Kanga, Roo, and Chatterbox, Too!

We had a fun Skype visit with Jason, Laura, Sweet Pea and Spud yesterday.  Sweet Pea had to show us her new Kanga and Roo.  She is enthralled with Winnie-the-Pooh and all the characters in the Enchanted Woods but especially fond of Kanga and little Roo.

On our end, the Commander had his OWN stuffed kangaroo that he had gotten when he was stationed with the Seabees way back when.  So we had fun having our kangaroo pop up on the monitor now and then.

In the meantime, little Spud wasn't letting us get many words in edgewise.  Spud has reached the babbling stage and boy, can that boy make some noise.  If pictures could talk, I think this is what he must have been saying:

"Huh, so what have we here?  Let me take a breath and assess the situation."

"Nana, Pawpaw, is that you?  Whoa.....what was that thing that popped up on the screen?  Hey, where'd it go?

"Daddy, let me go!  I want to play jumping jack on the keyboard."

"Aw, come on, Daddy!  I've got MOVES!  I've got places to go, things to grab."

"Hey, speaking of grabbing, I think if I REALLY stretch, I can grab this cord and give it a good pull."

"Gee, you guys have no sense of humor.  Just because Nana and PawPaw disappeared and the sound stopped, doesn't mean it was my fault.  Hey, Sis....can you stop sucking on that drink and help a brother out?"

"Whoa...is that a microphone?  I mean, seriously, can I play with that or at least use it as a teether?"

"Humph....these guys are no fun. Man, one of these days I'm going to start crawling and then I'm finding a tricycle and I'm out of here.....right out into the kitchen."


That's ok, Luke.  Next time you see Nana, we can race each other to the kitchen but I get first dibs on any desserts we find.  Until our next Skype visit......we love you!

Parenting a Missionary, Pt. 2

I got an email today from WordPress telling me that there was a comment on a blog posting I'd written several years ago.  Regular readers will know that I switched my blog over to Blogger back around 2010 so a lot has happened since then.  Anyway, the comment was from a mother of a young woman who was feeling called to be a missionary.  The mother was hurting at the thought of the potential separation that might lie ahead.  Thank goodness WordPress notified me so that I was able to respond to her but it got me to thinking that perhaps I should repost my initial advice up here on my "active" blog, which is monitored daily, and also give you a little update:

Five Things to Consider When Your Child Is Feeling Called to Be A Missionary:

1.  If your child has been called by God to be a missionary, your desires are secondary. I say this without bitterness.  God’s call on a person’s life is going to trump a parent’s wishes or hopes every time.  And if you stand in the way of that call, shame on you.  I have had to remind myself over and over since my children were born that they are not “mine.”  They were given to me by God for a season only…to nurture them until it was time to release them.

2.  Conditions can be quite fluid in a missionary’s life. There seem to me to be a lot of parallels to life in the military and life as a missionary.  With the military, there is a lot of “hurry up and wait.”  There is a lot of that in a missionary’s journey, too.  You don’t just feel the call to a foreign country and then head out.  You have to determine what organization you should join.  You have to raise support.  You must obtain visas.  Countries become “closed” and you are diverted to other countries.  Orders are changed and you get sent to different places.  You don’t buy homes because you never know how long you are going to be in one spot.  You might need to be sent off for additional training. You can’t always tell loved ones where you are nor communicate regularly with them.

3. Be prepared for a lot of surprises, twists, and turns as their missionary call is defined. Many parents (and the child being “called”) immediately think overseas when they think they are being called to the mission field.  But over time, as they pray and listen to what God is directing them to do, that missionary call could be to work with the homeless in Camden, NJ or with immigrants in San Antonio.  Or it could be a call to go to medical school and then head over to Paraguay to be a missionary doctor.  There are many forms that missionary call could take.  And a child’s missionary work can change over their lifetime.  God will use them when and where He sees fit.  You, as their parent, will become quite familiar with the word “adaptable.”

4.  You might feel angry. Shocker, I know.  Folks at church will probably be hugging you and congratulating you once they hear that your child feels called to the mission field.  Little do they realize that you might be experiencing a whirlpool of conflicting emotions, not the least of which is anger.  You’ve been throwing your whole life into keeping your child safe.  Now they want to go somewhere where they will be living in terribly unsanitary conditions, where people might want to harm them, in voluntary poverty, away from loved ones for long periods of time…….and you’re supposed to SMILE about this?  Are they nuts?  Take a deep breath.  What you are feeling is normal.  Acknowlege it and then you can work through it.  Personally, I worry more about those parents who are giddy with joy when their kids want to be missionaries.   Are they counting the cost?     Be prepared but then pray that God will keep you pleasantly surprised.

