Corn Bag Project

Leave it to me to take an easy project and make it WRONG...but you know what? It will work just as well! Next week I'll make another...and the week after that? Another one. And maybe 2 more when I have time. Lots of folks around here love sweet corn. This was cute just for the fabric, and I think that I can get more of it tomorrow.....thinking..thinking...

I present...

THE CORN BAG!

Tomorrow, the chair cushions. I know exactly how I'm going to complete them, and I cannot wait, now. That is, after I finish the front of the Blue Celtic Jumper.

Busy and HOT!

And not the Good Kind of Hot, either. I must be breathing too hard--it seems to be the only exercise I get these days, and I'm still sweating!

I finally got the materials to finish making the rug for my bathroom, and I'm past the underarm decreases on the front of the Blue Celtic Jumper, but not too far. It's been too freaking hot to knit! I should get some time in tomorrow morning while it's still cool in the house.

I had an appointment with the gall bladder surgeon, and she took a look at my films from my ultrasound and claims that the "sludge" my family doctor identified "wasn't at critical mass", but scheduled another procedure to see if my gall bladder is working efficiently, or if it truly is "diseased". If they find that it's markedly decreased in effectiveness, they will take it out. Otherwise, they are going to leave it alone.

That's a good thing.

But I've been in a foul mood all day due to caffeine withdrawal, so at lunch, I bought a little something for the headache. Now, the headache is gone, but the foul mood remains. It's just the heat, I keep telling myself. I want to knit, but my fingers are all sticky--I surely don't want to felt the yarn in my hands!

I stopped off at Country Stitches while I was out and about, and found a kit to make a Corn Bag--very similar to a Potato Bag, which I LOVE, so the kit (a scant $5) was MINE. It's really cute, too, with corn on the cob all over the fabric.

I also purchased a couple of "bag" patterns and some material to make a bag. I have to get out my sewing machine, do some repairs on my hubby's pants and then I can work on some sewing--might be cooler than knitting.

I have some chair covers to make too. So I'd best get going.

Another Project Bites the Dust!

Isn't she pretty?

The Really Bad Weather

Well, it looks like the really bad weather is heading to the south of our location, which is a good thing. The humidity, however, is completely unbearable. I got some really good shots of cloud formations today--and a couple of a pretty spectacular sunset. I have to get them into my computer, so you'll have to give me a minute.

As I was saying, one heckuva storm to the south of us. The weather channel shows it well south of Ann Arbor, but I can still see lightening strikes here, from nearly 80 miles away! Considering the curve of the earth and the distance, I would guess these storms to be quite high in the atmosphere to be able to see them from this far.

And the cloud formations have been of the sort that I've never seen before.

This one looked like mountains.

This one was right after work tonight. BIG storm. Never seen a sky so blue on one side of the world, while so slate gray on the other.

But that's not all! The sunset was EQUAL to the task.

Hard to believe that I took these with my Blackberry, isn't it?

I had a class today, Knitting 101, so didn't get a ton done on Celtic Blue, but I did knit some. The front is about 8" long now. I'm at the waistline (or so). Anyway, both students learned the requisite stitches, and bound off and out the door. On the way, I showed them the picture of the class being offered in the next month, and one of my students was preggers, so the timing was perfect to offer the class and give her something to knit for her baby! She was pretty excited about the prospect, so I think I'll have more students down the line.

Tomorrow morning, I have Crochet 101--yes, two, Two, TWO classes! Right after each other. I think the season for knitting might be picking up again!

I can only hope. It has been so slow!

Well, I'm going to relax for a few minutes, and then I will head for bed. Watch the skies. There are some pretty outstanding things going on in the late summer sky!

To The Torture Chamber!

I have always hated the dentist.

Well, perhaps not the dentist, but the dentist's drill.

I don't care how many advances dentistry makes over the years, a drill is still a tool of torture--second only to the Novocaine needle. They hide it until it's time to give you the shot, and they put it behind their back, and they distract you with their other hand in your mouth, and then suddenly, you're getting a shot with a long needle, back in the recesses of your mouth, that initially makes your tongue and lips tingle, and then some real pain, in the crook of your jaw, that nearly causes me to run for the hills!

But the drill?

Scariest piece of machinery known to mankind--they have all sorts of different tips that they can interchange, to use for every sort of drilling they might need to do to get every last bit of decay out of the hole they make in your mouth. All the while, sucking up your saliva until your tongue swells and dries out and sticks to the top of your mouth so you can no longer scream!

In case you didn't figure it out, I went to the dentist today. I have been having some jaw pain, and when I bit into a sandwich that had cranberries in it, a sudden and unexpected pain shot into my jowl. The point of the problem lay in a decayed tooth that I knew I had--but when I got to the dentist, they found another right next to it. So they filled both. A two-fer. I bet the bill will be twice as much!

I came home and fell sound asleep for about 2 1/2 hours. Pain just takes all the life right out of you.

