Random Stuff on Saturday...

So it's been a bit busy; new equipment at work, Tippi starting chemo, an editing job that's kinda driving me nuts. Figured I'd get some time this weekend, and I needed to process a lot of what's been going on. 

Anyway, here we are. I got to spend a couple hours today with Hubby & Kid #2 on the driving range. It felt good. I'm not exactly Nancy Lopez (look it up...) but I was rather surprised at how quickly a golf swing came back to me. it had been 3 years or more. Hubby said I was out after my thumb fusion, but I don't remember. 

Randomly, I've sort of emptied my camera here and we'll go over everything. 

My front yard is going nuts. In a good way, with all this rain, we've had a burgeoning flower garden. I think the wildflowers are now settled in and happy. The milkweed is taking over the front bed; the brown-eyed Susans have the square bed and we have a new variety of phlox in the very front, next to the Monster Bleeding Heart. The "butterfly Parsley" (I mean the pot I've specifically planted for the Swallowtail butterflies) is huge. I'm looking forward to the day they eat it all. Hoping to have a bumper crop of butterflies this year, to be honest. Should be monarchs and Swallowtails as well. 

The hummingbirds have been around, but I'm not happy with one feeder. It leaks, which is very annoying. Hubby put chairs out on the side deck and the front porch. I added a couple of cheap "solar lamps" that look very pretty at night. I'd love to sit out there at night; as a matter of fact, I tried today, for World-Wide Knit In Public Day. And about got eaten alive by mosquitoes. No thanks!

The Knitting...

Here's a sneak peak at a project I can't show you right now. It's Encore worsted, held double. It's seed stitch and stockinette. While the camera makes it look burgundy, it actually looks rather like an erzatz tiger stripe. 

Other than that, my lips are sealed for now...

I started a project for World Wide Knit In Public Day...and tonight I frogged it. When your yarn is determined to be something else, you need to listen to it. No good can come of forcing yarn to do something it's not suited to do. 

Here's how it came about: I was leaving to get a pedicure, when I remembered it was WWKIP Day - but I had nothing "portable" enough to carry and knit, since I left my shortie socks at work. Frankly, I'd forgotten about the Green Traveling Sock, but that's as it may be. I asked Hubby to pull a bag from my long-ago "I'm Going to Knit a Pair of Socks a Month" project. (Go ahead - laugh...)

He pulled "April" and no, I can't tell you what year that was... 

I grabbed a small project bag and needles, and I opened the bag. And my heart sort of sank...It was Zauberball. I had purchased this a while ago, and I wasn't sure it was technically for socks, but it ended up in the Bag project. 

Recently, in my sock group, folks were not happy with Zauberball. After casting on TWICE, I can tell you why...The yarn is VERY "splitty."

I'm not sure I want to deal with that for socks. And I'm not sure what possessed me, because I didn't think I'd ever knit white socks. The picture on the label has a decent amount of white in it, and I'm not jazzed about that. 

So I got to my pedicure, cast on, divided onto the needles and then stuffed it all back in the bag. 

It just didn't feel right. I'm not sure how else to explain it, except to say that it just wasn't going to work out. 

So, I frogged it. I'll look in Ravelry for a shawl pattern and take it from there. I don't know what else to do. Though I've pulled out again the Copland Shawl. Christmas is coming and I need to get skippy with that. 


It's not much farther along than what I showed you last time, but I'm thinking of jazzing it up a bit in the middle, with a series of about 3" of stripes, instead of 2 sets of stripes then 3" of solid. Since it's black and brown, I think it can handle the striped section nicely mid-way through. I just have to figure out what's "midway through" since I don't have an accurate idea of exactly how this thing is going to block out. 

I'll do my best to guess. 

The Dogs...

Well. Tippi's only side effect of the chemo so far is a bit of looser poop. She's eating, and I'm also doing the following: A nightly massage with either Frankincense or Lavender essential oil (with a carrier oil so it's not full strength on the area of the swelled lymph node. A 1/2 of a vitamin C tablet. A liver support (2 x/day) and a greens support once a day. Somewhat liberal-ish treats; she can take the weight gain if it happens. 

I think I felt that the lymph node has gone down. I'm not doing a happy dance, nor am I attributing it to the oils and supplements; I think it's a combination of many things. 

I managed to get a somewhat decent picture of Quinn & Tippi together. Quinn is on the left with her eyes closed, the little goofball... As she gets older, she looks more and more like Tippi. Tippi is, of course, on the right. Yes, she has 4 legs - she just likes to tuck one under when she's laying down. 

And Raisa. Poor Raisa. It's not bad enough that Tippi's in chemo treatments. The Monday of her first treatment, Hubby took Raisa out for her normal walk. Then I get a text at work, "Going to vet. Raisa attacked."

WHAT????


