Knitting Cybrarian

random observations

• Open message to the person who gave me this cold on Christmas Eve:  I understand why you wanted to come to services.  But why oh why did you have to sing?  And sing beside me?  You gave me this cold, and my respiratory system is an embattled one anyway.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize I had this cold until after I was contagious, which means some of my friends have now caught it.  If you are sick and are still within the period of being contagious, please either stay home or tell me.  And I'll stay home.  Now I'll be lucky to get over this by 15 January, because that's just how these things go for me.
• Because I figured I was past the contagious time, I went to Sip and Knit yesterday.  I enjoyed being one of the knitters and not having to answer the yarn shop phone or wait on customers.  I did help other knitters with their questions, but it was fun.  Afterwards a couple of us went to our favorite Vietnamese buffet.  I couldn't taste things as much as I would have liked, so I didn't go nuts.  It's okay, I could still taste peanut sauce.
• Joel got me the Tom Bihn Swift Knitting Bag for Christmas/Hanukah/our anniversary.  I love it.  Yes, I probably told you before.  I still love it.
• Portia has taken over my lap for most of this vacation.  I've not gotten enough knitting done (or movie watching done), but she and I've bonded, which has been wonderful.
• The weather in KC has been crazy.  Snow, ice, rain, almost 70 one day, down to -2 a few days before or later.  I follow a friend's advice to wear layers, and carry sunglasses and an umbrella.
• Ah.  Verizon.  I've used Verizon Wireless for mobile service for a long time.  They were Cellular One (I think) when I signed up in 1994 or so.  I also pay for my mom's cell phone through Verizon.  So when I got a flyer in the mail saying I was eligible for early upgrade, I thought I'd check it out.  I've been interested in a Blackberry for a while, but I've also been drooling over the iPhone (and AT&T is the only provider in the US for the iPhone).
• The vacuous young thing in high heels at my local Verizon store wasn't interested in my business.  She wasn't willing to go beyond quoting how much the service cost would change or anything.  And the phone prices she quoted me were not the same as I saw on Verizon's website.  I told her so.  Sigh.  My contract is up in April and I'm wondering if this relationship should be severed and if I could spring for an iPhone.  I don't have a Mac laptop yet, but boy... I'm hearing sweet things about the iPhone. 

What I hate about having a cold:

• Not being able to swallow -- you think you're going to swallow and yuck, there's this gunk... oh, you're grossed out already.
• Not being able to breathe through the nose.  Especially at night.  Ick.  I wind up sleeping with a cough drop in my mouth to try to avoid coughing in my sleep.  Bad for the teeth, good for the relationship (so Joel can sleep).
• Tissues, tissues, everywhere.  I stand up, walk into the kitchen, and when I come back I find wadded-up tissues on the floor.  I had no idea those were on my lap.  How did that happen?  And in the bed -- wadded-up tissues in the bed.  How weird!
• Deadened sense of smell and taste.  Popcorn tastes good because all you can taste is the salt.  Coffee is drunk because of habit, not because you can taste it.  The shower gel just smells weird -- hope I don't smell weird.
• Speaking is just too weird for words.  Making phone calls to check on things is worrisome -- I don't know if I can be understood.  Using the voice commands on my cell phone is difficult enough (there's not a Southern region or Appalachian region setting for voice recognition) normally, but with a cold it's even worse. 
• Zits and redspots.  Yeah, one's face looks so lovely during a cold.  I get zits and red skin from the tissues rubbing on my face (and I use Puffs with lotion), and it's just so lovely.  NOT.
  
  

And if you've read this far, I wish you a happy new year! I hope 2009 is kinder to us all!!!

Quiet Sunday

Sarah and I were quite busy at the Studio yesterday, so I decided to have a quiet day at home today.  I had considered going in to work at the library, but thought I'd be better off if I enjoyed time at home.

We had another cold morning, and I enjoyed lingering over coffee.  I finished knitting Joel's new socks and I also finished a child's hat -- to be donated.  I used a basic knit hat pattern, but since I was running low on the pink yarn, I purchased a coordinating blue yarn, and added alternating stripes using the Fibonacci sequence.  The blue stripes were in seed stitch, adding a textural element too.

