That Sinking Feeling...

...when you realize you're supposed to knit ACROSS the turned heel so you're on the proper side to pick up the gusset stitches.... 

Crap

Let me explain for the non-knitter readers: you pick up stitches along the side of the heel so that you make that "right turn" to work on the foot of the sock. But if you're an idiot, like I am apparently this morning, you have picked them up on the OPPOSITE side from where you're supposed to be. And you end up purling across the instep.

See, in knitting socks, you're knitting in the round. That means, normally (unless the pattern says otherwise), you ALWAYS just knit. No purls. 

So. I could turn the thing inside-out and proceed, but there's the dilemma of picking up the other side backwards, if you will. 

So I'm just going to frog it. I saw a set of stitch markers that had various phrases that I'm using. "Crap" is one of them. 

Turned heel

Otherwise, I did turn the heel, finding a source for the math. Go ahead - laugh. I should know this, and knitting involves math, but I'm just a dunce when it comes to that. 

So I did that last night before I toddled off to bed. So that's the excuse I'm using: I should have knitted across, but I was too tired. 

And it was even worse. Of course, yesterday being July 4, everyone in the neighborhood becomes a pyrotechnics expert. In spite of the fact that it's illegal in IL. And in spite of the fact that it's just plain neighborly to not be lighting off M-80s in the relative 'burbs. 

I didn't fall asleep till about midnite, and the noise didn't abate till then. Yes. I can call the cops. But no. It won't do any good. We've had that argument before, and really there are too many idiots buying the stuff. We would need better policing at the border between Indiana and IL to really make the point, but nobody wants to do that. And our state troopers are busy getting drunks off the roads. 

I'd rather they do that. If someone blows their hand off, I'm not very sympathetic. It's your own blasted (sorry) fault. 

Biking...

New duds

Got me some new biking duds!! The shorts have a nice gel insert. I have some older pairs, and the padding has flattened. So I have new gloves (I rather like the older ones, but these are lighter), and tops and the shorts. 

So we went off yesterday, before the real explosions started, so we could be home with the girls in time. 

Hitch

Hubby says he's going to order a hitch for my truck. Here's what we have on his: it's a multi-use thing where you can put a ball on it to haul a trailer. This also hauls the bikes nicely. You can lock it, too, so that you can leave your bikes if you need to. Normally, we don't lock it, but then we're not leaving our bikes for an extended period of time. 

You can tell we're on the edge of the country. The trail we chose was a mixed-use trail. There were 2 guys on horses. We rang our little bike bells (yes, the ones you had as a kid) and went carefully around them. Though I'd have preferred to get ON the horses!! So the trail isn't totally paved. It's got that finely crushed limestone that the horses prefer. 

There were walkers, folks with strollers, runners - everyone uses the trail. The bad part is with that surface; it's a little wonky now because of the recent rains. In some spots, it's washed out, and in spots, the gravel has pooled, which makes it interesting to navigate. You have to be consistently on the watch, and it's a little rough on the body, too. Couple that with the fact that I gained some poundage over the Convention, I hadn't been on the bike in 3 weeks or so, and we had a headwind... It was not a fun ride. 

Hitching rail

I mean it was; I'm proud that I did it. But it was a pretty wimpy ride all things considered. I only did about 6.8 miles. 

Here's another way you can tell it's a mixed-use trail. That thing I'm hanging onto is a hitching rail.

Yes, I think this will be my "before" shot. Spandex is nobody's friend, but truly it does make the ride a lot more comfortable. 

As far as the biking itself is going, I don't think I'll be doing any today, but maybe tomorrow we can get out if the weather cooperates. It's a very nice way for me to get exercise in addition to the yoga. 

Moving Out...

Kid #2 and I are going to his new area to look for apartments. He needs to get there by mid-July, and it's fast approaching. He's been dilly-dallying, and I think the little birdie needs a shove out of the nest.

We've decided to put bookshelves in his room, make it truly my yoga room, and store the massage table in there (it folds up). When we have guests, we have a queen-sized air mattress that isn't all that bad, frankly! 

Supervision necessary

My office (Kid #1's room) has become a dumping ground and it really needs to be cleared out better. 

As far as organizing goes, Hubby built me a new place for my shoes. Kid #2 can take the old rack to his place; he's kind of a shoe maven too...And right now, they're all piled at my back door. Size 12s take up a LOT of room!! 

