In Order to Have Something

I look at my behind-the-scenes Blogger page, and see that I've published over 1950 posts, and I marvel at it.

And then I realize that some of them are like this one: Hi! I have to go pack! Later! And it becomes, shall we say, marginally less impressive.

Oh well. Such is life. Here are some things I've seen on Facebook recently, that I don't think I've put here yet. If we're Facebook friends, forgive the repetition.

As I said on this one, "I actually forgive the spelling errors for the sense of humor." Click to enlarge.

Rhymes with Orange is clearly done by a knitter, or at least someone knit-friendly, as I believe I've noted before.

Finally, I don't curse as much here as I do in real life (and especially in my head), but this is worth it.

Just too true!

Now, I have packing to do, a game to watch, a kitty to cuddle ... busy night! Catch you later!

Hippo Birdy to Meeeeee!

Over the last week or so, the leaves have been turning beautifully, and this morning was mostly sunny, so I could really enjoy them on my birthday. Mother Nature wishing me happy birthday!

So did Starbucks, mind you.

And the Google home page! I was surprised to see cake and candles when I opened it this morning, but there it was. For me!

And don't the Chinese think that 8 is a lucky number? Well, here's what my car passed this morning.

 

So that's like "happy birthday" in Mazda-speak, right? All sorts of friends sent me messages, cards and e-mail and Facebook and even text. And my best friend's mom made me steak, mashed potatoes, and peas for dinner, with a Pepperidge Farm coconut cake for dessert: my complete favorite meal at age 10, and still a favorite today. Just delicious--and she sent me home with leftovers.

I've been eating pumpkin seeds all week, too; I got about two cups out of those pumpkins. Happy fall! I do love this time of year. And particularly the smell in the air, and the trees that change color in stages.

 

Happy my birthday to you!

Quick Sock Shot

One side benefit to all my plans the weekend before last was that I got a ton of sock knitting done. I went from being half an inch from starting the heel (when I pulled it out that Saturday evening) to trying to decide when it would be time to switch to the cuff ribbing on the leg. Well, I finished the thing last night, and cast on sock two.

It's a crappy photo, but still. Isn't it funny how one thing turns into the other?

A Clipping Pace

Saying that the day (and, it being Monday, the week) started well because I trimmed the cat's claws may sound odd. However, when the cat in question is Miri, and I've been trying to get hold of her for I don't know how many weeks, you can understand my relief in being able to state that I finally got hold of her, and for a few weeks at least, she will not be sticking to things. Little ingrate.

I'm wishing I could say that by the time she's due again, it won't be my problem, but I'm afraid that won't be true. I've been waiting to address the issue until I had good news, for fear of jinxing it, but not talking about it has not been working either, so here we go: I've been talking with someone (a person at a rescue organization) about getting rid of Miri, which, yay! Except that it's been two months of communication, and guess who still lives at my house? Princess Floof herself. So. Humph.

In totally related musings, here's why you should try to under-promise and over-deliver: if you know it will take a week to perform a task for someone, which is better, to tell them it will take two days or that it will take two weeks? Which is going to lead to a happier customer?

I know, I'm not exactly a customer here. But a corollary to this is, if you don't know how long it will take for something to happen (say, for room to open in a foster home), then say you don't know how long it will be. Don't say you think it will be a week or so. Ahem.

So, the oven. After the National Grid man left yesterday, I went onto the website for a local appliance store, and since the website said they did service but nothing about how it worked, I filled out their little online form to ask for more information. Someone called me back today while I was eating lunch, so I missed the call, and for the life of me I couldn't make out her name on the message, meaning when I called back, I couldn't ask for so-and-so. And the woman who answered the phone was completely flummoxed by what I was saying. Why would they have called me about service? Was I saying that I had called yesterday? No, the website. You called...us? No, I filled out the form. On the website. I'm not sure she ever understood; it seemed like she decided to skip over the whole thing and start fresh. Whatever. They're coming Friday morning, and in the meantime, I'm taking the cookie dough to a friend's tomorrow night and borrowing her oven. It works out.

Okay, Sir Purrs-a-lot needs me. Later!

Not a Gas Leak. And Pumpkins!

So the good news is that the nice man from National Grid says my oven is not leaking gas, which is good news. However, it's got a carbon monoxide problem, which although it won't result in the house blowing up (also good news), does require not using the oven until I can get someone here to look at it.

In related news, I have cookie dough for my cousin's son's* birthday in the fridge, but I don't know that I'm willing to make them in the toaster oven, so that might be delayed. (He's turning 14, so it's not like I'm disappointing a three-year-old or anything.) Sigh. Add another thing to The List.
*So he's my first cousin once removed. Somehow, "my cousin's son" comes out more easily.

