Of Car and Hockey

Yesterday I had the new car in at my mechanic to be checked over, and he rotated the tires and said everything else was "like new," so it's officially a keeper! Whew. I didn't really think he would find anything, but it's a relief to be past that point.

And you know what that means: bumper stickers. Here's what I have so far (I may end up getting others, of course, but this is a good start):

There's one more in the mail, which leads me happily into hockey season. Training camps started yesterday, and preseason games start this weekend. Hockey news fills my Twitter feed again.

And! guess what! Our cable provider has a package of extra sports channels, and it included NESN (the New England Sports Network), which I didn't think was even available down here! All the Bruins games! With my favorite, homers-and-proud-of-it, announcers! I signed up for that so fast. I'm very excited. Go Bruins!

Hockey Is Coming

Here comes hockey season!

The Bruins prospects played in a mini-tourney against the Buffalo and New Jersey prospects this weekend, which I was able to watch part of online (part of both games, that is, around other things I was doing: Boston 5 to Buffalo 2, and NJ 4 to Boston 3). Unfortunately, neither game was done by the Bruins announcers, so there was more of a focus on the other sides, but still it was fun to have real hockey going again. 

And this week, full training camp starts, which mean exhibition games start next week. And, according to the Bruins, one of those games will be televised! A week from Thursday against Philly is supposed to be on TNT. The rest, well, they'll be on Bruins radio at least, so they'll be talking about the players I want to hear about.

Hockey, hockey, hockey...

Damn It

Sure, enough, I got my period. So soon after writing about how long it had been! Though honestly, if the cycles came 12 weeks apart, instead of 3 or 4, that wouldn't be so terrible.

But better to have none, of course. 

More Maggie (and other) Photos

How about some pictures?

I got a new carrier for Maggie, and while she was skeptical at first:

I left it in the living room, and sometimes she goes in there for a nap.

Lap cat, part 87042.

And box cat, part 42087.

File this under Duh, really?

Ohhh, this is so true.

Visited Norman Love this weekend; good chocolate! And funny sign on the display case:

It was a beautiful day (as opposed to now, when it's thundering and pouring rain).

Who could be cuter? 

Superstitious

I wanted to update y'all on what's happening with my periods*, which I will state up front in case anyone doesn't feel like reading about it.

*Blogging is weird sometimes, you know?

(I don't exactly think of myself as superstitious, and yet when I thought about writing this, I found myself thinking, but what if I jinx it? I finally decided to go for it, though.)

After going off birth control last summer, which I was on due to bad periods, I had a few months of peace, and then they started up again. After that, every 22 to 32 days, it would start again. In June, when it started for the tenth time, fed up with the whole process, I made an appointment with a gynecologist for her next available opening, which was late August (appointments are backed up because of the pandemic, of course). I figured that I would have two more cycles before the time came to see her.

Instead? Nothing.

Nada. Zilch. No periods. It's so weird!

Mind you, I am NOT complaining. Though I dislike the uncertainty, it's much less bothersome than the cramps and general feeling-awful-ness. But it's so weird! Every 3 to 4 weeks, and then all of a sudden it's almost 11 weeks of complete radio silence. No cramps or bleeding, no hot flashes or night sweats, not a single thing that points to definitive menopause. Can this really be it? So doubtful! 

I will report back if it starts tomorrow, now that I've written this, as I almost expect it will. But, you know, it is weird, right?

Bumper Stickers, To Start

Getting ready!

Here It Is

Got the car!

To recap, it's a 2019 Kia Soul +, with under 14,000 miles. It's gleamingly new compared to my old 2012. It has a lot of bells and whistles I'll need to figure out, but the basics--the feel of driving it--are much the same, so the change isn't too much to deal with. I'm sure I'll be looking for a green car in parking lots for a while, and getting used to push-button start will take time.

If anyone has a suggestion for buying knitting-related bumper stickers, let me know. Or cats, or reading/books. I'll have to get a Bruins one, or two... think, think, think.