So as he's doing that and I'm turning the heel of the Fluro sock, I hear him laugh. This is what I see down the hall. 

Raisa apparently thinks he needs supervision. She wandered over there and plopped herself in the middle of his job and just waited him out. 

What a silly dog!!

The Garden...

Lookee what I found on my dill!!! My friend Susan B says that this is a swallowtail butterfly-to-be! They love dill. And this is really why I planted what I planted this year. 

Dilly Caterpillar

I didn't get any good shots of the bees on the coneflowers. But suffice to say, their little legs were LOADED with pollen. 

Again, we'll have more dill than we can use, so let the butterflies have it. 

The French Lavender is coming along nicely, and the petunias are nice and bright. 

We have a problem with one of our hummingbird feeders. I think it's leaking. And we're sad that we're not seeing more hummers this year. 

I'll try to get pics of the coneflowers soon. 

There's still a few weeks to wait for cucumbers. We're lettucing like crazy. And perhaps at least 2 weeks till the first tomato.

A Quote...

Here's a quote that actually pinpoints what SCOTUS just did to us.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.  Abraham Lincoln

It's already started. Now the religious whackos are after their own version of Sharia law: let's discriminate against ANYONE who's NOT US. So they're already lining up to see if they can get a "religious exemption" so that they can NOT hire LGBT people. 

Because, you know, Jesus likes the hating. 

Random Picture...

Bubble, bubble

Just because I like the water action. Hubby got a new bubbler for the one bird bath. It took a while to get the solar panel into the sun (we want to keep it in the bed so that we don't have to worry when mowing) and when it did, it took off!

Again, taken with my phone. This 41 megapixel camera is crazy-good. 

I turned up the two smaller ones in the other bird bath, but I have one "bubbler" and one "trickler" - which is fine. Anything that keeps the water moving reduces the chances of mosquitoes laying eggs. 

We just have to figure out what to do with the birdbath in the back. Probably move it off the patio and closer to the driveway, so that it gets more sun. It's very shallow, though. So maybe its ultimate destiny is a base for a planter. I keep going back to that. Put some pea gravel in it, stick a pot of flowers in there and let it be. It's even too shallow to be an actual planter itself. 

This weekend, I have to find some time to make up the jelly. I found a recipe for Herb Jelly and Tarragon Jelly. It's all coming up at once!

I'm Back!! And Happy to Be Here!

Wow, can't even remember when I last checked in. It was before the Zonta International Convention, that's for sure. I've been busy as heck. I was a delegate at the convention and had spent 5 days in Orlando, Florida.

Now. Lest you think I was sunning my days away, let me assure you: it was work. We had before us a proposal to massively, and I mean MASSIVELY revamp our by-laws. That got interesting, to say the least. Check out our club's Facebook page to see how it all shook out. And follow us! We want 100 followers at least. 

Zonta is an international organization dedicated to advancing the status of women. We work with the UN (we're a NGO - non-governmental organization), in particular with projects which help women in under-developed countries. Locally the club I belong to gives away a lot of money in terms of scholarships. They're not only academically based; the young women have to be involved in their community as well.

Anyway, one of our sessions went from 7:30 a.m. till about 7:30 p.m. This is what I did to help me stay focused.

Yep, the Fluro sock. And the bag is from Chicken Soup Designs. Check her work out because it's fantastic. I got a lot of compliments on the bag. 

And the sock!

Anyway, not much time to knit during the conference because we were so busy working. I did manage some pretty cool pictures, and I did manage to get some sunrises and sunsets. But all in all, we are tired and happy to be home.

The picture here is a sunset over a pavilion at the hotel. It was with the camera phone. And it was a lovely night. 

Orlando Sunset

We ended up trying to take walks at night just because we sat so much during the day. I'm sorry - having us get up and move every hour or so wasn't cutting it!


And the food. We ate at restaurants; the one draw-back is that no meals are provided, but in other ways, that's probably good. 

My issue was that they were always feeding us, and you do get into a "herd mentality" where if it's in front of you, you will invariably eat it. 

So it's back to Atkins or something for me, because it's wayyyyyyyy too easy to get out of control. Quickly.

Native costumes

So the convention was host to almost 1,200 women from all over the world. The first day, we have a "dress parade" where you can wear a native costume if you have one. This picture is a candid of some lovely women in various native outfits. It's a stirring ceremony and it makes you realize what you are doing when you're involved with a group that celebrates the advances women have made. 

