Lightbulb

So, over at the Mended Drum (Ankh=Morpork Knitters Guild - Ravelry), the subject came up and the jokes are being posted. How many (insert noun here) does it take to change a light bulb?
Here's one of my favorites: How many mice does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Only 2.. it's getting them IN the bulb that's the problem.
What's your favorite?

Therapy Update

Well, didn't get great news at therapy today. NO KNITTING! Not until I go again next week at least. Things looked fine when I left last Tuesday, and by Wednesday evening, my finger was giving me a bit of a problem. More swelling on Thursday morning that I was able to massage away. Today, the pain and swelling were back along with less flexibility and the therapist noticed more rigidity. So I got a change of exercises to do and NO KNITTING...sigh. There are sometimes I wish we had removable parts. I would just stick my finger up on a shelf and let it heal. But....
So, I have no knitting news to report.
Off to play games with the family. It's game night!

Blogging Habit

It didn't make it as habit...sigh. I missed 11 days so far this month. 2/3rds is better than none tho, so will take heart to blog more often.
The 2nd eagle egg has not hatched yet and is now 3 days overdue according to laid-hatched stats of first egg. Chick is doing great and I have hopes of seeing the 3rd egg hatch in a few days. Some of the nesting sites I checked out online are disappointing this year. One nest was abandoned completely this year and another has no eggs as of yet. Last year, we watched with anticipation a nest with 3 eggs, but because of age of the eagles (older) there was only a little hope. Alas, all 3 of the eggs proved to be infertile. BG loves sneaking up to my pc and watching these parents feed their chick. Such majestic looking birds! It is my understanding that they have been removed from the endangered lists now. Let's hope they remain that way.
Knitting group last night. There were 8 of us and lots of laughs. I knit several rows on my version of the TNT scarf before my finger started giving me problems.
Got a couple of rows knit on my socks today without too much problem.
Seedlings are sprouting in the little peat pots in the window. Looks like we will have plenty of plants to set out later. Put in the asparagus seeds this morning. I don't think DH realizes yet that we won't be eating any for 3 years.
BG used 3 TP rolls and created a totem pole. Can you guess what animals are represented?

Another C&PP

DH did an incredible amount of yard work for me yesterday. He got the old stuff off the fence and raked and bagged leaves. He has already figured out a time line in order to be able to ready a garden for me. Herb seeds have sprouted in the one container.
My latest C&PP: http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
Fun to watch the parent eagles feed the little chick, with anticipation of 2 more eggs to hatch.
Worked for a while on QAL. another row done....many many more to go!

Mid-Month Slump

Falling off on the daily blog challenge...sigh. Will try to end the month a bit stronger.
Spring is officially here and I have been trying to get seeds started in trays to put out when the weather gets better. DH is gung-ho on having a garden this year. He has plans to move fences around a bit in the back yard to open up a little more space, also to insure a little privacy and keep the veggie thieves at bay. They and the underground life that seems to thrive here will be our biggest hurdle to a successful garden this year. Several years ago we tried a small garden, and while the tomatoes did well, our beans grew to nice bushes and over night we had lace leaves due to bugs or slugs. Not one flower or bean was produced due to the little buggers. I am considering more container plants rather than in ground ones. This also means I need to brush up on my canning skills which I haven't used in probably 20 years.
I am also looking forward to going with a knitting friend to pick strawberries this year. I have a hankering for some jam...yum.
Been a tough week in the housekeeping department. I have maintained, but not progressed in the Mt Vernon cleaning.
Due to the still half functioning finger, I have only been knitting on my version of the TNT beaded scarf. I haven't measured it, but would say its about 18-20 inches along now. At my knitting group on Wednesday, we decided the weight of it would make a nice weapon if accosted. Sort of knitted nun-chucks.
Not much else going on here... til next time...

Search Parties

OK, no one came looking for me...lol. Really, I got some work done in RoD, but not much. Mostly I just moved things around and the major pile is now in the center of the room. Actually have had a rough week of bad sleep, so have been doing what I need to and vegging a lot.
Knitting for any length of time seems to destroy any flexibility I gain from the therapy I am getting for my finger. It looks better, swelling has gone down, and I can hold it straighter if I don't knit. Knitting group was tonight and I did a few inches on the beaded scarf, til finger started looking more like an L-bracket and I could lay my hand flat on the table and pass small animals under the knuckle. They tell me this could take longer to 'cure' than they originally thought. At least the iced cappuccino was refreshing and conversation was good.

