Sunday, April 30, 2017

There Is. . .

. . . a box here, which is gradually filling up with prizes for Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick winners.  Finding prize treasures is such fun.

. . . a pair of boots that I would very much like to have, but it is prohibitively expensive:
Half-boots are scarcely ever a sell for me, but these are too pretty not to covet.

. . . nothing like having a Five Guys connection when you're a hungry puppy.

. . . no way the baby I showed you the other day has had time to grow into this gorgeous creature:

. . . a line of storms headed this way.  Not a problem;  I have knitting and books, and I made a grocery run today.

. . . someone right behind me, isn't there?






Saturday, April 29, 2017

Headscratcher

People who blog every day (yes, looking at you Kathy) amaze me.  How do you come up with things to write about?  Other than having jobs and interests and friends and places to go and families to talk to?


Monday, April 24, 2017

Questions? Answers.


1* When are you most hungry?  Morning , Noon or Night?
Night.
2* Are you still eating Easter Candy?
No;  I didn't have any to begin with.
3* Do you keep a shawl or wrap in your car?
No.  Honestly, I don't get that cold that often.
4* Have you ever knit a snood?
I have.  One of my most treasured knits is a snood my mother made for me when she was here after Hannah was born.
5* What’s a neighbor’s most annoying habit?
Yelling.  There's a family across the street that never has ANY kind of conversation without screaming it.
6* What’s the population of your town?
With UGA students, it's about 125,000.  Without them, I think it goes down to 110,00 or so.
7* What did you knit on this weekend?
Baby hats.
8* Have you ever ridden a tandem bike?
No.
9* Laundry: top load or front load?
Top.
10.* Price of your last haircut?
$12.00

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Discoveries

"Moana" is as gorgeous a movie as I have ever seen.  Hannah invited me over to watch it at her place, mother/daughter time.  I met Lemon.  Well, I saw her a couple of times before she got put into Time Out for misbehaving.  She wouldn't have had a lot of room to visit with me anyway:

I've been a Burt's Bees fan for a long time, but had never tried this

until this week.  It's wonderful, especially on your feet.  They stay cool and drier than normal.  It's difficult to describe how the cream-to-powder feels;  it doesn't turn into a true powder, but your skin has the silky, smooth feel of having powder on it.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  BB peppermint foot lotion and tomato skin toner are also products I don't like to be without.  Unfortunately, the toner is impossible to find anywhere but online.

I went through a box of my parents' photographs and came across these pictures of the animals in my life as I grew up.
In the middle is Lupo, our boxer.  He looks much more pit bull-like in the picture than I remember.  He died when I was in third grade;  Daddy came into my room on the morning he died to tell me.  It was only the second time I had seen my father cry.  (The first time was at President Eisenhower's funeral.)

We got Country (on the right) a few months after Lupe died.  She stayed with us until I was well into college.  She was still alive when Dale and I started dating, seriously enough that once when came to the house he brought his dog, Shanghai.

On the left is Star, my pony.  I got her when I was 8, maybe?  The photo has a date of October '69 on it, and she is in foal with the little guy I'd name James West.

If you cook your oatmeal with chocolate almond milk, you can have guiltless breakfast chocolate.


Tuesday, April 18, 2017

News

This arrived via text last night;  my daughter and her boyfriend adopted a cat.  She's five months old and has been christened "Lemon" because her eyes are so brightly yellow.  She isn't too keen on Klunk yet.  He, according to reports, was a little curious when she got home, but didn't seem to mind her.

If any cat could shrug, it would be Klunk.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Babes

Hooray;  baby giraffe has arrived!
Next to his parents, he looks almost like a toy, but when you put him next to anything else, you realize his size.  He's already taller than me: 5'9".

There's a naming contest for him.  I submitted "Reveille," as his arrival trumpeted us all awake yesterday.  That came to me as I was tumbling names around in my head.  His sire's name is Oliver, which, backward --- revilo --- brought Reveille to mind.

Babies are also front and center knitting-wise.  Two people in my orbit are expecting --- one having a boy, the other a girl.  I'm going with basics just now --- burp cloths, wash cloths, etc.  There's a little time yet in both pregnancies, so there's time to decide on the fancier things.  This is my first knitwear model, now waiting to be a big brother.  Time does fly.



Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Sights to Behold

I've been behind corrective lenses since I was 10.  Although I don't recall what originally sent me to the eye doctor, I have a vivid recollection of the "glasses" I had to wear after having my pupils dilated for the exam.
They were made from what felt like photo film, and I'm sure I wore them longer than I needed because I thought they were groovy.

Hey, it was 1970 --- cut me some slack.

When I turned 18, I bought myself contacts.  Of course, there have always been glasses, and, for the last several years, I forsook my contacts because, really --- where was I going to go that needed me to be cute and eye-makeup-y?

Long story short, I'm back in contacts some of the time.  The week before last, after a long time with what I thought were glasses and eyesight troubles, I had an eye exam.  No need to change my glasses, but I do have extremely dry eyes.  So, eye drops for me, and while I was there, why not some contacts, too?  I'd budgeted for glasses, and contacts were much, much cheaper.  I do have to have readers when I wear them for reading or close work, but that's no big deal.  A trip to Dollar Tree and it was done.  The best part?  Getting to wear sunglasses when driving.  Driving with "regular" glasses can give me ferocious headaches.

