Diana left today, after spending a hard-working vacation painting, sewing, and playing with Maddy. Before we left to drive her to where she would catch the bus to the airport, we stopped at the phone store to get a new phone for me.
I was planning to keep my Blackberry until Kim's phone contract is up in February and then get both of us a new phone on the buy one get one free plan for Android phones at the phone store, but then this week my phone started failing! It might have been heat or water damage, I don't know, and the guy at the phone store switched the battery for me, but it didn't help much. I was able to baby my phone along all week until the contract ended today!
So we stopped at the phone store and I got my new phone and all is well, except for the steep learning curve with this new *smart* phone. Sadly, my phone appears to be smarter than me.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
In which Diana is Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
I'm sitting here at work, trying to breathe through a stuffy nose, and I'm hoping that it's stuffy because I was out walking tonight, and inhaling dead leaf mold, and not stuffy because I'm getting a cold! Rich has a very bad cold this week, so bad that he didn't go to Tae Kwon Do classes or his Wednesday night meetings, so you know that is bad! I don't want to get sick! I have too much to do!
For one thing, I have company! Diana got here last night, and I drove to the bus stop in Rockford to pick her up all by myself! RA is out of town, and she doesn't like to drive late at night anyway, because her night vision isn't good, Rachel had to work, and Rich was too sick, so I had to pull up my big girl pants and go by myself! It went okay in spite of the construction on the highway and also, my Garmin is apparently a big fat liar who told me to take a turn that sent me the wrong way when I was almost at my destination.
In spite of everything, I got Diana back to our house, and she had to go in and clean the boxes of yarn off of the guest bed herself while I went to work! Because all of the days she is going to be here? I have to work them. Kathy, the other night operator, is on vacation for the exact same 10 days that Diana is here!
Diana is really here to visit with Maddy, and she got a great start this morning when Ash had to go help a friend with something, and Rachel worked last night so she needed to sleep in the morning, so Diana went over early in the morning to play with Maddy! They had a lovely time together!
When I woke up today, I had a call from work, telling me that we were having a disaster drill, and if I came to work as a responder, I could get my flu shot as well as education credit for showing up. I brought Diana to work with me and gave her a tour of my department, which was thrilling for her. Rachel came to get a shot, too, and then she and Ash took the baby to do some shopping.
I had someone coming over to have a little knitting lesson, so Diana and I just had time to grab some lunch and then go back home. While I was helping Summer knit, Diana decided that the piles of DVDs on top of the entertainment center looked messy, so she organized that area (and dusted - hey, maybe that's why my nose is stuffy! All that dust that was floating around!)
Sometime this afternoon, my phone died, so after supper we had to go to the cell phone store to get help! That was an experience! The people watching was entertaining, the young man who helped us was charming and had beautiful eyes, and my phone wasn't dead, it just needed a new battery. When he took the phone apart to look at the battery, the cell phone guy said it looked like it had gotten wet, and smelled like Dawn dishwashing soap. We laughed and assured him that me and my phone do not go near dishwashing soap! That is not my job! He replaced the battery and it's all working just fine now.
Tonight we went for a walk with the dog, Rachel and Maddy, and I spent the entire walk trailing behind eveyone, talking on the phone, because while my phone was dead I had gotten several calls that I needed to take care of. Diana and Rachel took advantage of my phone-calling to make me walk through the cemetary with them, in the dark! I was too busy talking to have more than a moment of misgiving. I didn't get possessed, so it's okay.
After the walk we went back home so I could get a nap and Diana could watch some cable TV. She's enjoying it because she doesn't have cable at her house right now, and so for 10 days she can watch all the Food Network and E! she wants to. When I was leaving for work, she was reluctantly getting up to go to bed, and she was sorry to have to turn the TV off. I told her to get some pillows and sleep on the couch - she can leave the TV on all night, and I think she might be doing that.
For one thing, I have company! Diana got here last night, and I drove to the bus stop in Rockford to pick her up all by myself! RA is out of town, and she doesn't like to drive late at night anyway, because her night vision isn't good, Rachel had to work, and Rich was too sick, so I had to pull up my big girl pants and go by myself! It went okay in spite of the construction on the highway and also, my Garmin is apparently a big fat liar who told me to take a turn that sent me the wrong way when I was almost at my destination.
