Peter O'Toole and Joan Fontaine - and More

Hopefully, Blogger will behave itself with the fonts. I write in "Georgia" and it posts in "Arial" - or at least it did yesterday. Like a dart in my little editor's heart!!

Good Vibes...

Fluffy Corgi

Please spare a few good vibes for my boss and hubby. They're having "the talk" about their ailing Corgi - it's a situation so many of us have been in and it's one of the hardest things you do. 

Laddie is a typical Corgi, but he's a "fluffy." And HE thinks he's a cross between a Great Pyr and an Irish Wolfhound. Lots of dog in a little package, you know? Anyway, she's all torn up, just as you'd expect. 

This is not Laddie, but it's a picture in case you wanted to know what a "fluffy" Corgi is. Apparently, it's an anomaly of the coat, where it's a little more puffy than normal.

Hollywood Greats...

Not confusing humans or dogs, but we old movie (or "classic" movie, if you want) fans are mourning the deaths of both Peter O'Toole and Joan Fontaine. My favorite Peter O'Toole moments? Well, there's the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where he's totally immersed in how he looks and his reflection in the knife. And the classic --- CLASSIC --- scene between him and The Great Kate in The Lion in Winter where ... well, heck. The ENTIRE movie. The chemistry between O'Toole and Hepburn just blows your hair back. I can't pick a favorite scene in that movie. 

I wish I could either remember or find the quote about the cleaners. He was being interviewed and he said he'd like his epitaph to be something along the lines of a note he found in a jacket from his cleaners, when they couldn't get a spot out. I believe the note said something like, "We always hope our work is satisfactory." 

Joan Fontaine -- Honestly, the only 2 movies that stand out for me are Rebecca and Suspicion. Apparently, her director in Rebecca kept her so frazzled that a good portion of the nervousness and anxiety that she so clearly displayed was real. Cruel of the director, though. Of course, that director was Alfred Hitchcock. A right stinker he was! Come to think of it, he probably used the same technique in the other movie, but she was much less "Nervous Nellie" in that movie. 

I always wonder what the script said in Rebecca, since even in the book, you never know the character's name! It's always a nickname, as in "Dear" or "Darling" or in the case of Mrs. Van Hopper, "You" or "My girl." So did the script indicate Fontaine's lines by putting "Second Mrs. DeWinter"?? 

Does this make three, if you're counting Paul Walker? Who - by the way - I'd never heard of. But I prefer older movies to the new stuff, and I wouldn't watch any of the current action films now anyway.

I prefer my movies to have plot and characters. Not special effects, gratuitous sex and violence, and noise. 

The Pope...

So of course, you all know that Rushbag has castigated Pope Francis and has loudly proclaimed that Francis' Evangelii Gaudium is "pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope" and that parts of the document were "dramatically, embarassingly, puzzlingly wrong." 

Because Rush knows a Marxist when he sees one, right? And Rush has  --oh, oh, wait for it -- NEVER graduated from college. Check this out... OK, I know - a college degree isn't the be-all and end-all, but let's get a clue here, folks.

Pope Francis is educated. He holds a master's degree in chemistry as well as degrees in philosophy and theology. Jesuits aren't dummies. And you know what else? They're trained to question. And to argue. Till the cows come home!! 

According to today's Trib, Francis has a pithy answer to his critics: He says he was not speaking "as a technician but according to the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and this does not mean being a Marxist." So besides Rush, he's got the conservative Catholic bloc spewing split pea soup (Exorcist reference, folks). They think he's too "progressive."

He's not. He's still anti-women-priests, anti-birth-control, and against adoption by gay couples. That's still pretty conservative. 

Still. He seems to be making some strides, even if those strides include starting the conversations. I'd still pay to see him take Rush apart, but I know he wouldn't. He is the bigger man here. 

Knitting...

Swatch #2

Swatch #2 is drying. We'll see. I will start back on #2 Pink Sock. I probably should have waited till the yarn un-kinked, because you can see a couple of wonky spots. Hopefully, with a long soak in Eucalan and being pinned to the board, it'll kind of remedy that. 

I think (fingers crossed) that the size 7 needles might do the trick. By the way, I was wrong. They're not Addi bamboo. They're Takumi. I should have known because Addi cables are a pale blue. These have a clear cable. 

So in a day or so, I should be able to cast on. I've read the first part of the pattern. Well, actually, I've read the whole thing. Some of it freaks me out, but that's half the fun of knitting. I have knitting buddies who can help me when I get stuck. 

