Feels like a wasted day

I normally don't post comic strips (thinking about copyright here) but today I couldn't resist since this "Frazz" strip (by Jef Mallet) pretty much sums up my day. With the exception of buying fish food, I did not get a single chore done as I flitted from knitting to reading to sudoku to playing with the dogs to napping to brainsucking. . . .

I did get started on the first of the fish hats for The Winner. I'm trying to decide if I should post pictures as I go along, or let the colors be a surprise as she was open to any choice. I've done the lips & mouth shaping and am ready to start on the head portion. I will say that I think the colors look good together, and I hope Cher does too. Think I'll let them be a surprise :-)

Darn it, there was something I wanted to post about and I can't remember what it was. . . oh, well.

And the winner is. . .

Not exactly a *random* drawing, since only one person entered, so the winner of the Pay It Forward contest is . . . . CHER! Wooooohooooo!!!

Finished Ralph's chullo this morning. Figuring out how to do the applied i-cord via the instructions was a challenge. Fortunately I found a couple videos on youtube which showed how quite clearly. It's quite easy, really, and while I anticipated it being tedious based on the videos, I rather enjoyed doing it. It was a bit too tight along the earflaps, so they don't lie flat but rather make a bit of a cup shape. I'm not too worried about that though; might even help keep the bottoms of the flaps from being drafty (or draughty for those of you on the other side of the Atlantic, ha ha).

No archery today; Ralph has to work. Guess I'll be doing chores & getting the car's oil changed. What fun.

Cheezburger humor

Really liked this LOL on icanhascheezburger.com:


more animals

Well, I thought there'd be more response. . .

Three days, and only 2 comments on my Pay It Forward (Tues Feb 17)??? And one of those is my sister & she's not entering the contest . . . I knew I didn't really have millions reading my blog, but I thought there'd be more than that. Still plenty of time though, so maybe there'll be more by the 28th. If not, then I guess all three prizes will go to one person :-)

Almost done with Ralph's chullo. Did the last deer motif repeat yesterday; there's supposed to be a snowflake motif at the bottom but since the deer motif added 20 rows to the hat I think I'll skip that. I may do a row or two so that the deer's feet don't get lost in the i-cord trim. So, after that it's time for the ear flaps, then I'll just need to do the i-cord & tassel. Should be finished by Sunday if all goes well.

Started another pair of Tiger Eye socks, which I may have mentioned previously. Have done both toes, two pattern repeats on one sock & one repeat on the other. Am on row 3 of the second repeat and have messed up somewhere. Not sure how--I had the right number of stitches when I finished row 2, but on row 3 ended up one stitch short. Tinked it, counted out the pattern, saw where I had missed a yarnover, added that, counted out the pattern. . . I am now missing two yarnovers and at the same time have one stitch too many. Sigh. Might have to tink the entire round and just re-knit it. It's only 57 stitches but still. . .

Pay It Forward!

I was one of the lucky winners in a Pay It Forward contest on a blog, which means it's my turn to pass it on. So, here's the deal. On this post, leave a comment saying what makes you happy. On February 28 I will pick three comments at random and those posters will win their choice of the following prizes:

**skein of sock yarn
**pair of hand-knit wristwarmers;
**hand-knit Dead or Alive fish hat (photo is sample only; actual colors may vary.)
**gift certificate to Barnes & Noble Bookstores; OR
**gift certificate to Starbucks

Please note, if you are one of the winners, then it will be your turn to Pay It Forward, so only enter if you are willing to do so. Of course, you can Pay It Forward even if you don't win :-) So come on--tell me what makes you happy, and you might win one of the prizes! Prizes will be mailed out within 2 weeks of me receiving winner's selection & mailing address. (EDITED TO ADD: Erm, I just realized I don't have a way for people to enter their e-mail addresses on my blog, so I'll notify winners via blog.)


Note to the Teeming Millions: In order to allow people time to enter, I will be posting less often then normal during the contest duration. Please, please, try to hold back your disappointment :-)

My poor co-workers

I came home tonight to another lovely steak dinner cooked by Ralph, complete with roasted garlic. This time we had a full head each. I should apologize in advance to my co-workers for how hideous my breath is going to be tomorrow. I don't think there's enough toothpaste in the world to prevent it. There were red potatoes to go with it instead of a baguette, and we rounded out the corners with mixed vegetables.