Another Bookcase Down

Saturday: #7 is done. It's the one with the most antique books in the upstairs hallway. Cleaned well, moved and cleaned the wall and woodwork behind. Have some more books to send to the thrift store and some to take to half-priced books and see if I can get anything for them. The house is starting to look pretty nice. Now I need to keep up with it all and not let it get this bad again. I also cleaned out the bedside table and dusted under the bed.

Sunday: On the game shelves. They weren't too bad, just some organizing and dusting. I finally scrubbed the bathroom floor which has been on my list all week. And did the combs and brushes in a sink of warm water with a little shampoo. Another job I haven't gotten to for a while and really like to do once a month or so. A PP job I did this AM (before bath floor) was to clean the fridge shelves. Amazing what you can think of to do to avoid a more unpleasant job!

This coming week I will be entering the Room of Doom! This is the craft/PC/home school/junk room. If I don't post in 2 days, send in the search parties.

Til tomorrow.....(if I come out alive)

Its 3:36 AM right now and, since I didn't get to blog yesterday and am having an awake time, I thought I would drop a note. For all the ups and downs this week, I think I finished well. Several of us got together in the chat room and played 10x15. We make a list of 10 things that need to be done, ask chatzy to roll the die and tell us what number, and then we all run to get that chore done in 15 minutes. My list:
1) clean cat litter
2) bring up dry clothes, fold and put away
3) Vac upstairs rugs
4) scrub the tub
5) scrub bathroom floor*
6) swish and swipe
7) clean bathroom woodwork**
8) clean bathroom shelves
9) sweep kitchen floor***
10) straighten 2 shelves in kitchen
(bold print indicates job done)

The game was on! *I ended up totally cleaning and organizing 4 shelves in the kitchen as a Productive Procrastination to avoid bathroom floor and **I only cleaned the woodwork around the door and wall around the light switch, but...
I also vacced living and dining room, dust mopped and wet swiffered dining room and hall wood floors, cleaned off and out the blanket chest, Clean floor and woodwork behind the chest, cleaned dining table down to one small pile of leftovers from previous desk cleaning, cleaned the fridge out (***another PP to avoid sweeping), wiped counters, washed a comforter, ran the dishwasher, shined my sink including the faucet scrub, had BG sort through a big stack of her papers and toss or keep, and still found a little time to knit!
Whew! Not bad and I felt so much better. And the good news is that I did all that from 9 AM-12:30 PM!
BG was still sick with sore throat and now has a nasty cough, but she didn't have a fever. I tried to give her things to do that didn't require a lot of moving around. We hadn't done any homeschooling all week, but she did do the next pages of her grammar while resting on the couch.
DH called and asked me to meet him and a group of his co-workers for dinner and to watch Glenn Beck together. The concept was good, but the restaurant was a bit too noisy for me. Food was good and plentiful, but service was a bit lacking. We actually had to ask to have menus brought to us and it was another 20 minutes before the waitress came back to take our orders. We asked for carry out containers when she did finally bring our food...and she brought one. 15 minutes later she wandered by to see if things were okay and I asked for the second container then.
DH took the leftovers and wandered home while I went to the store and picked BG up from her aunt's. We were all in bed by 9 PM, which may account, in part, to why I am up now.

Creative Procrastination

Ever notice that when you don't want to do something, you can accomplish a lot in other rooms or areas of your life? Creative and productive procrastination. I use it all the time and I have talked with my Flysisters about some of their favorite ways to procrastinate.
1) Clean something in the room farthest from where you really should be working. Tell yourself you will get there eventually.
2) Knit that Christmas gift you want to give this year. Can't wait til the last minute...again.
3) Shower to get yourself pysched up for the day, clean shower, tub, sink, toilet, shelves etc before leaving bathroom.
4) Chat and tell others how much you need to be working there. Building virtual friendships is important.
5) Blog something like this.

What are your excus....I mean...Creative and productive ways to procrastinate?
(I need new ideas...these aren't working for me anymore...lol)

The Best Laid Plans....

....soon go astray. After being somewhat lethargic about cleaning and blogging yesterday, I planned on getting up and getting back into the swing of things. BG woke with a fever and a sore throat. Called the Doctor and got first available appointment..3:00 pm. I did manage to clean my small appliances with the help of one of the FlyGuys at my chat room. Also got a couple of loads of wash done. Although BG's rapid strep test came back negative, they are treating it as such. Doctor's office was nice enough to phone prescription in so that it would be ready when we got there. We made one stop along the way, and when we arrived at pharmacy, found that they had not checked their phone messages. Another 20 minutes to wait, got home in time to put dinner in the oven so that we could eat at a decent time. BG's temp spiked again after dinner, so needless to say, I did not make it out for my weekly knitting group night. I decided knitting night was knitting night, and curled up on my bed and got about an hour of uninterrupted knitting in.
All is well that ends well, right?

