Blooming Fun

Today's good things are african violets.  They're hard to kill -- although it has been done -- they blossom a lot and they're fun to watch as the blooms unfold. 

Mom grew african violets on her kitchen windowsill in special african violet pots.  Those african violets are now dead.  Daddy just isn't into the whole houseplant thing.  Kathryn didn't want them, so I inherited all four of her african violet pots. 

I wanted some special violets for these pots, not just the kind you pick up in the grocery store [although, frankly, I looked in the grocery store and couldn't find any -- they used to have them all the time. ???].  So, I ordered some specific varieties from Fancy Bloomers in NJ.  Donna there was very nice and sent me an extra plant because they didn't have one that I wanted in the proper size. 

Today, I'll be putting these guys in their "new" pots and hoping for the best. 

Yesterday, I finished up the Aspen Cable Shrug.  I like the way it looks.  I may be making more of these.  Somebody on Ravelry has made about 11 of them.  She REALLY likes the pattern. 

I took a picture of the lovely hyacinths in my front yard, but the camera in the phone leaves something to be desired.  I tried to fix the color with Photoshop, but it still isn't true to life.  The ordered battery charger for the good camera still hasn't come in -- expedited shipping, my ass -- and the old charger hasn't turned up, so I'm struggling on with the phone camera. 

Dog Gratitude

Sam made me feel good this morning.  His water bowl was empty and I poured a big glass of water into it.  As I was bent over, he licked my nose before going to the bowl to drink.  He was saying "thank you" just as plainly as if he could speak. 

One More Time

Today I'm grateful for a little thing.  As Jeff and Kate were leaving the house this morning, Jeff's car was parked at the end of the driveway.  He put his stuff in the car and then turned and came back up the drive.  I figured he had forgotten something.  He hadn't.  He wanted one more kiss. 

Sweet guy.  *sigh*

One Day at a Time

Today I'm grateful that -- in actual fact -- I'm only one day older than I was yesterday.  The fact that the calendar requires me to report that I'm a year older is superfluous.  People don't become a year older all at once -- I'm only one day older than yesterday.  Happy birthday to me. 

Actually, I'm in better health and I feel better than I did at this time last year.  So, I guess I'm growing younger?  Yeah ... let's go with that. 

This picture was taken early this morning, as the day began. 

I decided to eat my breakfast cereal out of my "new" Wedgewood bowl just to be special.  It didn't taste any different, but I do like the bowl. 

And I've made some progress on the Aspen Cabled Wrap that I'm making.  In fact, I'm almost through with it.  I only need to do two more rows, cast off, weave in the ends and block it.  It's VERY soft and cushy.  I hope it will be enjoyed by the recipient.

Thiftstore Madness

You would think that with my family gone and the house all to myself that I would be tremendously productive.  Not so much ...  I've been completely useless.  With no schedule and no one depending on me to do anything, I've been goofing off in a major way. 

All I've been doing is hitting every thrift shop in town and shopping for bargains.  I don't know what's gotten into me.  It's like a fever.  (Maybe I need more cowbell?)  Since I'm losing weight, I don't want to spend a lot on clothes I'll hopefully discard, so I picked up 5 summer tops for $5 at a sale at Goodwill. 

The fever really bit though when I bought some dessert plates one day.  I'm eating smaller meals, so dessert/salad plates made sense to me.  I really liked the patterns:  Mikasa Villa Medici and Farberware Dorchester.  So, when I got them home I looked them up on eBay to see if I could get some more.  Cripes!  They were selling for WAY more than I paid for them.  I got mine for $0.50 apiece.  The Mikasa Villa Medici salad plates were selling for $15.95 each.  Rather than get more, I'm thinking I should sell MINE.

Lightbulb moment.  What if I learn about china and scour the thrift shops, having fun, and make some money too?  That would be so cool.  I decided to only buy things that I like -- just in case they don't sell -- and only buy things that are good quality.  So, yesterday I bought a small wedgewood bowl, two Toille patterned dessert plates, a Franciscan divided serving bowl and a set of Lenox bunny rabbit salt & pepper shakers.  All for about $14. 

The Lenox bunny rabbits are adorable.  I wish I could get a better picture with my phone.  I got them for $6 and on eBay they're selling for $50.  Of course, I love them so much I wouldn't want to sell them.

Am I totally crazy or would that be a fun hobby/money making venture?  It certainly seems to out-perform the stock market on return for your investment. 

'Cause It's My Birthday (almost)

Today's good things are birthday surprises.  My birthday isn't until next week and I've already had two lovely and thoughtful surprises.  The first one was the beautiful moebius wrap that Julie sent me.  I've since learned that the pattern is called Omega.  I've worn it almost continuously since I got it! 

The second surprise arrived when I went to lunch with Lynne yesterday.  She presented me with such a great gift!  It was a skein of Hand Maiden's Swiss Mountain Sea Sock yarn in an exclusive colorway called Scottish Thistle. The colors are purple and green and gray.  Lynne brought it all the way home from Nova Scotia for me.

I can't even begin to tell you how perfect this yarn is. It's 51% silk, 29% superwash merino, and 20% sea cell.  It feels cool and soft to the touch and has a definite sheen. It's so drool-worthy!

To top it all off, Lynne packaged it in a unique gift bag that she got from Isolde Teague's shop in Edinburgh.  I'm really reaping the benefits of Lynne's travels!  The bag is made from an Indian newspaper and Lynne says that when she got it she was stopped by an Indian man who told her that he was from the place where the newspaper was printed and called his friends over to look.  How cool! 

Back to the yarn.  I haven't decided definitely, but I'm leaning toward using it to knit some socks called Mizar from Anna Zilboorg's book Socks for Sandals and Clogs. I wear clogs a lot and this pattern has a very intricate pattern on the heel that would show beautifully in clogs. For now, though, I'm just petting the yarn and enjoying it in it's skein form. 

I worked around the lack of a camera battery by making a short film with my Flip video.  It's kind of lame, so don't bother to look at it if you don't want to see yarn. 

   

There's No Place Like Home

I woke up this morning to the sounds of heavy machinery and men shouting and -- just for a second -- I had 1/100th of the feeling that people in the middle east and Japan must be having.  I was insecure in my own home. Threatened. Then a wave of relief washed over me and I realized that I was safe in bed in a quiet neighborhood in an American suburb.  Wow.  I am just not thankful enough for that. 

I'm still not sure what was making all the noise.  One of my neighbors is evidently having their house razed to the ground. :)  Whatever it was, it involved a lot of clanking and thumping and shouting. 

No pictures today -- and maybe for a while.  My camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger.  I looked for over an hour last night.  Fortunately, when I finally gave up, I was able to find an inexpensive replacement online.  Even if I find the old one, it'll be nice to have a back-up.