For example, one big project we voted on was to continue to fund the Campaign to Eliminate Obstetric Fistula in Libya. Here's the deal. You've probably never heard of Obstetric Fistula. Well, that's because it's virtually unheard of here. 

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was originally the last hospital to do obstetric fistula repair. Just in case you think I'm kidding, go here.

Obstetric fistula is what happens to little girls, and I do mean little girls, who are sold to husbands. Sold at the age of ohhhh - 12 or so. And they get pregnant. And for the most part, they're undernourished as it is, and physically perhaps able to get pregnant, but also, physically stressed by the pregnancy.

And then top that off with no prenatal care, and a hospital that is maybe 8 hours away (if they're lucky) or several days away. And in labor, these girls walk to the hospital, since there's no ambulance. Well, you can imagine what that does to their bodies. If they survive, they have issues with eliminating waste. It just happens. They're shunned by their families, their husbands usually toss them out and they're societal outcasts.

We have been funding this project for many years - and this year, we voted almost unanimously to fund this for a little over $600,000. 

For this, we can be proud.

SCOTUS...

For THAT? Not so much... The "Store That Shall Not Be Named" has won a victory, thanks to a bunch of judges who have no ovaries. So let's put this in perspective.

Corporations are people, apparently.

Corporations have the right to speak. 

Corporations have religious beliefs.

Sooooooooooooooo - howz-about they pay taxes???? Like, well, you know --- PEOPLE.

The STSNBN does cover birth control. Just not the ones they think "cause abortions." Science. Seriously. Most freshmen in high school know that birth control pills PREVENT the egg from implanting. Oh, and they cover Viagra. Of course. 

Because apparently, women get pregnant in a vacuum. 

So The STSNBN gets to pick how their employees spend the money they pay them. I mean, let's think about this. Most times, you get a paycheck + benefits. The benefits are PART OF YOUR SALARY. So you get those in exchange for work. The employer gives them to you. So you get to decide what to do with those benefits. 

Except, not. 

And SCOTUS has said that this is a "very narrow" ruling. But already the nut-whacks are lining up. Now, they'll petition to be able to discriminate in hiring, because, you know, we can't hire "the gay" or "the brown" or whatever else they choose to discriminate on in regard to hiring. 

Because, you know, corporations have religious beliefs. And those religious beliefs must be imposed upon the rest of us. 

Because apparently, CORPORATE religious freedom is more important than the freedom from religion we have in this country. So INDIVIDUAL beliefs are not as important as CORPORATE religious beliefs. Says SCOTUS.

I'm disgusted. I haven't shopped at The STSNBN, and I won't. They've purchased their belief at the expense of a lot of customers. 

We're sliding fast down that slippery slope predicted by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. And it's quite unlikely that we'll be able to climb back to the nation that we were. 

You know - the one "of the people, for the people, and by the people." 

Where did that go?

Knitting...

So nothing else on the needles yet. I'm at the heel of the first Fluro sock, and it will be interesting because I cast on 72 stitches. We'll see how this fits. It'll be a slightly longer heel, so we can see how that works with my foot. 

I have a nice stash of sock yarn, so after the Fluro socks, I think I'll go after finishing the baby sweater; and then just rotate the socks in between projects. I should have a healthy stash of socks soon. 

Kid #2 is moving out soon. He'll get his afghan for Christmas, I suppose. I don't want that on my lap during the summer. 

Health...

The atrial ablation is scheduled for July 24. My pre-op tests are the week of the 14th. And we have a problem. I'm allergic to the IVP dye. As in "I stop breathing." And they need a CAT scan of my heart. Here's the scoop on this kind of allergy. Thing is, they can't test for it. 

They found it when I had a CT scan as a kid and stopped breathing. Not cool. So it's emblazoned across my MedicAlert bracelet and every medical record I talk about. But we're not sure how we're going to handle this. Seriously, I refuse to take this stuff. I can't tell you how it petrifies me to think that the reaction will happen. 

So I'm calling the doc on Monday to discuss this.

And... I had a bad week at the convention. I've gained a lot of weight, so this coming week, we're back on a strict program. I need to get this off, and keep it off. I did it before and I can do it again. And since I've been back on the bike, it should be easier this time. Anyway, we have an ally in the fight to be fit. 

