Says It, All Right

Sometimes a present is so on point, all you can do is laugh.

My brother arrived safely on Friday and we've been having a peaceful good time. I hope you enjoying things, too, whatever that means to you.

Just Allergies: When Negative Is Positive

My allergies have been so bad for so long this fall-into-winter that I got tested for covid, just to be sure. It was negative (and thanks to Walgreens for the quick results), which is of course very good news. However, the allergies are really rotten and I am sick of all the sinus pressure and congestion. It feels like it's been going on for months.

Better than covid, better than covid. I know. But ow.

Holiday Cheer

Last month, I bought knitters cookie stamps from Juniper Moon Farm, and today I tried them out! Gingersnaps, yum.

There are three designs. A knit pattern:

A sheep:

And a knit heart:

They didn’t come out as well for me, I think because the cookies weren’t big enough. But the other two look pretty good! I gave some to various neighbors, and kept some for us, of course. Yum.

In other sheep news, I got some new pajama pants.

Which got the coveted Maggie seal of approval!

They are very soft.

I'm Fine

I just haven't been blogging, have I? Work is crazy-busy and it's Christmas-prep-time and there's the pandemic, and it just seems like I'm always tired. But I didn't want you to think there's anything wrong-wrong here. I'm fine. We're fine. Well ... pandemic-fine, at least. 

Which, says Maggie, is about the best we can do these days.

Maggie says

 ROAR!

So Low

Y'all, I am so tired.

Not that I've ever been a high-energy person, but based on yesterday and today, I think I have to consider this part of the aftereffects of getting my booster shot. The sore arm/shoulder and tender lymph nodes are much better, but wow, so tired. So, so tired.

(Obligatory disclaimer: It's worth it, I'm not sorry to have gotten the booster, I would do it again, this isn't as bad as getting covid, etcetera, etcetera. Just, wow, so tired.)

So. Tired.

Apres le booster

Just to report back that I'm doing fine after getting my covid booster. I got the shot Friday night, and my arm was sore shortly thereafter, but less so by Saturday night than it had been in the morning. At the same time, my underarm/lymph node area became sore and tender, and is more so today, which happened last time, too, and does not worry me. There goes my immune system, practicing what to do if the virus finds me! Come on, little immune system, be ready! Go go go!

Ahem. I might be a little excited. I can't fully express how grateful I am that scientists had been working on the mRNA vaccine technology for years before covid came along, so that they could make these vaccines happen so fast. If we'd had to stay in and do nothing for years, I would have lost my mind. I'm still being careful, but largely so that if I get infected, I don't give it to anyone who can't get vaccinated; they're the ones I worry for. 

For me, as my doctor said recently, if I get it now, it's most likely to be an inconvenience, nothing more. Vaccinated, I am far less likely to get sick; far less likely to get seriously ill; far less likely to be in intensive care or need a ventilator; far less likely to die. A sore arm and tender lymph nodes are nothing compared to all those things.

If you can get vaccinated, please do.

Boosted!

See the bandage? I got my booster!

Woo hoo! Increased immunity, here I come. 

Did You Know (turkey edition)

Did you know that:

• We decided not to do all the work of the full turkey dinner just for the two of us at Thanksgiving this year (we'll be doing it at Christmas, when my brother is here).
• It did seem like a good idea to pick up a small turkey now, though, while it's on sale, and make stock to use for the gravy at Christmas.
• If one goes to the grocery store two days before Thanksgiving, they only have a few turkeys left in stock, and they are not at all small. Leaving the choice of a 25-pound turkey for a really ridiculously good deal, or maybe a smaller one that would cost three times as much.
• If you get the 25-pounder, chances are good that your largest roasting pan will not be big enough for that. Get a foil one from the dollar store (or a kindly neighbor).
• A 25-pound frozen turkey will take (they say) 5 to 6 days to defrost (safely, in the fridge--where it takes up an entire shelf).

