Neglect

I forgot to share my opinion of the egg bread.  It was very good.  Made excellent sandwiches.  Yes, past tense.  The loaves that bread machines make are a tad large for just one person.  Into the freezer the rest went.  The next test, Ms. Egg Bread --- if that is your real name --- is how you freeze.

More Vocabulary

I've been switching some framed things around of late, mostly because of all the cross-stitch pieces I've been looking to place somewhere.

Tonight, I took one piece out of its frame, and realized that I had forgotten knowing what glazier's points are.  If you've ever self-framed anything, you probably know what they are, too.  That the phrase just flew right to my mind gave me an odd amount of pride.

(If I were still in the classroom, this is the precise time someone in the back [they always seemed to be in the back] would say, "Do we need to know that for the test?"

"Yes," I would always say.  "If I say it during class time, it's fair game.")

This meant that they might have been asked on a test what the theme song for 

was, or which of their classmates was "given extra credit" due to wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey to class one day

or where I wished I'd gone to college

or whether CDs play from the inside out or outside in.  (Center out.)

I wanted class to be fun (teaching/learning and enjoying the experiences are not mutually exclusive) and not be straitjacketed, but I could be petty.  Pop quizzes were very often given on low attendance days, and no, they couldn't be made up.

Examples of Mrs. Dean's Pop Quiz questions:

1.  Including yourself, how many people are sitting in your row?

2.  What chapter are we currently discussing?

3.  Did you have breakfast this morning?  If so, what?  If not, why?

4.  What's today's message on the board?  (I wrote a message on the white board every day.)

5.  You can have only one ice cream topping on your ice cream for the rest of your life.  What is it?

Easy points for them, a bit of a timekiller for me, wins for all.

Vocabulary Changes

So, I understand that the word "sissy" escaped from an orange face recently, and it caused a bit of a tumult.

I am here to admit that I have used that word.  Never, that I can remember, in reference to a person.  My context was

Behind that banana seat is a sissy bar.  Having one on your bike was COOL.  As was having that banana seat.  I think we called those butterfly handlebars?  I do know that nobody I grew up with had handbrakes.  Too expensive.  We all stopped by reversing the pedals.  Heels down.  (Which is also a term used in horse riding.)

Did anyone else use that word that way?  As I said, I don't remember ever actually calling anybody that.  Being gay was NOT TO BE DISCUSSED.  (If you even said you knew about it, you were likely to have been called to the kitchen table for a talk.)  I do remember thinking that word when I saw someone who was "different."  

Anyway, I never got a bike with a sissy bar or banana seat or ribbons on the handle grips or a basket in front or a light or a horn.  My bike was plain as could be.  I do remember all of us trying to put cards on our spokes to make a motor sound.  We never got it right, and I also remember us just making motor sounds with our mouths.  What we were playing that required motorized bikes, I don't know.

Keeping up With Things With Numbers

First things first.

Still undefeated.  Someone at the game had a sheet sign that said, "Bring Us Bama," which I appreciated.  Alabama is here tonight, then they host Vandy next week.  Anchor Down, everyone, if you're so inclined.

Secondly, I baked some egg bread this afternoon, so the house smelled wonderful.

I haven't sliced into it yet, but I'll give you a review when I have.  The machine's paddle got stuck in the loaf, and to wiggle it out, I picked it up with my right fingers.  Turns out nerve-damaged fingers can register pain.  Not suffer necessarily, but register for sure.

I apologize to my dear, dear high school Biology teacher Mr. Bradley for not being able to make the connection between the two, but I woke up today with a serious sore throat, and am going to bed with the horrible sensation of imminently throwing up.  Connected? Perhaps.

Questionnaire

Why do people go through other people's phones?  Has anything good ever come of that?

How could someone ask if Animal Farm was based on a true story?*

Is it possible for numb fingers to hurt?  Asking for a friend.

