Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Definitely Earning my Wages these days
Home from the TA Sub job at the high school.
Another one of those days where us aides push wheelchairs where assigned, but it’s called PE.
A Summer on the treadmill and lifting hand weights was good prep for the job, but not the same as concrete floors and a kid with flailing arms.
Soooo Tired. Sat on the back steps to read the mail and enjoy bird songs.
When I came inside, I made a latte chiller using a powder mix and blender.
Tastes alright, and much less pricey than stopping off at the drive-thru.
Almost time for JEOPARDY! and host Alex Trebek.
Be Still My Heart--I love the guy’s voice and academic attitude.
Hope your week is doing okay. I am where I am needed.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Thursday, August 21, 2008
What I Did on my Summer Vacation
As promised in a previous post, here is another note to the question about What I did on Summer vacation?
click on the brown and pink hat resting on the Crafts table
there were 8 adult loom-knitted hats, 10 small child loom-knitted hats, 12 infant loom-knitted hats, 6 pair cotton crocheted potholders, and 3 cotton crocheted bookmarks
One fun pattern outcome of three hats
all were worked from the very same skein of holiday colors yarn
the difference being the number of pegs on each knitting loom
the largest hat was purchased by a dad for his daughter
he said something about her being in a program
It may be awhile before I have anything else to show you.
Employment can have a downside, meaning time away from my yarn and my computer,
but I hope and pray for a good new school year for everybody.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Procrastinating getting ready for school
School begins tomorrow, which is a Wednesday, but it is for morning only.
I went to the dentist this morning, and when I got home, the answering machine had a message from the office assistant at West High School saying she would need me to TA Sub, as many hours as I’m willing to work.
I had figured it would be next week before I would get called, before teaching assistants would need time away from their jobs, coming after the long summer.
Ah well, earning a paycheck again will be nice.
I used up my afternoon working on a hat.
knitted on the small adult 59 peg loom
with Red Heart Light-n-Lofty acrylic yarn
the color is pheasant, which I think is rather pleasant
It will be donated to the Meadows Home for the Fall Fundraiser.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Hat goes to the best customer
The Ewe Knit store in downtown Normal has to re-locate because the building has been purchased and will be torn down. The owner doesn’t want to have to transfer all the merchandise, so there is a nice per cent off sale going on.
Anything we buy, she won’t have to box up and move.
I was hanging out there, looking to see what 30% off might bring into my stash.
Meanwhile, Lynn was giving a knitting lesson to a girl about 10 years old. I don’t know what the mother was paying for her child to have a private lesson, but it looked like both teacher and student were having a fine time.
Although I prefer to crochet with a hook, this knitting with pointed sticks usually captures my attention, and I was a delighted rubber-necker.
To make myself seem proper, I did buy a couple skeins of pretty yarn, and yes, they are still in the bag waiting for a lovely project of the future.
Come on forward a couple weeks, and I was sitting near the Crafts table at the church rummage sale. I was working a baby hat on the small peg loom while passing time.
A girl came over to admire all the items on the table. She knew that the knitted dishcloths begin at one corner, get wider, then decrease to make the square. She looked over at me a bit shyly, and said she remembered that I was at the Ewe Knit shop while she was getting a lesson.
This pleases me no end, that children remember me and are willing to talk with me. Such trust should never be battered or shunned.
She really had her eye on one of the loom knitted hats.
She asked if she could try it on.
Yes, it fit a bit loosely because it was done on an adult size loom.
I mentioned that by winter, she might have growed a bit, and maybe going through the laundry would tighten the stitches a little.
Her mother and sister came over.
Her mom did not seem pleased to see the choice of hat, and picked up a different one.
After watching them interact awhile, I asked why not that first one.
Well, it doesn’t match her coat.
I had a hard time keeping a straight face.
my brain raced ahead asking What is it with some people who insist about colors? Haven’t they ever looked at the shades Nature gives us in a field of wildflowers, or the sky at sunset?
I mentioned for myself, that I have a hat I like, a coat I need, a scarf I wear. They are comfortable on cold winter days, doing the job I expect, but they are all different colors.
As a bit of incentive, I added that it was getting toward the end of the sale, so she could have the chosen hat for half price. ((Heck, I woulda paid for it myself if I hadn’t already been the lady who made it in the first place. The girl really liked that hat!))