Speaking of those knitting buddies, I got them some Indigo Wild goat's milk soap - the 3-bar variety. I hope they like them. It's great soap and I think the scents I picked out were nice and fragrant, but won't knock you over. 

Rand Paul...

...is a liar. And stupid. Don't chastise me about calling names. The man doesn't have the sense God gave my canary. 

He's spouting off about "99 weeks of unemployment" and first off, telling everyone who gives him a platform that being on that much unemployment they somehow transform into leeches of the system. 

Really? When my kid was laid off for almost 2 years, he brought home just about $250-$275 per week. And he lived in my basement because he couldn't afford anything else. Oh yeah, he was just rolling in the dough, Rand. 

And second, once again --- let's talk about "research." According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, only THREE states allow people to be on unemployment over 70 weeks. Illinois, Rhode Island and Nevada. And that's because their unemployment rates are somewhere around 9% as opposed to anything lower in the other states. 

And those other states? The number of weeks you're allowed to be on unemployment varies. But nowhere in the entire United States are you going to be on unemployment 99 weeks. 

Sooooooooo - Rand. If you just let your fingers do the Google, you would find this nifty little chart here. That chart outlines those FACTS that I pointed out above. You know facts. Those things you like to either ignore or just plain lie about. 

Like the fact that, for every ONE job opening, there are roughly 3 unemployed people applying for it. In Big Numbers, it looks like this: in early December, there were about 10.9 MILLION people unemployed. At the end of October, there were only 3.9 million job openings. Math, people. There's a gap of about 7 million people, assuming that each of those 3.9 million jobs gets filled by a qualified person. 

So, according to Rand, those 10.9 million people aren't going to climb walls or cross croc-infested waters to get a shot at those jobs. Which, by the way, they would. If they had a snowball's chance in an Illinois August. And according to Rand, even if those 3.9 million jobs were filled, in his view those extra 7 million people would just sit and collect those big fat unemployment checks. 

Heck, according to Rand, he probably thinks that those of us who are working are just DYING to go on unemployment and slurp from the government trough. 

Like I said. An idiot. And lazy, to boot... Didn't bother doing any research. Just got the talking points memo and went with it. 

The End of the Baking...

Before...

Here's the before and after of my Granny's rugelach-like cookie. Yes, I ate some. And yes, I probably would've eaten more, but I'm trying to be good. 

I'm the only one who makes these. My kids know how to do it, but they haven't yet. 

Kid #2 has done about 50% of the baking. Technically, I could do a set of Snow on the Mountain cookies, but I'm not sure we need them. I have a couple of "tossed-in" recipes I made that I didn't have on The List. Those include cream cheese mints and a pan of Cranberry Biscotti. 

We should have enough. I always say that, and then I bake twice as much as we need...

This is a rolled sweet dough with a dab of pineapple preserve in it. I've had rugelach, and they've had apple filling. These are yummy. And delicious.

After

And a major pain in the butt to make. You have to make the dough and let it sit overnight. Then roll it out on sugar, cinnamon and ground nuts. And then cut it, dab it, roll it and bake it.

And the fun doesn't stop there!! It's so sugary that the stuff often melts, creating a hotter-than-boiling caramel which will trash the cookies if you don't get them off the pan immediately. I use parchment paper. And parchment also on the cooling rack so that they don't stick to the rack. 

And I look forward to them every Christmas.

Tomorrow is The Day of Potica with Kid #1. The kitchen table is cleaned off (I don't have enough counter space to roll on the counter, and I'm too short to do that well anyway!). My recipe is at hand, and I've looked at the inventory. I have everything I need (except, perhaps, enough freezer space...) and I think we're ready to go. 

I've washed my hands about a dozen times this morning. Time to go find some high-powered hand lotion. That may put the skids on the knitting for now, but I have to do something with these hands before I pick up my guitar again - otherwise my fingers will split. 

My mom is making Rosettes this year. This is totally off the wall. The rosettes are something we did a lot as kids. Well, of course, that was in the days before fried food was a "no-no." Here's a recipe, and to say this is out of our cultural comfort zone is to put it mildly. I don't have irons anymore. Mom's got her original set. Which means that in a few years, I'll have them. We take a dab of strawberry preserves and dot it in the center of the flower or snowflake. Oh, first comes the powdered sugar. 

Nobody should wear black on Christmas, I guess! 

Random Picture...

