The weirdest thing

Last night as we were going out for dinner, we stopped at a traffic light and I watched a jogger run across the street. We had a leisurely dinner and drove home. We stopped again at the same traffic light on the opposite side of the road, and I watched the same jogger return home as well. His jog took as long as our dinner. Don't you think that's the strangest coincidence?


Also, I had 6 fortunes in my cookie and JP had two. Even the girls in the restaurant had never heard of 6 fortunes in one cookie, 4 was the most they had heard of.

I'm feeling a bit "Twilight Zone" now....

Weekend Review

Okay, so a super quick post as I'm waiting for JP to shower so we can go out for Chinese Food.

Saturday, after walking Jazz, I basically spent the whole day working on the next towel for the swap, the owner wants us to embroider our state or province, and something that represents it, plus the date it was established. I'm not finished, I'm going to add a dogwood and the date and then I'll show you mine with the other two already on it. But for now, here's the embroidery:

JP helped me design it, the pin-up is from a Sailor Jerry stencil, and the map and trout are basic internet images. Here's a close up of the trout:

Today, the weather was much sunnier and drier than Saturday, so after walking Jazz I started to put away some things in the garden, planted some bulbs, moved some plants around etc. It was the perfect fall gardening day. JP came out with his handy-dandy "saw'z all" and trimmed tree branches from the ornamental cherry and the pine trees in the front yard. I'm glad he likes ladders so much! Here's all the branches that have been cut, which I'll "process" this week so they can go in the city compost. Each pile is about 3' to 4' high:

Phew! I'm wiped! I've got a load of laundry done, and I'm showered with fresh makeup on and read to fall asleep. My pedometer is showing me 17,000 steps for today so that was a good workout today!

The looooooong arm of the law

See this picture to the left?
That, my friends is a speeding ticket.
Yup, that's what I said.
A speeding ticket. I was walking my dog yesterday afternoon when a 5 year old boy dressed like a California Highway Patrol trooper handed me this "ticket", he told me it was a $2,000 fine. I asked if he'd take a cheque and he said "yes, make it payable to The Law or you can pay on credit" and then rode his bike away looking for other violators!

Whew! I guess I got away lucky.
And now, be warned! They're out there. Even walking a 12 year old dog, you're just not safe from the eyes of the law.

Finished Embroidery #1 - Tea Towel Tour 4

Here is my first tea towel embroidery as part of the Tea Towel Tour 4 on Craftser:

It's 7" tall and 5" wide, embroidered with lots of French knots, stem stitch, backstitch and split stitch. I also tried out some variegated floss which in this example isn't really that noticeable.

Just one of the things I'm working on when I'm not writing short plays (hee hee). I'm also knitting a pair of Jaywalker socks.

I definitely have lots of things to do inside the house now that it's getting colder and it's raining. This afternoon, I'd like to take the dog for a walk but it's raining really hard right now, and even she doesn't have any desire to go outside. Welcome to fall. Time to get acquainted to my indoor self!

Why I oughta...

(a very, very short play by Way Out Wear?)

Based on a true story.

*****ACT I

SCENE: I walk into the kitchen and see JP standing in front of the fridge, door wide open, drinking out of the milk jug again.

Me: Why? Why do you do that when I've asked you not to?
( milk jug high in the air like a salute, he continues drinking)

Me: I mean really, it's so gross. I just don't get it. Why don't you listen to me? You're the one that gets all freaky about food going bad. Why? Why? Why?
(said with increasing frustration)

_END SCENE_

*****ACT II

SCENE: Next morning. JP and I standing in the kitchen by the counter about 2' apart facing each other. JP is looking at me and doesn't break his gaze as he reaches into the cupboard and plunks a glass onto the counter. He pours it half full of milk.

Me: Oh thank you that is much better.
(said with relief)

JP takes the glass and drinks half of the milk in the glass. Then looks me in the eye and pours the remaining milk back into the jug.

I collapse into a frustrated, sobbing pile of sorrow and defeat on the floor.

_END SCENE_

The END

Weekend Review

Well this weekend I feel like I accomplished a few things.

First, Cynthia and I made some hypertufa garden containers. We had a slight issue with the amount of materials needed even though we both did our research... we bought too much! Other than 1 part of this and one part of that, the intructions really didn't indicate how much we could make. As it turned out, one bag of concrete was plenty (we bought 4) and we still have about 1/3 of the mixture left over (just add water).

We wrapped up the remainder of the mix and the other materials and we'll make more another day - we were rained out and also wanted to see how things progressed before we went crazy with all sorts of pots! I'm curious to pull the pieces from the moulds (see photo - still in their moulds) and eager to try again, but we'll wait a few days first. And see if Cynthia still wants to make more.....

Also, this weekend, I've been working on an embroidery for Tea Towel Tour 4 at Craftster - which wasn't easy at first with hands roughed up by playing with concrete - but one small teaspoonful of my secret weapon (Corn Huskers Lotion) and I was all smoothed out again. I won't show you a photo of the towel until I'm done because I just don't like how it looks all wrinkly and the image is all "muddy" from the transfer pen. I'm almost done, so you'll get to see it either tonight or tomorrow.

This afternoon I made one cherry streudel and one apple streudel but I should have let them cool a bit longer... and I should have taken the photo before I cut into them and flattened them...but the boys didn't seem to mind and ate it up anyway.

So, that's it for now. I was so busy with the hypertufa and my embroidery, that I just didn't even mind that it was raining.