Anyway, the Novocaine is wearing off, and I still have quite a lot of pain in my jaw from all the work they did in there--so I've taken some Advil to handle that. It's just starting to take effect.

It's chilly outdoors, and it's hot inside the house because the air isn't moving very much in here.

I began the front to the Blue Celtic Jumper. I'm pretty geeked about this. I took the charted pattern and copied it 6 times, then I pasted then all together to make one long chart for the entire sweater. I've been knitting like a mad fiend. I've finished 3 cables (that's 18 rows), plus the ribbing (17 rows) so you see, I've gotten quite a little bit done in a short space of time. Tonight, it's likely that I won't sleep too well, so I'll maybe get a bit of work done on it tonight. Of course, if I take much more of the Advil, I might be out like a light at 11pm anyway.

Which brings me to my general "mood" right now--it's really grumpy. I'm not much for company when my body aches, and a toothache is no friend of mine. I hate going to the dentist, because their work causes me just as much pain (if not more, for a little while), and because I'm still in quite a bit of pain, my mood is similar. I'm a pain. I know that I'm a pain. I don't care if my hubby thinks I'm a pain. All I want is for the pain to stop.

Did I tell you that they are going to fit me for a bite splint? Oh joy. I just love drooling all over myself during the night. Another thing to be a pain about.

So today was a decidedly difficult day, and it doesn't look like it's going to get too much better.

Tonight was Knit Night...

And I finished the back of the Celtic Jumper...check it out.

Tomorrow, I begin the front. I wonder if I can re-create what I did here...?

While the Whole World Watches...

We are still waiting, really and truly for the BP issue in the Gulf to be 100% resolved. So far, all that has really occured is a bandaid-when the bone needs reset! I have a hard time believing that this is still an issue. I suppose that its not an easy fix, but it does seem that the time to fix has been excessive--considering that it still isn't fixed!

There isn't really much going on today. Work is extremely slow.

Yesterday, I sat on my swing, enjoyed the evening breeze and crocheted some on my Wave Afghan. Almost 4 feet long now, with lots more yarn to go. When done, it will fit a twin size with lots of overhang. A wonderful Christmas gift to the grandkids. I can't wait for Christmas--not for the gifts this year, but for the cooler weather.

Hush! I know its on it's way! Only too soon, we'll be outside raking maple leaves and then, a few weeks later, shoveling snow.

Just so you know, I have it on good authority, that winter is coming early this year. So get your wood stockpile in asap!

I'm going to spin day today and taking my wheel and some wool to spin. I'm taking a short break from knitting, and finishing up some wips. I want to finish up the fair isle sweater, which has been a long time coming. I'd like to wear it this fall.

But that's all there is for now. Hubby might get the deck powerwashed today, if I'm lucky, and then this week, painting can begin.

Also, we're picking up the Impala at the shop and we'll put my car back into storage. I have to call the insurance company to set that up again.

Impossible Hot!

I have weathered summers--lots of them, but this year, I'm steamed, wilted and melting in this horrible heat wave we've been having. It's been so hot for so long that I'm no longer interested in knitting--in fact, I've put away much of the yarn and knitting needles in favor of the bathtub.

Okay, maybe I'm going a little overboard--because when I'm in the air conditioning (our bedroom), I get quite active--in fact, I've been cleaning most of the day in here. I found the floor, by the way, and it was a real mess. I brought in the vacuum and got all the cat and dog hair sucked up. It's almost livable in here now. There's still a long way to go, but I'm getting there. I have to clear all the yarn out of a bin and stick it in the big tub--eventually, the big tub will go to the room downstairs.

Lots of things going on in the old household. My step-son's girlfriend is talking about moving in, so hubby is considering making changes to the basement to make the "apartment" a little more to her liking. First, however, power wash the deck and stain it again. That task, however, was set aside for a while until the baby birds under the deck flew the coop (which they did this morning).

I remember the first time we stained the deck, too. I couldn't walk for a week, and my rump hurt so bad from skootching across the deck so that I didn't stain myself into a corner. It's a big deck, too, 12 x 50 so that's a lot of skootching. This year will be different. I'm going to paint with a broom handle on the brush. That way, it's more like sweeping--which is something I can do quite well. Hubby will paint the spindles on the inside of the deck, step son will paint the spindles on the outside of the deck, and his girlfriend will either paint the stairs or the ledger boards. I don't think we're going to paint the underside this time.

And the baby birds learned to fly and didn't get washed away.

I had a class last night at JoAnn's. Three ladies learning to crochet. All three in various states of learning. One a beginner. One an intermediate. One a tad more experienced. They all had different needs. I hope that they all feel they got their money's worth.