I made bread dough in the bread machine, and made a bit of a mistake.  I added too much water, so when the dough cycle was complete, I had a runny dough.  At this point I thought I didn't have much to lose, so I added about a cup or so of flour, restarted the cycle and let the machine run about halfway through the cycle.  I stopped the machine, and let the refortified dough rise for about 20 minutes.  It worked, and the rolls were yummy!

I also gave in to my childhood memory, and made baked macaroni and cheese, adding some sharp white cheddar to the mixture.  YUM!

Portia and I watched Braveheart and started knitting another hat while Joel made pizza dough.  I'm behind on movies and had been wanting to watch this for quite a while.

A quiet, productive day.  I hope it's good preparation for the busy week ahead!

Voting, nature, knitting

We've had warm weather the past two days.  Last night when I came home I opened the sliding glass door and the front door to enjoy some fresh air.  Unfortunately this morning Portia let out her hunting meow as we walked to the living room.  She was pawing between my knitting bags and sniffing to beat the band.  As I turned, I saw something run into the kitchen out of the corner of my eye.  A mouse!

Portia was still hunting for it between my knitting bags.  Joel removed the stove drawer, and I asked him to pick her up and bring her to the kitchen as I moved things around, wondering if the mouse would dart out.  No luck.  So this afternoon I baited mouse traps.  Portia is on mouse patrol now, watching for something to come out from underneath the stove.

Joel and I were going to vote this morning, but we decided to wait.  A good thing, as I understand there were long lines at polling places all over Kansas City.  When Joel came home from work, we went and I had NO wait at all!  Joel had 3 people in front of him.   I even brought knitting, just in case I had to stand in line, but all the knitting I did was while I waited for Joel to complete his ballot.

And what am I knitting?  The Tesserae Sock by Anne Hanson.  I'm using Steinbach Wolle Strapaz in color 44, a lovely navy with a white strand twisted into the plys.  These are for Joel.  However, I'm a little short on the toe (making a little longer cuff), so I've ordered some Louet Pearl in red for the toes!

Ah, and last night while the glass door was open, I thought I heard a cat hiss outside.  I got up to see if it was one of the strays we feed, but instead I noticed that my neighbor's deck light was on.  Three deer, all does, were standing in our backyard.  They turned their heads toward me, and I froze.  Eventually I moved back, but I'm always entranced when I see deer. Something about their beautiful heads, liquid eyes and those teeny legs balancing those large bodies transfixes me.

I won't be staying up watching the election returns.  I can't change the result at this point.  I went to the polls and did what I could.  Tomorrow or even Thursday we'll have a better idea of what's ahead. 

Giving in

When I woke up this morning, the temperature in the house was 56 degrees.  Portia even snuggled under the covers last night.  Portia and I now have a morning habit.  I wake up, pour my coffee, and sit in my chair with a polarfleece throw on me.  Portia waits until I get settled, then she crawls up and snuggles with me. 

This morning she didn't want me to get up and get ready for work.  Joel and I debated and decided to give in and turn on the furnace.  Of course, it'll be 65 while we're home and 60 or 61 while we're asleep, but still.  We gave in on 28 Oct 2008.

What a week

I stayed home this morning.  Just exhausted.  Let me give you a few highlights and lowlights of this week:

• There are mice in the house.  Portia killed one early Wednesday morning, but one skittered from underneath the stove yesterday morning.  Preheating the oven to 400 drove it out from its hiding place.  Portia was licking herself and didn't see the little thing dart out.  However, she's spent the better part of every night on Mouse Patrol. 
• And we've found mouse droppings in several places in the kitchen.  Which means that we've been cleaning everything in the kitchen.  My dear student assistants, please don't worry.  I washed all the kitchen bowls, utensils, and baking pans before and after I made things for you.  Using very hot water, strong, antibacterial detergent, etc.  And we're using bleach to soak any number of things.  Ugh.
• I work at the Local Yarn Store (LYS) most Saturdays.  Yesterday morning I got a tearful phone call from my Saturday co-worker.  One of her closest friends had been killed a few hours before in a botched robbery attempt.  There are not enough words or hugs to give comfort. 
• Even sadder is that this is the second friend to be killed in less than a year, and a third friend (one that we both knew) died in a car wreck a few months ago.
• Another dear friend came to the LYS asking me to finish seaming a knitted jacket and block it so she could wear it to her mother's memorial service.  I'm honored that she asked me.  I'll also try to keep from crying when I do it, as I knew her mother too.

