Snow?

OMG it is snowing. In just the last 25 minutes it has gone from rain to almost an inch of snow on the ground. This is more snow than I have seen all winter. Of course that is how it usually works in Oklahoma. I brought my Persian Lilac inside since I hadn't planted it yet. That will wait until next weekend. I started some tea water and started some soup for tonight. It feels like a soup day. Do some laundry, run the vacuum (cat hair begone.) and basically stay inside.

I took Maranda to work this morning before it started snowing. Ha Ha, I'm not the one that gets to pick her up tonight. Living with four twenty something girls has its perks.

The other fuse box

Sometimes I must admit that I am completely blindsided by stupidity. In my garage, just behind the weatherhead that the electricity comes through there is a small wooden cabinet. It looks more like a storage area than anything else. The man who owned this house prior to us was an engineer and after he retired he built on to the back of the house and added all sorts of storage places. Erin and Ashley and I were out looking the garage over, searching for a 220 plug for the dryer. We did find two such plugs and we were discussing moving the dryer to the garage. Erin must have received a "nudge" from her father because she looked at the cabinet and wanted to know what was in it. It was then that I remembered it contained more fuses. There isn't just one fuse box in there, there are several. They are all painted red and have on and off switches on the outside that must be turned off prior to opening. One of these is plainly labeled 220 laundryroom/dryer. Two new fuses later (purchased for $6.98 at Lowes) we are doing laundry again complete with drying. I am certain that Michael is laughing at me somewhere in the Summerland. Seriously, I seem to have three different locations for fuses.

the dryer

The dryer is not broken. Apparently my 220 connection is no longer strong enough to make the dryer heat air. It still runs, it just does not heat. If I call out a big company electrician they are going to tell me I need a whole new electrical box in my garage. Sorry, I don't have that kind of cash right now. I suppose I could run a clothesline in the backyard. I could go to the laundromat. I could also move the dryer into the living room where there is another 220 line. No, I will not be that redneck. There might possibly be another 220 outlet in the garage, I will have to look tonight. At any rate, I could always sell the nice Neptune dryer that is only a year old and buy a cheap one that runs on 110 current. That is a possibility.

St Patricks Day

It looks like I will be getting the dryer repaired today. Erin and Ashley are staying home to wait for the Maytag repairman.

And speaking of repairmen, I had Firestone repair my "check engine light" (erg valve) about three thousand miles ago when I got the oil changed. The light came back on the other day. Guess what the guys at Autozone told me was wrong with it. The erg valve. Strange, it doesn't look new. I guess I need to find that receipt and make sure it was the valve itself that they were supposed to fix. Could be that I need to send the leprechauns to visit Firestone.

At any rate, we aren't doing anything special today. I am going to fix some steamed cabbage and some smoked sausage for dinner. I really don't like corned beef.

animal hat

This is a cute little animal hat that I made for my granddaughter Brigid. I just happened to have a Vermont Teddy Bear handy to hold the hat up for me. I did have to pad her head with a washcloth since her head is more the size of a newborn and Brigid is a year old. This is one of my adaptations on a pattern and I liked the way the sides and back made the "ears" when I folded it to sew it up. This is made from Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton yarn. This is a very soft yarn and I know it will not itch.

beasts

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life.

“A fight is going on inside me,” he says to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil - he is anger, envy sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is good - he is gratitude, joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy ,generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather which wolf would win.

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

You must be the change you wish to see in the world - Mahatma Gandhi

Why?

Just a couple of things, tiny, small, insignificant things that tick me off; I do not want to see any more fat bellies when I go online.  I am so tired of seeing bellies inflate and deflate and jiggle and wiggle.  If I had a weight problem I would be even more ticked off.  I realize that the “fat” industry represents a very large (fat?) chunk of change, but I don’t want to see it.  I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life right now and yeah I could stand to move about 5 pounds somewhere else.  But I only weigh 130 and I’m sure that the gym and my daily walk will help me do that privately.  No diet plan, no pills, no photo sessions.  I may or may not decide to make my belly public. 

 

The other thing is red lipstick.  All my life I wanted to wear red lipstick but held back because it would make me look like an old lady.  Only old ladies wore it when I was younger.  Old ladies and ladies of ill repute that is.  Now as I approach that age group, I find that it is the younger generation that is wearing the red lipstick.  Hey, did I overshoot my age group?  Did I warp to another dimension?  Or is red just not my generations color?  I know we rejected everything and embraced everything and replaced it all at least twice but did someone forget to pack the red lipstick?

