July is over

You know, it was a rather cool & mild July this year. We did have one week that was quite hot, however for the most part the temp has only been in the 70s. This, I like.

Spent most of yesterday knitting. See, I joined a "Mystery Knit-a-Long" on July 1st, which had a deadline of July 31st by which to post a photo of the finished object & be entered into a drawing for some cool prizes. Each week a part of the pattern was posted, so you couldn't actually complete it until the last week of July. I got bored around part 3 (and had figured out what the finished object was just by reading the instructions for part 1), and decided to set it aside for a while. As I put it away, I thought, "I will never remember that I am putting this here." Sadly, I was correct. I have looked everywhere for the thing and cannot find it. Sooo, in order to have an entry for the drawing, I did about 5 hours of solid knitting yesterday. My shoulders ache today, and my hands aren't so happy either. However, I did get it done albeit not very well & the result is today's pic. I made several Artistic Stylizations in it, not the least of which was sewing on the head & legs in such a way that the front of the body is now the left side of the sheep. It's supposed to have a little scarf, but I decided to make a shawl instead to help hide some of the sins.

Got in my week of temp work, and have been asked to stay another three. Woo hoo! I don't think it will turn into anything permanent, but one never knows. I do wish it were closer to home, though. The long drive is frustrating and makes for a long day, and of course the housework is suffering because of it. I've got a lot to do today, including a week's worth of laundry & of course the carpet needs to be vacuumed desperately. Oh, crap, I just remembered the vacuum isn't working; the beater won't turn. I'll have to see if I can fix that, or maybe Ralph will take a look at it before he goes off to his D & D game. Ha! I just asked & he's doing it right now. And Ha! again, he fixed it :-)

We've got a fourth dog again, although it's only temporary. One of our neighbors is on vacation for a couple weeks & we've taken in his little Scottie (as well as going over & feeding his cats). She's really sweet & playful. Unfortunately, she's also poorly trained; jumps up on people, doesn't know "sit," doesn't know "stay," doesn't come when she's called, gets up on the furniture & pesters the cat. Sadie adores her, of course. Funny how the oldest, least-playful dog in the house always loves having visits from excitable little pups.

AAAAAND! Lizard was able to get my book signed at ComicCon, so I am now the proud owner of "Man from Atlantis 2: Death Scouts" signed by Mr. Patrick Duffy himself!! Lizard said he showed the book to his son & said, "Look how young your dad used to be." I'm actually kinda surprised I still even had the book in order to get it signed--I bought it in 1977, after all. I used to have the first one also, no clue where that ended up. She also tried to get one of my "Foxtrot" books signed, however Bill Amend apparently was never at the booth when she went by, and he apparently never told the booth people when he would be back (they told her that in all the years he'd been at Con, he had NEVER told them when he'd be available). She felt that was rather rude not to mention frustrating. So, Mr. Bill Amend, if you are among the Teeming Millions, next year would you please make a schedule of when you'll be available, or at the very least let your entourage know so they can advise your fans? Thanks!