• No worries, though: You can cook a frozen turkey! Who knew. (Not I.) 
• It just takes at least 50% more time.
• Which means that the house will start smelling of turkey about an hour after it goes in the oven, and will smell better and better for the next, oh, 8 hours.
• Though after you have bent over the hot oven for a while, ladling the excess liquid out of the pan, you will find the smell a bit less appealing.
• At this point, a fla-vor-ice pop is going to help your mood immensely. At least, it helped mine!
• If you burned your arm a little against the inside of the stove while ladling, then putting A&D ointment on it will soothe it.
• But you will be sent back in time on the scent memory of changing diapers, even if it is a decade or more since you last changed a diaper.
• Back to the turkey: some hours later, you will have this beauty:

And lots of liquid, and dinner tonight, more meals after, and the carcass to make the stock. 

Whew. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Maggie-versary! (and happy Thanksgiving, to those who celebrate)

We have had this little furry dictator in our lives for three years today! Sometimes she makes me crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Two years post.

One year post (and I swear, I wrote the first sentence here before going back to find this one).

Some recent photos:

 

Following Up the Two Stories

(If you missed yesterday's blog, this follows from that, so pop back and read it first.)

Lisa RR in Toronto wondered who would be giving all that lovely yarn to a thrift store. While I can't know the answer for sure, I do know what my mother has told me many times over the years, which is that often they get a huge donation that is clearly from someone clearing out a home after a person has died. An entire wardrobe of clothing, bags and bags of it, usually means that Mom or Dad has died and the kids are clearing out the house to sell. It's just a fact of life, so to speak, when you live in an area with an older population.

In this case, I do wish I had known this knitter, since I feel I would have liked them: they had excellent taste in yarn! Someone in my knitting group suggested that they are looking down from the afterlife pleased that their stash came to someone who appreciated it, which is a nice thought. 

What it makes me think about, though, is the concept of a yarn will. When one has a lot of any type of supplies, like I do yarn, it's not a bad idea to have a plan laid out. Not necessarily part of a legal document, but just a plan that your loved ones can look to if something happens: "If I am hit by a bus, please offer my stash to ____, who can do with it as she wants." Though you may wish to check with your designated person, to make sure they would be pleased and not stressed out by it!

Or, conversely, not ask them, if you fear that after that, they would eye every yarn purchase you made like it would be theirs some day. ;)

Two Stories That Tie In Together

I mostly knit things for myself, but once in a while I get the impulse to make something for another person, and recently I was thinking about Alison, who knits so much for other people, and that maybe it would be nice for her to get something for a change.

So I pulled out my copy of her book of shawl patterns, and chose yarn:

This is a skein of Emma's Yarn, which is a Florida dyer that I figured might not be seen too much in California. Isn't it pretty? The colorway is Hot Tamale.

The Hella Hank is 80/10/10 of superwash merino, cashmere, and nylon, and it feels so nice. (It gave me a slight pang to give it up, but I wanted to share it--this is happy foreshadowing.)

So I cast on the Julia's Shawl (Ravelry link), using many stitch markers to keep me on track.

The pattern suited me well! I enjoyed the knitting of it. At first, I could take spread-out photos.

But as it grew, that got harder.

Still so pretty!

Finally finished and off the needles, so I could see what I had. Well, pre-blocking, anyway:

I chose to do the alternate edging the pattern suggested, but you can hardly see it here.

A bit more so once pinned out!

There it is!

Check out the size of it before pinning:

Versus after:

I'm really pleased with how it came out.

So, about that second story? Well, I boxed this up last Wednesday, and that afternoon, my mother came home with a lot of yarn that had come in to the thrift store where she has volunteered for years: she isn't actually working there since her hip surgery, but they still keep an eye out for certain things for her or for me. The answer to "we got in a lot of yarn, it seems nice, do you think ccr would like it?" is always yes. A year ago, that 'yes' brought me a huge bag that was mostly mohair, not a favorite, but I certainly appreciated the sentiment. This year, it brought this:

Look at all that yarn! And it's lovely stuff, including skein after skein of Emma's Yarn. And very much including a skein that is the exact yarn I used for Alison's shawl. 