Cast on a new pair of socks today. (No, I'm not done with the hat; just felt like working on something else for a bit.) It's the same pattern as the Chaos Theory socks I finished last week, only I'm using the blue yarn that I used for the first pterodactyl. Since that yarn has less-radical color changes I'm sure the socks will be much calmer & prettier. I've done the toe & one pattern repeat of the first sock, and already I can tell that the lace is going to show up much better.

Speaking of socks, Ralph told me today that out of all the socks he likes the green lizardy ones best. I looked at him funny and said, "You mean the moc croc ones?" He agreed those were indeed the pair he meant. I said, "So what you're saying is out of all the socks I've made, the ones you like best are the ones Sis knit for me?" Yup, that is what he was saying. He was quick to point out that the brown pair I made him for Christmas are his second-favorite. Sheesh. Well, I gotta admit the moc crocs are really cool.

We had a lot of fun at Medieval Times yesterday. PH2 & MH2 had gift certificates and used them to pay for most of the ticket cost; we paid the $7 difference, plus we gave the server a $6 tip (as did PH2 & MH2), so the whole event only cost $13. Since tickets are about $50 each we were very pleased by this. Before the show, the guys kept saying they wanted a drink, wanted a drink, so MH2 & I sat outside while they went in to the bar. About 10 minutes later they came back, sans drinks. They said the line was too long. Turned out what they were *really* doing was getting our names on the list of announcements (our anniversary & MH2's birthday, which is today). We got little scrolls too. Pretty cool!!

We got to sit in the Green Knight section; he's the "bad guy" of the show. Our section was the rowdiest, too, with lots of cheering & chants of "Green knight! Green knight!" We had absolutely excellent seats, too--front row!! The dinner was delicious (tomato soup, garlic bread, about half a chicken, a meaty rib, roast potato, and an apple pastry for dessert) and we really enjoyed the show. In addition to the jousts and sword fighting, there were several horse performances and a short falcon show. The Andalusians were spectacular, with all their fancy moves and of course they are just gorgeous animals all around. We were really glad that PH2 & MH2 invited us to go with them.

Sunday morning, 2/15

I am very pleased with the progress I am making on Ralph's chullo. I've just finished row 17 (out of 28) of the second deer repeat. That leaves 9 rows of the deer, followed by another 12-row circle motif. I will have to check the pattern to be sure, but I'm fairly certain at that point I start the earflaps. After that comes a new technique for me to learn: attached i-cord. I've done regular but never attached. It then gets topped with a tassel, and then there will only be the blocking left to be done. These pictures are from a yesterday morning before I did any knitting, so you can't really see how far I've gotten.

Had moderate success with the clothes shopping. Didn't find any skirts that looked decent on me, although I did get three pairs of very nice black slacks and three tops: a lavender cotton sweater with short sleeves and a sort of a cowl neck; a bright blue satin-y top, and a black knit with a string of metal circles at the neckline. Not quite as many clothes as I had hoped for, however we only went to one shop & I tried on soooooo many items that I was sick of it by the time we checked out. Ralph hemmed all three pairs of pants for me, since I hate to sew & clothing manufacturers always assume a woman is going to be wearing 3" heels with any article of clothing.

We had thought about going to see Inkheart yesterday, but ended up hanging around the house instead (which is part of the reason I've made such good progress on the hat). We did go to archery for about an hour in the morning. We had intended on grilling a steak for dinner, but pigged out on our fancy Taco Bell lunch that neither of us were hungry.



Today we are going to Medieval Times with our friends PH2 & MH2. I haven't been there in *ages*; I think I might still have been dating Satan when I went, so that has to be at least 18 years ago & probably a couple more than that. Should be a lot of fun.

Been having some pain lately in my TMJ. Well, not pain so much as ache, especially if I close my jaw all the way. It feels like I've been clenching my jaw for a couple hours. I suspect I might be grinding my teeth in my sleep again, a habit that I stopped doing a very long time ago. Stress, no doubt, with all the changes at work. Hopefully this will clear up soon.