Remember me telling you about cross-stitch designer Sally King?  Look at the cover of the latest Stitchery:

Pretty, huh?  She's quite remarkable.  Possibly my favorite design is "Along the Riverbank":

It's my favorite, I think, because of the ingenious use of the water bird as the heel.  (I spent far too much time online trying to figure out if that's a heron or an egret.  I landed on egrets in my own mind, but decided to use "water bird" so as not to offend or show my ignorance.)  King also has a sewing-themed shoe with a stack of spools of

 thread as the heel.  Amazing imagination. 

Why don't I have any gray boots?  

*All of you --- no matter where you are --- most likely heard me shouting " YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!," hands covering my face, when I saw that question.  Tap bolted awake and started a serious Warning Bark.  We take ridiculousness very seriously in this house.

Problem(s) Solved?

Several hours (🫤) of most of my days are spent on Pinterest.  The algorithm led me to this the other day:

How cute is that?  Lots of the comments asked what the pattern was, where they could get it, that sort of thing.  It looks like you just knit a raglan sweater, knit a pocket or a little vest, crochet a cord to attach everything, and there you go.  Right?  Is anyone else seeing that, too?

I've managed to take on two of yesterday's problems, but am still wound up about the others.   This is when knitting and/or cross-stitching would come in really handy in calming me, but...

these two continue to task me.  GRRRRRR.  On the Woodstock Mood Meter, I'm at

Good thing I live near a Bruster's --- that's all's I've got to say.

*SIGH*

Have you ever had a day where so much crumbled around you that you really couldn't keep up with it all, and if you tried to deal with even one of the issues you were hopelessly unable to even think?

Hi, I'm Kim.

This helped a tiny bit.

Hope you chuckle, too.

Ya Know What?

 The package is here, and what was all the drama for?

The it-will-be-there window was 9:30 to 1:30, which meant I had to be up and presentable.  (😶)  By Noon, I was feeling extremely sleepy, so I lay down, trusting the Tap Alarm would let me know if anyone came near.

Wake up, take Tap (alarm chip now deactivated) out, and there is a box --- delivered by FedEx --- on the porch.  Its package (or tracking) number isn't the same as the one that's been playing Hide and Seek for almost a week.  

Out of curiosity, I scan the barcode on the newly arrived package with my handy FedEx app and am shown that that package doesn't exist.  (????)

BUT

clicking over one page to Tracking showed me that the Wandering Shipment had been delivered.  (??)  No "direct signature" actually required, evidently.

(I know, Baker.  I know.)

It was a painting that I had totally forgotten having ordered.  (There is one among you who knows this exact feeling.)  How I forgot it I do not know, because

it's Secretariat.  It's stunning.  It's worth the (name-your-favorite-comedy-team)-style hijinks that got it here.

And yes, this is another Tuesday without any tiny needle work from me.  Trust me, I'm trying.  All of y'all's projects look very good.

Schrodinger's Package

Since last Wednesday, I've been going around and around with FedEx.  They said that the package they were trying to deliver needed a signature.   The deliverer left one of the tags that you sign in lieu of being present.  It hung on my front door for 3 days.  I was working through the FedEx app, and at one point, a message was saying that the package was being returned to the sender.

I don't know what is in the package.  Should I be excited, or what?

Last night, I got a message that the package would come today.

It didn't.

But the latest message is that whatever it is will be delivered tomorrow between 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM.

Whatever's in that box, it better be great.

Relating

I'd've used a purple crayon, but the message would be the same.

You?

Head Hurts. Easy Post.

Sinus HEADACHE.  Just blew up at Tap, which I'm very sorry for, but he doesn't seem willing to listen to my heartfelt apology.  (He won't even look at me for a photo.  He is cheesed.)

A house Katharine Hepburn once lived in in the hills above Hollywood is for sale.  This bathroom is fairly Hepburnish, wouldn't you say?

Yet, the kitchen is even more so:

The stove/whatever is to the right of the stove is fantastically her.  If I could shake loose 4+ million, I'd put in an offer.