How's that for karma? Do good, get good. I couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled that one out of the box.

I had an absolute blast going through all the yarn (and frequently repeating, holy crap! holy crap!), which is mostly brands I know but a few I didn't. I decided to keep this much for me:

So much, so gorgeous! Then I sent off a few skeins each to my three close knitting friends up north, the ones I went to Rhinebeck with two years ago. And I still have two big bags to share with my knitting group down here. 

Happy yarny knitting stories.

Maybe My Best Photo of 2021

I take a ton of photos, and plenty of them are good, some are fine, while some are more for reminders and don't have to be good photos to do what I want from them.

I haven't scrolled through all the ones I've taken this year, but this one might just top them all.

Isn't that pretty? I came around a corner just before sunset, and lined up behind the tree at the perfect time.

Season Is Picking Up

I moved to Florida three and a half years ago, and yet there are some things I am still getting used to. One of these is living in a tourist destination.

My mother mentioned recently, while we were watching a hockey game, that the summer population here wouldn't fill an NHL arena. The population more than doubles (maybe triples) during "season" and there are definitely effects on our everyday life. Traffic picks up, so it can take almost twice as long to get from point A to point B as it would in July. You can't get into some restaurants at anything like a regular mealtime unless you want to wait an hour or two. Parking lots are full, and don't even try to go to the grocery store or (heaven forbid) Costco on the first day or two of the month, when people who come down to rent for a month have arrived and are stocking up big-time on supplies.

This really isn't to complain. I pretty much knew what I was coming to: my parents moved here 25 years ago, so I have been visiting for a long time. But there are times when, for instance, I'm trying to get to a doctor's appointment and the driver in front of me clearly has no idea where they want to turn, so they're doing 22 in a 35 zone and slowing and speeding up, again and again, when I just want to yell, Get out of my way, I know where I'm going. I went up into the nearby city twice this week (once for the doctor's appointment, once to CarMax for them to put in a new battery, no charge, thank you very much), and the traffic! Appalling! And it will only get more so for the next few months.

On the other hand, of course, no snow, and no bitter cold--we laugh at ourselves for how much we complain when it goes below 80, and if it gets under 70? The horrors!

And also on that other hand, I'm looking forward to snowbird friends getting down here again. Zoom has been a great deal better than nothing for the last 18 months, but I miss seeing people in 3D.

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Meanwhile, funny blog-to-the-rescue story: I was trying to find a recipe I knew I had made, but not for a long time, and couldn't find it with my recipes anywhere, physical or virtual. But I searched here in Ye Old Blog, and there it was, spaghetti bake. Thank you, past me!

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Sneak peek at the knitting project I started today:

More to come!

Mercedes Is Confused

Following up on my post about Google's calendar being confused, I can report that as of today's mail, someone at Mercedes is also confused:

Unless we think that they really are interested in buying my Kia? It seems unlikely to me. But I haven't had the car two months, I'm not interested in selling it anyway.

 

Google Calendar Is Confused

I have used Google's calendar for a long time, and am pretty reliant on it at this point (which of course may bite me in the butt one day, but let's not think about that). Lately I have been laughing about one thing it's doing.

I have downloaded a Bruins calendar that puts the games in there for me. So here's today's view, on the computer:

If, however, I look at it on my (android) phone, it's confused. Are the Bruins playing at 7pm, or are they maybe playing at noon? Who knows! Maybe both!

(Narrator voice: It is not both.)

If, however, I open the calendar on my iPad, it says, "Bruins game? What Bruins game?"

(Narrator voice: They are, in fact, playing tonight.)

Isn't that odd? 

P.S. I'm getting the depo shot on Monday; eff this nonsense.