5.  Start developing a support network. When your child becomes a missionary, you will most likely not see them for long periods of time.   Seek out other parents of missionaries.    You can find them through your denomination or the missionary organizations.  Become familiar with the computer and long-distance communication tools like Skype and email.   Stay connected with your  friends and church family.  Let them know if you are having a tough time with loneliness.  Get that passport up-to-date and then make plans to do some traveling to places near enough to connect with your missionary child.  That means you need to take steps now to be healthy enough to travel, if at all possible.  And at the risk of sounding trite, remember that you can talk to God about what you are feeling every step of the way.  He’s along for the entire journey.

Bonus Advice:

6.  Take advantage of great resources like the National Network of Parents of Missionaries.  This group (also known as "NNPOM") has a website at http://www.pomnet.org/ and it is chock-full of good advice and resources for you.  They also have a Yahoo group for POMs (Parents of Missionaries) that I can tell you is wonderfully supportive.

Update on MY missionaries:

My son and his family are now back in the States.  At the risk of repeating myself for regular readers, my dear daughter-in-law became pregnant while they were serving overseas and, since she has high-risk pregnancies, they had to return to the States for her final trimester.  Before they had returned, they were beginning to feel that God was changing their call and once they returned, it became clearer to them that this was the case.  Our granddaughter was also experiencing physical problems brought on by the environment overseas, which was a cause for concern.  Now my son is attending seminary while still working as the North American Sending Offices Director for his missionary organization.  We have two wonderful grandchildren.  They live half-way across the country but that's a walk in the park compared to halfway around the world.  The Commander volunteers as a treasurer for Jason's organization and I like to joke and say that I'm the "Postmaster" for the group since I print off the postage and mail off the contribution statements around the country and also mail off books and cover letters to those interested in serving with the organization.  It's a small thing, for sure, but it helps me feel connected to my son's missionary work.  I wonder sometimes if it didn't take me finally  throwing up my hands and releasing my son and daughter and their precious family through my tears to God before He, in His graciousness and mercy, gently restored them back to me.

Sticking Power

If you're a man, you can probably skip today's blog post unless you want to score some serious brownie points with your lady.  If you're a woman, read on, Sister!  I don't know about you, but I have had a terrible time finding lipstick that would last more than an hour or so.  I CERTAINLY couldn't find anything that would last through a meal.  But all that has changed since I discovered "Super Stay 24 Color" by Maybelline.

Let me just say upfront that I have no affiliation with them nor do any of my family or relatives that I'm aware of.  I'm just a VERY happy customer.  I wouldn't even be writing about this product if it weren't for the prodding of a friend of mine.  You see, several weekends ago I was at a function and my friend came up to me and said, "What lipstick are you wearing?  It's really lovely."

I told her what it was and mentioned how I really liked the fact that this particular line of lipstick lasted a LONG time.  As I was giving her a glowing review of its virtues, she said, "You really need to blog about this because I'll bet not many people have heard of it and women are always looking for lipstick that will last."

This lipstick comes in quite a few shades.  It's in a little two-ended tube.  One end has an applicator stick that applies the color.  The trick is that you must then wait a minute or two for it to dry.  It really only takes several minutes....about as long as it takes me to let the dog out to do her business before I am ready to head out the door.  THEN you pop off the cover on the other end of the tube and twist up the "chapstick-like" substance that you apply to your lips.  This gives them a lovely gloss.

It's probably important to note that before you apply this final "gloss", your lips will most likely feel tacky or sticky or dry to you.  Not to panic!  This completely goes away as soon as you complete Step #2.  Then go ahead and head out to enjoy your day, secure in the knowledge that you will have lovely-looking lips with color that you aren't going to chew off or wipe off during dinner.  In fact, I've been using this lipstick for almost a year now and I still find myself startled at times when I glance in the mirror (no wisecracks, now) near the end of the day and notice that my lips still have a nice color to them.

When I'm ready to head to bed and taking my makeup off, I just wipe my lips with the makeup remover/skin cleanser wipe that I use on my face.  You could probably just get the same results with a wet washcloth or rub cold cream on them and wipe with a tissue.    Or heck, you could just go to bed looking like a siren.

I ran into my friend at church the other day.

"Did you get any of the lipstick," I asked.

"I sure did," she replied, "And so did my daughter.  We LOVE it.  We STILL can't believe how long it lasts."

Go forth and enjoy!

Au Secours!

