought about the ruana but after swatching that and the Ink color of Elann's Highland Wool I decided that the cables would benefit from a lighter color. And hey - the price doesn't hurt. Anyway hoping to get started this week - if the old lady will give me a break from digging and planting!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Life moves along
I know - I haven't been around lately. I think there have been so MANY things I want to blog about that I felt overwhelmed to even start.
So I am checking in with the world with some non-important things. I bought the "Big Girl Knits" by Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer, based on comments about its first section telling you how to change a pattern to match your own shape. It is a great book and I suggest for almost every shape. I also fell in love with the BluebelleRuana - I had never really know about ruanas and I like them so much more than a poncho.
So I decided that I would make this - but then there was the price of the suggested yarn - too pricy for me! And then I began to sketch out the pattern as there is no diagram for this pattern and i realized there was no way I would get through all that i-cord. Just not gonna happen. So I decided I would take the idea of ruana and design my own using cable patterns from the Viking Knits book from Elsebeth Lavold.
I have ordered two skeins of yarn from Knitpicks and two from Elann so I can swatch with 4 different colors and two types of yran to see what I like best. I may or may not ever finish this project but I am excited about it. It will be fun to see what I can design myself and since the ruana is basically a big rectangle with a slit in the middle I will end with little sewing.
So I am checking in with the world with some non-important things. I bought the "Big Girl Knits" by Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer, based on comments about its first section telling you how to change a pattern to match your own shape. It is a great book and I suggest for almost every shape. I also fell in love with the BluebelleRuana - I had never really know about ruanas and I like them so much more than a poncho.
So I decided that I would make this - but then there was the price of the suggested yarn - too pricy for me! And then I began to sketch out the pattern as there is no diagram for this pattern and i realized there was no way I would get through all that i-cord. Just not gonna happen. So I decided I would take the idea of ruana and design my own using cable patterns from the Viking Knits book from Elsebeth Lavold.
I have ordered two skeins of yarn from Knitpicks and two from Elann so I can swatch with 4 different colors and two types of yran to see what I like best. I may or may not ever finish this project but I am excited about it. It will be fun to see what I can design myself and since the ruana is basically a big rectangle with a slit in the middle I will end with little sewing.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Things we take for granted
What if you didn't have money for tampons or pads? I never thought about this but often women living in shelters don't. Seventh Generation one of my favorite companies) is helping to supply homeless women with menstrual supplies.
All you have to do it make a virtual donation by going to their web page and following directions. It won't cost you anything and only takes a few seconds.
They also have an interesting request up for people interested in spending the month of August traveling the West (Colorado, Washington, California and Oregon) "talking to women (and men) about menstruation, hand-delivering product donations to area shelters, and spreading the good word about the importance of natural feminine care while blogging, photo-snapping, along the way. "
To sign up go to the Applicate page and enter your info to receive contest details. If I wasn't all grown up and tied to a job etc I would be tempted!
All you have to do it make a virtual donation by going to their web page and following directions. It won't cost you anything and only takes a few seconds.
They also have an interesting request up for people interested in spending the month of August traveling the West (Colorado, Washington, California and Oregon) "talking to women (and men) about menstruation, hand-delivering product donations to area shelters, and spreading the good word about the importance of natural feminine care while blogging, photo-snapping, along the way. "
To sign up go to the Applicate page and enter your info to receive contest details. If I wasn't all grown up and tied to a job etc I would be tempted!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Coop Cleaning Day
So I need to clean the chicken coop. Over the winter the chickens managed to pull apart 2 entire bales of hay. Which means I have a matted smelly poopy dusty job ahead of me. I hate the bi-yearly cleaning anyway - but the hay is going to make it that much worse. yuck.
Also it is 62 degrees already and muggy. Maybe it's too hot to clean the coop? What do you think?
all right, all right, I'm going.....
Also it is 62 degrees already and muggy. Maybe it's too hot to clean the coop? What do you think?
all right, all right, I'm going.....
Friday, April 14, 2006
Spring's HERE!!!
I walked to work this morning and it was wonderful out. I love the morning even though I am not a morning person, actually probably because I am not a morning person.
And even though we are having a rather dry Spring I give you one of my favorite poets.
And even though we are having a rather dry Spring I give you one of my favorite poets.
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
-- e. e. cummings
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Great Quote
Thanks to Jeanne at Body and Soul
"War is a coward's escape from the problems of peace." -- William Sloane Coffin
"War is a coward's escape from the problems of peace." -- William Sloane Coffin
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Excitement -Part 2
So we managed to get some sleep for a few hours Sunday morning. It didn't help that it was change of daylight savings time to boot. Late morning we arranged to take Ken's mother into the hospital to visit his father and see what was going on. While I was outside moving my car etc the neighbors came over to see how everything was and so Ken and I got into conversation with them. In the meanwhile his mother was getting ready and finally came out saying she was ready to go. Ken said - but wait! I need some of my stuff from inside at which point his mother realized she had left her pocketbook inside and we were locked out.
