hand eye crafts

 I don't know when the snow started overnight, but it did.  Tap woke me up barking at the front yard looking different.  Surprisingly, he kind of romped in it!  I didn't think he would enjoy it that much.  It snowed all day, tiny flakes but lots of them.  Each time Tap and I went out, our footprints from the previous visit were filled in/covered over.  The snow got up to his knees. Here, it looks like Billy took him for a stroll. Up to and around the tree, over to the stand of pines, back to the sidewalk. There was and is some gusty wind.  There's snow on the rugs on the front porch. That doesn't happen even during a bad rainstorm. But the wind did create this: Lovely "brushstrokes" on the driveway.

  It's headed to us!  Apparently.  All week, the forecast has been that snow would start tomorrow and last through Sunday.  Now, it's being said that snow will start falling tonight and will last through tomorrow. I did this collage last week and like it very much. I call it "Are Free."  The paper the girl and the butterflies are on is sort of thin, thin wax paper.  It's sort of hard to glue down smoothly, but it does allow you to put images behind it.  I don't like rice paper, which is even thinner than this and refuses to be glued into place without ripping.  At least by me.

Did you catch the wordplay there?  I'm proud of it, though it's kind of easy.  Surely others have used it already. I am caught up on "The Pitt," ready for the release (tonight) of the next episode.   Knowledge, compassion, impatience, curiosity, responsibility, exhaustion, decency, all in one face. Dr. McKay: rock on. Dr. King: instant favorite. If John Stamos and Chris Pine had a child, it would be Dr. Langdon. Dr. Javadi: charming. Dana: join Dr. McKay in rock-on-ing. Tall Security Guard: keep those betting pools going. Too many to index: God, you have beautiful skin. Santos: so mean.  SO. Kiara: I could never do your job. I see you, Nurse Jesse.

 This morning,* Everything was iced over.  Solid ice. Then came sleety snow, which I took a video of to share with you, so that you could have a full audio experience.  The video won't load.  Lots of you may be hearing the same sounds, so it might have been a bit redundant, I suppose. One thing I can report, though.  The ice is making it very hard (okay, impossible) for Tap to get a steady footing to relieve himself.  🤭  Turns out, keeping a straight face isn't the hardest part of being a parent to a human child only.  It's also the hardest part of being a pet parent.   There's scarcely a better day for me than bundled in a sweatshirt, watching football, drinking Dr Pepper and looking out the window at snow.   *Those are actually rain boots, and have the best sole treads of anything I own.  Safety AND style.

The ice storm warning went into effect here at 1 PM.  All morning, traffic on the road outside was quite brisk, but it has slowed to a trickle since 1.  Nothing is falling yet, so...  Yeah. I did order a couple of pizzas, which should tide me over until --- Monday?  Honestly, every time I've looked at a forecast it is different from the one I looked at before.  I do have therapy (re)scheduled for Monday, but other than that, I don't have anywhere to be, so as long as my power doesn't shut down, I'm all good. How are others of you in the grip of the storm?

 Looking at some news coverage of fevered grocery shopping around the South, I am especially intrigued with empty bread shelves. No Keto for us, thankyouverymuch. There's whole wheat right there!  No white, you understand, unless you get creative and slide down the aisle a bit.  Poor hot dog buns.  This is not an isolated store, either.  In so many of the pictures, shelves are empty, empty, empty until you slam right into hot dog and hamburger buns.  There is surely a bun-wide inferiority complex bubbling up right now. Speaking of: What Chef Boyardee delicacy got swept off the shelves while spaghetti and meatballs are left to wait?  Not to mention the short shrift given to Beanie Weenies...  And what is a "plink?"