And how was your weekend?

Mine was actually good otherwise. I got a lot done without feeling like I never sat down. Not exciting stuff mostly (laundry, dishes, vacuuming, that kind of thing), though there was one not-every-weekend thing: pumpkins. The last year or two, I haven't gotten around to getting a pumpkin to roast the seeds, and I really wanted to do it this year. I went to Wilson Farm, where they had many wonderful options.

I brought home two, and they passed inspection.

Well, I suppose it's all right. This once.

I gutted the small one yesterday, and lesson learned: my hand only just fit inside, making the seed removal a bit awkward. My hand was pretty tired afterward. But the seeds were good! Today I went for the bigger one (and had to roast the seeds in the toaster oven, ahem).

I rinse the seeds off, spread them in a single layer on the cookie sheet, salt them, and then bake them until they rattle when I shake the sheet. Yum! Must be fall if I'm eating pumpkin seeds.

I picked up a few other gourds, too. I was going to see about getting a plant to bring grandma next weekend, when I passed a bunch of little funny ones, like I got last year, and thought hey, that might amuse her. I picked out these two, and enjoyed how they can be paired.

Yes, if it doesn't amuse her, it has at least amused me.

The Bruins won last night, which was nice, and are now 2-0 on the season. Whoever made the schedule so they're now off for four days, though? Very funny.

It Is So Bedtime

If not seven, there were at least four Mondays in my week. (How many in yours?) So before I head to bed, here are a few things to possibly amuse, inform, or entertain.

• A really interesting piece about the first woman senator. In 1922!
• Tremendously cool poster showing relative sizes of all sorts of sci-fi spaceships. Click to enlarge!
• Apparently last night was the first time in NHL history that a team's first goal of the season came on a shorthanded penalty shot. Who'd have thought? Go Bruins!

And go to bed, ccr, now please.

Someone says it's bedtime.

Of Head and Bruins

I woke up this morning and found myself in the middle of a pretty bad headache, which is a disconcerting way to start the day. After the usual treat-and-sleep, it was better enough that I was able to go in to work and get something done, for a half day anyway. One of my coworkers proved he knows me pretty well by saying that, no offense, I didn't look great, and none taken, I'm sure I didn't. Still, I haven't had an awful headache since August, which is a nice long break for me.

I wore a Bruins t-shirt to work under my grown-up shirt, and now I'm home and rocking the t-shirt, off to watch the Bruins open their season. Go, Bruins!

All I Want to Say About Politics as Usual

It feels wrong to ignore the extra-stupid stupidity going on this week, so to address the current situation of my country's government not governing, I offer three things. First, this quote from President Obama, speaking to NPR:

"I shouldn't have to offer [the Republicans] anything. They're not doing me a favor by paying for things that they have already approved for the government to do. That's part of their basic function of government; that's not doing me a favor. That's doing what the American people sent them here to do, carrying out their responsibilities."

Second, the inestimable Jon Stewart on the Daily Show:

And finally, the cover page of the New York Daily News on Tuesday:

And now, if you need to get that topic off your mind, I offer you:

• This post with pictures of a bunny. (I particularly like the next to last photo; you?)
• Terrible real estate photos

 Hai and bai!

Of Chocolate, and Hockey

One of my friends gave me some chocolate for my birthday (if you, too, are a caramel fiend, this and this are equally fantastic), and as it happens, this is a great week for me to have good chocolate around. This is my second cycle off the pill (to see if it helps lower the blood pressure, which it doesn't seem to be doing, alas); the first one was 29 days, but this one was 24, highlighting two things about being off the pill I don't like: unpredictability, and short cycles. Sigh. Plus cramps, which were especially bad this morning; I found myself thinking, "Come on, codeine, I'm way too aware of my midsection."

In other, happier news: the NHL starts tonight! The Bruins don't play until Thursday, but it's officially hockey season, yay!

 I'm off to watch whatever's on. Hockey, hockey, hockey! It makes me feel like this:

Zzzzzzz

As I expected, the weekend was both very good and very tiring, and I need a weekend to recover from it. Still, I had good cake twice, and I have a pot of applesauce in the fridge, and got to hang out with friends, and it was worth the aftereffects.

However, I cut stitch and bitch short tonight, and now I need to go crash on the couch with Carlos, and do some nothing for a while. Please excuse me.

Carlos Speaks for Me Tonight

It's been a good day, but...