Learning To Be Frugal

Learning to be more frugal can be tough at times, but recently I have had a bit of success with roasts. Our local store had them 'buy 1, get 1 free' so for the price of 18.00 I got 2 very nice beef roasts. Into the freezer went one, and the other found itself simmering with onion in my crock all day. This afternoon, I added potato and carrots. I sliced part of the roast, reserving the other half, and we had a very filling dinner. The other half I split into 2 sections and cut into small pieces. Part went with the leftover potatoes and carrots into a roux with a little seasoning for beef stew later on this week. The rest went back into the crock with 2 bags of frozen veggies, beef stock, chicken flavoring pack, more herbs and spices and will become 5 lunch sized portions for DH to take to work. I did this with the last roast I bought and it worked out well. 18.00 divided by meals for 12 equals 1.50 per meal. I say..can't beat that!
I did a big pot of chili make the same way over the weekend. BG and I ate from it one night, I have some in fridge for the 3 of us for dinner this week, and 4 lunch containers for DH. Gotta love a man that prefers to take homemade meals!

Just Waiting

Mom had to go out today. She didn't say when she would be back and didn't leave any messages for me to forward to you. So I just wanted to say Hi and tell you that I am watching for her. She should be back soon....I hope.

Feegle

Pics and Progress

Finally took and uploaded a few pics to share of the Mt Vernon cleaning. There are places I can go and admire now. Brings a smile to my face and a sense of accomplishment. A look at left bookshelf area before:

And after: A little neater and much cleaner. Found some books to donate to thrift store and a couple to pass to grandkids.


Desk pics before and after below. I would have taken a pic of inside...but it was too scary!




More tomorrow....

Spiritual Cleaning

Whether you celebrate Lent and Easter, Passover, or just do spring cleaning, as you work, think about your spiritual life as well.
In our house, we celebrate Passover in a Messianic way. While I don't normally go thru and clean all the leavening out of the house, this year, it so happens, I am working my way thru deep cleaning and I am reminded of what DH tells me every year. You see dirt, you clean dirt, the more you clean, the more dirt you see, the more you clean...etc. Round and round it goes. Dirt happens. Everyday dirt happens. Soon you realize this is not a job that will be accomplished on your own. Never will there be a day without dirt of some kind.
Options? a) Hire a maid to help...or a whole van full of maids. (tomorrow there will be dirt) b) Close yourself off, seal up the house, get air purifiers, don't allow anyone to move, eat, or do any other dirt making activity (IE: don't live). c) Deal with it on a daily basis knowing tomorrow you will have to do it again.

Warning: Religious part: Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) died to cleanse me from my sins. He did this once and for all. I can neither add nor subtract from His work. The day I accepted Him as Saviour, His work was complete in me. I am clean. Tomorrow there will be dirt. His cleaning is for everyday, every hour, every minute of my life.
Here is the dirt I found today, L-rd. Clean it up, will you? Thanks..again...and again...and again.

Early Rising

DH woke me by slamming a door downstairs at 5:30 am. Now, 2 hours later, I am sitting in my robe, coffee is all most gone and cold, emails have been read, forums checked and answered. Just doing a little more procrastinating here before digging into either a) the china cupboard or b) the dining room desk. I start the dining room today in my trip around the house deep cleaning.
It's not been an noneducational time. Chatted with a friend from Australia about the differences in money, weights and measures, and in the value of old books. Googled 'Existentialism' to better understand and answer a post on another forum. Laughed over the differences and similarities in regional dialects.
I am struck again that, although we may be from different countries, states or regions, and have different values and ideas, we are all...when you get down to basics...very much alike. We all have wants and needs, all have joys and sorrows, frustrations in life and ways to handle those. We all desire someone to listen, to understand or sympathize, to laugh or cry with us. Sometimes we look for opinions, ask for ideas and solutions. But, more often, as women, we really are looking for an ear to hear and a hug to say it will be okay. Far too often, we find these in the virtual world with virtual shoulders to cry on, virtual hugs, and virtual pats on the back. Sadly, for many of us, gone are the days of the neighborhood coffee clatch and visits on the back porch. Often, we don't even know our neighbors. And yet, next door may be another lonely lady looking for the same things we are. I, personally, didn't even connect with a knitting group till I looked on the internet first...and then it was one person...now several..and we meet together. We live within a few miles of each other and still aren't really involved in each others lives like our mothers were with their friends and neighbors. In this modern world, our 'best friend' may be someone who lives a great distance from us and we have never met face to face. Modern technology has opened many doors for us, but have we let it shut many, too?
Would be interested in your feedback from this musing. Do you still have a 'best friend' you visit with often? Do you know your neighbors?