So, mom relented and said yes, she could buy the hat.
Then sister started in. She picked up my own favorite color hat of the bunch and asked if she could have that one for half price.
I busted out laughing so hard that several folks around us had to stop and stare.
Golly, I miss my sisters so much. This is just the kind of situation we got into back in our day.
Yes, I said, you can have that one for half price.
I heard the mother heave a big sigh for realizing she was out-numbered.
Then I called across to the cashier about the payment arrangements.
As they were leaving, the mother was shaking her head, wondering how it had all come to pass.
The girls were wearing their new knitted hats, even though the temp outside was in the 80s.
I hope I see them again sometime this winter.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
oh, I forgot the picture of the chosen hat
here is me as a model the afternoon it got finished
not bad considering it is made from scrap balls of acrylic yarns, with the pink-and-brown ombre in the middle providing a nice swirl effect
Monday, August 18, 2008
Subject: F H P (girly items)
The subject is feminine hygiene products, so some of you might want to avert your eyes or move along sooner now.
Okay, all set?
I am in menopause for awhile now, and even before I was done with monthlys, I was using a DIVA cup. The peri-pads languished in a cupboard of the bathroom, and various other places until one afternoon when youngest son was getting ready to move out of this house and into an apartment closer to campus. He bought a new queen size bed and mattress for the occasion, and so he asked if there was an extra mattress pad in storage.
When I brought the mattress pad out of the closet, I found an unopened bag of maxi-pads, my “in case of a snowstorm and I didn’t want to go to the store” bag, buried under layers and layers of bedding.
Heaven knows its age, the picture said the wrappers were white rather than pink.
Well, there was also coming a rummage sale at the church. I rustled up some energy and went hunting for all my old female accoutrements.
I found a little kit in the bottom of my crochet bag, complete with individually wrapped pad, moist towelette packet, a change of panties.
Did I mention that it has been a couple years since my last period? I’ve been carrying the weight of that kit all over the place for ages.
In one cupboard of the bathroom, there was a half box of pads still with tails!!! and the elastic belt which would hold it up. Actually, 4 elastic belts, one being new and still in a wrapper.
So anyway, I think I gathered all the pieces and parts, and found a shopping bag in nice condition. I sorted and packed all the clean items into the bag, putting the whole unopened bag of maxis on the top.
With a piece of yarn, I tied the handles closed, and attached a note saying feminine hygiene products from closet of non-smoking home and a price of $2.
When I went to the church Friday to help set out stuff for the rummage sale, one of the other ladies looked at the bag and told me to take it right to the dumpster, nobody would buy that.
Well, I had already decided I was going to work the Crafts table at the rummage sale. Usually when I donate yarn items, I let whoever is in charge put them out and price them, but this was a day I was going to be a little mother hen with our handmade items, which were not actually ‘rummage’ but new and good quality projects,
so I really wanted to get a feel for what people are looking for. One woman said more solid colors, another wanted the color black. (My eyes find it difficult to be working with dark colors of yarn, so she might have to search elsewhere)
this was my first “for Sale” batch of hats worked with my new looms,
Husband is working on the photo of when the hats were spread all over the table.
So anyway, I just took that bag of feminine hygiene products along with me, and when I went back over in the morning to set up my Crafts table, I put it close by.
All morning, folks would glance at it, read the tag, snicker a bit. Nobody said the word out loud, but I do wish I had a hidden camera to capture the expressions.
Around Noon or maybe even after, a woman in her mid-30s grabbed up the bag and put it in her pile. Her mother, age in mid-60s, seemed skeptical about the purchase.
The buyer defended herself, saying “The bag on top is not even open! that’s worth the two bucks!”
When the worker doing the pricing and adding got to it, she bravely counted it in with the tally.
After they left, she looked over at me and said she never would have thought anybody would give money for that!
I told her that an item just has to be matched up with the right customer. The entertainment value would be worthy.
So, being the frugal old broad that I am, and having this small reason to gloat, I’m going to ask ya if you would be willing to buy personal care products at a rummage sale, especially if there was a note attached giving it a bit of credibility.