So. To fix that, we have:

The Garden...

Topping 7 feet

Here it is. In all its glory. I just gave 2 bags of lettuce to my friends. I've eaten as much as I can, and we'll just keep eating it. We have a tiny cucumber, and a half-dozen tomatoes. 

We've re-done the radishes so we have another batch. Yum!!!

Tomatoes!

Here's a picture from this morning, with Hubby standing by for scale. 

The herbs are also going quite nicely. I have to weed the chives. 

So Friday, between knitting the sock, hitting the bike trail and weeding... I'll be keeping dogs calm and trying to have a decently calm 4th of July.

I might be able to get in a batch of basil jelly. Heaven knows we have a ton. Maybe a straight-up "herb" jelly because I have several that are ready to go. 

It depends on how humid it gets. I don't want to warm up the house like crazy, but I do need to use up the greens. We've developed a system of plucking them, and then Hubby constructs "bags" with our vacuum sealer - dividing a bag into quarters so that we can just cut one off and use it as we need to.

The flowers are fading a bit, but we knew that would happen. No more hummingbirds to speak of, and that's kind of disappointing. We got a new pump for the one bird bath, and put the other 2 in the bird bath that's more in the sun. We'll see if we need to move them around a bit. 

Happy 4th of July!

Random Picture...

And speaking of the 4th of July. Here's Tippi. Luckily, we got this before dusk, because the morons are shooting off their rockets.

I wish they'd consider others. Like, what if there was a vet on our block with PTSD?? The count is thus: Raisa is oblivious. Tippi is upside down and sort of passed out by my chair as I type this. When the boom-booms go off, she surfaces enough to growl like she wants to rip someone's liver out. 

If it wouldn't ruin her career as a therapy dog? I might just help her do that!

Quinn is huddled under Hubby's desk. It's gonna be a long night. 

Can We Just Agree...

...that Dick Cheney is a soul-less moron with no actual experience in ANY war, and thus should not ever - EVER - be quoted as an "expert" in anything to do with the Middle East?

Unless, of course, you want to talk about the faulty equipment that Haliburton sent over, the bad facilities and the general killing and maiming of an entire generation so that he and his ilk could make billions?

Ok. There. That's the end of THAT discussion. Hey, newspapers and news outlets: STOP QUOTING THIS IDIOT! He's shot his credibility just like he shot his lawyer friend in the face. 

So. Enough. It's just as bad that Terry Bradshaw, late of the NFL, is now a Fox News(?) commentator spouting off about Benghazi. Really. I couldn't make that up even if I tried...

Knitting...

This is WORLDWIDE KNIT-IN-PUBLIC WEEK!! Go out and knit something in front of people!!

Ok, so to celebrate this great holiday, I bit the bullet and bought Fluormania sock yarn. And of course, the Teal Sock #2 is sitting again... I'm on the foot of Teal, though, so there's hope that it'll be finished sooner rather than later.

I told you it's coming along...

I'm sad (well, not really) to say that on my first day off in a couple of weeks, I went to Le Mouton Rouge and spent a bit of money on yarn. This IS my favorite yarn shop. Kelly is great to deal with, the yarns are quite nice, and the "stuff" that we knitters need? It's plentiful!

I went by myself, and I probably should have thought about that for a bit. I haven't been feeling well, and Morris is a ways from my house. 

Neon Flower

Sure enough, I started feeling a little "off" about half-way home. Took a reading and according to my sister, I'm now also throwing PVC (premature ventricular contractions). Lovely.

Back to knitting... So here's the Fluromania colorway I have. It's "Neon Flower." It's going to be wild. Seriously, the picture doesn't do it justice with the way it pops in real life. Kelly is holding 2 more for me: Ocean and Berry, I believe. 

It's a little different. I'm doing these in a plain pattern, with a K2, P2 ribbing instead of K1, P1. I also chose US size 1 DPNs and I cast on 72 stitches. Usually, I'm a 64-stitches gal, but also I'm using 2.5-ish or so...

Bright start...

I think that the 72-cast on will be fine. It's a much smaller needle; truly, the smallest I've knitted on since I knitted 3 rows of a "baby afghan" on two size-00 needles.

Which I gave away. And now that I know - I wish I'd have had sense enough to keep them... Oy. Live and learn.

So I did the usual 6-row knit-around for the cuff, and it's looking interesting at any rate.