I headed down the road for church this morning in my "Knitting Nanamobile" to the dulcet strains of French Canadian pop music.  I'd been listening to that Sirius station the other day and that's why it happened to come up when I turned the radio on.

"No problem," I thought.  "I'll just pick another of my preset tiers."

I hit the Preset button and pressed another of my channel presets.  Huh?  It was the Elvis station which was my No. 2 preset on the previous tier I'd been listening to.  Now I don't particularly LIKE Elvis music but I'd kind of run out of music that I really wanted to listen to when I was setting up all of my preset channels so this final tier were the "fourth string" of channels, so to speak.

Yikes!  I tried the Preset button again.  Normally it would then allow me to cycle through six different "tiers" of presets with six stations each.  Today, it wasn't going anywhere.  I was BUMMED!  It's not that I mind la musique francaise but I'd been listening to it most of yesterday and I was finished with it (fini avec elle).  A crooning Elvis was even worse.  My other choices?  "Hair Nation" - a station devoted to the big hair bands of the '80's.  Yeah, that didn't exactly float my boat either.  I also had some jazz channels that I'd set up on this tier but I can only take jazz in small doses.

When we got home from church and errands, I finagled the Commander into going out to the Nanamobile to see if he could retrieve my other music options.  He was out there for about seven or eight minutes before he headed back inside.

"Did you get it fixed?" I asked.

"It's fixed, but don't ask me how I did it," he replied.

That's my Commander!  A hunk of burning love!  Il est bon!

No Hurry!

My nephew and his wife are expecting their baby next month.  She (my niece) is at that stage in a pregnancy where you really are ready to have it just be over with.  That baby can't come soon enough.  I have to tell you, though, that I never reached that stage with my pregnancies (well, if you don't count the actual time during hard labor when you are REALLY ready for that child to appear).

You see, I was one of those rare ducks that loved being pregnant.  I enjoyed every minute of it.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I was really happy to discover I was pregnant again when the home test showed positive on the day of my daughter's 1st birthday.

There was another reason that I was in no hurry to pop those babies out.  I had discovered after the first one, that babies are a lot more manageable in the womb than they are once they are actually born.  Maybe this was tempered somewhat by the fact that our daughter was a VERY crabby baby.

Yup, when our Jason (baby No. 2) came along, I was quite happy to stay in the hospital and relax as long as they'd let me.  I remember the doctor coming in and telling me, "If things continue so well, we should be able to release you today."

"Hey, no need to hurry on my account," I told him.  I knew what was waiting for me at home.

THIS little firecracker was back there no doubt dreaming up new ways to get into mischief.  Besides which, if her brother was anything like her, I knew I'd not be getting any sleep for the next few months.

Thankfully my mom was able to come out for a short visit to help me with both children plus I soon discovered that Baby No. 2 had a MUCH mellower temperament than Baby No. 1.  Thank Heavens!  Otherwise that doctor might have found me back on the hospital doorstep asking him if he could readmit me for, oh, I don't know.....maybe the next 18 years?

Belly Up, Times Two

Well, it had to happen sooner or later this winter but did it have to happen on one of the warmest days we've had so far?  I actually managed to slip on the ice in a parking lot on a day that got almost up to 60 degrees.  Yeah, I know.....how did I manage that?  I went to a store EARLY in the morning, that's how, when it was still cold out.  I was hurrying from the car to the store's entrance and saw a wet spot in the pavement but didn't think anything of it, since it wasn't standing water.  What I DIDN'T know was that it was black ice.  I walked right over it and next thing I knew, I was flat on my back with my feet up in the air.  Yup, I'd "come a cropper" so quickly that I didn't even have time to tense up.  I guess that's a good thing since it most likely precluded me from sustaining any injuries other than bruises to elbow, hip, and pride.  For once, those heavily padded "Van Rossum hips" came in handy.  I tell you, it's like wearing pillows strapped on both hips.  No wonder my mom, who has a similar physique, is 98-years old, and has taken numerous falls, has never broken a hip.

Got me to thinking, though, about how the term "come a cropper" came into use.  Seems that the top of a horse's rear is called a "croup" or "crupper", in slang.  Back in the day when many traveled by horseback, the expression, "come a cropper" sprang up to mean that you fell off your horse.  Nowadays, it just means you took a tumble.

We had something else that went belly-up from our household this week.  Would you believe that our big hi-def TV gave up the ghost last night?  We'd been enjoying some TV shows and then I headed up to get ready for bed.  When I called down to the family room to tell the Commander that the dog had been bathroomed, he said he was trying to get the TV to turn on.  I couldn't imagine why, since it seemed like he should be turning it off.