Finally, this needs no comment, I don't think.  The little spats and the little stirrups just barely beyond the pommel pad are unspeakably adorable.

Slight Movement

I find this funny: 

Not I've-Got-to-Have-It funny, but still funny.

Understand, my daily wardrobe is a t-shirt and a pair of leggings.  I have a LOT of t-shirts.  More, I'm sure some would say, than a 65-year-old woman should have.  More, I'm sure some would say, than anyone should have.  Today, it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a leftover from my son.  (My daughter's is too small for me.)

As much as I like t-shirts, though, I wait and wait and wait to break out my sweatshirts.  Fleece is my favorite fabric to wear.

Rather than sitting sadly yesterday, I opted for making chocolate sour cream bread.  Now, sometimes I get cocky and plow right in without checking the ingredients list.  It took about all the sour cream I had.  Then it called for Greek yogurt, which I don't have.  A substitution for Greek yogurt?  Sour cream.  I had just enough left to meet the measurement.  I was surprised that I don't have any cocoa powder, but you can use hot chocolate mix instead.  (Who knew?)  It took a long, long time to bake on the inside, so the outside is a burned crust.  You have to scoop out servings from the middle.  But it is still delicious.

 

Things Were Going Well, Too

One skill I have, and have had practically all my life, is shining shoes.  Well, I learned on boots, of course, but I can do good work on a pair of shoes.  I'm honestly really good at it.  Daddy taught me, naturally;  I loved learning from him, and it was a great honor for him to ask me to shine a pair of his boots.

It is on the very slim edge of Boot Weather here.  I decided to get a pair ready the other day, and found out I don't have any saddle soap.

I decided to check in Daddy's shoeshine kit to see if there happened to be any in there.  Just the sound of unclasping it made memories rush in.  No saddle soap, but a tiny bit of mink oil, which I'll put to use.

My father was a lot of things, but a Type-A-Personality-Cleaner-and-Straightener wasn't one of them.  (He did marry one.)  His shoeshine kit, though, was straight.  Things folded and in strict, neat, space-saving order.  I felt bad having to dig through everything, but muscle memory kicked in, and I put everything away nicely.

Thankfully, there's a tack store near me where I can go for saddle soap.  The only problem?  They sell cowboy boots, too. 🫣

It's Kind of a Funny Story

The credit card situation meant that my prescriptions that I needed to pick up* had to be paid for with A CHECK.  The young lady at the pharmacy kind of chuckled and said, "It's been a while since I saw one of these."  It took her a minute to remember how to process it, but she did.

Am I really that old?!?!?

It should come as no surprise that I often spend loads of time looking at cowboy boots online.  Came across these last night:

Y'all --- boots that GLOW IN THE DARK.  My daughter would be on these in a nanosecond.  I like the skeletal hand, but haven't ever particularly liked skulls on boots.  I don't like crosses on boots, either.  Just a taste thing.

Another Thing I Found That I Really Like:

Hooray for people who make creative use of the space under a set of stairs.  The shelving is also fantastic, don't you think?  It makes me begin to sort of ramp up maybe thinking about beginning to consider possibly moving.  Someday.  Perhaps.

*"Needed" as in if I miss even a single dose of any of my medications, things go badly quickly.

Kind of Here and There

There have been some very blog-worthy ideas rolling around in my head today.  I should have written them down.  Maybe they'll come to me later...

Game Day today, but in Knoxville.  (I see you, Twinster.)  Still, traffic patterns here let you know when it's kickoff.

Once again, my credit card has been hacked.  Fifteen items at a Walmart somewhere.  Five to seven days for a new one.  😑

The thing about Everything Bagels is how many seeds fall off!  Why get an Everything if so much of what makes it good is going to disappear?  😠

Look!

My fingers are causing me extra strife today.  Your guess is going to be as accurate as mine.

Pinterest is devouring an embarrassing amount of my time.  I reassure myself by finding jewels like these:

Amazing.  And gorgeous.