All Hubby said was, "Well, those are gonna be bright!"

The other stuff I bought is pictured below. 

Do I need it? Of course....(maybe not). 

I bought more sock yarn. I'm on a roll. I think it's because I've finally got socks "in my hand" and they're becoming a great take-along project. It's summer. I know that I owe Kid #2 his afghan, but really - even though the house is air-conditioned, I don't really feel like working on an afghan.

He knows it's in progress. He's seen it. 

Trekking

So. We have more Trekking. Now that I have the Karbonz size 1 DPNs, I think this will be nicer than the Teal Socks. I am toying with the idea of perhaps a cable down the cuff of these? I have to look for a pattern for simple cabled socks. 

I love the colors. And I don't think that the cable would be "too much" with the colorway. I could also do the Twisted Rib like I did with the Madelaine Tosh "Franken-sock." 

Yes. This time I'll write down what I did with the heel. Thanks for reminding me...

And there's more Opal. This is still the Little Prince colorway, but it's a different color - I can't remember which number it is; it's in the bag in my office at home. It's brighter, and has blue in it, which my last Little Prince socks didn't have. 

Opal

This reminds me of a beach towel. Don't know why. But the other Opal Little Prince reminds me of autumn. 

Since this one is very definitely a self-patterning yarn, I will again do a plain vanilla sock. 

By the time I finish this, I should be able to do a Plain Vanilla Sock in my sleep. Which is nice, I think. 

At least memorizing a pattern will be good for my brain. I think I can do everything to the heel in my head. At least till the heel turn, since I have mostly memorized The Doris Heel.

I also purchased the Fish Lips Kiss heel pattern from Ravelry. That may end up on the next pair of Opal socks. Not sure yet. 

Shawl-to-be

This is Cascade Ultra Pima. A while back, I used their stunningly gorgeous garnet color for my friend Janet's prayer shawl. This is Jade. And this is the pattern I am doing: The Miami Beach Shawl. It's a free download and also, (yay!) not charted. 

Check out the awesome shawl pin I got from the shop. I figure that if I get the whole thing, it'll be the next thing on my needles.

Go ahead. Laugh if you want. At the rate I'm going, I could potentially use this as the project I knit while recuperating from the atrial ablation. 

Lord knows I'll need something to keep my mind busy. 

My Friday...

So here's a lovely look at my lovely Friday (yes, tomorrow). 

At 7:30 a.m. I have a board meeting/annual meeting at which I'll be named president of the organization's board of directors. It's a one-year term. I have to run out of there, speed drive home and change for a... 

10:30 a.m. interview with a committee of colleagues who are in charge of hiring for the academic advisor position I've applied for. Then, at... 

11:30 a.m., I spend an hour with the Dean of the adult accelerated program. Who also happens to be Special Assistant to the Provost. And buddies with the person who decided to flip my life head-over-heels.

Then, just for fun... at 2:30 p.m. I meet with the cardiologist to talk about the upcoming surgery. Hubby will be there with a notebook in hand. Because I'm telling you: my brain will shut down right about when the doc says, "It's a 5-hour procedure..."

Then, at 6:30 p.m. I have a guitar lesson. Which is likely to be the highlight of my day...

Luckily, I don't have to work on Saturday. 

But I do have a wake on Saturday. It's also the day I'd planned to whip down to Le Mouton Rouge to pick up those 2 extra Fluro skeins. I'll see how that goes. It'll be another trip down there by myself, because if I go with "The Girls" it'll take too long. It may be that I can go Tuesday, with "The Girls" since we haven't seen each other in a long while. 

If the call doesn't come for Tippi from Children's Advocacy Center. 

The wake is for the FIL of my friend Nat. It's a short one, with a private burial, and I really want to make sure I get there. 

Susan B. Anthony...

This is my new Facebook picture. I love this quote. Especially these days, when we're having a lot of trouble (in my opinion) with folks shoving their religion in our faces. 

It reads:  I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

You tell it, sister.

See, I'm a religious person. I have no problem with other religious people. I just do not believe that the United States of America has a "state religion." 

Those Founders that the ultra-right-tea-baggieez are always beating us with? They clearly said that there was to be separation of church and state. 

I'm also not really fond of politicians saying, "God Bless America" after speeches. I think that's disrespectful to atheists and agnostics. For cryin' out loud: Even Pope FRANCIS says that they should be respected.