Or, maybe just give me a story about your most outlandish or regrettable purchase.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Donated Granny Squares Crib-size Blankie
The Normal Activity Center Needlework Group accepts donations of yarn and supplies to keep our projects going.
There is a nice shelf area in the storeroom dedicated to types and colors and weights of various yarns, plus a couple drawers with supplies, and a file cabinet with patterns.
Believe me, it is a crafter’s dream to be a part of this!
Somebody (and she knows who she is) donated 28 boxes (yes, that is twenty and eight covered boxes) of completed granny squares to the group.
I believe the original idea was to have folks send her squares, then all she would have to do is sew them together for some charity event.
Then health troubles got her behinder and guiltier, so give them to us she did.
We already do so many projects for donations, this can become another branch.
Last Thursday, I grabbed a big skein of yarn from the box marked WHITES, and brought home a pile of pastel squares which looked like they could become a crib-size baby aphgan.
When Husband got home from work, he found me sitting on the floor getting dizzy from too much color combination tugging at slightly odd sizes trying different arrangements.
It turns out the yarn for the sewing and the border had the name of Soft White, but this thing was already so far along, I just wanted to get it done.
Click on pictures for another view.
It’s a bit crazy to look at, but I know first hand that it is a warm cover.
I was watching the Olympics and had the blankie on my lap to work the edging.
Even with the air conditioner turned down low, I fanned my legs as I turned each corner.
One more chapter in my How I Spent My Summer journal.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Sunday, August 10, 2008
this will come in handy
This morning, a real sweet item came my way.
I don’t remember any mention of my favorite color to Riley, but about as soon as I got to church today, she came over to give me a very nice gift.
And Yes, yellow is my favorite color.
Her mom says the child could hardly wait until I got there; in fact had asked if it could have been delivered during the week as soon as she finished making the potholder.
I was just telling someone the other day that I keep very few of my own projects.
By the time the last bit of yarn is fastened off, I am beginning to grow tired of it and move onward to the next.
But a gift potholder, from a girl just learning the weaving, well, This is something I’ll treasure for a long time to come.
Now I’m off to do some hand writing on a nice note card.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Thursday, August 07, 2008
You can see that THEY have zucchini
In connection with my plight of what I am doing with a big zucchini, I will link you to Shaun Groves, Zucchini Farmer,
a guy whose blog I found through reading Owlhaven, who has her own zucchini quandary.
Alligator in the Kitchen
Last night must have been good for sleeping for me. I woke up with a very full bladder, so much so that when Husband was in the bathroom running water to fill the cat’s bowl, I barely made it to the potty. Both he and the girl cat looked at me strangely, cuz usually the bathroom ain’t so crowded.
I also remember a dream. Husband says that dreams are just the mind sweeping out the cobwebs, trying to make sense of circumstances that happen while we’re awake.
I would wish to have my own personal Joseph, dream interpreter, like the Bible story.
This one, I was in a house with several rooms, plush furniture, and a pond which went from outside under a wall of the building to come inside.
There was a protective railing in the middle of the kitchen, so that the lady stirring something on the stove looked like she might be a tourist at the zoo aquarium.
I was sitting on an ottoman with a little girl baby on my lap, chatting with the lady who was stirring something in a pan on the stove. Acting like it was the most normal thing ever to have a tank of water taking up half the kitchen.
Suddenly, an alligator leaps out of the water between the bars of the railing and latches onto the leg of the baby girl on my lap, who begins wailing with pain.
A little white dog starts barking at the alligator.
I don’t know what to do at all, I couldn’t just pull the baby back while her leg was in the teeth of an alligator, and the lady keeps stirring and doesn’t even turn around to notice or help.
That’s when I woke up with my heart beating like thunder in my ears, and almost gonna pee the bed, and I was already walking a few steps on the hardwood floor before I realized I had forgotten to stretch my left foot a bit before putting weight on it.
The plantar fasciitis will certainly make itself known today.
Talk about being in the grip of an alligator.
for the first time in weeks, I’ll have to make sure the cushion is in my shoe.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Monday, August 04, 2008
My Morning so Far
Yesterday at church, there was an oversize zucchini squash left on the table of sharing items in the Fellowship Area. I was almost the last person to leave, so I decided I’d bring it home, rather than worrying about whether it would make it to the fridge.