Apparently, he had gone to turn OFF the TV but before he could even press the button, he heard a "pop" and the TV turned off on it's own.  Oh, oh......that didn't sound good.  Now it wouldn't come on at all.  The only thing happening were four red lights blinking when he'd attempt to turn it on.  Wouldn't you know that it was 2 days over the 1-year warranty?  But never fear........for once, we had purchased an extended warranty (since our previous big-screen TV had died just past ITS warranty).

Today, we went out and purchased a slightly smaller TV, which we had planned to do anyway for our bedroom, and also set up a service call with the folks who take care of our maintenance plan.  If they can't fix it, we'll get a new TV as a replacement free of charge.  In the meantime, the Commander set up the new TV on a makeshift stand in front of our other one so that we can watch the Super Bowl on Sunday (can't miss those ads, now can we?)

I told the Commander that, with the luck we seem to have with these TVs, we should just plan to purchase new ones ever year, especially if the prices continue to come down the way they have been doing.  He just looked at me.  I could tell that I was skating on thin ice.

Hie Thee Home, Typhoid Mary!

I can NOT believe this.  Earlier this month, I spent two and a half weeks sick with a viral respiratory thing that was making the rounds.  I actually considered myself lucky because I know some folks who were sick for a whole month with it.  While I was fighting it, I tried to stay home from social functions, church, meetings, etc.  I didn't want to spread it to someone else, if I could help it.  Well, guess what?  I was healthy for exactly one week before I was felled yet again by a head cold.  I can almost guarantee you where I got this, too.  I had been at a function about four days earlier where half of the people were sick with the same thing.  I remember thinking, "Jeepers, why aren't you guys at home?"

That got me to thinking that it might be a good time to take a cold (groan), hard look at cold germs, how they spread, what to do once they attack, and some preventative measures to avoid being felled by these pesky germs.  Here is some info I picked up while surfing the Web.  I can't vouch that it is 100% accurate but there seemed to be a general consensus on these across multiple sources.

Lifespan:  Did you know that cold germs can last up to six hours outside of your body?  SIX HOURS!  Cold germs seem to be spread mainly by physical contact with an infected person or surface versus flu germs which spread mainly through the air via means such as sneezing and coughing.

Defensive Game Plan:
1.  Avoid contact with people that are sick.  OK, this is hard to do.  But if you ARE around sick folks, try not to touch surfaces that they are touching.  DON'T shake hands with them.  Tell them you have leprosy.  Make something up!  It's your health you're protecting.  Be creative!

2.  Clean surfaces that tend to harbor germs.  This can be defensive or proactive but disinfect your kitchen counters, door knobs, and refrigerator handles.  Don't forget about the TV remotes!  Just think about the number of times your family touches those.  If one of you is sick, those germs are probably being passed back and forth while you change channels.

3.  Wash your hands frequently!  If you touch someone who is sick, wash your hands.  Touch something they've been touching?  Wash those hands.  If you are sick and blow your nose, throw away the tissue.  I tend to tuck used tissues back into my purse or up in my sleeve so I can use them again.  Wrong move!  I'm spreading germs.  Throw them away.  Incidentally, scientists are recommending that you wash with good old regular soap versus the antibacterial soap that you see everywhere these days.  They are worried that the bacteria that these soaps don't kill will evolve into resistant bacteria.  We don't need more of those, eh?

4.  If you have to sneeze, do so into your elbow or sleeve.  Forget Mom's old adage about covering your mouth if you have to cough or sneeze.  Then what are you doing with that dirty old hand?  Sure you are going to wash your hands but just how many of us get distracted or waylaid on our way to the sink?  Uh-huh!  Germ alert!  By coughing or sneezing into the crook of your elbow, you are much less likely to infect someone else by touch (unless they are REALLY touchy-feely).

5.  Try not to touch your eyes or nose if you're around someone who is sick.  This is probably a good habit to get into at any time.  One website I visited said that a nursing study reported that 98% of colds are caught through the eyes (and they didn't mean by looking at someone who was sick - they meant by you rubbing your eyes after contact with a sickie).

6.  Drink Plenty of Fluids - this is good to do at any time but supposedly it is even more important when you are sick.  It keeps you hydrated.  I don't know, maybe it drowns the germs or something.  They say that black or green tea is good as a preventative, too.  One cup a day should be helpful.  Tea is also a powerful anti-carcinogen.  That's enough to make me take a second look at it.