I do have time to get a few together; the car can be returned within the first 30 days, so just in case, I won't stick anything on this month. For my birthday, I'll get going! Fun stuff.

Adding Another Thing to my Plate

Even though my mother's recovery from hip surgery is going well, the situation does mean I have more things to do these days, and really the last thing I wanted to do, in theory, is add anything else to my plate.

But. Mom and I have talked for a while now about how we could go down to one car, and that though my 2012 Kia Soul has been fine, it's probably a good idea to get a newer one, say 2019, and upgrade the safety equipment versus what I have now. I did some research, and determined that I don't want the base model, but either the + or the ! would work.

Yeah, seriously, the Plus and the Exclaim. I had to google the latter to see how on earth you were supposed to say it. The Plus has all the good safety stuff I want; the Exclaim seems more aimed at turbocharged this and that, which I don't need, but would take for a good enough deal.

Of course, finding used cars is harder these days, with pandemic effects on the markets for new/used/rental vehicles, and I've been checking CarMax regularly and seeing either nothing, or ones with over 50,000 miles on them, which, no thanks. 

There have been two Souls nearby showing as Coming Soon for a few weeks, one with 24K and the other with 28K, and I was figuring either would be worth a look once they were available. But then, Wednesday afternoon, I got an alert that a new one was listed, and it turns out it has 14K--fourteen! Or, as I learned when I talked to the person from CarMax, actually just under. Considering that the buyer gets the remainder of the 5-year, 60-thousand mile warranty, that is not bad!

CarMax transferred it to the nearer location to me, and on Sunday, I will take a look at it, drive it, make sure there's nothing weird about it, and if so, boom, new car!

Which means I need to get some bumper stickers. I hate a naked car.

I love this one, but it isn't meant to be outside, so it won't last. I'll keep looking.

Early

On work days, my alarm goes off at 6:30, but today I had to get up at 6 to go to an appointment. On the plus side, when you're the first appointment of the day, the doctor is right on time, no waiting; on the minus side, I am so appallingly more tired than usual, you would think I had gotten up at 4 instead. SO. TIRED. I felt like, if someone gave me the slightest push, I would tip right over, and then fall asleep where I landed. Zzzz.

Mom is doing very well recovering from the hip replacement. On Friday night, she was in a lot of pain, "why did I even do this" levels, but by Sunday night she wasn't even needing the walker for every step, and had gone down to mild pain, or even just soreness and discomfort, which is a vast improvement! At this point, my job is going to be less taking care of her, and more keeping her from doing too much too soon. Wish me luck!

No News Is Good News

Mom is home and happy to begin recovering in her own bed. If I go quiet here for a few days, don't worry, we're good! 

It Went Well!

Bionic hip is in, Mom is recovering.

That's all I've got; work was a BEAR today (actually, since Tuesday), and I am wiped out. But happy!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

Thursday is hip replacement day! The next step in Operation Bionic Mom.

Wish us well!

Come On, What a Cute Cat

I mean, really. Come on.

It's So Simple

Even a child can understand it. 

Ta Da! Finished Shawl

I finished knitting the Wavedeck (Ravelry; Knitty) shawl, and today I blocked it. I've said it before and I'll say it now, blocking is magic. 

Here it is, laid out before blocking:

And after soaking, laid out but not yet pinned:

Much better! But best of all, after being pinned into shape:

So pretty! 

Same progression, closer up. Dry:

Wet:

Pinned:

I was really sure that blocking would open it up wonderfully, and I'm so glad I was right. I mean, not to pat myself on the back, but, you know. Lookit how pretty!

A Familiar Look

Last night, Miss Maggie was having herself a bath, and even from across the room, was so cute doing it that I had to take pictures. (I know, I have no sense of decorum, no respect for her personal space.)

But come on.

The look she gave me seemed familiar, so today I dug into my photo backup and found this one, of Carlos in 2010.

A similar vibe, don't you think? "What?" and also "Why?" and "Really?"

I have no regrets.

Some Truly Good News

Great, even!