And I love that a woman said this. Particularly since women are usually on the receiving end of men's  proclivity to regulate and "religious-ulate" our reproductive rights and even our working and personal rights. Hey - I'd like to make the same wage a man makes. It would be cool.

And please. If you don't have my plumbing, you aren't allowed to legislate against it. 

The Storms...

Clouds from the southwest

So this happened. I went to the back of the campus to put a note on the board yesterday morning... And in 5 minutes, the outside looked like this. 

More clouds

The weather alarm didn't go off, but it was totally dark, and the wind whipped up something fierce. 

It started with a couple of plops of rain, a clap or two of thunder and then some pretty nasty lightning. 

The lights flickered briefly but we didn't lose power. 

Then it started bucketing. It didn't last long, but it was fierce. We apparently just got skimmed with that system that spawned a couple of twisters up north of us. 

There's more in the forecast for today, and I'm hoping it holds off till I get home, and settled in with my knitting. 

The rest of the clouds

What's fascinating is the cloud formations. They're pretty cool. It was another adventure in "How fast nature changes" and it was awesome to witness. I was particularly concerned about that batch from the southwest, since that's usually where tornado activity initiates.

And last night's yoga class was punctuated by yet another storm. Of course, I was by the window. Try holding Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog to the civilians) while thunder and lightning are popping all over... It's a study in concentration, for sure. 

As I start to clear out 8 years of "stuff" from the campus, I'm feeling melancholy, and the clouds kind of reflect what I'm feeling. 

I don't know if I'll get the job I'm interviewing for. I told my boss the other day that I wished with all my heart that she or someone else would call and say, "You all are moving to the new location" -- but I think that she and I are the only ones who think that that's a good idea. 

She's pitching something for my assistant, for which I'm really grateful. But one thing is for sure. 

I'm really tired of having to reinvent myself. 

I thought I'd have a home in this job for a long, long time. And maybe for some folks, 8 years IS a long, long time. But not for me. 

Bad Karma...

So this other thing happened. A student bounced a check for a private yoga lesson. Then, my bank (which happens to be the student's bank) ran it again and it bounced AGAIN. So. No fee for the lesson and TWO bounce-fees. I've asked the student (strongly) to pay me in cash, ASAP. According to the last communication, this should be accomplished by next week. I gave the student 5 days, which I'm told is "much too nice."

My studio owner - well, this is her hot-button issue. There's a sign in the studio with the student's name and "cash only" on it. I don't know that I'd have done that, but it's her studio. She really doesn't want to have to chase people for fees. And I get that. We shall see.

If the student doesn't come forward with what's owed, I will (sadly) be reporting this to the police. It sounds harsh, but it is, after all, a business. 

If the student had called and said, "I need to change the lesson date and time" it would have been fine and I would never have thought that it was perhaps that money was tight. It's more honorable in that instance to do that -- rather than write a check you can't cover. 

You want to trust people. And it stinks when you find out that you can't trust them as often as you would like to. 

Blowing coat

Random Picture...

This is Tippi. Or what's coming OFF Tippi. She's blowing coat. So is Quinn, but to a much lesser extent. 

Raisa is, too, a bit. But not near this amount... However, NEXT year, she'll be on par with Tippi, if not more.

And no. I'm not saving it this time. I haven't even started anything with the Five-Dog-Yarn that I have.

But I've found a lovely lace shawl that will fit that yarn nicely.

It's on my list. 

I was going to go put another box of stuff into the car. But then I realized I had 2 cans of upholstery cleaner in there.

I don't think I need to have them explode. It's a cloudy day, but the car interior heats up nevertheless.

I guess it's time to save this, post it and take a toddle around the office. 

I Had This All Written...(version 2)

Seriously, it was a rough night last night and during one of my "can't get back to sleep" phases, I actually had this entire entry written in my head. 

And I said, "Self, you have to remember this, 'cause you need to get it on the blog."

So of course, I've forgotten it. Entirely. Unless some synapse fires and I get another shot at it. 

I hate when that happens.

Knitting...

Slogging along on Teal #2. The heels are SO different that these are, I'm afraid, destined for Hiking Boots Only. 

Teal #2 Progress

Nope. Still can't find the notes on what I did for Sock #1. 

If it was only a MINOR difference in the heels, I'd just go ahead and be a "trend-setter." This is, sadly, now into "what the heck did you DO???" territory. So. 