Speaking of clearing up, Sadie's head looks much better. The wounds are healed over, and the hair is starting to grow back in. We'll be keeping a close eye on it to make sure she doesn't start digging at it again, and I'm going to see if Ralph can bring her in for her follow-up on Wednesday. Not sure he will, because frankly he doesn't like the dog much, so I might end up doing it myself next Saturday instead. I think if we get the antihistamines she will not start clawing at it again.

My "experiment" with using two bowls to feed the cats seems to be working, too. Hoover still growls a bit, however since they aren't actually sharing a bowl Mudgie seems less intimidated by it and has been able to eat in relative peace. I'm really glad about this, as he was starting to get quite thin.

Wish me luck

Going shopping for work clothes today, always a joy. It's so hard to find things that fit comfortably, look good, and meet the work dress code. The knit tops that I like so much are not acceptable because they are considered to be t-shirts. Can't really wear button-ups because they tend to gap inappropriately on me, unless I get them so large that they look sloppy. Very few places seem to carry business attire anyway. So, I expect to be cranky by day's end.

I'm about halfway through Ralph's hat & have LOTS of yarn left. I think I'll make him some matching socks to go with it. Heck, if I do them now & put them away, by Christmas he will have forgotten about them and they'll make a great gift :-) Or maybe a scarf. . . knit in the round with the same motifs. . . yeah, I like that idea.

Thursday's Survivor episode was great. I'm sure Sis posted all about it, and if not one can check it out on CBS so I won't go into details here. I'm rooting for Coach, and Sis has JT. At this point I think I like her guy better than mine but oh well. At least my team won & I don't have to put money in the pot. Yet.

Liking the chullo

So what do you think of Ralph's chullo so far? I think it's looking pretty good so far. I've done a ocuple more rows since the picture was taking, and the reindeer are a little more defined. It's slow going although my speed is starting to pick up a bit. It's been so long since I've done stranded knitting that it's taking me a while to get the hang of it again.

As part of my new work description, I get to cover the phones on a rotating basis when the receptionist is on break/lunch. The girl on rotation yesterday was off so I took her place. It was odd--kinda fun, but I kept having Hell flashbacks & expected every phone ring to be an angry customer. It never was, which was nice of course.

The drive is a little better too; maybe 10 minutes shorter both ways. I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you're driving an hour or more every minute saved is appreciated.

And when I got home last night, oh what a nice surprise! Ralph had the day off, and I thought he was going to make chicken sausage & pasta for dinner. Instead we dined on T-bone cooked on the grill, salad with avocado, and roasted garlic on a baguette. As far as I'm concerned, he's fulfilled any Valentine's obligation that a husband might have :-)

First real day at the new office

Today went by pretty well. I was expecting it to be slow & dull, so that came as a pleasant surprise. Another pleasant surprise was the drive home--my old route took at least an hour & 20 minutes; this new one got me home in 59 minutes. Hopefully this is the norm & not a fluke.

Making very slow progress on the chullo I am knitting for Ralph. I'm also worried it's not going to fit; there's still one more set of increases to go but at this point it won't even fit my head. Might have to alter the pattern a bit to add some more width. That's the great thing about knitting--endless opportunities for creativity.

I'm a little worried about Mudgie. He seems really thin, and I know Hoover sometimes bullies him away from the food dish. I think when I feed them tomorrow I will put the food in separate dishes and see if that helps. Funny, they have shared a dish since they were kittens & it's just recently become a problem.

Back from knitting

Very rainy day today, at least in Long Beach. Fortunately for me I spent most of the day in sunny Alta Loma. More on that in a bit, for the good news of the day is that Roomie G is out of the hospital. He's resting right now & hopefully feeling a lot better. I haven't seen him since I got home so couldn't say for certain.

Despite the rain & flooding, didn't have too bad a drive on the freeway. Only one part was really slow, the onramp from Pacific to the 710. That has three lanes of traffic that merge into one, and right at the very end of the onramp it was completely flooded. Other than that I made good time to Sis's. We then went to a nice restaurant for a late breakfast/early lunch with The Girl, The Boy, and Duh. Afterwards we did lots of knitting & talking. I finished my Chaos Theory socks & started on a chullo for Ralph. Sis had made a yummy spinach dip & I ate way too much of that. Dinner is definitely out of the question for tonight.