Of, Let's See, Oversleeping and Hockey and Knitting. And the Weekend. And Planning.

I overslept this morning: despite being a lifelong, well-habituated snooze button user, I somehow managed to turn the alarm off entirely. When I woke later and thought, "Guess I have to get up," I looked at the clock and realized why I felt suspiciously rested for a weekday: it was two hours later. Ah. Fortunately, my job (for all its faults) is neither a time-clock-puncher nor all that uptight, especially on a Friday, so I didn't have to go into panic mode, but still, no time to sit down with the paper and coffee this morning.

Which is too bad, because the coffee (which I still made, but drank on the go) was particularly good. I was at the grocery store last night picking up a few things, including coffee creamer, and found that salted caramel mocha "season" is back. Mmmmm! (I put it in quotes because believe me, if such a season existed, I would know it.)
I'll be happily buying that as long as the "season" lasts.

The Bruins won their game last night, which is meaningless but nice. After I posted that I was going to listen to it, I turned the radio on to find, instead of the Bruins game that one of the blogs told me would be on, a talk-radio discussion of the Red Sox instead. Humph! I turned it off, but shortly thereafter it occurred to me that:

1. It takes two teams to play a hockey game.
2. Their opponent last night was Winnipeg.
3. As a Canadian team, I bet their radio station was carrying it!

So I listened to the rest on the game on the home of your Winnipeg Jets, thank you, and will be doing the same tonight. Pretty funny. The wonders of the internet age! Sitting on the couch with the iPad, listening to a radio station hundreds of miles away, in another country.

My weekend plans are many and social, which is unusual for me. I have a family-style dinner Saturday night, in honor of my friend's daughter turning 9 (she's the one getting the present I didn't knit, remember?). On Sunday I'm going out to my friend's in central MA and we're making applesauce, then I drive back to have a pot luck dinner with a group of friends. Whew! Lots of good stuff there, but I have to fit all the usual weekend stuff like laundry in too. Which is why I just started that now, despite enjoying the sloth of a Friday evening. I did hang out on the couch for an hour after I got home, so I'm pacing myself. I had to try these, picked up at Trader Joe's tonight:

Peas! I would scorn their non-fresh-picked-ness in June, but at the end of September, delightful. Though there is a typo on the label.

It says "ready to use" but I'm sure they meant "ready to eat"--and I did!


Now, not that you asked, but the biking has been something I've done almost every day lately. I mean, look, the sock went from here on August 31st:

To here today (well, after yesterday, I haven't ridden yet tonight):

Not bad in a month, eh? That's a lot of puffing and straining. Just keep knitting, just keep knitting: I started the heel flap last night.

It's funny to me to notice how my stamina varies so much day to day. I mean, I never feel energetic, that's just not my nature, so I wouldn't say I notice a difference in how tired I am from one night to the next. But some nights it's all I can do to bike for five minutes before I have to rest, while other nights I can do twice that--not happily, but it's not impossible. Weird.

Also, not only haven't I noticed any change in how my clothes fit (yet, I hope), in the last week or two I have again been noticing that unpleasant sensation that my stomach is sitting on my lap. Which: what the hell is up with that? I weigh myself every week or so, and while it goes up a pound, down a pound, I've not gained anything to speak of. Ugh.

Let's not end on that note. I've seen some fun stickers on cars lately. Here are a few:

Also, the closest parking job I've ever seen.

Amazing!

Little Bits, This and That

Last night, I was cutting something up, and my hands were having a tough time of it. They're still useful, don't get me wrong, but their strength has degraded significantly in the ten years since my arthritis first manifested, and the last week or so, they've been in one of their periodic grumpy states. They hurt so much last night that it felt not just painful but really sad, because it's only going to get worse.

*****
Stories that are not over yet
So, I got to drive the loaner again--yes, the car started to make that noise again, so back to the shop it went. They decided that the left strut part must have been defective, and put in a new one--and the noise went away, they reported, as though it didn't do that last week, too. We'll see if the noise stays away this time. I'm getting right sick of going there, not to mention the trips I have coming up in a few weeks. Reliable wheels would be nice.

Also, I got a bill from the lab work, saying that I owe them 50-some dollars that the insurance didn't cover. So I have to call the insurance, again, about that. Sigh.

*****
I went to get a voice-mail off my cell phone recently and, not for the first time, forgot my password. Not that I drew a blank--rather, the number I was certain of was rejected. Hmm? I think I used my ATM code, since I had been at the bank that morning. I guess I need to make them the same. Too many passwords, not enough brain cells, apparently.