Mixed Greens Wreath

This is what the wreath looks like at 5 a.m. It snowed again last night, and I was outside cleaning up. It wasn't a ton of snow, but I didn't feel like hauling the garbage cans through snow...

The wreath is real - mixed, about 4 different kinds of greens, which I like. I had the bow. And Hubby bought the small LED lights. It's very pretty. 

So far, no more snow, but I'm hopeful. There's a Special Weather Statement that says we could be in for a "quick burst" of snow this afternoon and early evening. "Moderate to briefly heavy" snow! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! Sorry. Ahem. Anyway, it may start in the next hour or so, and should still only be about 1/2" or so.

But it'll occur right about at rush hour. Which makes me wonder whether or not I'll have any students tonight for yoga. I didn't last week, but we had a pretty nasty cold snap. If this keeps up, I'm going to be bummed. 

Is it stalking if I e-mail my students  and ask them what's up? Problem is, lots of times, yoga goes away over the holidays and possibly will come back after the New Year for all those folks setting resolutions. But the studio's rent doesn't stop. And that worries me. I love teaching 5 minutes from my house. 

Well, if they don't show up, I guess I have extra time to start working on that thesis for my teacher training. I'm trying to pace myself. 

Meandering Monday...

OK, so I know I should ("should") be blogging more often, because I know I have wanted to say stuff, but I'm just pffffffth lately. So here goes with a really random list of things I've wanted to say.

1.  Penn State: Sorry, not enough. The NCAA should've invoked the "death penalty" on them. The students/coaches at SMU did something rotten to earn theirs, but not NEAR as rotten as allowing a pedophile virtually unlimited access to children. Sure, invoke the fines, pull back scholarships and delete their presence from bowl games -- and YES, move the statue of "St. JoPa" - but more importantly, a "death penalty" will give people pause and give them lots to think about.

2.  Health issues: I'm feeling pfffffffffth because (a) it's hotter than a convection oven today and has been for a while -- and I'm not "lizard" like my mom. Not liking the heat. And (b) the medications I'm taking so far lower my heart rate, keep my blood pressure down, and thin my blood. And I'm still having the "joy of Mother Nature's visits" so I'm probably somewhat anemic. Tired much? I swear I have the stamina of a newborn and it's really annoying me.

3.  Health update: I have an appointment in August with a specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital about the ablation procedure. They're doing a "cryo-balloon ablation" as opposed to a "radio-frequency" procedure. One is hot (RF) and one is cold (cryo). One is 6 hours on a table (RF) and one is about 2 hours (cryo). While I know there are risks on every procedure, to me - the fact that you spend less time "under and out" makes the cryo more appealing, but I've got lots of questions to ask. The ultimate goal, of course, is to fix my heart while it's still in good shape and get me off the meds that make me feel "pffffffffth."

4. Knitting update: I absolutely HATE the sweater!!! It's wrong. The gauge is wrong. The measurements are wrong. It looks like a sweater that would fit a 1o-year-old. And I knitted it according to the "XL" size on the pattern. I'm sure (ahem) that there's some knitter-issue there, but I've heard from some of the other KAL knitters that the yarn was a stinker to work with. I have one skein left, and I'll probably trade it for another color (pink or salmon) and make Kid #1's girlfriend a headband. She's a blonde, so the ivory yarn would just melt into her head.

5.  Politics: Does it strike anyone else that Mitt's going to LONDON to hold fundraisers? Yes, they'll be soliciting "American donations" but those folks work for Barclay's Bank. Conflict much? The Citizens United decision is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And for SCOTUS to have the gall to claim that there would be "no inherent conflict or corruption" means that those folks need to get out more.

6.  Knitting 2: I've started a bolero out of Knit One Crochet Two cotton. It's pretty. And yeah, I've already frogged and started over. Knitting = relaxation, right??? Auggggggggh!!! But it's coming along and I hope to have it done before Convocation, which is our big "start the fall semester" celebration at work. It'll be cute. If it's not 100* in the shade!! It's cropped AND short sleeved, so I'm hoping I can wear it.

7.  Tippi's Therapy Work: Well, the Tipster is working out quite nicely at Child Advocacy Center. We have a gig tomorrow that's THREE appointments! I believe she'll do well, as long as we get a break mid-way through for her to eat and decompress a bit. And we start the work at the main campus for "Tuesdays with Tippi" in September. She'll be a busy girl! We'll have that TDIX certification in no time! Not bad for a rescue dog.