7.  Replace your toothbrush after an illness.  OK, how many of you do this?  I have to admit, I never do this.  Usually, I only replace my toothbrush ever six months, when I come back from the dentist with a new one.  I think I'm going to start having a bunch of toothbrushes on hand and follow this suggestion.  It actually makes sense.

8.  Exercise.  Say what?  According to Oprah's website, sedentary, post-menopausal women are twice as likely to catch a cold as those who exercise regularly.  Ouch!  I happen to fit into the former category.  Have to admit, though....I'm not feeling very enthused about exercising at the moment.

Bottom line?  Use some common sense.  I know many of you don't have the luxury of staying home from work more than a day or two.  If you have to go to work when you are ill, take cleaning wipes with you and use them, ok?  Don't spread the suffering.  And for Pete's sake, try to stay at home when you can.  We will ALL thank you!

The Old Fatted Goose

I've been reading a book called Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart to my mom at the nursing home.  It's a series of actual letters written in 1914 by a woman who moved out to Wyoming and these letters are just delightful.  They give a fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day life of ordinary people living out in the secluded ranches tucked away in the canyons and prairies of Wyoming.

Yesterday there were two incidents that caught my attention.  The first involved a bobsled ride in the middle of winter.  Mrs. Steward, her husband and several houseguests were preparing to head out cross-country to a remote ranch for a dinner party.  This trip would involve a day's ride by bobsled over the snow-packed terrain and then a stay of several days before heading home.  To help them stay warm on their journey, the husband heated up rocks in the fireplace and then packed the bottom of the bobsled (which was a wagon bed set on bobsled runners) with straw.  He placed the heated rocks on top of the straw and then placed more straw on top of the rocks.  Next came a layer of blankets.  The people sat on top of the blankets and piled more blankets on top of themselves.  That is how they set off, using the hot rocks as a form of our "heated leather seats" in cars today.

I asked Mom if her family had ever employed this heated rock technique to stay warm when they traveled by bobsled.

"Oh, yes," she replied.  Since Mom lived out on a farm in Minnesota where it gets mighty cold and snowy, I have no doubt that she was remembering correctly.

The other thing that caught my attention was the fact that one of the houseguests, a German lady, insisted on greasing up Mrs. Stewart's baby with goose grease to protect it from the cold before they headed out on their trip.  Ugh!  Goose grease?

"Mom, did anyone ever do that to you?" I asked.

"They sure did," Mom answered.

"Whatever for?" I asked.

"I have no idea," she replied, "but I'm glad that didn't do it when I got older."

Must have been a German thing, I thought.  I'm just glad that goose grease went out of fashion by the time I came along.

"So I guess Vick's Vapor Rub was YOUR version of goose grease and that was why you were always smearing it on me," I teased.

"Probably," Mom laughed.

Thank Heaven for small favors.

Where are the Nitro Pills?

Since Fresca the Wonder Dog's diagnosis of congestive heart failure last week, I've been wrapping my head around the thought of her mortality and the need for daily heart meds the rest of her days.  It's been hard to believe, most days, that this scrappy, feisty little thing could have a problem but I can't deny that her persistent cough has really improved since we started her on the meds.

Today we had the consult with the veterinarian heart specialist.  They had predicted freezing rain overnight and it was pretty foggy and misting this morning so I gave myself plenty of time to go up and over the mountain to this remote vet clinic.  The staff had stressed the fact that I needed to arrive 15 minutes before my appointed time.  I made it there with 15 minutes to spare.

I'd never seen an animal hospital where they had separate waiting rooms for cats and dogs.  I guess most of their clientele have bad tickers so they try to minimize the stress as much as possible.  Luckily, any animals already there were in examining rooms so Fresca and I had the waiting room to ourselves.

She was pretty quiet until she spotted several men approaching the front door.  She must not like the typical "Perry County" look because these fellows personified it, meaning they looked like they had just set their rifles down while out hunting critters and taken a quick side trip to the clinic.  They soon left and we were back to Fresca shaking on my lap.

Suddenly Fresca perked up and gave a low growl.  Pretty soon I heard the clicking of canine nails on the linoleum and a BIG but ancient black Lab bounded around the corner and came right for me.  Now he wasn't acting threatening in any way.  I think he planned to lick me to death.  But Fresca perceived him as a threat and I managed to grab her in mid-launch and mid-snarl while the Lab's owner came around the corner.  The poor old guy (the dog, not the owner) looked like he'd just lost another year off his lifespan as he faced my 15 1/2 pounds of "white death", struggling to have at him.  Wisely, his owner got a better grip on the dog's leash and took him out to her car before heading back in to pay the bill.