Boot socks. 

As far as the leftover yarn, I will do two things, likely. First, I'd use the leftovers in Teal for cuff or heel/toe with a solid Trekking -- going down a needle size, since this is a thinner yarn than Opal. 

And second, add a few Teal Eggs to the Easter Tree!! I think they'd be cute. 

I can't wait to finish this sock. 

Though I'm still really all "awwwwwwwww" about my DPN holders from Clover. Sheep. Get it?

Health...

So, I ran into a "nurse joke" and it took me aback - I got a call from the other nurse in the cardio practice, and she had changed my procedure date up two days earlier, which was nice. Then she calls, and says, "I have to change it back. I'm assuming you'll want anaesthesia for this, right?"

Ummmmmmmmm. Yeah. 

Then, (smacking head) -- LOL. Sure, that's a good idea. Nurses have VERY strange outlooks on things.

Anyway, after 2 weeks of the cops and NO exercise to speak of, I am, of course, up several pounds. I'm sad to see them go but very happy their "poison pills" (a/k/a donuts from a lovely local shop!) are gone! 

I got on the bike yesterday, after work, and did a little over 6 miles. I'm sore. I have to "get back in the saddle" as it were. And I'm annoyed. I have "Map My Ride" and the first time, it did its thing just fine. THIS time? I have no idea what happened. I'd really rather track these things in "real time" instead of logging them later. Maybe I need to go back to the Android system for the tracking, though that's usually a bit off (like a mile or so) from the Windows version that Hubby's using. 

So perhaps I can get back on the bike today after work. It's 2 weeks of 6-days-per-week working and while I am not specifically whining, I'm kind of whining because I'm not used to it. 

Yes, I know that many people work two jobs, work 7 days a week, etc. And for a while, I was one of them. I truly appreciate the difficulties they have.

I'm just having a rough time with everything else going on, and it's wearing on me a bit. I promise I won't whine anymore. 

Kid #2...

So I did remember PART of what I wanted to say!! It's kind of Kid-related, and kind of Knitting-related.

He's thinking that "mid-July" will be his move-out date. That means I've gotta get that blasted chevron afghan done for Christmas at least. 

There's no way it will be done by move-out! 

We'll be "scavenging" among the family for things he can use till he gets his own house set up. It's a family tradition that certain pieces of furniture get handed down/handed over when needed. I've got some art, there's at least 1 set of dinnerware, some pots & pans. It'll all be a bit "eclectic" but it'll work. 

So our nest empties...

The Garden...

I don't have a decent picture and I have to tell you - it's amazing! I believe I can have radishes this weekend, and the lettuce is about ready. Yum!!!

Flower garden

The second batch of chives just is NOT liking that trough it's in. But the herbs in the Trug need to be harvested ASAP. They're going nuts. Strangely, the dill in the other trough out front is going incredibly well. Same dirt. Same kind of trough. Same sunlight. 

I will likely make some more Basil Jelly and perhaps see if I can find Tarragon Jelly as well, since that's exploding. Parsley will have to be frozen. I have the jelly jars. I just think parsley jelly will be a bit "whoooooooaaaa" -- but I do have walnuts, so maybe pesto??

Still haven't seen our full allotment of hummingbirds, and the petunias and fuschia are turning out nicely. Hubby says, though, that we'll see more of them as the summer moves on. 

We have to do something with the big blue birdbath (it's got a crack in it), and we've been thinking of some sort of water feature. It's kind of a problem because of the maple trees; all those twirly-gigs really mess with a pump. But I'd like to see something that's got movement because (a) it keeps the mosquitoes down; and (b) the birds like it. 

Random Picture...

Snow!

Just in case you're whining about it being "hot" -- here's a reminder of what we just went through here in the Midwest. 

Or, if you have a desire to feel "cool" -- this might cool you off. 

Either way. 

Frankly, I'm a winter baby and I've always preferred the cooler weather. If I could find a place where the warmest it gets is about 70-75 degrees, I'd be fine. I don't really care how cold it gets.

Cold, I can bundle up.

Hot - there's only so much you can take off till it gets indecent...

Speaking of which, I'm going to Florida in a couple of weeks. Business, sadly. Not looking forward to it. Anyway, I'll look forward to coming home to Hubby, the dogs and The Kid. It's nice to travel every once in a while by yourself. But it's even nicer to come home.