I did remember it again, but it took a while. Oy.

*****
My lunch today did not agreee with me, and my stomach is still rumbling over seven hours later. Two things about that:

1. It was leftovers from dinner last night, which caused no internal distress at all. Perhaps because I had a Coke with it last night? Would that make a difference?
2. Did you know there's a word for stomach rumbles? Borborygmus. There is your thing for the day.

*****
An example of how I'm not useless at work even with a moderate migraine (not today, mind you): doing a final read-through on a report, I look at "anti-diabetic" and think, "Didn't I see 'antidiabetic' elsewhere?" And I did. So.

*****
Setting up job search alerts reminds me of how challenging my field is to job-search in. It isn't that there are no jobs, but finding them in the weeds of the terminology is "fun". Different people mean different things by "edit" and "proofread"; also, you have to watch for titles like "editorial manager" which typically do not involve editing, but managing the editors. Ugh!

*****
Have I already mentioned that my mother is coming for Thanksgiving? With appropriate levels of pleasure and enthusiasm? Well, double that, since now my brother is coming too! We will be a little snug here at Casa di Cat Hair, but it will be fun! Particularly since my brother, having just started a new (permanent!) job, won't be coming east for Christmas.

*****
Sometimes when I'm googling things at work, I wish I could set the search to not bring up images. Why is it that you can do an image search, but not a text-only search? Is that possible? I mean, why are they so sure I want to see images of lichen planus overlap? I didn't!

*****
Time for couch, Carlos, and Bruins game on the radio! What's on YOUR mind?

Quickly, a Picture and a Question

I went to knitting tonight (alt group) and got nicely along on the shawl, but then I got home and the evening panic is setting in: no time! Put dinner away! Pet the cat! Ride the bike! Get to bed!

So let me just say this, that this card illustrates the exact reason why I changed the "see updates" thing on one of my Facebook friends (to not see his updates, I mean):

If you're on Facebook, what annoys you when people do it?

Well, It Amuses ME!

This may not strike others as being quite as funny as it does me, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Not that I'm quitting before I have another job, but ... still.

Another thing that may not be for everyone, since not everyone is:
a) a hockey fan
b) enough of a hockey fan to follow the pre-season
c) enough of a Toronto or Buffalo or Boston fan to get all these jokes
But if you fit in that cross-section enough to know that Phil Kessel had a disciplinary hearing with the league this week, and why, you might just chortle as I did at hockey humorist Down Goes Brown's secret transcript of the hearing. Me, I'll just be over here giggling at it.

Tyler Seguin: Hey guys.
Shanahan: You have nothing to do with this case.
Seguin: Sorry. I'm legally mandated to show up at least once in every Phil Kessel story. It's a Toronto bylaw.

So! What's amusing you lately?

Mystery pain

A couple of times tonight, I've felt a sudden, stabbing pin-prick in my left elbow. There is absolutely nothing to be seen, but it feels like someone gave the voodoo doll a vicious jab. The hell?

I've a bit of a headache, and the Bruins game is on NESN, so, good and bad. As life does.

Of This and Also That

This has nothing to do with anything, but I was just on Amazon looking at cat toothpaste*, and I can't believe that they have either "vanilla mint" or "maple" flavor options. He's a cat! Beef, chicken, fish, sure, but maple? What gives?
*I know, the excitement never ends. I'm supposed to be brushing Carlos's teeth, but he didn't like the sample the vet sent me home with, so I have to try something else. Not maple, though, surely.

Oh! And a funny story that also has nothing to do with anything: yesterday I got a phone call from a woman trying to sell me a deal on carpet cleaning, who explained that the company doesn't do advertising, but relies on "mouth to mouth". I managed to say, "I'm not interested thank you" and hang up before I burst out laughing, though perhaps if I had laughed in her ear, she would have realized what she said. In case she runs across this, ma'am? I believe you meant "word of mouth" there.

I have a few knit things to show off that are none of my making, which always feels funny, as a knitter. In fact, one of them is something I bought, for a friend's daughter's ninth birthday, and I even wrote on the card that it isn't something I made, because I felt I had to explain. However, I saw this really cute scarf in the store, and thought she would enjoy it. It's something I could make, theoretically, yes, but not in time, and anyway. Super sale.

Fun, right? It reminds me of the loops of ribbon on the Christmas tree.

The brand I had vaguely heard of, Little Miss Matched, and do you see the suggested retail price?

$49.00? Not what I paid, thanks.

The yarn to make it would cost far more. I also got this fun little tote to "wrap" it in.