Progress

Got the last of the living room done in my Mt. Vernon cleaning challenge today. Looked longingly at my loom, but she will be my reward for getting this house back into shape. BG is looking forward to learning to weave. Also got a start in the bedroom by cleaning off the top of my dressser, dusting and NOT putting alot back. Personal goal...keep it decluttered!
Start therapy on finger today, dental appts tomorrow, back to therapy on Friday. Now that I am not watching babies, I am trying to get caught up on doctor and dentist visits that having babies didn't allow.
Started knitting a little something onna stick for my CMOT Dibbler swap...not giving any clues..he he

Til tomorrow....

Up & At It

I remember my Dad telling me that in the mornings. So often I am up and stumbling around, grabbing coffee, perusing the Rav forums...anything but 'at it'. Despite good intentions and master lists, ToDo lists, etc. a good hour is wasted just sitting around trying to get my eyes open and playing with pc. I tell myself its my 'me' time..that quiet time when DH has alredy left the house and BG is not awake yet. And yet...to really turn that time into 'me' time...time to fortify myself to face the day, shower, make myself presentable and feeling good about myself..ah..that is the challenge.

Little later in the am...Its hair day...wait..make that HAIR day for BG. The day to take a few hours and wash, condition, comb, braid. Her hair is super curly (think Jimmy Hendrix, only longer) and almost water proof to start. Its not til I add soap that her hair feels wet. Then I use the massage setting on the shower to power wash the soap out, add a ton of conditioner and work that in well. Power rinse again. Then we comb section by section, adding leave in conditioner and braiding as we go.

More later..noon time. Went with 4 smaller braids in the back and 2 pony puffs on top for bg's hair. I was thinking cornrows, but my hands are too tired to work it.

Got another bookshelf done today as part of the Mt Vernon cleaning! Only 4 more to go!

Ode..Yet Again...Another

Ode..Hebrew..meaning yet again...another. Another grandchild is on the way! For those keeping score, this will be #14 birth wise. #9..BG.. changed designation tho with adoption. This will be DS#2's first child and, the way it looks now, the first to be born outside the US as he is stationed in Germany. Not sure at this point what will happen next as he and his girlfriend are not married (yet?) and he could get orders at any time. Time will tell and we can only wait to see.

The Mt. Vernon cleaning is going well so far. Stairs and downstairs hallway are finished and have started around the corner in the living room. First up is the TV area and bookshelf behind it. Lots of dust! Even as I dusted the back of the TV, I could see more dust settling. Must have to do with electronics attracting things out of the air. Need to add clean areas to my weekly list so they don't get this bad again.

Haven't knit in a few days, so no update there.

Listening to The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson on audio book. It was recommended by one of the Rav book clubs. It is another one I may have to listen to a second time. I get busy doing something else and realize I have missed parts.

First week day at home without babysitting. Off to see what I can accomplish!
...til tomorrow....

Dreams of Sewing & Cleaning Update

I went looking for some bone colored yarn in the bins in the basement yesterday. Found some fabric I had bought to make BG some clothes (pattern sizes were children's 2-4 and she is wearing adult sizes now) and started to dream about sewing again. Thinking maybe, when I get the house a little more up to speed, I will make some things for granddaughters. Once upon a time, I did a lot more sewing. The only things my sewing machine has been out for in the last 6 yrs have been DH's 2 kilts, which he helped make, and to sew on some of his Army patches. I used to work for JoAnn Fabrics and have lots of fabric stash left. Once I had 2 big garbage cans full of fabric, but decluttered one whole can full a few years ago. (I am not counting the 4 totes of fabric we used for our litergical banners.)
House Cleaning update: Started in the stairway and removed books from the 2 bookshelves, cleaned the shelves, dusted the books, moved shelves away from wall, cleaned floors, walls and woodwork behind them, replaced everything except a small stack of books that I want to get rid of. Thinking of taking some of the books to Half-Price Bookstore and seeing what I can get for them, and some can go to grandkids.
Moved on to area in downstairs hall by the closet. Removed everything, washed floors and woodwork, took register cover off to vac....and ran screaming for my life as an inch thick, 10 inch square dust bunny tried to eat me! Well, maybe not eat me...but it was scary what was in there! Clogged my mini vac twice getting it out. Today I will be moving on to the other end of the hallway.
Also got 2 more shelves cleaned in the kitchen, everything put back nicely organized.

Til tomorrow......

PS: found the bone colored yarn