We waited some more.  By now we were an hour past our appointment time.  Fresca the Wonder Dog is no chihuahua.  My legs were beginning to get a little tired.  Finally we were brought back into an examining room and the technician said the doctor would be with us soon.

The minutes ticked by.  Another hour came and went.  It wouldn't have been so bad but there was a big sign on the wall that said cellphone use was not allowed because of the sensitive equipment used in the building.  I couldn't even read my Kindle on my iPhone. There are only so many ways to read the canine and feline anatomy charts before you start to go stir-crazy.

Then the doctor arrived.  One blood pressure reading, one EKG, one echocardiogram, one set of xrays, one blood work-up, two sets of new meds, and one exam later, and I was standing at the counter waiting for the receptionist to give me the bill.  She did and, if I'd had some nitro pills, I would have been reaching for them.  I almost had a heart attack myself.  The diagnosis?  Fresca has severe mitrovalve disease, high blood pressure, and Blepharitis of both eyes.  My diagnosis?  Severe poverty.  Oh, no...wait.  I mean, I'll be eating hot dogs and macaroni and cheese until the next payday.  Luckily, I enjoy both.

And that's how I came to find myself at my local pharmacy this afternoon handing over a prescription for one of the heart meds.   The clerk asked me for my insurance card.  I said, "It's for my dog."

"Which dependent is that?"  she asked.

"The white, furry one," I answered.

I'm now on their Super Saver Plan which means we'll get the meds at a very good price.  Since Fresca doesn't know how to write, they've got me down as her "designated human" and I can sign for her meds.  Boy, do I need some chocolate!

How Cold is It?

Don't let the smile fool you.  I may have been smiling here but inside, I was FREEZING and couldn't wait to come back into the warm house.  I STILL hate the cold, as you who read my blog regularly know.  And yet again I find myself enduring another Northern winter.

With the temperatures dropping today, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some expressions heard over the years regarding cold weather.  Here are a few I was able to glean from memory and from perusing the Web.

1.  It's cold enough to freeze the tail off a brass monkey - there are other variations of this but I'm trying to be polite here so I'll leave the variations to your imagination.


2.  It's cold as hell - OK, this defies logic.  Since when is hell cold unless you are someone who can't stand being cold and this ends up being a devilish twist on the ultimate torment.

3.  It's cold as a witch's ___ in a brass bra - Again, trying to be G-rated, I'll leave this up to your imagination.  


4.  It's as cold as the last man's a___ on a toboggan - Brrrr!  'Nuff said.

5.  It was a three-dog night - My folks used to say this.  I think it meant that you needed three dogs on the bed in order to stay warm.

6.  It is so cold that lawyers have their hands in their own pockets - my apologies to any lawyers out there but you have to chuckle at this one.

And my personal favorite, thanks to the reminiscing of "Rango" up on the Web who reports that his granddad used to say:

7.  When I was a kid, it was so cold that my farts froze all winter.  I didn't know 'til they all thawed out next Spring and it like to killed me."


Stay warm, everyone.  I'm heading in for some hot cocoa.

It's Curtains for Eventide

Must be this cold weather OR the fact that I've been recovering from a bronchial thing, but I've been getting a lot of my knitting projects completed lately.  This project is the Eventide Scarf designed by Laura Nelkin.  It is a gorgeous scarf but boy, was it a bugger to knit.

Now, in all fairness, I haven't done a LOT of beadwork in my knitting but I'm not a stranger to it.  I don't know if it was the placing of the beads, the unusual stitches, or the fact that I knit Continental-style which caused the problems but I sure don't plan to knit another one any time soon.  Actually, it could have been a combination of all three factors.

The biggest problem I had with it was the fact that I couldn't get into any set rhythm while I knit because I was always having to stop and change hands and then maneuver the beads into place and then wrestle them back where they were supposed to be after I completed the stitch and then get my hands and yarn back into position for my normal style of knitting.  The ladies in my group who were NOT continental knitting seemed to be having an easier time of it in that regard.

Once I finally got past the rows with the beads, things went a little quicker.  My main complaint then was the fact that I couldn't let my concentration lapse for a minute when I was working on this.  It was a fussy pattern.  I couldn't do my usual "watch TV and knit" routine.  Plus I've always enjoyed the fact that, if I make a mistake, I can usually work my way backwards to the place where I needed to correct things and then fix the problem and continue on OR I could drop a stitch at the point where a mistake might be rows below, dropping that stitch all the way down to the offensive stitch and then rework it back up to my current row.  Well, forget doing any of that with this pattern.  My goodness, it was a real bear trying to correct anything.  It was just very hard to read and to "tink" or "frog" (for you knitters) if you, God forbid, had to go back.