 There is ice and/or snow forecast for the weekend here, so people are, you know Bread, eggs, milk...  GO! I've been sort of craving banana yogurt lately.  It is hard to find here.  Not banana creme/cream, not strawberry banana.  Only banana.  Publix is the only store that has it, so, hello Instacart.  (I needed other things, too;  don't judge.  Salad kits.  I have a thing for salad kits.)  I was introduced to banana yogurt in high school, and want to thank Tammy.  Wherever she is. I baked some cornbread today.  I tried a loaf over the weekend, but it wasn't very cornbread-y.  It was good, but not what I was aiming for.  This looks more promising: As a Southerner, cornbread is supposed to be manna to me, but I never liked it.  Until, that is, "sweet" cornbread became a thing.  Even then, my desire to have some doesn't come around very often.  When the first loaf didn't work, I was determined not to...

Bath Night for Tap.  He is so mad about it that he's growling in his sleep.  All stretched out beside me, sound asleep, growing.  I'd take a video, but if I stir, he snaps to and growls "for real." Not much else here.  I was supposed to have therapy this afternoon, but woke up feeling miserable.  Sore throat, fever, headache (which may be from the headache.)  How am I getting sick when I never go anywhere to catch other people's germs? I see an amoeba and a paramecium, but where's the euglena?  In Biology, those were the three microorganisms we always looked at under a microscope.  I guess they came as a package deal or something. I do see a sperm cell included here.  Now, I requested graphics of "germs."  There's someone out there who seems to feel that sperm=germs. Hmmm.

Do you know what a portcullis is?  (Twinnie probably aces this pop quiz...)  The first word I thought of when I saw these boots was "portcullis." They may look more like a shield or a suit of armor, but I will always think of them as the Portcullis Boots. Along the topic of shields and swords and such: Joan of Arc(h) boots --- are you kidding me??  These are definitely skirt boots.

I like words.  There's a Pinterest board of mine called "Words Matter."  Because they do.  They can heal.  They can wound.  They can entertain. There are so many of them!!  They can show wit and intelligence.  They can show stupidity and heartlessness.  And you can play with them: Whoever is naming boots at Rocket Buster deserves a substantial raise for that alone. Usually after Christmas I rearrange furniture, because things have been shuffled around for trees and decorations.  Nothing had to get moved for my pop-up tree, but I have been shifting things in the dining room (a/k/a The Cats' Room.)  Yesterday, I wrenched my back pushing/lifting a deacon's bench.  It bothered me all night, especially turning over and back in bed.  The spot is right in the small of my back, and has been twingy all day, but not as bad as I had thought it might be.

 I think I've posted here about leaving snacks for package delivery and mail people.  The latest variety box of chips I bought had this in it: I'm really not a pickle person, save for pickled okra and pickled beets.  I was curious about these, though. They don't taste much like dills to me, more like salt and vinegar.  They're no sour cream and onion, I'll tell you that right now.

The other day I posted part of this picture.  I didn't know William was part of The Lean. It makes Charlotte's refusal to participate in The Lean that much funnier. Gray day here.  I'm unbothered.  It has looked a little like a snow sky. This doesn't quite capture the true color.  The word  "snow" has been bandied around, and people are FREE-king out.  Me, I welcome the cold and the grey and even the slimmest glimmer of hope that it might snow. Tried knitting last night.  I got 31 stitches (of 86 in the row) done and had to quit.  It's pretty clear knitting may very well be behind me.  That's such a shame, especially since the tempting new Knit Picks catalog arrived yesterday.  The format and layout are different, and it's just attention-grabbing and fun to look through.  Have you gotten your copy yet?

I.  Love.  This.  LOVE. I'm such a sucker for baby animals.  Also, over the last many years I've developed an intense admiration for elephants.  Besides,  how do you not fall for an animal whose life starts like this?

This photo perfectly captures how 1) I would like to be an astronaut and 2) I would never be able to be an astronaut.

  This is really, really good, especially warmed.  I don't see or taste any similarity to chess pie, but Dolly's mama might have made it different than my mama did.  Good chess pie is hard to beat. I made this little honey pound cake this afternoon The bread machine was set to "light" crust, but somehow has a mind of its own.  I haven't tasted it yet;  I had pie, after all.  It smells good, though. Not baking bread good, but good.