When son Chris saw it, he was amazed at how big it is. When I mentioned that I intend to do some baking, he asked if I would bring some to him at his job around lunch time.
This morning, while chopping nuts using a chopper rather than a knife and cutting board, I got a nice slice into the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. Same finger that was stuck to test for iron at my blood donation, so now it will be sore awhile longer.
Dang thing took 10 minutes to stop dripping, but finally two band-aids and a glove let me continue.
The gadget is going to the church rummage sale, which is where I got it in the first place.
I cut 3 inches of squash off the length and grated that piece into 2 cups for making zucchini nut bread.
Then I set the grater over on the other counter near the sink. When I spilled a bit of oil, I reached for the wipecloth.
The grater had been placed on its corner, so when I grabbed, the grater fell over, skinning the knuckles of my right hand. No bleeding this time, praise be.
Just as I was ready to pour the batter into 2 loaf pans, the mailman knocked on the front door, so I had a bit of a nice morning chat.
Some days he is the only other person I see until Husband comes home. Chris told us just before he moved out that he was kinda glad to be moving into the center of town, an apartment over the bookstore. He says our neighborhood is so vehwy vehwy quiet.
Once the pans were ready, I realized I had not pre-heated the oven.
So there they waited while I had to deal with Mahalia.
When the girl cat finds a slug on the sidewalk and makes it into her latest plaything,
what do you think takes the slime off her paws and my fingers?Softsoap milk & honey for hands? Nope
Dawn dish soap? Nope
Sunflower oil? Nope
Fels Naphtha bar laundry soap? Yes
of course all the others might have broke it down some....
There is 30 minutes left on the timer until the bread comes out of the oven.
I’m just waiting to see if any other small mishaps come along before I deliver some slices on a plate to the music store’s break room.
The rest of the zucchini = = hhmmm.
Maybe some ratatouille, or baked with cheese, battered and fried, or grate and freeze.
Time to pull out the ol’ recipe book.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Treats Jar
A few years ago, my sister Denise gave me a birthday gift of a ceramic crock with a picture of the historic Blaine Bridge. It has a shaped wooden lid, not airtight, but enough to cover the edge.
I keep it on my desk beside my computer monitor for the purpose of treats.
Much of the time, I’m glad for the lid because it reminds me not to open too often and munch the goodies.
After the chocolate covered cashews ran out, I left the crock sit empty for the last couple weeks.
However, the other day while at the store, I discovered new DOVE dark chocolate minis with chopped almond bits.
AND I had a coupon for 50¢ off, which would be doubled!
I may have to put a piece of tape on the lid for security.
The wrapper from today’s piece of chocolate says
“You’re allowed to do nothing”
Too late. Husband and I rode our bicycles to Denny’s for breakfast, then he went off to the job.
When I got home, I emptied the dishwasher and played with the cats.
Then I sat on the back porch and crocheted a dishcloth.
I guess that’s close to nothing, since nobody comes around with a stopwatch or anything.
This afternoon is my Yarn Group.
I’ll be taking some knit hats for Show n Tell.
You All have a good Day, now, ya hear?!!
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Able to donate
Today was one fine day!
After a good breakfast of a grilled cheese sandwich and a homemade latte,
I finished an adult knit loom hat, began then finished one baby loom hat,
then remembered about a Blood Drive in a building across the parking lot from where my Yarn Group meets.
I thought about riding my bicycle, but wasn’t sure if I might get dizzy on the way home. Plus, the humidity is way high. So drive the car I did.
Yippee! my iron was 13.3, nicely higher than the 12.5 needed to be able to donate. My blood pressure is also 10 points lower than when it was taken at the clinic when I was sick in early June.
Husband and I think my activity on the treadmill is beginning show pleasant side effects.
The afternoon found me on the back porch again.
I began and finished another baby loom hat, began another adult hat.
We had poached eggs and toast and juice for supper, then I drove out to get my new glasses adjusted.
The mall had very few customers, at least compared to a typical Saturday afternoon.
When I got back, there was still about an hour of daylight left, so I finished the adult hat.
As I am typing, I come to realize my fingers are sore. One from getting pricked to test the blood, and the other from shoving yarn down on pegs of a knitting loom.
Probably tomorrow, I’ll have to do a different activity away from looms.