 

No matter, I am going to wear whatever I feel like wearing.

 

 

 

I tried to trick it into raining last night by watering the garden. It didn't work. I guess I will have to water again tonight. I think I will start walking tonight when I get home. With the time change it will still be light enough. I wonder if the girls would be interested in tagging along. I need to get in at least a half hour. I could take my camera with me and take pictures of spring in Tulsa. Hmm an idea.

DST

Well, I will say one thing for DST, it is still dark when I get out of bed now. And it will be nice that it is still light for awhile after work.

I did manage to get my brake light changed this weekend. I actually got the brake light cover off the car without a major cursing episode. It did take me more than hour but I did finally coax the lovely little red and clear piece of plastic off the car. I also got the first level of weeding done in the garden. There was asparagus hiding in there. Now the asparagus is in my freezer. It will go nicely in an omelet. I also found lettuce that had wintered over and the kale seems to have survived. It will be interesting to see what comes up volunteer this year. I ordered some heirloom tomato seeds with a guy at work. I ask for Cherokee Purple and Black Krim. Other than that I most likely will just stick to local sources.

Friday

My “To Do” list seems to be growing for this weekend.  I am finally going to attempt to put a new brake light and signal light in my Focus.  It is going to be a nice weekend and at least I can take the back of my car apart in the warm weather.  Unfortunately I am going to have to take it apart to get to the lights.  At least I have a Haynes manual with written instructions.  Perhaps one of my neighbors will take pity on me and pitch in to help.  Why car manufacturers make it so hard to change the lights I have no idea.  If they were planning on me taking it in to a mechanic and paying $40.00 or whatever for someone to do it for me, then they must not know how tenacious some females can be. 

 

We had a fire next door at work today.  There were 7 fire trucks that I saw and someone said there were more on the other side of the building.  It didn’t turn out to be much of a fire but we all still got to file outside and sit on the grass to watch.  The people next door weren’t there as they have started working a 4 day week.  I did have my camera with me and I will post the picture later tonight after I get home.

 

Oh and before I forget, the silica supplement is working.  I can tell a difference in my knees and my fingernails.  I actually sat down cross legged in the grass to watch the fire trucks.

 

 

 

This is a picture of my yard on the day the pear trees came down. Luckly it was January and all the plants were still dormant.

Yardwork

It is strange how I usually have a stream of thought when I am away from home.  Usually it is when I am driving around town, or at work.  Knowing how to post from my email has enabled me to put some of that into my blog. 

 

I took a walk around my yard this morning before I left for work.  I have daffodils blooming and crocus.  My daylilies and salvia are both growing upwards and the columbine is peeking out from under its leaf covering that I pulled up on top of it last fall.  It will be strange to have the west side of my yard in full sun this year, since the electric company took out the 4 Bradford Pear trees that used to block the sun from that part of the yard.  Its not that I will miss the trees and they were much too close to the power lines, but it will make that into a sun garden.  I’m imagining my garden expanding.  I will need a trellis and a new rose and perhaps a bench.  I will need to move some plants around as well.  This weekend I will begin the transformation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love scarves

This is a very light weight yarn that I found in the "Sale (read clearance) Bin" at Michaels. It is Patons Lacette, a fingering weight yarn. The border is made with feather and fan lace. stitch. I played around with a celtic knot in the center and finally ripped it out. I'm not ready for celtic knot knitting yet. Perhaps in a bulky yarn where I can see the stitches better.

Springtime top

This is adapted from a pattern I found on Ravelry. I believe it is called aryan lace. I just love this yarn. This is a bamboo blend from Caron called Spa. It is actually a rayon and acrylic yarn and I look forward to making many projects from this yarn. I stopped the lace patterns on this sweater above the bra line so that there would be no show through. I believe that I will put short sleeves on this one.

Cold Snap

It dropped down to 18 degrees this morning after being 71 just two days ago. I'm convinced that this only happens in Oklahoma. So I picked up my knitting this morning and am trying to make up my mind which project to either work on or finish.

This is my lace panel vest. It is the closest to being finished. I only have to finish the ribbing on the armholes. I must admit that this was done without a pattern. I liked the lace panel and incorporated it into the vest. The roll down collar was a total improvisation. It is made with sport weight yarn and I am really looking forward to wearing it.