In spite of everything, I got Diana back to our house, and she had to go in and clean the boxes of yarn off of the guest bed herself while I went to work! Because all of the days she is going to be here? I have to work them. Kathy, the other night operator, is on vacation for the exact same 10 days that Diana is here!
Diana is really here to visit with Maddy, and she got a great start this morning when Ash had to go help a friend with something, and Rachel worked last night so she needed to sleep in the morning, so Diana went over early in the morning to play with Maddy! They had a lovely time together!
When I woke up today, I had a call from work, telling me that we were having a disaster drill, and if I came to work as a responder, I could get my flu shot as well as education credit for showing up. I brought Diana to work with me and gave her a tour of my department, which was thrilling for her. Rachel came to get a shot, too, and then she and Ash took the baby to do some shopping.
I had someone coming over to have a little knitting lesson, so Diana and I just had time to grab some lunch and then go back home. While I was helping Summer knit, Diana decided that the piles of DVDs on top of the entertainment center looked messy, so she organized that area (and dusted - hey, maybe that's why my nose is stuffy! All that dust that was floating around!)
Sometime this afternoon, my phone died, so after supper we had to go to the cell phone store to get help! That was an experience! The people watching was entertaining, the young man who helped us was charming and had beautiful eyes, and my phone wasn't dead, it just needed a new battery. When he took the phone apart to look at the battery, the cell phone guy said it looked like it had gotten wet, and smelled like Dawn dishwashing soap. We laughed and assured him that me and my phone do not go near dishwashing soap! That is not my job! He replaced the battery and it's all working just fine now.
Tonight we went for a walk with the dog, Rachel and Maddy, and I spent the entire walk trailing behind eveyone, talking on the phone, because while my phone was dead I had gotten several calls that I needed to take care of. Diana and Rachel took advantage of my phone-calling to make me walk through the cemetary with them, in the dark! I was too busy talking to have more than a moment of misgiving. I didn't get possessed, so it's okay.
After the walk we went back home so I could get a nap and Diana could watch some cable TV. She's enjoying it because she doesn't have cable at her house right now, and so for 10 days she can watch all the Food Network and E! she wants to. When I was leaving for work, she was reluctantly getting up to go to bed, and she was sorry to have to turn the TV off. I told her to get some pillows and sleep on the couch - she can leave the TV on all night, and I think she might be doing that.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
In which Fruit Loops are not dog food.
So it has been a busy weekend, and I'm back at work tonight with studying to do and another pumpkin hat to make. This is the fifth pumpkin hat I have made in a week, and after this one I have only one left to make and then I am done -DONE- with pumpkin hats. For another season, anyway.
The fun project that I would like to do more of is mitten knitting! Someone asked me to make some mittens, using her Civil War-era pattern, and her lovely wool that is grown on sheep raised by 19th century sheep-raising methods, and I said I would be happy to, because it is so pleasant to work with that wool of hers! (Also, she is paying me to make them.)
So I told this person that I had several other projects going on right now, and that I wouldn't get to the mittens right away, but then the mitten pattern looked interesting and the yarn was lovely, and I thought it wouldn't hurt anything if I just swatched a little swatch, just to see how it knitted up...and now it is two mittens later, and I have just discovered that what I thought was a mistake in her pattern-writing is a mistake in my pattern-reading! (Is anyone surprised at this? I'm sure my children aren't because they always say that I only read my favorite words!)
I will be doing some ripping back on the mittens tomorrow, but for tonight I have this pumpkin hat to work on. And chemistry practice problems to do.