I decided to go through my mother's wallet yesterday and found a nice collection of photos.  Especially of Briton and Hannah.  For reference, this is them sort of now
and this is them in a photo Mama carried

Although we all adore them, that rabbit seems singularly unimpressed.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Chewy Influencer

Time for April's Chewy.com reviews!

First up, Fancy Feast.
Granted, this wasn't as much a here's-something-new-for-us-to-try as some of the choice in the past.  Still, Erin, my oldest cat, has been a little finicky lately where canned food is concerned.  Madeleine, with diabetes, has to have special food, and Riley is content with her dry food.  I figured, if Erin didn't like these, at least there wouldn't be the waste involved with larger cans.

She devoured the Turkey and Giblets flavor.  Cleaned her plate!  She's neither here nor there on the Chicken and the Beef, but I certainly know what Fancy Feast flavor to get her from now on.

Second, because Riley has stopped using the main litter boxes, I asked for 
Honestly, I didn't notice that it was "Hawaiian Aloha" scented.

Long story short, the litter made no difference.  Maddie and Erin were fine trying it out, but Riley isn't sold.  I think she may use the new box when I'm sleeping, though.  We'll keep trying to solve the riddle that is that one.

Again, I am able to request products from Chewy.com each month to test in-home.  They are sent to me free, and I am to deliver honest reviews of our experiences.  No money changes hands at all.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Stuff's Happening

Are you keeping up with April?  What tickles me most is how Oliver, her mate, looks over into her stall (where there is, naturally, a lot of activity), and seems to be saying, "Whatcha guys doing over there?  Hmm?  Whatchu doin'?"


I haven't given you an update on Blankapalooza.  That's because there isn't much to say.  Unfortunately, not enough squares of a uniform size arrived, and what there are don't make up a full blanket.  I'm going to make some squares as I have leftovers;  hopefully, there'll be something to gift by the time cold weather rolls around again.

There is an update on the Twinnie hat:
(Big fan of Fringe Supply --- based in middle Tennessee, thank you very much.)  Of course, I'm knitting my hat on straights, so there's some reverse-engineering going on.  Kathy asked us if we stick to, or alter patterns;  since I can't do DPNs, and am not terribly slick with circulars on small projects, I do a LOT of figuring out how an in-the-round pattern should go when it's not in the round.

If you haven't tried a Fringe Bento Bag, treat yourself one day.

Thank you for all your nice words about Hannah.  She's something special.

And thank you, too, for remembering hot rollers!  I can still recall the smell of them warming up. . .


Thursday, April 6, 2017

Whatever the Weather

It's been a chilly and windy day in Athens, after stormy days yesterday and Monday.  None of which I have minded, as bad weather energizes me much more than good.

My daughter has also been inspired:
She said this fabric was meant for a baby blanket, but she turned it into a top.  That child is a marvel.  She sews without patterns.  She builds complicated costumes and outfits in her head, and makes them so.  It's amazing.

My Maid of Honor lost her sweet father a couple of days ago.  He had Alzheimer's, and it was a long, painful decline.  Her parents, and her sister, were always great to me, and they've been on my heart all week.  Here are the two of us 33 (GULP) years ago:
Do y'all remember hot rollers?  And I just realized that I still have that same make-up bag in the top photo (next to the hot rollers and my hatbox.)




Monday, April 3, 2017

Thunder-y Monday

*What’s your safe place in turbulent weather?
Interesting that you ask this on a stormy day here!  I'm quite content to sit where I can watch the weather.
*Are you more likely to alter a pattern or stick right to the instructions?
I'm more likely to stick to the instructions, but I do alter on occasion.
*Would you rather a hot tub or a cold pool?
Hot tub.
*What was the name of a pet you grew up with?
First, Lupo, a boxer, then Country, a beagle.
*How many knit dishcloths do you use, or have on hand?
Well, I use all that I have, and I would guess there are 8 of them, maybe?
*Have you ever been give an trophy?
Yes, I have.  No, I don't have them anymore.
*Would you rather knit, under a shady tree, poolside or beside a roaring fire?
Shady tree.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Who Got Them Right?

Kathy.  

For those of you who didn't know, or didn't play, the correct answers were:
1.  Andrew Lincoln in "Love Actually," and Norman Reedus in "Dark Harbor."
2.  Lancome.
3.  "Freddie," from an online contest.
4.  Nigel
5.  "Gosford Park"

There are four months before the 10th Anniversary Knitters' Hunk.  If you haven't already, start thinking about your nominees.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Play Nice, Play Fair

THE CONTEST IS OVER --- NO MORE ANSWERS, PLEASE.

Ready for some 10th Anniversary KH/KC fun?

The first person to correctly answer all five questions gets first pick of the following prizes.  The second person with all five right will choose from the four that are left, and so on.  Ideally, there will be five sets of correct answers so that all the prizes can be awarded.

You have until Midnight tonight (April 1st).  I'll be in touch with the winners tomorrow, and will post the results tomorrow night.  Good luck!







1.  Alan Rickman was in two movies whose casts included actors now on "The Walking Dead."  What were the movies, and who were the actors?

2.  Isabella Rossellini was once the face of what cosmetics company?

3.  What is Mike Rowe's dog's name, and how did he get the name?

4.  What is Sam Neill's actual first name?

5.  Name the movie that had both Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren in its cast.

48

If you've ever rented a movie on Amazon Prime, you know you have 48 hours in which to watch it.  (By the way, why do we "watch"...