Ralph was going to come too, but yesterday found out about a memorial service for one of the doctors in the hospital where he works, who passed away unexpectedly a few days ago. He (Ralph) doesn't really know the family, but felt that attending would show respect for the doctor & family, as well as give himself some closure as this doctor had been the director for as long as Ralph has worked at the hospital (over 20 years). I think he got some comfort by going.

First Friday of February Ftwothousandnine

Roomie G had to go to the hospital yesterday, and will be there for a few days. Apparently he had been ill for a couple weeks & just kept hoping he would feel better. Hope he doesn't have to stay there long; being in the hospital must be horrible.

Moved to the new office today. Yes, I do still have an office. Visually it's nowhere near as nice as my old one; no window to the outside world, nothing on the walls, the doorway overlooks a hallway so there isn't even another person to see, plus it's much smaller. However, the workspace is set up much more efficiently and there's an extra set of large filing drawers so it's not the end of the universe. I did put my little window-cling penguin on the bit of glass that's next to the door & that brightened it up a speck.

Looking forward to knittering at Sis's tomorrow. I should be done with the Chaos Theory socks tonight so will have to bring a new project. Or the orangutan HA HA HA HA HA HAHA HA oh, I crack me up. I do have my spinning wheel in the car & I haven't done any spinning in weeks, so maybe I'll work on that instead. Ralph canceled his D & D game & might come to Sis's with me.

Horrid day

Today sucked. More layoffs at work, including some folks that I consider to be friends. Fortunately I am still employed, although there are some drastic changes to my job responsibilities. Also found out today that Mr. Boss Man & I have to be moved into the South building by end of business on Monday. We knew the move was going to happen eventually, but to have it dropped on us with so little time to pack up was a bit of a shock. So, good-bye nice office, good-bye beautiful view, good-bye any chance of getting a good photo of the hawk, hello uncertainty. Yes, I know--quit whining, at least I still have a job.

It also poured rain all the way home, so the drive was a full two hours. Ugh. Poor dogs were sopping wet when I let them in. Don't know why they didn't stay on the porch since it's covered, but maybe they did & the wind blew rain in on them. It was really too dark for me to tell by the time I got home.

Oh well. Gonna quit kvetching & go start dinner cooking. Thanks for putting up with my whining.

By the way--that photo is of *three* geese, not one normal goose and one with two heads.

No time for this, really

Just a quick post as I should be getting ready for work. Finished two more pattern repeats (one per sock) on the Chaos Theory socks yesterday, and another half-repeat this morning. I was pleased to discover that I *almost* have the pattern memorized; I can get all the way through row 13 before I need to look at the chart. At this rate I should have them finished tomorrow and can cast on a new project for the Saturday knitting group. I'm thinking of making a second pair of these, using the blue yarn leftover from the pterodactyl I made for QL.

Our sick fish died yesterday. This was both sad and a relief; I'm sorry she died of course, however she was definitely not getting any better despite the medications and she looked terrible. Poor little thing.

Roomie G has been ill, too. Finally went to the ER Tuesday night & is now on antibiotics. Hope he feels better soon.



Sis is pretty excited. The "Mr. Piggy" she knit has been chosen to be the representing photo for the pattern on Ravelry. How cool is that?

And last, but not least, only one week until "Survivor" comes back on. Guess I better get to the CBS website & pick "my" player.

Don't even say it

Remembered to bring the camera to work today, but did not bring it with me when I took a walk on my usual nothing-to-see route at breaktime. Let's face it, I really don't need another squirrel picture. So of COURSE there was a hawk feeding on something in the grass. Sigh. By the time I got back to the office, grabbed the camera and scurried back, he was gone. I will never learn, will I?

Making good progress on the Chaos Theory socks, though. I've turned both heels, finished one pattern repeat on one sock and two pattern repeats on the other. Between the patterned yarn, the lace front and the mock cable rib back, these are the loudest, busiest socks I have ever knit. Not sure what I can possibly wear them with. I tried one on yesterday, and I will say that it is very comfortable so far.