 Why is the kitchen always the clutteriest room? How did four of us ever live in this house?  It seems impossible that there were dinners and Christmases and birthday parties and overnight visitors in the space I look around now. You have frozen pizzas.  Good frozen pizzas, no less.  Why do you wrestle with the urge to order Domino's? Humans should be able to shake out like animals do.  That's a design flaw, if you ask me. There are few things better in a crafter's life than a brand new pair of scissors. I have developed an intense lack of patience with the word "countless." Kind of along those lines, how can we be truly, truly be sure no two snowflakes are the same?  Around the entire planet? Along those lines "Galaxy Buckaroo" for a cool $1200.

These I get.  I don't know if I like them, but I understand. I wonder how they feel.  They can't feel like wood, I don't think, but are they rigged or rough in places to sort of give that impression?  If I had $3,925, these are not the boots I'd buy.  These are: These are skirt boots.  There isn't anything fancy on the vamps, so the real artistry wouldn't show if you're wearing a pair of jeans. Therapy day.  One of those sessions where good stuff is going on, but you can't remember it all when you get home.  I have a little notebook where I write down helpful things;  I did recall a couple of things to put there. It was in the 70s here today.  I was perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt.  So very, very wrong.  It's JANUARY!!   Come on!!!

Remember the other day when I said there were still  Rocket Buster  boots to show?  Here's one pair. Yeah...  I'm not quite sure about these.  Apparently, Rocket Buster doesn't either, as their price is "to be determined."  You would certainly need to take a few practice laps around your house, I think, before wearing them in public.  Your steps have to be carefully calibrated, I would think.  "Spatial awareness" comes to mind.  Honestly, though, if those are functional jingle bells, my opinion softens a bit. Today is Epiphany.  The marking of the Magi arriving to see Baby Jesus?  The "official" end of Christmas?  As in, keep celebrating until the Wise Men get here?  Once the gold, frankincense and myrrh have been received, the celebration is over? I don't know much about Epiphany.  Does it tie into the Twelve Days of Christmas somehow?  I can't make much sense of it. I'll leave you with this:

I seem to be surrounded by Caterpillar people.

Rather, toenail photo.  It is a perfect encapsulation of things around here of late. You think your rabbit socks are fine.  You're going about your life.  Humming maybe.  Then, you feel that seam give way. Anyway, on the subject of feet.  I spent some --- okay, a lot  of --- time last night looking at Rocket Buster boots.  Most of their boots have 4-figure prices, so are out of my league, but they do make some beautiful and some interesting ones. These are probably my favorites.  There's also a shorty pair, but I prefer the tall. My father would so  have had these. He had to wear a lot of tuxedos at a lot of horse shows.  He could have alternated between these and his black patent leather ones, which were his go-to pair for a tux.  I think those are alligator?  I'm not as good at recognizing my skins/leathers as I should be after all these years. There are a few other boots I'd like to show you, but we'll get to them later....

For whatever reason, I usually don't think about blogging until about 10:30 PM.  Then I feel all rushed and can't think of anything to write. One thing from the day: This is oatmeal bread that I made today.  Sweet and dessert breads were so tempting, but I wound up going kind of healthy.  Now, we all know I'm unlikely to finish this loaf off by myself, but the way baking bread makes my house smell, the "waste" is worth it.  🍞 Does anyone else get their days all mixed up over the holidays?  Maybe it's because we know we don't have to go to work or school for a while, and it isn't that pressing?  One definite factor for me is all the football I watch.  College games are "supposed" to be on Saturdays, pro games on Sundays (and Mondays and Thursdays.)  If I watch college games, I just work like it's Saturday.

This has been said here before, but it's worth repeating:  Never go through someone's phone.     Nothing good is going to come of it.   Ever.  If you have to borrow a phone to make a call, or do something online, do only that and hand it back.   Here's a bookmark I made using the scented glue sticks.  It was the Sugar Cookie, and seemed appropriate. Obligatory covetous boot post: I hope to own one pair of Old Gringo boots before my time here is done.  These are almost $1200.