Yet, I’m kinda on a trend here, and I want to see what other color combinations I can put together.
Sometime, there will come pictures.
Gotta go. Cat between me and screen.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
ps My Aunt Ruth loves the ADDI crochet hook and the cotton yarn! I shipped the box Parcel Post, no signature Thursday afternoon, and she received it Monday afternoon. Golly, the mail moves along well!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday Morning Music: Slipping Through My Fingers
The Decrepit Old Fool has a little regular series about Monday Morning Music so today I decided to join in.
A week or so ago, I went to see the movie MAMMA MIA! starring Meryl Streep. Loved the movie, wrote all about it somewhere in the archives.
There’s a song/scene in there when Donna the mom is helping her daughter Sophie get dressed for her wedding. The song Meryl is singing is _Slipping Through My Fingers_ which until that minute, I did not know was an ABBA original.
I had heard the tune butchered played solo on the piano on the “elevator music” radio station my sons never liked.
So I went looking through online ABBA albums until I found the one with this particular song on it.
My used in good condition CD arrived today. I was down in the basement and didn’t even know the mailman’s truck was already on the Court. He had to knock on the door, saying I had the most mail of anybody today.
The other songs on the ABBA album _The Visitors_ are typical 1980s fare, which I didn’t pay much attention to back then because I was busy changing diapers and walking the floor with teething babies.
It seems I am going to acquire a bit of education about historical music.
The cats both are not appreciating the stereo going full blast, so they each went down the hall to the queen size bed heaped with aphgans which muffle the noise.
Meanwhile, the Internet has brought forth a true treasure.
This leads to a You Tube video of a live performance of ABBA singing Slipping Through My Fingers and I must say I would love to have the figure to be able to wear those trousers.
~~love and Huggs, Diane
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Something good to eat, Something nice to wear
The Methodist Church a couple blocks over was having its yearly rummage sale, so of course I had to go.
It’s hotter than blazes outside, plus I did not want another tiring episode by having the wrong mode of transportation, so I decided to take the car.
The mailman was just dropping off the items which make up his livelihood, but I asked him to just put it through the slot since I was leaving for the sale.
I mentioned that I had only $7 cash, and he said that should be enough to get a bunch of stuff.
Although I could not find any shirts I might want to wear while on the job, I did have some good luck. I got a nice old calendar with Ansel Adams pictures, a little carry-around photo album still in a box, and a hardback book.
The book _A Redbird Christmas_ is written by Fannie Flagg, and I have read several of her others, so this one is next.
Saving the best for last, I walked through the room where baked goods were on display.
While I do love to bake, the thought of turning on the oven in July is too overwhelming, even with a nicely-tuned air-conditioner.
Yay, something yummy was available
a bar cookie with chocolate chips, dried cherries, walnuts
and Yes, it does taste as good as it looks
My latest photo is showing off my new glasses
Husband says it’s easy to take a portrait quality picture of me, but I think it’s because I’m looking at him, and he likes to flirt a little while he’s hiding behind the shutter. . . .
~~love and Huggs, Diane
ps in the second photo, I’m sitting at the picnic table on the patio and the clothesline is above and behind my head
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
New Hook is very Nice
latest pair of cotton crocheted potholders
A couple weeks ago I was reading a crafter’s blog, and she was going on and on about her ADDI crochet hook. It seems ADDI hooks are made in Germany and the comfort handles are a dream to work with.
I had never heard of them, so I went looking. I’m a bit tired of so many things made in China. I donated all those hooks to the supply drawer at the activity center.
I found an auction on E-bay where the seller was willing to take a money order, but the bidding went way higher than I am willing to pay for one more crochet hook.
Then I renewed my quest around the ‘Net.
Lo and Behold, Angelika’s Yarn Store actually in USA’s far Northwest, has ADDI hooks as a regular item.
I ordered the size to make potholders, one for me, and one to send on to Aunt Ruth.
The blue grass color yarn in the picture has been in a bag in the corner for a few months, ever since I bought it in the clearance aisle of Hobby Lobby.
It seemed appropriate to get it out and initiate my new hook with such lovely yarn.
I do like the ADDI hook, but I will still be using other hooks depending on the project and what mood I’m in.
~~love and Huggs, Diane