The end result was a lovely scarf, however, and that gives me a certain sense of satisfaction.  Believe me, there were MANY points when I was ready to just throw the darn thing in a corner and give up on it in frustration.  I'm glad that I stuck with it.  It's "curtains" for this particular pattern in my house, though.  "Eventide" has been banished to the perpetual night within my folder of "completed projects."

A Touch of Class

My belated Christmas present from my daughter arrived last week - a handmade leather case from Oberon for my Kindle Touch.  Prior to its arrival, I was using a case made by Lightwedge called the Verso Prologue Antique Case, seen above.  There was nothing wrong with that case.  It was quite nice, in fact.  But Oberon cases are a work of art.

These Oberon cases are all handmade out of leather in wonderfully unique designs.  This one that I chose is called the "Celtic Hounds" design.  It is actually a "sleeve" instead of a case.  In other words, my Kindle Touch slides into it.

When I'm ready to read, I slip my Touch out and read it naked....well, the Kindle is naked, not me.  I'd forgotten how tiny and lightweight these Kindles are because I've always used them in cases.  It's a very freeing experience to read one that isn't weighted down in a case.  Of course, that means that I have to be careful to not sling it around carelessly or drop it but I'm a pretty careful person with my e-readers.

Once you slip the Kindle into the sleeve, there is a flap that folds over the top of the opening and it is secured magnetically.  I had a twinge at first, wondering if the magnet would cause any problems but it has not.  On the back of the sleeve, on the other end of the tab, is a stamped pewter buckle.  I noticed that they have revised the design just a tad and the top of the sleeve now is scalloped and this pewter buckle has a celtic knot design on it.  Cool!

The Kindle Touch in its new sleeve is the perfect size to slip into my purse when I'm heading out the door.  The sleeve protects it just fine.

I highly recommend any Oberon product.  I've purchased cases for other Kindle products from them in the past and they are still just as beautiful as the day I unpacked them.

Give a Hoot

I recently finished two owl hats for my grandchildren's visit to Pennsylvania from the much warmer state of Texas.  The pattern is a Spud and Chloe pattern called Hoot Hat and designed by Susan B. Anderson.  If you are a member of the website Ravelry,  you can view the particulars here.

The pattern itself was very easy and worked up quickly.  The only fussy part was doing the face features and even those weren't all that hard to do, especially if you can crochet.  The designer calls for knit eyes and beak but I found that crocheting some circles and a triangle were much faster and easier to do and then I just had to sew them on to the hats.  I used black felt for the irises of the eyes.

And how did the kiddos like the hats?  Well, I 'll let these pictures show you.

  "Hey, little Luke....isn't it fun wearing Nana's Owl Hat that she made for you?"

"I think I look pretty nifty in this hat.  Just don't expect me to fly around yet because first I have to learn to crawl."

"Aaargh, Mommy, what are you doing?  I don't want to pose with my sister.  She might drop me or even worse, push me out of the nest."

"The girl is nuts, I tell you....nuts.  I've got my eyes on you, Sis.....all four of them."

All Fired Up

I ran into the Head of Dietary Services today at my mom's nursing home.  The first thing he said when he saw me was, "Hey, guess what I got for Christmas!"

"A Kindle Fire," I replied.

"Yes," he said, looking surprised that I'd guessed so quickly.

"I got one, too," I laughed.  "Aren't they great?"

"I love it," he answered.  "Well, I just had to tell you because you're the one who got me started with Kindles in the first place."

Yes, I had.  He'd been at a caregivers' meeting I'd attended last year and he saw me sitting there reading my Kindle before the meeting started.  One thing led to another and soon I was extolling the virtues of e-readers and the Kindle, in particular.  He had his own Kindle within a week and he got his wife one later that year.

I'm telling you, once you've used a Kindle, you are quickly hooked.   Goodness, I'll even expand that to include Nooks.  These e-readers are just fantastic little techno-doodads.

There's no better illustration of the passionate nature of e-reader aficionados than an obituary I read in the paper yesterday.  It said, in part....

   ".....loved to read anything she could get her hands on.  After she purchased her Kindle, she never left home without it."

Amen, Sister!

My Other Car is A....

