Awww, so cute

AVI of Assisstant Villiage Idiot challanged me to find and post a cute picture. I think the idea is that it increases blog traffic by having something that would show up on a search engine. This particular picture, that hopefully won't disappear, is courtesy of Bill of the Birds and Bird watcher's Digest and represents the two bluebirds my oldest kidlet saw on our own snowy balcony railing yesterday.

Yes

The answer to yesterday's questions is "yes". Yes, it does work to use the second end of each yarn ball even with three yarns. Yes, it also makes a tangle pretty quick. Yes, a couple of rum and colas, though light on the rum, certainly don't hurt when getting up the nerve to start and yes, I did have to take out a couple of rows due to mistakes but at least there was progress.

That word that means "putting off a task"

Procrastination. I knew I'd think of it if I got started.

Anyway, the handspun vest I made for mom for Christmas didn't fit. She tried really hard to convince herself and me that it did but before long it became clear I'd need to start again. I'm using the same basic design as for the first but have changed the stitch pattern slightly as well as adding a third yarn to the row repeats.

I worked very hard to from the starting point of the vest to the place where I have to break all the yarns and start on the other shoulder, maybe a third of the entire vest finished. It has now been at least two weeks since I worked on it at all and I'm trying to think of a way to get myself moving again. I'm considering using the second end of each yarnball instead of cutting the yarn, which I think is the cause of my reluctance, but with three different yarns that may well create an incredibly tangled mess.

I wonder if a couple of rum and colas would help me get over my inhibitions or just create a self fulfilling prophesy.

Things I've learned lately

To start, a couple of episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" followed by five to ten chapters of whichever Dresden File novel I'm currently reading results in really weird dreams.

Second, if you are in the middle of reading an entire series in as short a time as possible and realize that you are missing the next book, which is not to be had at the library, so you order it on Amazon with a couple of other books to get free shipping...it will always take the longest estimated time to arrive even though everything else on the same order arrives immediately.

Lastly, it is not a good idea to used a dagger shaped letter opener on the padded envelope the book comes in no matter how well sealed the flap is. The force needed to pierce the envelope is rather more than is needed to score the edges of the pages.

And the one I almost forgot. The cat who likes to sniff and rub his nose on new books? He will decide that this very special, long awaited book needs his stamp of approval and leave two nice, neat fangmarks on a page of his choosing.

Time gets away from me again

A very belated "Merry Christmas and happy New Year" to all.

But really, I have a good excuse

I just realized that it's been over a year since my last post. My computer refusing to let me on to Blogger Dashboard has only been an issue for about two months, which was ironically right about when I wanted to start writing again.

My main excuses are that all last fall and early winter were spent househunting. Beloved and I found a wonderful house the beginning of December and, due to daily phonecalls and a lot of focus by Beloved, we moved in on the 23rd and celebrated Christmas in our new home with my in-laws.

That brings the narrative to the beginning of the year when Beloved started having blinding headaches and noticed a swelling under his left jaw. A PETscan revealed several tumors and he went in for surgery on March 3rd where the surgeon removed three cancerous tumors and a portion of the left jugular vein due to infiltration. Beloved got a month to recover and then started three months of chemo and daily radiation. What nobody knew was that the cancer had spread to his lungs and was growing fast enough that I.V. chemo wasn't able to touch it. Four days after his last radiation treatment I took Beloved to the emergency room because his temperature was climbing. June 16th, after about a week on a ventilator in ICU he passed away surrounded by his parents, friends, and pastors. His funeral was Father's Day after which he was cremated and buried with his older brother in Colorado. Only eleven months after we came to Missouri John had become not just my Beloved but well loved by nearly everyone he had dealings with.

And of course after that my computer quit talking to Blogger and without John I couldn't fix it, but that doesn't seem to matter a whole lot at this point.

Teh Wachel is back!!

Hooray! Rachel Lucas is back to posting after nearly a year reduced to only tweeting due to having an actual real life.