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Saturday, May 30, 2009

EZ Pi Finished! and How to Tell if You Are Old


I am one happy camper today! The EZ Pi Shawl is done...fini..over..at last.. I love the fact that I did it and love the way it looks. I may even attempt another one when I get some more wool spun... but that is a definite maybe..lol When I finished the crochet border around it, I spent some time yesterday and did another Kool Aid dye.. this time using green. It does have a little yellow hue around the outside, but not as much as it looks like in the picture. The only place I could find that was big enough to block it was on the den rug.. Believe me, I counted the straight pins as I put them in and again as I took them out...and DH still found one on the floor later last night.


Speaking of later last night... or maybe a day or two ago... We were watching the History channel about the German people during the war hiding in mazes of bunkers under the streets and one woman was speaking of the smell... The fact that there were no antiperspirants..her words... and it immediately reminded me of the blouses that I bought when I was very young. And all the dresses, blouses, and shirts of the adults in my family... They had underarm garment shields sewn in... to catch the perspiration so you wouldn't walk around with sweat circles under your arms. I hadn't thought of them in years. Lo and behold, I did a search today and guess what I found... garment shields for sale.. If you remember these in your clothes, feel free to join me in the "Boy, am I really that old!" club...

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Allergist "Rant"... Or Maybe Not



The week has gotten away from me somehow. It cannot be possible that it is already Thursday.

Today is the trip to McKinney for the allergy shots. I think the allergy shot thing will go by the wayside after this bottle of meds is used up. Last week we learned that the series of allergy shots is supposed to last around 5 years... ha.. I don't think so. When asked how long these would have to be taken, the allergist hum hawed and referred to months instead of years.... he knew that years would be out of the question...

I always thought my grandfather was a bit off whenever the subject of doctors would come up. He felt that they were "quacks" who only wanted your money.... small grin here... After working in the medical profession for years and seeing some seriously expensive tests or procedures ordered about the time BMW payments were due... I think he may have been closer to right than I wanted to believe....

Please don't get me wrong here. I have to say that if not for my sweet DH and Drs. Davis and Bonilla I honestly do not believe I would be here to write this today. But I also think that it is very easy to become enamored of all the money the profession brings to them... and writing that order for whatever procedure makes them the most money is so very tempting for many of them...

Anyway.. I have wanted to make a few of these tissue covers for a while now... just have not done it. So I did make me one a couple of days ago. It is much easier to keep up with this in the car than that big tissue box sliding around under my feet...

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

EZ Pi Shawl,Card Weaving, Rigid Heddle and Shuttle...

It's been a little difficult to blog for the last several days. Thank you to all who sent their good wishes... Time is moving quite slowly right now...


Do you remember all the knitting markers I made a while back... in several sizes? Well... I have finished the knitting on the EZ Pi Shawl and decided to take a picture of the reason one does not want to use markers like this in sizes way to big for the needles...lol This is the 4th one that I had to cut off. It seems that my fingers would fit inside the circle and I would end up knitting the marker right into the shawl. It would be great if that is what one intended to do... Make great bead embellishments...





I am now adding a crochet edging around it. I can't believe that I finished off with stockinette stitch... just like a rookie who doesn't know that the edge will roll unless something else is done on the edges... Oh well...








I've done a little card weaving and find that as I go along the pattern gets looser and looser... I think that must be because I was not using a wooden shuttle... so guess what I did...













I went out into the shop and made me a wooden shuttle... and a rigid heddle. My mind is having a bit of a problem concentrating so I was very surprised to see that the rigid heddle made a weft faced weave...duh.. I guess I was still in card weaving mode that produces a warp faced weave... But the heddle and shuttle worked just fine...lol I have been bitten by the woodworking bug...lol

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Tina Marie Mink





1958-2009


My sister... This is my favorite picture of her and it was taken in my yard in 1982. She was 24 years old and loving mom to her first daughter. I think she had no idea how much she could love her two daughters until after they were born... and had no idea how much she could love her grandbabies...

I loved her.
Goodbye.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Another Birthday... One More and I Get Paid!


Well, yesterday was the 61st birthday... wow... One more and I get paid... Social Security... Can that be possible?? Really??? As said about a million times every year by everyone who reaches 60...Where did it go?

My sweet DH surprised me yesterday when he came home from coffee with these...I almost cried. I have wanted some of these for several years, but could never really figure a way to justify them besides just loving the look of them. So I would never get them for myself... Well...take a look at this...




For the first time in recorded history the top of my end table beside my chair is visible...lol... and I still have access to all the things that are usually scattered about on it... How cool is that...





This is the second set that he gave me. Both sets have magnetic closures that are wonderful...not so easy to spill things out when lifting them up... These haven't found a home yet, but believe me...they will.







