Ten on Tuesday and a Treat

I don't know how to get the Ten on Tuesday logo thingy. Was I supposed to sign up?
But this week's is Ten Inventions That Have Made Life Easier.

Here's mine in no particular order.

1. Automatic transmissions. Oh yeah I loved my stick shift vehicles, especially my VW bug. But time passes, and I'm glad I can just sit and drive without calisthenics.

2. Air Conditioning. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't like hot weather. Gone are the days when I thought it was fun to be outside baking my skin. Give me cool anytime. My carbon footprint could probably be smaller if I'd turn up the thermostat, but those footprints are cool.

3. Microwave..oh yeah baby! Nuke it for 2 minutes and dinner is ready. For gourmet, I might have to go 3 minutes.

4. Calculators. I remember my mama working on something called (I think) a comptometer. It took up almost half of our kitchen table. I really can add and subtract and multiply and divide, but it's truly nice to know I can do this on my calculator and it will be correct.

5. Sewing machines. Ever made a dress by hand?? It takes a really really really long time. So long that by the time you get it done, the event you were making it for is only a memory.

6. iPods. I still don't have one, but the idea of having all my music in one place is, to me amazing. And books too! And I just read this weekend that you can sort your music into catagories..so if you want to listen to what I call NY music, i.e Manhattan Transfer and such, you can choose that 'folder'. I did discover an internet radio station this weekend where you can type in an Artist and they analyze the music they produce..i.e, close harmony, intricate arrangements and play a bunch of other stuff that fits. I love it! But ummm...I didn't bookmark it and can't remember what it's called. Sorry.

EDITED TO ADD the station is called Pandora.com Thanks Katya!!

7. Oxygen concentrators. Used to be people on oxygen were tethered to giant tanks. Now there are contraptions that could fit in a messenger bag that sort through the air around us and produce oxygen so that you can go and do and still breathe. Makes going and doing possible for a lot of folks.

8. Digital cameras. I love mine and lust after newer, smaller ones. No more totally missed pictures cause now I know if it didn't work and can try again.

9. Tshirts. Although I love to iron (I know..I'm weird) I really am glad I can have something so comfy to wear with such little maintenance. I do press the ones I wear to work because I don't dry them in the dryer, but that takes a lot less time than ironing a shirt.

10. And of course, the internet. Without which, I wouldn't even know you and I probably wouldn't know how to knit either and what a bad day that would be.

Now...for the treat. This came in some email list. It makes me wish I could count to ohhhh...maybe 10, and could have become a scientist so I could see this in real life!
Magnetic Movie

Good Grief!

I didn't realize it had been that long since I last posted. I wish I could tell you I'd been off on a fabulous vacation to England or Colorado or..anywhere, but alas I've been right here just bumbling around in my usual manner. Things have been accomplished thought. Two closets are neat and tidy. All the stuff in the china cabinet has been washed or dusted (none of which is china..I don't have any of that). A sundress/housedress has been cut out..interfacing fused but nary a stitch. The storm door has been transformed into a redneck piece of art with the assistance of a roll of screen and a lot of duct tape. But hey, I can now let the morning and evening breezes in without all the bugs.

I did finish a house sock today. I kinda screwed it up. The little diamonds were to start higher on the top of the foot. However, I made the flap longer than directed and it fits great. I got so busy doing the gusset I forgot about the diamonds.



Pattern: ROY G. BiV but I call it my PRIDE sock. (Sorry...but I can't get the link to work even though it's still there. If interested, go to knittingincolor.blogspot.com and look in the side bar. It's a fun knit.
Yarn: Cascade 220 charcoal and lots of odds and ends
Needles: #4 bamboo dpns for top and #5 for bottom (all that stranding takes up space and it was too snug

Now I just have to make another one. I'm tempted to do something different on the foot part..maybe stripes. After all, if I wore them with boots nobody would ever know they were different and I need to work on jogless stripes.

And more color. Flowers everywhere

Lantana



Yarrow



Zinnia (with a volunteer tomato plant growing in the pot with the flowers)



Tiger Lily

FO and Uh Oh

Finally a FO to show! Two Weeknights with Warrick is finished, bathed, blocked and in the drawer. It was only the second time I've knitted with Noro Kureyon. The first time being a Booga Bag so I wasn't sure how it worked as non-felted. Rather coarse feeling around my neck, but a nice soak helped a lot. Fun pattern once I learned to count to four and I always love watching color changes.



Pattern: Two Weeknights with Warrick
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Color 212 (from stash..I have no idea what I got it for
originally
Needles: Crystal Palace Dpns size...I forgot...with those rubber stopper things on
the ends to turn them into straights.
Time Spent: Random bits of evenings, once I learned to count. Probably a week all in
all.

Does this count as lace? It's worsted, but it has holes. ???



