List #15 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT OUR CATS

The official topic for today's list is what's on my shopping list, but honestly, I just don't wanna talk about that. So, here is a nice list of
Things I Like About Our Cats:

• they're snuggly, each in their own way
  
• they're independent
• they're warm
• they each have their own personality (Sam is always hungry and usually lazy, Rosie is always checking things out, making sure things are safe for all of us)
• they're amusing to watch, and sometimes fun to play with - I say sometimes because Sam doesn't play much (see above)

PS: we have 2 cats, Samwise and Rosie. They are littermates, although Samwise outweighs Rosie by about 7 lb. Sam is grey and white and Rosie is black and white.

Samwise aliases: Sam, Sambo, Sammy, Spot, Luxury Cat, Lumpy
Rosie aliases: Rose, Posie, Spazzmocat, Little Mama

An Unplanned Day

Now that I'm back at work, I work a lot. My typical daily schedule:
~5:30-6 am: Wake up
6-6:40: cajole son into eating and dressing and getting to the bus on time (6:40)
6:35- 1/2 hour before work (either 8:30 or 10:30 or somewhere in between): personal email, Facebook, knitting, breakfast, banking, odd but quick errands
9-6 or 11-8 or some variation (yesterday was 9-8): work
6:30 or 8:30 til around 10: dinner w/DH and DS, watch TV together, more computer playing

It seems so simple, distilled like this, but as you all know, life is never that simple. One thing you can see, though, is that if you're still recovering from, say, a brain leak, and you need a lot of sleep, there isn't much time to just hang out and do nothing. This week, because of all the great things my staff want to do in our community, I am working both Friday and Saturday (rarely happens) and am taking today (Wednesday) off to compensate myself.

So, what shall I do on my day off? I've already gotten my Obligatory Important Task to Better the Family done today (took both cats to the Vet for their annual check up, hissing and shots). Frankly, I think I scheduled the Vet visit just because it would be completely unheard of to have a day off w/o a doctor visit somewhere in it.

I will probably take a bit of a nap at some point today, just because I can . . . but this unexpected, unplanned day off is such a treat! I sit here in my kitchen wondering how I should spend the time so that I feel good at the end of the day, good and accomplished.

Suggestions? What do you do on unexpected free days?

Simon's Cat

There are only 3 of these short animations on YouTube. I'm hoping the director is making more! This one is a perfect depiction of our cat, Sam . . .

Poetry Friday!

First off, it's Poetry Friday, and I want to direct you all to one of my favorite "spooky" poems. Little Orphant Annie is by James Whitcomb Riley, and I've always found it delightful. I first heard it performed by my friend, Jeri Kladder, and I will forever hear this poem in her voice. She does a remarkable job (thus my remarks!). Go read it!

I WON! I was at Zaproot, while doing surfing for my library's Learn and Play (Library 2.0) initiative, and I entered my name and addy in a drawing to win a cool bag. The site is all about promoting GREEN stuff, and this bag is really nifty! I can't believe I won! You can see that smooshes into the little stuff-sack to be much smaller than my coffee mug, and . . .


when opened out, it's bigger than my cat! It's like tent fabric, and since the stuff-sack is integrated into the bag it'll always be there. There's even a little carabiner clip (but I'm going to have to replace it because it's already not springing closed) attached. Once I have a new clip, this will be the perfect Bag-To-Keep-With-Me-All-The-Time-So-I-Don't-Have-To-Use-Plastic. :-) As cool as this bag is . . . the coolest thing, though is still that I WON! I WON! I WON!

Speaking of my cat, I've been wanting to get some better pictures of Rosie. Thing is, she doesn't lay around like a slug pose like Sam does. She does, however, like to sample my glass of water before I take it up to bed with me each night. You can see her sniffing, and then looking at me like she's not done anything wrong.


The flash reflecting in her eyes seems so appropriate for The Look. I should have real Halloween pictures posted sometime later this weekend - at least one of Simon. His Bible Study group is going Trick-or-Treating tonight.

Some FO's!

First, my FO's (finished objects). These are my new socks - made from Tiny Toes yarn, color was called "City Brights", and boy, are these bright! Put on your shades before looking directly at my feet! I was going to make them basic toe-up socks, but then The Evil Sock Genius posted his latest diabolically wonderful heel pattern, and I had to try it. I love it! It creates a flap and gusset, just like we all love in cuff-down socks, but it's toe-up and it's easy - no picking up stitches! Miraculous!

This is a simple hat for my friend, Lisa, who is starting Chemo next month. I hope it fits her! She has kind of a big head, but even with measurements it's hard to really tell what will happen w/o hair.




And, since I have 2 new FO's, I cast on a new project - a baby sweater! This is obviously for a baby boy - our friends Dave and Vera are expecting in September, and I'll be hosting a shower for her in August. :-)



OK - knitting news is done for now. Now on to some bragging! Simon got a medal for decent GPA in school - that's cool. He also got a few certificates for participating in Mock Trial and Power of the Pen, and he won an award for "Outstanding Witness" in Mock Trial. yay! He also has something in the student exhibit at the Columbus Arts Festival, but I have to admit that I let the heat deter me from going to see it this afternoon. He didn't want to go, either, so we went to the pool for an hour instead.