Back to cleaning.  Joel's done much of the vacuuming and pulling things out, and it's time to put order to the current chaos, now that various things have dried. 

Did I mention the snake in the library?

Random (or maybe not so) thoughts

Yes, lots to touch on today.

I don't usually talk about my day job here.  But lots of changes are going on there.  My supervisor is retiring soon,  my night/weekend supervisor is moving to Florida, and the building project affects my floor first.  Needless to say, I'm doing a lot of planning and planning for contingencies.  My stress level is pretty high, but I'm trying to keep it constructive, not destructive.  Wish me luck!

I am keeping up with the knitting and should finish a lovely sweater for my nieceling (1st bday is 30 May -- Friday!) today.  Photos to come when completed.

I've been making sweet tea frequently.  It's keeping me sane in a way -- ties me back to childhood and keeps my southern sensibilities intact. 

More on food:  our friend Mark spent the night here Friday night.  He lives in St. Louis and was visiting family in Wichita this weekend.  We were delighted to have him stay over Friday night.  The menu included grilled steak, grilled corn on the cob (with butter and herbs tucked around it in the foil), new potatoes with butter and dill, a salad (with craisins and other yummy things in it), homemade rolls, and brownie pudding with vanilla ice cream.  Oh, and gin and tonics and when the gin ran out, vodka tonics.  Mark enjoyed it very much, and I think the homemade rolls just sent him over the edge.  I won't say how many he ate, but I'm glad for him that he swims laps every weekday!

Before he retired for the night, Joel got the sourdough batter going for waffles, so we all had blueberry waffles for Saturday morning breakfast, and Mark and I enjoyed bacon with them.  We may not do fancy, but you'll leave our house well-fed!

We enjoyed sitting out on the deck for a while Friday night, and my love of nature became evident -- I forget that other folks don't take the same interest in birds and other critters.  Mark lives in the city proper (where we live in the named city, but far out and have a field back of our house), and may not see the same mix of birds and critters we do.  Speaking of the critters, the birds are still going through a lot of seed, the orioles really love the grape jelly, and the hummers are not so crazy about the new pretty feeder.  We're going to put up the trusty old red feeder, which should lure them back.

The furriest one has enjoyed the nice weather too.  It's been fairly cool this spring, so we're only now enjoying the deck.  She and her friend Mooch like sitting out on the deck, and when we're out there, they sit near us or underneath the furniture.  Mooch has been around a lot this weekend -- I think he enjoys the scritches as well as the food we give out.

So much for plans!

I had all sorts of plans today.  A WHOLE afternoon and evening to myself!  Wow!  So here's what I had planned:

• reading the entire Sunday KC Star.
• baking bread
• taking the food scraps out to compost
• feeding the birds
• putting the plastic containers away and cleaning the kitchen
• cleaning the bathrooms
• dusting (I hate dusting!)
• vacuuming
• grocery shopping
• shredding (old receipts, etc.)
• baking some other items

Instead, I:

• ate too many guilty pleasures no. 17
• got interrupted by Her Furriness while I was reading the paper (she jumped on my lap and settled down for a nap).
• got sleepy from excessive carb intake, so I interrupted Her Furriness and took a nap.
• Woke up several HOURS later.
• Took out compost, fed birds (and cleaned some items out of the fridge in the process).
• Settled down to finish said paper and Her Furriness decided to show me who is the boss of the sauce.

All photos were taken with my cell phone for obvious reasons. So here it is, after 8pm.  I guess I'd better hop to it.  I won't be baking bread tonight, but I can get some of the other things done.  I hope.

watchful Portia

  watchful Portia 
  Originally uploaded by lauragayle

This is my furry nurse.  When I laid down for a nap this afternoon, Her Highness hopped up on the pillow next to mine to make sure everything was all right.

every morning in our house...

Yuck

Last night I didn't feel so great.  In fact, the last two nights I didn't feel so great.  But this morning I woke up nauseous with acid reflux and it went downhill from there.  I stayed home today, which was a good plan.  I don't think I would have made it in to work with frequent stops.

Her highness has been most attentive today.  I've slept a lot in-between bathroom sessions.  Portia would lay near me on the bed, or lay on her Kitty Pi bed in a corner near me.  When I'd get up to drink water and see how long I could sit up, she'd follow me to the living room and lay under my feet.  Cats have their own ways of showing affection, and this one is so very sweet and gentle in her ministrations.