In other news, we have had a couple of incidents with the dog, where he has been all crazy hyper, running like a wild thing in one direction and then back in the other direction, and you can't even calm him down, it's crazy! The first time it happened was after Maddy had visitied and shared some Fruit Loops with the dog, and then later, when Rich was juggling Maddy in one arm and a half-eaten Twinkie in the other hand, he dropped the Twinkie and Sonny barcuumed it right up! Tonight the dog was able to score a few dropped Fruit Loops again, and now I wonder if those few pieces of cereal are triggering the crazy behavior? He didn't have that many! Maybe 10 Loops! What do you think? Does the dog need a Ritalin milkshake, or will keeping him away from the Fruit Loops fix the problem?
The fun project that I would like to do more of is mitten knitting! Someone asked me to make some mittens, using her Civil War-era pattern, and her lovely wool that is grown on sheep raised by 19th century sheep-raising methods, and I said I would be happy to, because it is so pleasant to work with that wool of hers! (Also, she is paying me to make them.)
So I told this person that I had several other projects going on right now, and that I wouldn't get to the mittens right away, but then the mitten pattern looked interesting and the yarn was lovely, and I thought it wouldn't hurt anything if I just swatched a little swatch, just to see how it knitted up...and now it is two mittens later, and I have just discovered that what I thought was a mistake in her pattern-writing is a mistake in my pattern-reading! (Is anyone surprised at this? I'm sure my children aren't because they always say that I only read my favorite words!)
I will be doing some ripping back on the mittens tomorrow, but for tonight I have this pumpkin hat to work on. And chemistry practice problems to do.
In other news, we have had a couple of incidents with the dog, where he has been all crazy hyper, running like a wild thing in one direction and then back in the other direction, and you can't even calm him down, it's crazy! The first time it happened was after Maddy had visitied and shared some Fruit Loops with the dog, and then later, when Rich was juggling Maddy in one arm and a half-eaten Twinkie in the other hand, he dropped the Twinkie and Sonny barcuumed it right up! Tonight the dog was able to score a few dropped Fruit Loops again, and now I wonder if those few pieces of cereal are triggering the crazy behavior? He didn't have that many! Maybe 10 Loops! What do you think? Does the dog need a Ritalin milkshake, or will keeping him away from the Fruit Loops fix the problem?
Saturday, September 25, 2010
In which we visited a farm, and Kim got duck poop on her shirt.
Kim came home to meet the dog this weekend. She got here last night, and Sonny was happy to see her! He was sleeping on the floor in her bedroom this morning when I woke up. It was very cute.
I didn't realize how late she stayed up last night, and I didn't care anyway. I woke her up at 9 to start getting ready for the Alpaca Festival! Rachel and I have been planning to go to this event all week!
It wasn't all that early anyway. I went out at 9 to get an Egg Mcmuffin with RA, and I woke Kim up before I left. I told her I would bring back some breakfast for her if she got up and dressed while I was gone.
When I got home, she was up, and it didn't matter that she wasn't dressed, because Maddy was taking a nap, so we couldn't go yet. Finally Rachel said she was going to wake the baby up to go!
On the way there, Rachel and Ash took Maddy in their car, and Kim and I drove our van. Kim was complaining a little about a song that was playing in the car, because she said she had to listen to it the last time she was home, and then it got stuck in her head but it drove her crazy because she only knows one line! I am tired of all of my CDs, and can't get excited about listening to any of them, so I invented a new game - CD roulette. You reach into the CD notebook, and pull something out without looking at it, and whatever it is, you have to listen to it.
It was a great day to be outside! The temperature had dropped overnight to something like 57, and the leaves are starting to turn colors. We drove out to the country to find the farm where they were holding the festival, and we only had to turn around once to find the right road.
The Alpaca farm was beautiful, and so clean! We looked into the barn, and it was spotless! There were supposed to be displays from eight Alpaca farms, and there might have been for all I know. There were big Alpacas and small ones - the baby Alpacas were the cutest things!
We really enjoyed looking around at everything. Maddy was riding in her sling on Rachel's hip, Ash was carrying his new camera, and I was hoping to find some yarn for sale!
The first thing we saw was a pen containing some goats, baby ducks in a smaller pen, and some big white ducks with cool fluffy topknots! What kind of ducks are these? I never did find out, but here is a picture of Kim holding one:
Kim spent most of the time in that pen, corraling ducks. It was pretty funny to see her slowly sneaking up behind them, and herding them into the corner so she could hold one of them.