OK - in retrospect it makes for an amusing tale - but not at the time. I trotted around the house behind Ken as he paced rapidly from door to window to door looking for a way in. It was determined that one of the windows in reach was open and Ken began to step on the outside water spigot. I mentioned sweetly that he was perhaps a little too heavy to stand on that. Luckily there were some large shrubs right there - nice old rhododendrons that could support me. So up I went and into the house. I have a nice line of bruises across my right leg as that took most of my weight as I balanced on the window sill. It's been a long time since I entered a house that way. Made me nostalgic for the good old days when my mother would forget and lock the back door. Of course I didn't have a crazy dog trying to bite me as I contorted myself to get a foot on the floor. Poor old Tippy was always more intent on biting people than on recognizing those he shouldn't bite.
After that adventure we headed into the hospital where we found that Ken's father had heart problems which is probably what made him pass out and fall down the stairs. He has been having heart pains for a year and didn't tell anyone! Luckily the cardiologist came in while we were there and we got the whole scoop. - Probably athrosclerosis; might need angioplasty or might need a heart bypass.
Well we found out last night that it is a bypass and so Ken has headed back down to MA as the operation is tomorrow. He plans to stay through tomorrow then come back here and head back to MA over the weekend so as to portion out his remaining days off for the year.
Oh these old people!
OK - in retrospect it makes for an amusing tale - but not at the time. I trotted around the house behind Ken as he paced rapidly from door to window to door looking for a way in. It was determined that one of the windows in reach was open and Ken began to step on the outside water spigot. I mentioned sweetly that he was perhaps a little too heavy to stand on that. Luckily there were some large shrubs right there - nice old rhododendrons that could support me. So up I went and into the house. I have a nice line of bruises across my right leg as that took most of my weight as I balanced on the window sill. It's been a long time since I entered a house that way. Made me nostalgic for the good old days when my mother would forget and lock the back door. Of course I didn't have a crazy dog trying to bite me as I contorted myself to get a foot on the floor. Poor old Tippy was always more intent on biting people than on recognizing those he shouldn't bite.
After that adventure we headed into the hospital where we found that Ken's father had heart problems which is probably what made him pass out and fall down the stairs. He has been having heart pains for a year and didn't tell anyone! Luckily the cardiologist came in while we were there and we got the whole scoop. - Probably athrosclerosis; might need angioplasty or might need a heart bypass.
Well we found out last night that it is a bypass and so Ken has headed back down to MA as the operation is tomorrow. He plans to stay through tomorrow then come back here and head back to MA over the weekend so as to portion out his remaining days off for the year.
Oh these old people!
Monday, April 03, 2006
Excitement
I managed to send a few pictures to the blog (below) from my phone Saturday night. For some reason after NOT being able to make it work - it now finally posts them - but posts them in duplicate. Most that I sent posted double but one posted triple. Don't know what is up with that .
Saturday Ken got back home about 1:30 and went to rest for a while as we didn't need to head back down to MA until about 5. I took a nap too - which managed to make me all groggy, but once we hit the road my head began to clear. We made such good time that we ended up in Worcester just after 7 and had time to waste. So we got me a sandwich at D'Angelos and walked down Highland Street.
Got to Vincent's about 8 pm and that was still a bit early. So I started with a margarita and admired the decor. Lots of cool pictures - many old panoramic photos of Worcester. There are also lots of stuffed animals - some of which I had trouble identifying.
About 7 :15 or so George and Ernie arrived with Scott and Maro following shortly after. Maro and I had a good time talking - she loves Lush too. And she says that Scott likes it too - and will willingly go into the store with her!
The show was great - Ken was nervous but everything went really well. George had brought his family and I was amused for a while by his brother's girl friend - she was a pisser. Told me quite a few times that she was Portuguese - well yeah - I had kind of picked that up right away! She was amusing and I was sorry that they left early.
The time flew by and I was surprised when 1 a.m. rolled around. The guys packed up and we were off.
Unfortunately when we got back to Ken's house his mother had left a note that his father had fallen down the cellar stairs earlier in the evening and was in the hospital. That ended the night on a somber note. To be continued.
Saturday Ken got back home about 1:30 and went to rest for a while as we didn't need to head back down to MA until about 5. I took a nap too - which managed to make me all groggy, but once we hit the road my head began to clear. We made such good time that we ended up in Worcester just after 7 and had time to waste. So we got me a sandwich at D'Angelos and walked down Highland Street.
