Black or Blue Friday Breakfast Shift....

So last year Jimmy got me out of bed at some ungodly hour to go Black Friday shopping. I was miserable and said I will not do this next year. True to my word at 11:30ish last night I went to bed for a nice sweet night of sleep. At 9:00 PM last night Jimmy headed out with our friend Tami to the Jeffersonville Outlet mall and then on to a complete night of shopping.

At 6AM my phone rang informing me the night shoppers were heading in for breakfast. So it is 6:55 AM and the breakfast bread is in the oven but the shoppers are sound to sleep, snores included, on the couch recliners. Even the depressing news on the TV isn't keeping them awake. Now should I wake them to eat? NOT!

This year's holiday season seems to come, for me, at a time of great turmoil. There are many bad things going on in the world and close to home. I am trying to hold on to the positive things in life. The simple things too. Rather than "decking the halls" this year we opted for some simple Christmas lights on the now almost 6 feet tall Rubber Tree plant. I found some LED lights that do not get hot to touch so the live tree wont be harmed.


Speaking of other live plants.... The Christmas Cactus is sprouting some blossoms. :-)


Last week during a lunch hour I was eating and knitting on this glove. I got to the point where the pattern indicated that the thumb stitches be moved to scrap yarn. Yikes.... I didn't have a blunt needled or a sharp one for that matter. Well in honor of MacGyver a small paper clip did the trick of threading the scrap yarn through the stitches. In accounting creativity is generally frowned on but in knitting anything goes. Right?


Random picture of my Suzie Hoodie.


I finally blocked the Elm Row. This is a gift for a friend in New York for Christmas. I am pretty sure she doesn't read this blog? Kiki was happy...


BTW.... For anyone in or near the Columbus area there is a new LYS opening. Here are the details:

Okay, we have a firm date! WonderKnit will be opening Monday, December 1st, with a grand opening at a later date. The shop will be open Wednesday through Monday from 11-7, closed Tuesdays. A website is in development (www.wonderknit.com). The shop is located at 3165 N. High Street in Columbus, 43202. The phone number is 261-YARN. An email mailing list will be put together (and a Rav group) for shop announcements and such. Hope to see you at the shop! (per Cabbage)

Happy Thanksgiving ~ Things I am grateful for....

It is that time again where I reflect on those things I am grateful for in my life. I am looking forward to spending time with family coming from New York tomorrow and close friends. Thanksgiving for me is a time to reflect and relax. Life gets out of control and it allows me a time to slow down and catch my breath.

This year has had many lows but there have been highs too. I am reminded this is part of being human and that gives me comfort. I am grateful for the comfort of living in the present, here and now.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Water Fountain Cont....

How to Build an Indoor Water Fountain

by Diane Dilov-Schultheis

Introduction

Indoor water fountains provide many wonderful benefits. They are relaxing to hear and mesmerizing to watch. There is something about the sight and sound of water that is very positive to all who come in contact with it. Almost anyone can make an indoor fountain without problems. It does not take many things or much time to complete. If you are willing to gather the required items and assemble them as described, you can create your very own indoor water feature that you will enjoy for years to come.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You'll Need

Rocks
Water Pump
Water Pump Cover
Power source
Flexible Tubing (must fit pump)
Small copper elbow (for tubing)
Water
Bleach

Steps

Step One

Choose the best container to use. This must be large enough to hold the pump and level on the bottom. Also be sure it is wide enough to allow for the pump and tubing to bend upward along with the rocks that will be placed around it.

Step Two

Obtain all of the other needed items for your indoor fountain. The rocks need to vary in size from small to large. They should also be of varying shapes and colors. You need enough to completely cover the pump and go upwards several inches.

Step Three

Find the best location for your fountain. You will need to place it near a power source for the pump to work. You do not want any one to trip on the cord. The cord should be placed very close to the wall plug. If you are using a table or stand of some type, be sure it is strong and stable. Place the container in the location you choose.

Step Four

Place the water pump in your container. Set the pump in the middle of the container. Make certain the power cord can reach a power source and will not be in the way. Put the cover over the pump after you have connected the tubing to it. You will need to run this tubing up through the center of your rock formation.

Step Five

Place the rocks in your fountain and add water to it. Use bigger rocks on the bottom of the fountain and smaller ones as you go up to create a stack of them around and above the pump. Check the rocks as you are stacking them to make sure they are sturdy enough. Keep the tubing in the center of the stack of rocks.

Step Six

Once you have reached the height you want, cut the tubing and place the elbow in it at an angle that allows the water to flow down the rocks. Add enough water to the container to cover the pump totally. Turn on your newly created indoor water fountain.

Tips & Warnings

• You can utilize distilled water or put a few drops of bleach in the water to help with algae control in your indoor water fountain.
• Don't let children help with this project. The water and plugs can create a shock risk.

Find this article at: http://www.ehow.com/how_4516270_build-indoor-water-fountain.html

Really Snow?