We showed the ducks to Maddy, and she was entertained by them. She looked at everything and seemed interested in all of it. We showed her the alpacas, who were so cute! They didn't seem to be as interested in us, though, and they were shy of being petted. We were trying to coax one of them to let us pet his topknot, and then we saw Kim, luring them to her with a handful of grass! That's when we started calling her the Alpaca Whisperer!
I did manage to score some Alpaca yarn, which is possibly the softest thing in the universe! Also, someone pointed out that there was a woman spinning yarn on a spinning wheel by the barn so I went right over to take a look, and it was someone I know from the Fiber Festival! She had some of her homemade soap with her, so I bought a couple of bars of that as well as some lovely Alpaca yarn!
On the way home Kim reminded me that we had talked about going to the apple orchard, too, and I was so tired, but she really wanted to go. I did talk her into stopping at home first so we could eat some lunch and use the bathroom! When we were ready to go out to the orchard, Rich and the dog decided to go with us.
We drove out about 30 minutes North to get to the orchard, where Kim got her cider, some donuts, and an apple-caramel pie! We bought a bag of apples, too, and at the last minute I thought of getting a caramel apple for Rachel. She loves those, and she was very grateful to get it.
It's been a long day, and I'm so tired!
I didn't realize how late she stayed up last night, and I didn't care anyway. I woke her up at 9 to start getting ready for the Alpaca Festival! Rachel and I have been planning to go to this event all week!
It wasn't all that early anyway. I went out at 9 to get an Egg Mcmuffin with RA, and I woke Kim up before I left. I told her I would bring back some breakfast for her if she got up and dressed while I was gone.
When I got home, she was up, and it didn't matter that she wasn't dressed, because Maddy was taking a nap, so we couldn't go yet. Finally Rachel said she was going to wake the baby up to go!
On the way there, Rachel and Ash took Maddy in their car, and Kim and I drove our van. Kim was complaining a little about a song that was playing in the car, because she said she had to listen to it the last time she was home, and then it got stuck in her head but it drove her crazy because she only knows one line! I am tired of all of my CDs, and can't get excited about listening to any of them, so I invented a new game - CD roulette. You reach into the CD notebook, and pull something out without looking at it, and whatever it is, you have to listen to it.
It was a great day to be outside! The temperature had dropped overnight to something like 57, and the leaves are starting to turn colors. We drove out to the country to find the farm where they were holding the festival, and we only had to turn around once to find the right road.
The Alpaca farm was beautiful, and so clean! We looked into the barn, and it was spotless! There were supposed to be displays from eight Alpaca farms, and there might have been for all I know. There were big Alpacas and small ones - the baby Alpacas were the cutest things!
We really enjoyed looking around at everything. Maddy was riding in her sling on Rachel's hip, Ash was carrying his new camera, and I was hoping to find some yarn for sale!
The first thing we saw was a pen containing some goats, baby ducks in a smaller pen, and some big white ducks with cool fluffy topknots! What kind of ducks are these? I never did find out, but here is a picture of Kim holding one:
Kim spent most of the time in that pen, corraling ducks. It was pretty funny to see her slowly sneaking up behind them, and herding them into the corner so she could hold one of them.
We showed the ducks to Maddy, and she was entertained by them. She looked at everything and seemed interested in all of it. We showed her the alpacas, who were so cute! They didn't seem to be as interested in us, though, and they were shy of being petted. We were trying to coax one of them to let us pet his topknot, and then we saw Kim, luring them to her with a handful of grass! That's when we started calling her the Alpaca Whisperer!
I did manage to score some Alpaca yarn, which is possibly the softest thing in the universe! Also, someone pointed out that there was a woman spinning yarn on a spinning wheel by the barn so I went right over to take a look, and it was someone I know from the Fiber Festival! She had some of her homemade soap with her, so I bought a couple of bars of that as well as some lovely Alpaca yarn!