I've been busy, busy, busy. I was on vacation week before last, but there was so much of life going on, that I barely saw the vacation. And the days just whipped on by. Going back to work was really hard. On Friday, I just dragged in--I've been having heartburn (really bad--even the Nexium isn't touching it), which caused me to start having headaches, neck pain and down into my shoulders. I even imagined it causing pain my my left thumb...which I THINK was mostly imagination. I came home and slept every evening, just a little catnap, to get my energy back. The Nexium wasn't working, so I took some Pepto, and the next morning, my whole tongue was BLACK--

Now that concerned me--because I'm taking Nexium, and it's supposed to keep that acid reflux DOWN, so now I have a second doctor's appointment to attend which gets me out of work for a couple of hours on Tuesday.

----

I got a snail mail from the Northern Sheep and Wool Festival today. They are having lots of classes that I would like to take, allowing Early Bird Fees. The one class I want to take is Creating the Yarn You Want, on Sept 25--an all day affair--for $80. Including gas to get back and forth--over $100. Meals? Motel? Camp? Okay, let's start the ball at $250 for a one day class.

That just isn't worth it. Maybe I'll just stay home this time.

It's getting close to time for hubby to be home. (checking) Yes, I'm right. He's home. He's going to discuss with his son about buying the corn stove for the basement. It will make life much more livable for the two of them. It will increase our electric bill, unfortunately. By quite a bit, I'm afraid. We'll see. Of course, with two of them downstairs, I will lay odds that the electric bill will skyrocket exponentially. I'm not looking forward to it at all.

There are lots of things to do outside now. The county came through and worked on the road some, tore out our telephone wiring (and the neighbors)then hooked our phone up to the neighbor's line.

That was a little hard to explain to the phone company--but all was fixed by the time I got home the day I called.

They also destroyed my one and only day lily and took out the mailbox. We didn't get mail for a couple of days, and today, after they finally put the box back in, we got a ton of mail--most of it real mail--as opposed to junk mail.

They put down grass seed and some straw "cover" and left a big pile of topsoil and gravel in our yard for the other side of our lawn, which always seems to wash out. Our hope is that we can get this raked down and seeded in the next few days to keep it from washing out in the next rainstorm...something which we've had about ever couple of days for the last 30 days or so since the heat wave took us over.

So, I'm thinking about dinner. I'm thinking real hard about it (not so much). I have no idea if the "boys" are going to go get the cornstove or not yet. I suppose I should put it off until I find out what's going to happen. In the meantime, I can go back to cleaning off the computer desk.

Wish me luck. If I don't come back in a week, send out a search party.

My Hubby's a STAR!

He's been on CNN and now on You Tube! Check it out!

Hello Again!

It has been a reasonably difficult few days around our household. I decided that I would have a grill party on Sunday, and spent Friday and Saturday cleaning house. Now, I can remember when I used to take a DAY, turn into this white tornado, and clean an entire apartment in less than a day--and not suffer for it.

I guess I'm getting old.

Not only did I not get the entire house clean in two days, I suffered bitterly for it. My feet and calves barely allow me to walk, they hurt SO MUCH! I've been limping around the house for the last two days. I think I'm a little better today...

But the party was a success, and that's really all that counts, right? The next door neighbor put on another spectacular show this year, the grill had enough propane in it for everyone's steaks and the skeeters weren't too bad, what with all the DEET I purchased on Saturday.

The big deal, though, and the reason for my taking time off, turned out to be not so much of a big deal. This was my 10th anniversary, and I for sure didn't want a funeral to overshadow my anniversary, and that was the reason for taking the time off, and the reason for cleaning the house and the reason for the party and EVERYTHING else.

At least for ME, it was the reason.

Not so much my hubby.

I explained to him that of course it wasn't such a big deal for HIM since he'd already had one (10th anniversary with his ex-wife), but that I was now years old, and had been married 3 times, and had never had a 10th anniversary. That it WAS a big deal for ME and that he'd better check his attitude at the door and have a good time, or that the 10th anniversary would be his last--not because I'd leave or divorce him, because I'd never do that--but I might consider "other alternatives". That's a joke, son. He got better, but later, complained about the skeeters, and went inside when the fireworks just started, rather than tell anybody that he needed to be sprayed with bug spray.

Why does he have to be such a big poopie head?

There has been next to no knitting accomplished this last 4 or 5 days, due to party prep and funeral (somehow, that just doesn't sound right, does it?). But today begins the first day of my actual 2 day vacation--since the next few days are pretty much free time, with nothing to do but grin and bear the heat--I do intend to make full use of it.

I've made a mistake on Rhiannon, and it's just about signed the death nell for this project--which isn't working out as well as I'd hoped, even though I have followed the instructions to the letter--either I ran into a mistake in the pattern, or I mis-read something, which might have been since I tried to knit while in the throes of a migraine, and the medication caused me to fall asleep.

Mental note: Never try knitting while you're asleep.

Other than having to rip back a few rows and re-knit, I'm good to go, and I have to really THINK about this (in good light, in a cool room, with all my patience intact) before I try to actually DO it. Right at this moment, I'm thinking more sleep is a good idea. So that's where I'm headed.

Updates later.