My mother, it was decided earlier this year, was going to need a hip replacement. They were initially going to repair her torn rotator cuff first, since that was already scheduled--but then that had to be cancelled, so she decided she wanted to do the hip first, once that was an option, because it's hurting a lot more than the shoulder is. 

She saw the doctor today to talk about scheduling, and oh hey, they have a cancellation for the week after next, so instead of having to wait until they could get her on the schedule for some time next summer, she's getting it done now! Yay!

Also whew. I knew it was weighing me down--seeing a loved one in pain is never fun--but wow, what a relief. I'm bouncing here.

I love Friday the 13th now.

Bird Story

I was talking with a women who has a parrot, I don't remember what kind, but the bird is 30 years old, and apparently they have the human-equivalent age of a 4-year-old. The bird doesn't make tweet or other bird noises, but speaks clear English, and can also make beeps and other similar sounds.

So she told the story of a time a few years ago when she was on a plane with the parrot, and the bird starts making some beeps, and the woman can see people looking around, so she explains, "it's okay, it's not an alarm or anything, it's a bird." And one person near her is very concerned and repeats, "What is it, what is it?" and the woman says again that it's a bird making the noises. But when the other person says, "what is it?" again, the bird says firmly, "IT'S A BIRD."

I'm probably not telling it as well as she did, but oh, this makes me laugh. Anyone have other bird stories?

Yarn Shopping, In-Person and Otherwise

On Saturday, I was running some errands that had me passing my nearest yarn store, and decided to stop in (masked, of course) and see how things were going. Mysteriously, this store has done virtually no promotion during the pandemic; I think they might have sent one email? or two? over the last year and a half. I couldn't tell you how they are still in business.

But they are, although the store is a bit smaller than it was (literally: they used to have two storefronts and now they have one), and it turns out they had a lot of yarn on sale, even. (Again, why not email about this? encourage people to come in?) Including Sugar Bush Yarns, which is apparently going out of business; this is sad, as their yarns are very nice, but it meant the store had a good sale, and, well, you can see where I'm going with this.

Bliss (Ravelry link) is merino with silk and cashmere, and feels just as good as you would imagine.

There was one ball left of this lovely cobalt blue, 30% off.

And the store had a few colors left in bag quantity at an even better discount, $66 for the 10 balls, from $111 originally.

I think the blue will make a nice accent to the grey--sorry, platinum color. No, I don't know exactly what I'll be making with it. You know how I roll.

I do have an idea of a pattern to use on the yarn I showed here a few weeks ago (and then never followed up on, nor put them into my stash on Ravelry, hmmm, goofing off with a book instead, no doubt). These are the two colorways that Indigodragonfly came up with to fund-raise for the Yarn Harlot's team in the PWA Bike Rally (more details here and here). I ordered them on MerGoat Sock, which is merino with cashmere and nylon, and is wonderful.

The colorways are named The Shrieking Wheels:

And Tire Swamp.

I wanted a pattern that would show them off well together, and a knitting friend is making a shawl called Right Around the Corner (Ravelry link) that I think will do nicely. We'll see, once I decide that the Wavedeck shawl is big enough to call done. I don't think I showed you it from when I put it on a longer needle to spread it out:

That was a couple of weeks ago, and I'm continuing on. I still have plenty of yarn left; at some point I'll spread it out again and decide if it's time to make the call. No rush.

Random Bits

I don't seem up to much coherency lately, but here are a few bits and pieces:

• I may be an English major and not a medical professional, but I give myself credit today for noticing that myelodysplastic was spelled wrong (it doesn't start 'myleo'), and that although allogenic is a word, the word they wanted in this context is allogeneic. So close, so wrong!
• I love that British Olympic diver Tom Daley is a knitter! (I am now following him on Instagram.) He and his husband are so adorable.
• I'm trying to understand why people who could get vaccinated choose not to, but I just keep thinking, This disease is a tsunami. It's a tidal wave. It's going to envelope us all, and without help, we'll drown. And someone is throwing you a rope, and you're not taking it? 
• Plus, you can get fun things like this (from here):