On the way home Kim reminded me that we had talked about going to the apple orchard, too, and I was so tired, but she really wanted to go. I did talk her into stopping at home first so we could eat some lunch and use the bathroom! When we were ready to go out to the orchard, Rich and the dog decided to go with us.
We drove out about 30 minutes North to get to the orchard, where Kim got her cider, some donuts, and an apple-caramel pie! We bought a bag of apples, too, and at the last minute I thought of getting a caramel apple for Rachel. She loves those, and she was very grateful to get it.
It's been a long day, and I'm so tired!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
In which Sonny takes a little trip.
So Sonny is doing very well at housebreaking, and he is charmingly friendly and cheerful, but his hobby of humping legs? Very annoying. Sonny will be making a little visit to the vet tomorrow to get some shots and have some surgery. I'm sure he will come home a humbler dog, one who is less apt to molest us. He can find a new hobby, like maybe crochet.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
In which we do not name our dog Sir Buttered Wafflebutt.
Okay, here he is:
I called him Pinky Johnson all morning, and laughed every time I said it, because I think I am so darn funny, but Rich didn't think much of that name, if you can believe that, and he was calling him Waffles. We both called him Waffles for a while in the afternoon, but I think we are agreed that we will just let him keep the name he came with, so his name is still Sonny.
I called him Pinky Johnson all morning, and laughed every time I said it, because I think I am so darn funny, but Rich didn't think much of that name, if you can believe that, and he was calling him Waffles. We both called him Waffles for a while in the afternoon, but I think we are agreed that we will just let him keep the name he came with, so his name is still Sonny.
First day with the new dog.
Some of the names for the new dog that we have tried and rejected:
None of these names were quite right, so we are still calling the dog Sonny, in theory, but mostly we call him The Dog.
I told Axel about the new dog when I saw him at work tonight, and he told me about a childhood friend who named his dog Patches, but the poor kid's father insisted on calling the dog Pinky Johnson. When I stopped laughing, I told Axel that is my pick for my dog's new name, and I'm going to start calling The Dog Pinky Johnson immediately!
I gave The Dog, I mean Pinky, a bath this morning with some dog shampoo I bought years ago, and for some reason never threw away. I tried bathing our sheepdog Babs once, and there is nothing on earth like the experience of hoisting a 100 lb dog into the bathtub and keeping her there against her will while she makes every effort to jump back out of the tub! I never washed my own dog again, but I still have the shampoo.
This dog is so good-natured and cheerful that he was perfectly okay with getting a bath, and he is easy to lift in and out of the bathtub, too! He smells much better now!
I got a crate and some dog bowls at the store this morning, and RA bought him a beautiful purple braided rope for playing tug-of-war. The Dog (Pinky J.) didn't seem to be familiar with tug-of-war, but he's catching on.
- Sparky
- Snoopy
- Lord Wafflebutt
- Stinky Boogers (thanks, Beck!)
- Snickers
- Hobbes
- Dumbass (well, we haven't completely rejected it, it's his default name)
- Foogerhead
None of these names were quite right, so we are still calling the dog Sonny, in theory, but mostly we call him The Dog.
I told Axel about the new dog when I saw him at work tonight, and he told me about a childhood friend who named his dog Patches, but the poor kid's father insisted on calling the dog Pinky Johnson. When I stopped laughing, I told Axel that is my pick for my dog's new name, and I'm going to start calling The Dog Pinky Johnson immediately!
I gave The Dog, I mean Pinky, a bath this morning with some dog shampoo I bought years ago, and for some reason never threw away. I tried bathing our sheepdog Babs once, and there is nothing on earth like the experience of hoisting a 100 lb dog into the bathtub and keeping her there against her will while she makes every effort to jump back out of the tub! I never washed my own dog again, but I still have the shampoo.
This dog is so good-natured and cheerful that he was perfectly okay with getting a bath, and he is easy to lift in and out of the bathtub, too! He smells much better now!
I got a crate and some dog bowls at the store this morning, and RA bought him a beautiful purple braided rope for playing tug-of-war. The Dog (Pinky J.) didn't seem to be familiar with tug-of-war, but he's catching on.
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