Sadie seems to be taking advantage of her Elizabeth collar. I swear she deliberately slams it into the other dogs, and uses it to block me when I try to walk past without petting her. I will be glad when it can come off.

Not much else going on though. Looking forward to the Knitting Day at Sis's on Saturday. That's about it.


Well, actually I guess there is a bit more. Sunday we had a nice picnic at El Dorado Park. We got chicken salad sandwiches at Arby's, & brought Hali along with us. It was very nice sitting in the sun watching the birds. After we ate we took Hali for a short walk, then I knit & took pictures while Ralph read & napped in the sun. The duck photo above is one of the ones I took, and I'll be boring the Teeming Millions with more bird pictures as the week progresses.

Why are the weekends so darn fast?

Had a rather mixed day yesterday; some of it very nice, some of it frustrating, and some of it just neutral. One of the first things we did was take Sadie to the vet. As you can see in the picture, she has been scratching at her head again and has dug in some pretty nasty wounds. Believe it or not, she did all that damage in just one week. We took her to our usual vet's office rather than her old one. The doctor agrees with us that it is allergy-related. She gave us more antibiotics to keep the open sores from getting infected, and a topical ointment to keep the itching down. We are to bring her back in about a week, at which point she (the doctor) is likely to start her (the dog) on antihistamines. We had to put an Elizabeth collar on the poor dog to keep her from scratching at the wounds & making them worse. This also prevents the other two dogs from licking off the medication.


While Sadie was at the vet's getting her medications & a bath, Ralph & I went to archery. There aren't any classes right now as the park is having their yearly battle with the City to get their insurance, however people can still go and shoot at the regular target area. Incidentally, this is where the archery competitions were held when Los Angeles hosted the Olympics a few decades ago. Anyway, he had a nice time shooting and I enjoyed sitting in the sun & knitting. Afterwards we drove through the park a bit (El Dorado is *huge*) and took some bird photos, including this. What we've got here is a great egret, a snowy egret, a male mallard, and a flock of coots. I chose this picture because of the variety of birds in it. We also saw a small turtle sunning itself on a rock in the stream.


I'm actually making pretty good progress on the new socks. I didn't like how the pattern looked with the Bearfoot Gold Rush, so I frogged that and started over using Lorna's Laces in Lorikeet. It's also a rather busy yarn for the pattern, however it's better than the Gold Rush was and now that I'm a ways in I'm really starting to like the effect. The sock will have the lace pattern going up the front and a mock cable up the back. With the two different patterns and the rather busy yarn colors, I am calling these my Chaos Theory socks.

The frustrating part of the day was when we got home. At some point, the masonry blocks we had in front of the access under the house got moved so of course when we got home the dogs were under the house amongst all the dust & mouse yuck. Ralph doesn't remember if he moved them while the storage unit was being built, or if the Roomies might have used them to raise the trailer, or exactly when or how they got moved, but it was not pleasant to come home & discover the dogs were under the house. Ralph had a hard time finding enough blocks to wall off the opening again. I'm just glad Sadie was with us--it would have been horrible if she had gotten in with all that dust & mouse yuck with open sores on her head.

I also had some issues with my socks. The pattern starts with 25 stitches on the front needle, increases to 33 on row 2, then decreases back down to 25 over rows 4-10; the last 6 rows are 25 stitches. Somehow, even though I counted and had 25 stitches at the end of rows 10-14, when I got to row 15 there were only 24 stitches on the front needle. I had to tink all the way back to row 11, plus have Ralph read out the pattern while I counted off the stitches on the needle, before I could find the error & was able to fix it. What really got me is that several times I would find a dropped stitch, put it back on the needle, and *still* only have 24 stitches. Thought I was going to go insane!

Today is turning out to be a better day. At least, the morning has been nice. I got two more pattern repeats done on the socks without making any errors. Ralph fixed us a tasty breakfast of fresh buttermilk biscuits (NOT from a can) with Knott's Berry Farm blackberry jam & butter, and some sausage patties. We're going to do a bit of housework & then go do something fun; maybe take the dogs to the park.