So there's that. The other item is a hand knit, by one of my knitting friends. Is this the cutest baby hat ever? Possibly.

But wait, don't miss the back.

Love it!

In news of my own knitting, I don't have a new picture of it, but the shawl for my aunt is coming nicely. I finished the third repeat of chart A, and decided to do one more. I think this will be enough, but I'll decide when I get to that point. And get pictures, too! I went out to run errands today and squandered some perfectly good daylight. On the other hand, I paid less than $16 for a contour pillow* that had a list price of $75, and I filled the car with (cheap) gas and bought cat food and litter and groceries, so it was still a win for the day.
*Which will hopefully support my chiropractically adjusted neck better than my old foam one was doing; I keep waking up with an achy head, and I suspect the pillow is the culprit.

I think that's all for now. I want to try and get a few more things done around here before bed time, and you know how that sneaks up on me, on a Sunday night especially. Perhaps I will start with dinner.

Fortunately, Today IS Friday

Good thing it is Friday: with arthritis in my hands, I shouldn't be punching anybody.

This morning Miri jumped up on the bed, but landed on my midsection and freaked out, leaping off again in a fairly painful way. She didn't leave bloody skid marks, so I got lucky there, but still, that's no way to wake up. Fortunately, the fact that the day was Friday redeemed it from being *that* day, if you know what I mean. It wasn't a great day, but it was all right, and then it was done and it's the weekend.

As far as the mystery car noises, we seem to be okay. I took the car back to the shop after work, and since they were busy, took a loaner with the expectation that they would look at it tomorrow. However, I got a call about an hour later (I was almost home, having run an errand on the way) that it was in fact related to last week's repair*; they adjusted the something in the something (bolts?) and it's supposedly all better now.
*I suspect that the possibility it was is what had them looking at it tonight.

I guess I could be irritated that they needed to follow up, but honestly I'm too relieved that it wasn't some new, unrelated, and potentially expensive thing going wrong, as can happen with a car of a certain age.

My third-string worry, by the way, was that they were going to find something totally ridiculous, the equivalent of a can of cat food rolling around making noise. How embarrassing would that be? Though perhaps it should have been my second concern, as embarrassment is cheaper than most repairs. Whatever. I'll take the loaner back tomorrow and get my hopefully back-to-normal car again.

The loaner, by the way, is a Toyota Corolla, 2012 according to the tag on the key, and still smells a little new. Even if I only drive it for 20 miles, it's been fun.

Another fun thing this week, of which there are a few even if I have to look hard for them, is that yesterday I took part in my first yarn-bombing! Which really is an actual thing, if you didn't know: there's a whole Wikipedia page, or you can Google it and have hours of fun. My stitch and bitch decided to yarn-bomb a little tree outside our regular meeting place, as a kind of art project, and when I say little tree, I mean little tree.

Here's the whole tree, Before.

As I mentioned, I made a piece of no-pattern knitting, and here it goes, being attached.

Here you can see my bit, and part of the next one down.

There's another down below that I didn't get a good shot of. As you can see from these next shots, we were losing light. But one of my friends made these long skinny bits to wind around the branches, which came out super-cool.

She wants to do a few more, so I'll try to get more/better pictures. There's one other bit too, which went onto a nearby lamp-post.

It was all a lot of fun to put up, even in the grumpy mood I brought with me yesterday, and possibly the best part was the expressions of people walking by. Only a few actually asked*, but you could tell that a lot more were wondering, What the hell...?
*Based on the reaction of one of the people who did ask, I don't think the concept translated well into Chinese. She looked more confused after the answer than before.

I then went home and listened to the Bruins lose spectacularly, which is far less upsetting in a meaningless preseason game than it would be later in the year, but still wasn't all that fun. As the Stanley Cup of Chowder blog cleverly headlined it:

I h8-2 See That

Yup. It was bad. Rematch tomorrow, and Bergeron's finally playing, so I hope for better things.

Bleargh. Zzzz. Sigh.

By the time I could have blogged last night, I just didn't feel like it. (I'm also sad tonight because today was my friend's last day at work. Curses.) I haven't come straight home from work one night this week, and I've been getting to bed late as I try to get things done, and I'm feeling a little stretched.

Tomorrow night I wanted to come straight home, but of course the car, not content with the money I put into it last week, started to make a funny creaking noise that I can't pin down, so I'll probably end up going to the shop after work instead. Honestly.

Hopefully I'll sleep late on Saturday and Sunday, and that should help a great deal. For tonight, meanwhile, I'm choosing bed over bike. And over blogging longer, for that matter.