And now for the uh oh. It's been extremely windy this week on the prairie. Today as I crossed the parking lot after going after the mail, my glasses blew off. Hard to stand up after you come from behind a building. I heard once today that they were blowing 50 mph. Now there are storms west of here that have 75 mph winds. I hope that the 3 little pigs that built this house really knew what they were doing. But it started early in the week. When I came home from work on Tuesday, I found this. It's the remains of the top part of my storm door..and the screen on the bottom. See that black thing up against the wall of the house that looks like a little bar? That's off the bottom of my mail box. One of two hooks that are designed to hold magazines and such. I think that's what tore the screen. The door still shuts, but the middle supports are bent so I guess a new storm door is added to "the list".





And it's amazing how much difference the lack of that glass makes as far as sounds being heard inside the house. I kept hearing this "knocking". Not a big knock. More like a kid-sized knock. And then when I got to the door nobody was there. It took me awhile to figure out what it was. (But not as long as it took me to learn to count to 4). Here's the culprit.



Yes, I know Christmas was long ago. But remember, I didn't want to take the tree down and obviously I chose to ignore this. Or...maybe I was hoping my plea to Mother Nature would be heard and summer would stop before it started. Oh well, it's inside now and will be put away.

But there is still this..hope springs eternal.



And now there is a "super cell" moving into my general area so I have to go pay attention to the tv weather. Hail, big winds, torrential rains, but no snow :-(

Good Luck, Bad Luck

That's what Friday was about. I had a cardio appointment in the City and it's a given that I take the whole day off to do it. (I got med samples yea! And he wasn't nearly as concerned as my PCP is about my leg swelling. He thinks most likely it's related to crashing it on the step back in April) I love going to see him. He seems to be one of those docs that you either love or hate and with me it's the former. Usually these days turn into mega shopping days since I'm very close to lots of choices. But I was good. I bought one ball of pearl cotton and a magazine. And yummo lunch at Cheeseburgers in Paradise. I could only eat half of my cheeseburger but the fries were history. And yes, my doc said that was fine...only not every day! On the way out of the City I stopped and got a big cup of iced chai latte at Panera Bread and headed back west. One more stop and I would be home for a long afternoon. I stopped in Yukon..a town about 10 miles east of me to pick up some stuff at the drugstore and then made a decision to skip the interstate and come home on Route 66 so I could enjoy my drink and look at cows and barns and such.

I'd just got into my city limits when I heard this really loud noise. It was the right rear tire which had just sorta disintegrated. I was barely off the pavement and pulled up a bit further at which time it just basically fell off the rim! Bad news!! And it was one of my 'good' tires. But good news..I wasn't stranded on the interstate! Fortunately I found a friend that was home. Long gone are the days when I could change a tire by myself. He got the spare on and I limped to W*mart for a new tire. Bad news! Jeez! Tires are expensive. Even the low end of the scale. But since there is no public transit here, quite necessary. Good news! I just got paid!So, with Lily waiting in line, I proceeded to do the grocery shopping for the week.
Bad news! Everything just keeps getting more expensive. Good news! I didn't need a lot. Finally after standing in the tire center for what seemed ages, I was ready to go home. I was exhausted! I was soooo glad to see my little home.

But all of this saga pales into comparison when I think of Mama Squid's day! Shewweeee! See I was right. NYC IS all about YOU!

Saturday, I ended up dragging much of the stuff in the living room into the dining room and shampooing the carpet. I can't say that it's perfectly clean but it's a lot cleaner than it was that's for sure. I managed to block the computer so I didn't have that to get lost in. I didn't take out the big bookcases or the old cabinet tv that holds my little portable. Or the love seat, as I can scoot it around. And ya just need to sit down sometimes! But everything else was out including the cedar chest that serves as my coffee table. The little bookcases. The bead bookcase. The knitting baskets etc and the two chairs.



I put my current knitting (a scarf), the tv and dvd remotes, and the book I was reading into a little sqaure box and set it up on the dvd player.



You know, I rather liked the emptiness. Maybe because it's summer and in summer things need to be lighter. Later that night, as I got ready to go to bed it took all of 5 minutes to clear my space. Fold up the wooden tv tray that had held my drink. Knitting and remotes into box. Glass to kitchen sink. The end! No random pencils, piles of magazines or patterns that needed to be put away. Since the dining room was still all piled up with stuff, I tried not to look at that. :-)

Yesterday was all about putting things back and doing laundry and watching movies. And now finally I can get to the computer without trying to read/type standing up.
All's well that ends well. And it would really be 'well' if I could find the paperwork to my new tire. I still have hope. I didn't find my regular set of car keys until bedtime last night. I'm not sure why I used them (apparently) as a bookmark in a library book that I finished last Wed. /shrug!