10

10 days until Knitters' Hunk and Knitters' Chick nominations can start coming in!

I'll be accepting nominations the 23rd, 24th, and 25th, with an eye toward starting the voting on Monday, August 27th.  The plan right now is to use the 26th to announce this year's Hall of Fame inductees, but that might change. 

Watch this space. . .

#Chewy Influencer --- August

Fancy Feast produces a dry food?  Perhaps for a while now, and I simply never noticed.

ANYway, both Riley and Erin are enjoying this food.  The kibbles are smaller than most of the dry foods I have fed them in the past, which seems to make things easier on Erin's 19-year-old teeth.  In perfect honesty, whether I buy this in the future will depend on its cost.  If I do buy it, though, I know it will be met with approval.

As per the Influencer agreement between myself and Chewy.com, I choose and receive products each month.  I use them with my pets, then give my honest reviews here. Neither myself, nor Chewy, receives any money.

Who Am I?

One night this week, via Plated, I made myself fish tacos.  Another night, also via Plated, I made a peach and raspberry cobbler.  I am not a cook.

Today, I put this little bugger together.  I'm not all that handy.

The brass umbrella stand that my father kept his collection of canes and walking sticks in finally gave up the ghost after 20+ years in my parents' house and 8 years here.

That extra-long walking stick in the middle actually belonged to my husband;  I gave it to him when he got a little too weak to walk steadily.  Second from the left is Daddy's rattlesnake cane.  Yep, a full rattlesnake pulled over a cane.  The black cane there under Mona Lisa is 

Dr. House's flame cane.

I won it in an online auction.  It is signed by Mr. Laurie:

In that last photo, there's Daddy's canes, Daddy's chair, the Tennessee Titans pillow my mother made for Daddy, and a framed picture of Hannah, Briton, Daddy, and Mama at the Tennessee Aquarium.  One of my favorites.

Asks

Kathy asked some fun questions on her blog this morning;  thought I'd give them a go.

Do you like to go on guided tours, or go it alone?

As with all else in my life, I prefer going solo.

When you go to a yarn shop, do you look at all the yarns?

I do.  I find sale yarns first, then work my way around from there.

When was the last time you swam in a pool?

Never, because I don't know how to swim.

What's your favorite college or university team to follow?

What station is your car radio set to?

I don't know;  I never, ever listen to the radio in the car.

Really.  Never.

House Rules

One of my multitude of Spence cousins got in touch with me after reading the superstitions post a few days ago.  Her mother was my father's younger sister, and evidently had a way around the "don't-go-back-once-you're-on-the-road" rule.  If you do go back, you can sit down in the place you left, then safely restart.  I never heard that exception, but it may come in handy someday.

She also talked about leaving a place through the same door you entered.  Though I didn't originally recall that, I did after she mentioned it.  One of our aunts was particularly vigilant about that one.

Speaking of vigilance. . .

All weekend, there has been a male cardinal in the holly bush outside this window in the den.  There has also been a sparrow hopping up and down the screen on this same window.  Riley has been thoroughly enthralled.

#ChewyInfluencer --- OOOOPS, Still July

Oh, my goodness, I totally forgot to post my second review for my second Chewy product, and that needs to be rectified.

Because this stuff is amazing:

Yes, I have good things to say about virtually everything I receive from Chewy.  This, though, is absolutely, positively, easily the best cat litter I have ever used.  It scoops beautifully, it scarcely tracks at all, and it kills all the odors that three cats can manufacture.  Kills dead.  It's fabulous.  

FABULOUS.

Each month, I request and receive free products from Chewy.com in exchange for my honest reviews of those products.  No money, just truth.

Dibses

Terry has claimed Hugh.  Kathy has claimed a Pittsburgh Pirate.  Please, though, don't feel like your Knitters' Hunk or Knitters' Chick nominee has to be yours and yours alone.  In fact, the way I do seeding (after the automatic entrants are slotted in) is based on how many nominations someone has.  So, go with your heart.  Or whatever body part you rely on to help you make these kinds of decisions.

Thank you, reigning KH Henrik Lundqvist, for The Wink.

My son --- who is the person responsible for there even being a Knitters' Chick contest --- was just here, discussing the difficult time he's having coming up with his nominees.   I feel his discomfort.  I will re-post this before the nomination process starts (3 weeks from today), but those of you trying to get started should know that these folks do not need to be nominated.  They are going into their respective draws automatically:
Michelle Obama
Judi Dench
Helen Mirren
Tina Fey
Henrik Lundqvist
Ewan McGregor
Sam Elliott
Mike Rowe