8.  Knitting 3: Yeah, lots of knitting today. I'm trying to get organized and do a NO MORE SHOPPING approach till I get some projects done. Please, stop laughing!! I'm serious!! I've decided to bag up my projects (those not started and the WIPs*) and pull one out a month. Work on that project for a month (socks don't count if I can get them done quickly) and get some of this whittled down. *WIP is "manufacturing speak" for Work-In-Progress. The other common term is UFO (Un-Finished-Object).

9. Knitting 4: So the boys found "ear-flap" hats they want for Xmas. Blowing a slight hole in my "empty the stash" project... Yes, the yarn is purchased. Yes, they're bagged up. Will start THEM after the bolero.

10.   The Garden: So it looks like Hubby's persistent watering has done some good. We have our first batch of tomatoes, and the herbs are weathering the drought. We have a nesting pair of Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, and they visit the feeders regularly (as do the wasps, but we have traps out...). The shallots are done and need to be pulled up, and the carrots are coming along swimmingly.  I do, however, have a severe problem with a soil-bound fungus which is totally screwing up my roses. Unfortunately, the only cure is to pull them up, pour on neem oil and then never plant roses in that area again. Bummer. But I think we'll shift over next year to a butterfly-and-hummingbird-friendly garden. I also have a Memorial Garden set up for our dogs who're passed on with solar gazing balls and little monuments. It's a rock garden, and we have St. Francis there. And my Cubs gnome.

11.  Ron Santo: Sorry, I was only going to do 10... But Ron Santo was finally (FINALLY) inducted into the Hall of Fame. Could you all have waited any freakin' longer??? The man is dead. He LIVED for Cubs baseball. And he had a pre-steroids record, including him being a diabetic, that should make most younger players hang their heads in shame. I'm so glad he's finally there, but jeeze....You're talking about inducting Sammy Sosa and the other 'roid-heads that are already there, and you leave Santo out in the cold till after his death? Heartless morons. His wife and family were very gracious. And actually, I'm thrilled. Just annoyed at the way it all came down.

Must. Get. Gauge. ALWAYS

The gnashing of teeth you hear is me. I've finished the pieces of the KAL (Knit-A-Long) sweater I've been slaving away on for the past one and a half months. I'd love to show it to you but right now, I'm in the throes of assembly.

Yesterday, I was in the throes of WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????????????? as I tried to "block to measurements. Only to find that it's not right. I mean, really REALLY not right. As in about-2-sizes-smaller not right. Crap.

I could blame the yarn. And I might. But...I also need to blame myself. My stitch gauge is right on. 20 sts = 4" and that's what the directions say. What they also say is "30 rows = 4 inches" and that, my fellow knitters, is what's wrong. I'm 1 1/2" too short. Well, I'm not. The sweater is. That measurement takes it from a Large to a Medium. Which isn't going to fit me in this lifetime. Even though the bust measurement is correct, it's not gonna fit. Ever.

So. I'm going to assemble it anyway. And if the Knitting Gods are with me, I'll get the 2x2 ribbing done in time to give it to my mom. For her birthday.

Not that I don't WANT to give my mom a hand-knit sweater. And not that she won't like it. It's just that this was something I was very happy to knit for myself. Because it's only my second sweater. Ever.

And Sonda's not around to help me finish it. I'm on my own. Even Maggie Righetti couldn't help me because her instructions for weaving horizontal seams made no sense. I got it from about.com and it's working. But it's annoying.

I usually am right on gauge. That's not a brag. It's just the way it works. And for some reason, this yarn, probably because of its thick-thin-thick-thin texture, threw me off. (See, I can blame the yarn if I want to!)

I have two options. Frogging isn't one of them. I could toss the whole thing into a bag and bribe one of my fellow stitchers to finish it for me. Or I could just suck it up and do it myself.

Believe me, the "let Doris finish it" option was very tempting. But I have to learn this stuff. It's like making socks: scary till you understand it.

This will give me the impetus to GET GAUGE both ways for the bolero I want to start. And it also makes me think that perhaps my mother will get a few of my WIPs because they're too far along to frog. I may as well have SOMEONE get some joy out of them. (sigh)

So my hard lesson to you, Knitsters, is to always get gauge. Believe them when they say, "Save time now by doing a swatch." It's that important.

Happy 4th of July to everyone! Stay safe. If you're in the heat wave like we are, stay cool and hydrated. And please, please, PLEASE take care of your pets. Keep 'em inside because of the heat AND the fireworks. They get scared. And it's your job to protect them.