Saturday, May 09, 2009

Teapots and Treasures

I like tea. And this tea is some wonderful stuff. This tea, called White Pearl of Fujian, has been in my cupboard for a while. It was a gift that our sons brought back from Canada for me. I think I was a little set back when I read on the ingredient label that it has gunpowder in it.... lol (If anyone knows why gunpowder would need to be in tea, would you let me know?... ;o)














The other day we were in Tuesday Morning shopping for something or another and came across a Zarafina Tea Maker... It has settings for whatever kind of tea you are making and will brew the correct time for each kind. I love it. This tea was not the first steeped in this maker, but it has been regularly made ever since the first time. I have never tasted a tea as good as this one... just makes me wish I had brewed it when it was first brought home..lol The only problem is that when it is gone, I'm not sure I will be able to replace it....







Talk about a great week... Uncle Bobby and Aunt Edna came this week and we all had lunch at Cracker Barrel. The best part was the laughing and having fun visiting. The rain had stopped and it was a nice sunshiny day...


Uncle Bobby has already whittled me a deer antler and a cedar naalbinding needle. (Click to see them) This time he brought me this bevy of beauties...

The tin is a Glenfiddich Scotch Whiskey tin that was in my grandmother's things ... I have to laugh... She would never allow a drop of alcohol of any kind in her house. This had to have come from one of her sons returning from the Army...lol She was like me..could never resist something she thought was pretty, so I can see her ignoring the Glenfiddich part and keeping it because of the lovely graphics. A treasure in itself..


The pen and pencil set he made from corn cobs that came from their garden. Both write perfectly and fit easily in my hand. I had never seen any like them before...


The heart necklace is whittled and has a gemstone inserted. It turns out that it isn't my birthstone as was planned, but it is lovely anyway... and I told them it was okay because I have at least one child with that birthstone... :o)


The clay colored token that is beside the necklace is a ration token. There were several kinds and each one was a different color. They are called points and were used during WWII to make change for ration stamps. This clay colored one was used to buy meat. Amazing... another of those things I had not heard of and had never seen before. A note here.... the rationing stamps and points were not used as money... you still had to pay for whatever you bought. But if you ran out of stamps or points, you could not buy any more until the next month or whenever the next ration stamps were given out.


And the horn... well, that is a needlecase... handmade. And I love it. My naalbinding needles won't fit in it, but my other needles will.


Definite treasures all.....

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Rain, Rain, Go Away....



It's still misting outside. Yesterday the rain fell in torrents for a bit and just a slow rain for the rest of the day... I love all the green...very lush... but very wet..lol And we are in need of some real sunshine...








This was the front walk yesterday morning. By 10:30 or so it was gone and you could approach the front door without swimming...lol Anyway, the rain is very good...but a little respite so we could mow the lawn would be good too...

Monday, May 04, 2009

The Simple Woman's Daybook 05/04/2009
















For today: May 4, 2009


Outside my window: the day is overcast, gray and probably going to be drizzly. I am so over the gray days... even though I realize the desperate need for rain. I just wish we wouldn't get it all at once... sigh


I am thinking: that if I don't get the ginger in the ground soon I will have to buy some more...so the plan is to do that first thing this morning.


From the learning room: comes the realization that even tho I have done a couple of things using card weaving, I sure have a lot to learn.


I am thankful for: the time period I grew up in. I realize that I have no clue what it is like for todays youngsters... Even tho we were very poor as I grew up, there was never the need to be fearful when walking home from school or to the movie on Saturday afternoon. The worst thing that kids did then was drink beer at the lake and pull Halloween pranks. Families were close. Even dysfunctional families...


From the kitchen: will soon come the smell of sausage. We found store made sausage at the Piggly Wiggly store near us and bought a lot of it. It's a good thing... Both Piggly Wiggly stores are closing this week...


I am wearing...a rather horrible loose fitting dress that I bought a couple of years ago at Dillard's. And the thing is.... they (I messed up and bought 2 while they were on sale) will never wear out...sigh


I am reading... Angels and Demons by Dan Brown for the second time. It really is time to go to the book store...sigh


I am hoping... that nothing else breaks around here. It seems to have been something every month since December... and the bright side of that coin is that once it is all done it will be another five years before it all comes up again...lol


I am creating... a list in my mind of what kind of Block of the Month I can do for my Fabric Follies Two site. This has been circling my mind for a few months now and I am finally ready to do it...


I am hearing... the whir of my computer fan... I really need to update my pc, but have to wait a bit...


Around the house... I need to pay more attention to my house plants. For some reason every now and then I go through a period where they are the very last thing on my mind... then when they are almost dead I seem to realize that I really do care about them and have to bring them all back to life... What's up with that?


One of my favorite things... is music. I don't listen to it very much any more because it bothers DH a bit. But every now and then something comes along like the You Tube treasures of Engelbert Humperdinck that I found last night that just make the old skin tingle the way it did back in the day...lol (I tripped on over to some old Tom Jones thinking it would do the same... somehow the gyrations that go along with "She's a Lady" just didn't do it for me anymore!)...lol


A few plans for the rest of the week: include the weekly trip to McKinney to the allergist. I am really getting a bit tired of those shots... the irritation and itchiness last for days... almost up to the time of the next shot... Anyway... also planning to do a bit card weaving, maybe some bookmarks...


Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you:



"The way things are when a person is born is considered the norm for his life. There is no concept of things being any other way....." Anonymous
This is my great-grandfather's muzzle loader being held by my Uncle Bobby. What treasures we have from the past...