And this is Samwise, one of our cats, who had burrowed under the bit of carpet at the back door. I think he thinks he's invisible there while he watches the bunnies and birds in the yard.

Sammy, honey? We can still see your head and tail!

3 Beautiful Things

I love this blog, 3 Beautiful Things and go there often to be uplifted. Today's post is quite delightful.



My 3 things so far today:

1. We're all home today, on a Friday! DH doesn't feel well, but he's functional and on the mend. Kiddo is off school for the snow, and I'm off because I work tomorrow. It's really quite cozy.



2. My skittish cat, Rosie, napped on my lap today for about 2 hours as I snuggled with DH. Towards the end, her brother, Samwise, joined us. Simon got a picture. You can see DH, and my hand and torso. Rose is the black one, Sam is grey.

3. The new snow on the ground is so sparkley and bright. It's the kind of snow that makes it look like midday in the middle of the night.

Keeping My Mind off the Stomach Virus

Mike had it last week. I've been sleeping 6 extra hours a day, trying to avoid it. Simon has it now. Being home, I figure I'll update the blogs!


Sammy likes my yarn all the time, but this particular kind is now his favorite. It is Kidsilk Night, color: Thunder, by Rowan. It is mohair and silk, and has a thin thread of bling shot through it - in a midnight blue color. I love the stuff! I'm knitting it up on size 11 circulars to make a long tube scarf for a friend who is retiring soon.
It looks fairly solid in this picture, but trust me - it is like a cloud! I was concerned that the bling would make it scratchy, but the mohair shields your skin from the scratch nicely. It weighs next to nothing. Looks like lots of folks are doing lace with this, but I think that might just drive me batty. That is a project for some other time of life, I'd say!

I finished up this little lace neck scarf a week or 2 ago. Isn't it loverly? I am pleased with how it blocked out, but if I make one for myself I'm going to make it larger. We bigger girls like larger scarves. I'll find a skinny friend to gift this to.

At my MIL's request, I've made a fluffy pink baby sweater to send to DH's cousin in Texas. Let me tell you - THIS is a big bargain in both money and time! I bought the yarn from a friend who was having a stash reduction sale. It is Cascade Bollicine Revolution in a very bright pink color. It knit up on size 17 needles, and only took me about 4 hours from cast-on to bind-off. Can you believe it??? I have some blue yarn, too, and will be knitting it up soonish for another baby. I also have enough, probably, of the two colors to mix them in a third sweater. I got 3 balls each of the yarn. I can't lay my hands on the pattern at the moment, but when I do I'll link it.

Last year I gave DH yarn and a big book of cable patterns for Xmas with the promise of knitting him the ultimate sweater. Well, I ended up being so overwhelmed by the idea of knitting a great big adult sweater that I chickened out, bought cheaper, bulkier yarn, and made him a plain sweater. He likes it and wears it, too, but I still wanted to do better. This year I didn't even tell him he was getting it, I just cast on. I went back to the book of cable patterns and chose a very cool one that he'd picked out - 27 stitches wide and 40 rows long. I added a small cable on either side and charted the whole lot of it in an excel document. You can see the chart on the cookie sheet, held by some of Simon's architectural magnet doodads. I'm about 4 rows shy of being done with the first repeat. I love it! This is not knitting I can take out, as the cookie sheet would be awkward to carry around . . . but I do love working on it of an evening while we watch TV. We've been re-watching all of the Nero Wolfe series we have on DVD. Simon is enjoying them, too, which delights us all. We love enjoying great shows together.

One quick essay:
Knitting-Related Injury #1
I have often been injured in the line of duty - papercuts while framing were terribly painful, muscle cramps while Shaking My Sillies Out in Storytime were hard to bear, and laryngitis when I was supposed to be working the phones was challenging . . . but a small cut on my right index finger is nearly excruciating! I don't know how I got cut, but I suspect a particularly difficult circular needle which shall go un-named! I often knit Continental Style, holding the yarn in my left hand and just looping the right needle through and around, pulling the looped yarn out and up. It's quick, it's effiicient, and it's lovely to do. I can knit without light in this method, and just feel my way through a long bit of knitting, particularly if I've got the right size circular and the yarn is ammenable. I do, however, need to poke the end of the left needle down every other stitch or so when the stitches are needing to be slid closer to the end of that needle. Whenever I poke that needle . . . OUCH! The tip of the needle goes right into this small cut on my right hand index finger. It's an outrage! I've had to knit with a band-aid for a week, and put anti-biotic ointment on it. Each night I go to bed, my right fingertip throbbing. I can see the subcutaneous bruise growing. I try to find ways to rest during the day, but my needles and yarn keep beckoning me! I can't stop knitting, of course, because that would be . . . well . . .unthinkable!