Turns out they were walking along and some chick was "napping" on a park bench. And her dog, unbeknownst to Hubby, was under the bench, leashed but not attached to the owner. 

Yep. You guessed it. The dog darted out and chomped on Raisa. Got her in the back leg. Raisa screamed, wrapped her leash around Hubby and down he went. On the shoulder that had the rotator cuff tear. While he's trying to pry the attacking dog, off, the owner is apologizing and doing God knows what. The dog eventually lets go. Hubby is madder than I could imagine. And the chick and dog took off... He got her to the vet and they initially didn't find anything. Later, though, he found this puncture wound, so back to the vet for an antibiotic. 

And now, with the antibiotic, she's not eating. She can't afford to not eat. We also had just finished a short course in an "appetite enhancer" because between antibiotics for a UTI and her thyroid medications, she lost an ENORMOUS amount of weight. Weight she honestly can't afford to lose. She now weighs less than the Elkhounds, and she's a good 3" taller than they are. 

All this being said, she'll eat human food (certain things) and she'll eat treats. But she won't eat even canned dog food. Frustrating, because we've tried canned; we've changed her kibble; we've tried the stuff in the tube that looks like sausage... one meal and then she's done. 

It's very annoying. I'm tempted to take her to a specialist (not like we're rolling in money) because it's just not healthy for her to not eat. 

We'll see. I have no answers. I'm still mad about that chick taking off and not even exchanging information...a friend of mine says she'd bet me lunch that the dog has a bite history. And I think she may be right. 

MOD Pizza...

Where has this been??? So since the gut re-set I've done, I've still, for the most part, avoided gluten. I'm pretty sure I'll have some sort of sensitivity, but if I don't, I already know me: I love -- no, I ADORE...wait. I absolutely WORSHIP carbs like pasta and bread. I don't want to re-gain what I've lost. So if I can avoid them, without significant damage to my own eating and health, then I can live with that. 

All THAT being said, we found MOD Pizza. If you've never been, it's a make-your-own pizza place. Choose your crust/size and they put whatever toppings on - no extra charge for toppings. They have both a cauliflower crust and a "gluten-friendly" crust. And they say that since they do everything on one production line, they won't guarantee "gluten-free" but for me, that's not a huge issue. 

This is the gluten-friendly crust (which takes about 4 minutes longer - Hubby was just about done with his, though he's an extremely fast eater). I put a vegan white sauce on it, asiago cheese, mozarella, and gorgonzola, then arugula, mushrooms, chopped garlic and sausage. They finished it with a pesto drizzle. 

Oh my. It was delicious. It was an 11-inch pizza and yes, I did eat the whole thing. Lucky me, there's one right down the road from where I work. Danger, Will Robinson!! (Look that up, too)

Clothes Make the Woman...

I've dug through my shoe pile, and I had come up with a couple pairs that I hadn't worn in a while. One pair of Earth sandals I wore and they literally fell apart on my feet. I was hoping they'd last the day so I could chuck them out at home. I didn't even take a picture of how bad they were. The soles were fine - it was the tops of the sandals that fell apart. 

It couldn't happen again, I told myself. So the other day, I wore these Earth clogs to work. I felt something funny, but I was running around and didn't pay too much attention. 

Hmmmmmmmmmm... Even duct tape couldn't keep these together long enough to walk up my driveway. 

I showed them to Hubby, who's a master at Gorilla Glue. Even he couldn't salvage them. 


Two pairs of shoes in the trash. 

This weekend is "Wear Orange" to protest gun violence. There are marches all over, as well as several Pride events. The only orange I have are 2 long-sleeved shirts. But in the spirit of going along, I put this one on. I'm a Zonta member, and this one seemed particularly appropriate. 

This one and the Take Back the Night shirt are the ones I wear when I volunteer at the Old Prison to do clean-up work. It's all long sleeves, jeans and hiking boots there. Douse myself with citronella and wear a hat and gloves. 

You never quite know what you'll be doing, and you never quite know what may land on your head. 

Yeah, I'm still looking for a new stylist; but I've got it narrowed down to 2 choices. I've got to get on the schedule soon. 

Random Picture...

This is the second shelf of the "altar" at my yoga studio. The "altar" is really a coffee table with cabinets under it. Hey, we repurpose! It works! 

There's a little Ganesh on the left; an Indian goddess (not sure who) from the former owner, a Feng Shui frog with a penny in his mouth, and a salt globe. 

I need to get another salt lamp for the office yet. But that's on my list. 

I've taken over the meditation classes and another Wednesday night class. I'm teaching, now, 5 classes a week (two of them on Sundays), and I'm subbing. I wanted to teach Yoga mostly as my "main job" -- which means that I've got to teach. I think my biggest issue is that I'm teaching on nights when I've already worked a 10-hour job. It makes keeping my focus and energy a bit interesting. But it's all good. 

More on the editing job and other stuff in the next post. Rest well, all!