Got to Vincent's about 8 pm and that was still a bit early. So I started with a margarita and admired the decor. Lots of cool pictures - many old panoramic photos of Worcester. There are also lots of stuffed animals - some of which I had trouble identifying.
About 7 :15 or so George and Ernie arrived with Scott and Maro following shortly after. Maro and I had a good time talking - she loves Lush too. And she says that Scott likes it too - and will willingly go into the store with her!
The show was great - Ken was nervous but everything went really well. George had brought his family and I was amused for a while by his brother's girl friend - she was a pisser. Told me quite a few times that she was Portuguese - well yeah - I had kind of picked that up right away! She was amusing and I was sorry that they left early.
The time flew by and I was surprised when 1 a.m. rolled around. The guys packed up and we were off.
Unfortunately when we got back to Ken's house his mother had left a note that his father had fallen down the cellar stairs earlier in the evening and was in the hospital. That ended the night on a somber note. To be continued.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Can't think of a title...
Anyway. I am up. It has not started raining yet although it look semi-cloudy out. It does say we're going to have thunderstorms today. Looks like that is more likely here than in Wocester.
Watched Howl's Moving Castle last night. An odd movie. I don't know if something gets lost in translation or if Miyazaki is so into the visuals that he doesn't care if the plot seems to make any sense or not. Anyway - like all his movies it is beautiful. It really should be seen on the big screen.
And look what was on Make Magazine blog this morning! A link to a free download of a paper craft Howls Castle. Took me a bit to figure out what I was downloading from the Japanese site. And how knows if I will ever put it together but I have it if I want to.
Also I looked on PaperbackSwap.com and ordered one of Diana Wynne Jones's books. Not "Howl's Moving Castle" as they didn't have that - but "A Sudden Wild Magic". If I like it then maybe I will look for Howl's too.
So it's 8:30 and I have now been up too long to go back to sleep. I think I will get myself out for a walk this morning. My heels hurt - but I will do some good stretching.
Watched Howl's Moving Castle last night. An odd movie. I don't know if something gets lost in translation or if Miyazaki is so into the visuals that he doesn't care if the plot seems to make any sense or not. Anyway - like all his movies it is beautiful. It really should be seen on the big screen.
And look what was on Make Magazine blog this morning! A link to a free download of a paper craft Howls Castle. Took me a bit to figure out what I was downloading from the Japanese site. And how knows if I will ever put it together but I have it if I want to.
Also I looked on PaperbackSwap.com and ordered one of Diana Wynne Jones's books. Not "Howl's Moving Castle" as they didn't have that - but "A Sudden Wild Magic". If I like it then maybe I will look for Howl's too.
So it's 8:30 and I have now been up too long to go back to sleep. I think I will get myself out for a walk this morning. My heels hurt - but I will do some good stretching.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Pretty good Friday
There is nothing in the world like a sunny day! It makes me feel so good. And today it got up over 70 degrees! Crazy huh?
Anyway I took the old lady to an ENT appointment at 2:30 and did not have to go back to work. SO afterwards we stopped at the optometrist to drop off her glasses to have a new prescription put in and I tried on some glasses there. These are the ones I think I would like. I made an appointment to have my eyes checked - I know I need a new prescription. And they will probably try and talk me into bifocals. But I don't want bifocals - perhaps it is pure vanity, but I think I will put up wearing reading glasses separately for a while.
Tomorrow Ken should be back from MA to pick me up in the early afternoon and then we will head back down in time for him to set up for his show tomorrow night.
OH! I almost forgot - I EXERCISED tonight. Yes it's true I went out for a three mile walk. I don't think my heels can stand running anymore, but I did some speed walking. I feel pretty good and just may go out tomorrow morning. See what a little sunlight does for you?
Anyway I took the old lady to an ENT appointment at 2:30 and did not have to go back to work. SO afterwards we stopped at the optometrist to drop off her glasses to have a new prescription put in and I tried on some glasses there. These are the ones I think I would like. I made an appointment to have my eyes checked - I know I need a new prescription. And they will probably try and talk me into bifocals. But I don't want bifocals - perhaps it is pure vanity, but I think I will put up wearing reading glasses separately for a while.
Tomorrow Ken should be back from MA to pick me up in the early afternoon and then we will head back down in time for him to set up for his show tomorrow night.
OH! I almost forgot - I EXERCISED tonight. Yes it's true I went out for a three mile walk. I don't think my heels can stand running anymore, but I did some speed walking. I feel pretty good and just may go out tomorrow morning. See what a little sunlight does for you?
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