This, in my opinion, would make an exquisite knitting chair:

You might have to tinker around a bit with the cushioning, but there's a drawer where you can store your projects!!  The stairs and beautiful floor just add to the appeal.

Here's A Puzzler

If you forget to take your Prevagen, is that proof that it isn't working?  Asking for a friend.

Better

The cold is weakening.  Not 100% gone, but substantially better.  When I get sick, it's always a puzzlement.  I am scarcely out and around many other people, so how all germs and/or viruses finding me?

Other collagers/scrapbookers/general crafters: do you have lots of butterfly stickers/prints/stamps?  I have a boatload of butterfly things.  Why?  Don't get me wrong, butterflies come in handy when there are oddly-shaped spaces in your project.  Still, why are there so many of them in "Animals" folder?

Reporting

Yep, a cold it is.  My head feels all clogged and heavy, which makes me feel really sleepy.  It was a good thing yesterday was a bit of dud televised-football-wise.  That is, except for Vandy's game last night.

These tiny books are so cute, don't you think?  None of them are actual .titles --- at least I don't think so.  The best part is the UPC codes on the backs.  The glue stick provides scale.  They are little.

This is two days of stitching.  Two days.  It's hard to describe how it makes my fingers feel.  It isn't pain exactly --- more like severe discomfort.  Adding to that, my hand would begin to cramp slightly if I tried to work "just a little more."  That I did not expect.  This is a piece from Subversive CrossStitch, so it's largely lettering;  no involved colorwork to keep up with.

Not So Fast

Got all excited about the cross-stitch fabric yesterday, and completely forgot to try stitching today.  I made the mistake of putting some papers on top of it, and it became one of those out of sight out of mind situations.  Maybe tomorrow.

Besides, I have felt very head cold-y today.  It was so hard to come out from under my soft, warm blanket this morning.  Tap's bladder was calling, though.

I'm fairly sure I've talked here about my love for old doors and weathered wood.  Actually, I like just about all things weathered.

I guess I like things who have had a life before I knew them.

Portent?

Y'all, this is monumental.

I got cross-stitch fabric in a hoop!

We shall not discuss how much time it took me.  We shall not discuss the volume (in two senses) of invectives hurled from my bedroom.  We shall not be trying to actually stitch tonight;  that would be too much.  Stitching is mostly index and middle fingers, and those are the ones that continue to infuriate me.

Interestingly, though, those are also the ones that we cross for hope and luck.

Scrolling, Cooking

A good deal of time this morning was spent Dream Shopping.  You know, when you fill up an online shopping cart with no intention of actually purchasing a thing.  Well, I stuffed a cart with cowboy boots to the imaginary tune of

Taxes and shipping would certainly have pushed me past $1000.  Still fun.

There were several pair with this new-fangled heel:

I'm so long out of anything with a heel more than an inch that it would take me some time to acclimate.  They're pretty, though.

Made myself some hash browns in the air fryer today.  They turned out so nice and golden

and crispy.  I did have to salt them twice (and I'm not much of a salter), but they really hit the spot.

Thinking All Day

I am such a huge fan of Sir Ben Kingsley.

Does anyone else remember flash cubes?  

Could someone ask Chris Pratt to just sit down for a while?  ( No disrespect to his fans, of which I am decidedly not one.)

Is the light at the end of a tunnel the headlight of an oncoming train, or the clear view through to the other side?

There is an organization called Clowns of America, and that horrifies me.  May I never be near a convention.  Or any get-together of any size.

Son has been hounding me to watch "Sinners" on hulu.  Unfortunately, it now requires an "add-on" to the regular subscription.  I did follow daughter's prompt to watch "K-Pop Demon Hunters."

Anyone else craving french fries?  Scrambled eggs? There's a Waffle House just over a mile from here;  I could go get both. . .

Yeah, probably no.  And do either DoorDash or Grubhub deliver?  No sir, they do not.

More happily, Happy Birthday Barry.