Have you seen those bumper stickers on people's cars, the ones that say.....my other car is a "BMW" or a "Mercedes", or whatever it is they wish they were driving?  Well, I guess I mentally have one of those on my back.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm very grateful for my new van. If it weren't for the "Nanamobile," we wouldn't have been able to go all over with the grandkids in the car when they were visiting.  It made life a lot easier.  However, I REALLY miss my little Pontiac Vibe sometimes.

You see, I'm one of those people that sees their car as an extension of themselves.  When I was driving my fire-engine red Vibe, I felt "special."  That Vibe was quirky, bold, and zippy.  It looked like it could almost be a sports car, if it put its mind to it.  The back was covered with bumper stickers and decals that all reflected my own distinctive personality and interests.

Now I have a Toyota Sienna minivan.  It is BIG and solid and functional.  There is nothing zippy about it.  I can't even see the front of it when I'm driving and that makes for interesting parking.  I'm still at that stage where I have to drive around a parking lot until I find a pull-through spot OR park way out in the Boonies so that I can be assured that I will have plenty of room to maneuver when it is time to back out. Nobody takes a second look at this vehicle and thinks "Now THERE goes a free spirit!"

I couldn't even get it in a bold color.  Toyota didn't offer it in any bright, bold colors.  They were all kind of "blah."  I settled for a green that looks gray on most days.  Aaargh, the agony of it all.  And miles per gallon?  Man, I'm going through gas like Elizabeth Taylor went through husbands.

I just have to console myself with the fact that I did it for the grandchildren.  Oh, and there IS the benefit of those factory-installed seatwarmers on a cold winter's day.  I may not be driving a unique car anymore but at least my buns are warm.  Booyah!

Going Nowhere Fast

One of the things that I was REALLY excited about when I got the "Nanamobile" back in December was the fact that I could synch my iPhone to the stereo system and not only receive calls and answer the phone through the radio speakers but also that I could link the phone to the radio in such a way that I could listen to the podcasts that I have on my phone.  (And how is THAT for a run-on sentence?)  Of course, the "I" was relative because this little puppy wasn't going to be linking anything.  Frankly, it was all Greek to me.  I was really relying on the Commander to set it all up for me.

Well, he synched (sunk) my phone the day we brought the van home and shortly thereafter I was tooling down the turnpike with my phone hooked to the car via its USB cable and all set to listen to a podcast.  I had browsed through the car's manual (no small feat, that) and had read that I was to hit the "Aux" button once I was hooked up and then it should connect to the iPod portion of my phone.  I did and it did, sort of.  My music library started playing but I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to access the podcasts.  However, I COULD figure out how to move from one song to another so I was happy for that small victory.

When I got home, I told the Commander my tale of woe and he urged me to be patient until the kids had returned to Texas and he could sit down with the manual (good luck with that) and figure out what was wrong.

Today was the day.  It was a lovely Spring day (almost 60 degrees in January in PA) so we backed the car out of the garage and let it sit there idling in the driveway while we resynched the phone.  The Commander is used to using voice commands because that's how he programs his Ford Escort so we talked our way through getting the Toyota to recognize my phone again.    Somehow it had forgotten it so it was a good feeling when I saw the word "Connected" on my phone.

The Commander decided to give it a try by giving me a call.  Of course, I was sitting right beside him but what the hay?  His phone dialed mine and the dulcet strains of my customized ringtone for him from the song "Gasoline and Matches"......."Baby, baby, baby....when it's cold and dark......" came blasting out of the car's stereo.  And I DO mean blasting.

"Hello?" I squeaked and the reverb was loud enough to shatter windows.  I hung up on him.

"Well, I guess we know that the phone part works.  Now how about the podcasts?" I asked.

Thirty minutes later, we were still fiddling with the radio buttons and the phone.  We could get the podcasts to play if we went strictly with Bluetooth.  However, I figured that it would be better to play them via a USB hookup so that the phone would be charging as I listened.  When we did that, we could see the list of podcasts but couldn't hear them.  Then the Commander went through a long, convoluted work-around and came up with a way for me to hear them but we both agreed that there had to be a better way.  Besides, by the time I would go through all those steps, I'd be off the road and halfway into a cow pasture.

Finally I said, "If you don't mind, I'm going inside to start supper.  Call me if you figure it out."

He was out there long enough that I was considering sending the dog out to him with his coffee mug tied around her neck but finally he came inside.

"Did you get it set up?" I inquired.

"No, I'm going to Google it.  On the plus side, I figured out how to lower the volume on the speakers when you get a phone call," he answered.

I'm looking on the bright side.  I finally found NPR radio on the XM Satellite stations.  Now if I can only remember which preset I assigned it.