Important business first. On 11/14/08 Poo's glucose level was over 450+ which is well over double what is normal. On Saturday we had him back to the vet and it was 356. Woohoo! It is down around 100 points in just a week. The reduced steroid dose and new diet is working. Thank goodness.

So recently Jasmine, pictured here with her human Tami, introduced Poo and Kiki to milk jug rings.

Poo loves anything to do with milk. He has been running around the house with these things in his mouth meowing like crazy. We have found them in our bed. The other day I found this one in his food bowl. Poo has also learned to fetch these things. Jasmine fetches them too!


Kiki says the heck with fetching.... Let me in the library so I can read Damn IT!


Mom's cables are done! She received the sweater on Saturday and says it fits. I can't wait for her to sew on the buttons and send me pictures of her wearing it! Poo wanted to wear it because baby it is getting cold outside and they shaved me!


So this was the sight first thing this morning. ACK!


I finished my scarf before leaving for the office. It is toasty warm.

Seeing stars...

I have been using the car trunk more for storing my things since a friend's car was broken into at The Mall at Tuttle Crossing last month. We are sure they were looking for a laptop since they took the laptop looking bag. What they got instead was her lace knitting project, social security card, and passport. Very sad!

Anyway this morning after an early appointment I went into the trunk to put my planner away in my bag. This is when it happened. The trunk lid flew down and hit me in the head. I saw stars and my vision when black for a few seconds. Now I have a nice little tiny bump and a lovely headache.

Now I can say I understand when someone says they saw stars. OUCHIE!!!!!!!

This week in knitting...

I have finished all the knitting stitches on Mom's Cable sweater. :-) All the pieces are in this picture except the collar which wasn't finished when this picture was taken yesterday morning. I finished the collar while knitting with Molly and Brea last night. Later in the evening I sewed the shoulder seams together. Next is attaching the sleeves. Tami is going to help me with those tomorrow evening. I have to ship this sweater to Mom by the end of Friday to ensure she has the package in New York by her Birthday on the 19th.



To celebrate I allowed myself to cast the stitches for a scarf. The yarn is a gift from Tami from her trip to Ecuador over the summer. The pattern is Super-Fast, Ultra-Cozy Scarf by Jen Reily. I love this yarn. It is soft and includes veggie matter as well as some lanolin which is very nice on the hands since it is dry heat season.


Below is 12 hanks of Tahki Yarns Donegal Tweed which I will be using to make Susie Hoodie by Mandy Moore from More Big Girl Knits for me.


Poo Update: He is 4 days into his new diet and lower dose of meds. He hasn't started showing any signs of any skin issues. :-) On Saturday we will be taking him back to the vet to have his glucose levels checked and from there who knows....

Feline Diabetes

Our Poo may be facing yet another medical condition, feline diabetes. We took Poo back to the vet today and more blood test run. We are awaiting the results. At this point we are adjusting his steroid dose and changed his food to a high protein low carbohydrate kibble.

We are facing some very tough decisions regarding Poo and his health in the near future. Please keep a good thought for our baby boy.

On a lighter note.... For those over 30!

My cousin Amy sent me this in an email today. The same cousin who as a child called me Cappy instead of Cathy (as my family calls me). This is so true. I remember the days of 8-track tapes! Thanks Amy....

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning

... Uphill...

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen!

...Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like call waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school,Your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! with games like Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only m-net and there was no on screen menu and no remote
control!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

---

Tonight's Important Sites To Watch

Very important links for tonight's political coverage:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

http://www.techpresident.com/ecmap

http://www.techpresident.com/ecmap

http://www.pbs.org/vote2008/moreinfo/electionmaps.html

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/im-ready-to-declare-a-win_b_140625.html

OMG I am trying to figure out what in place of politics when today is over?

Two sides to every story....

Like two sides to every story, there are two sides to my knitting. There is the side when I am gung ho and really excited to get into a project. Then there is the wall side. The side when the stitches have been mastered and I am ready to move on to the next project. I normally curb this feeling by having multiple knitting projects in process at any given time. When one project gets to be too much, I can switch to another which puts the project in an unofficial knitting time-out.

I am currently focused on finishing Mom's Cable Sweater. I need to ship it to NY no later than 11/18 so she has it on 11/19 for her birthday. I really would like to ship it no later than 11/14 so that it doesn't have to go overnight shipping. Hey I am cheap! Anyway that means I can't put the sweater in any knitting time-outs. I am 3/4 of the way finished with the first sleeve with only the second sleeve, collar, and sewing it together to go. I started the first sleeve over the weekend and I think I will have the first sleeve done by the weekend. That means I have some power knitting to get done over the weekend.

Oh yeah and I will be in a lace knitting workshop all day Saturday with Anne Hanson of Knitspot. YIKES! So much knitting so little time...

PLEASE Get Out There To Vote Today.... I Did!

Jimmy had me in line to vote at 5:30 AM. Share your voting story here by commenting.