I hope you had a good weekend too.

Flea Market time

After browsing through the October/November issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, (photo from the HC website) I was reminded of two large ongoing flea markets in the 'fraser valley' area - one in Abbotsford and one in Cloverdale, that occur most Sundays. There are plenty of other ones as well - and please feel free to share your favourites.

Today's cloudy weather has turned my thoughts to nesting and gathering, plus shopping for two upcoming birthdays has reminded me of things that are great to do on weekends: get up early, go to the flea market with your partner or BFF, have breakfast and then go home to play with your new acquisitions.

A nice romantic fall thought, don't you think?

Back to grey skies and dreaming of red shoes

All right... no more clear blue skies and warm sun rays on my skin. Yesterday and today were overcast, which in some ways is a good thing because then I'm not sitting in the sun enjoying it, now I must work. (work slave, work!) Yesterday I did the laundry and then de-limbed some tree branches - as many as I could safely reach.... and loving that reciprocal saw! Yes, no more sawing, sawing, sawing! I also hung up a dispenser in the kitchen -that's been sitting on the floor waiting for 2 months!

Today, I know I'll get all the ironing done and continue working on cluttered areas. I've decided that this year for the next 7 months, I'm going to work really hard inside and out so next spring/summer when we get the great weather again, I can enjoy it - guilt free without neglecting my chores. Sound like a plan?

Yesterday I almost bought a pair of knee high leather boots but when I tried them on, I didn't lacy heart love the style, so I passed them up. Then we went on a half hour hunt for some red mary janes that they had in last week's flyer (I can't believe JP remembered them, I didn't) but we couldn't find them. When the girl went into the order book to write down my name, the person right above me had requested the exact same pair of shoes in my size! Oh oh, that's not looking too good. Man, I've been wanting red mary janes since last January... and there were some available then but I passed them up because I had to pay for surgery for Maxx and Jazz at the time.

Well back to work for me... must.keep.being.efficient.

Sept 16 + 28 Degrees C = happy me!

Wowza! What gorgeous weather! It's such a shame I have to be inside for work! Days like this are incredible. Since the kids are in school and many people are at work, the neighbourhood is quiet. I mean Q-U-I-E-T, quiet! At times, there are no cars driving by and maybe not even a bird or a dog making noise. It can be completely still. See? There are some good things about living in the 'burbs.

Here's my sheep planter with a tomato plant, hmm, no flowers or fruit - I don't think it'll make it in time, but gardeners like me have 'hope-itis' so I'll wait until as long as I can, one just never know what'll happen in the garden.

It's very nature filled these days, for example this morning we heard a weird tapping noise on the house... so I went to investigate and there was a blue jay with a hazelnut in his beak, trying to break it on the peak of our roof. Squirrels, crows and jays all have their paws and beaks on the nuts right now, I find them everywhere. You should have seen our gutters - the birds were dipping them in the water (before we cleared the drains), it's pretty comical. They've got walnuts too. I'm not sure if there are trees around but I suspect people put them in squirrel feeders. Squirrels to me are just 'rats with good PR'!

And this time of year the spiders become really active. First of all, their webs become super strong. Have you ever experienced this? Their silk is so thick and strong, I've walked into the lines and have been able to back up without breaking them. And they cross yards. During my morning walks I've seen a strand spanning from a power line to a person's garden, it's just incredible.

This is the biggest spider in my yard right now, I wish I could have put a ruler near her (all spiders are female in my mind) to show you how big - her body is as big as a shelled peanut! I'm not kidding.

And speaking of big, look at this huge toad in my garden:

Nah, I was just pulling your leg... it's just a garden ornament. I was having fun.

I took three photos outside, look how very different the backgrounds are: blue of the house, red of the shed and green grass. Interesting isn't it? Well, I thought so.

Okay, break's over, back to work I go.

I hope y'all can enjoy this beautiful weather too. And if you're feeling sorry for yourself, look at these pictures from Hurricane Ike and perhaps you'll feel better about your circumstances...... those poor people.

Warning: high volume of knitting content

Sunday was another great day off (including our most excellent weather). I spend the early morning knitting and reading in the dewy garden but by mid-morning when I came in the house to check on JP, I saw he was watching Good Will Hunting and I stayed to watch the rest of the film with him - I really like that movie, plus it was a chance to get under the covers and enjoy the heat captured under the blankies from the best human heater a girl could have.

As I watched the movie, I knitted. I had just turned the heel on a sock, but I didn't like the holes on each side of the side gusset (never had a problem like that before) and felt the ladder at the bottom of the foot was too much of a weak spot, so I frogged and started at the beginning of the heel again. By bedtime last night I had used up all the yarn I had frogged - so basically I lost one full day of knitting progress. Well it's better to lose a day than have to deal with those 'error' and potential weak spots. Besides, it's not a race... is it?

Mid-afternoon we went to Costco for a few 'essentials'. Actually, we were good and bought all food stuff with the odd extra like zip-loc bags or dryer sheets.

******

Knitting news: A new knitting source just went live a few days ago, check out Popknits

Book Review: I received this book from Vicki Howell and wanted to share a book review. Men Who Knit and the Dogs Who Love Them by Annie Modesitt and Drew Emborsky(The Crochet Dude) is an excellent source for all knitters. The designs are great - there is a good variety of styles - hats, socks, sweaters for the men and sweaters, toys and beds for the dogs. There are plenty of nicely patterned pieces to avoid the (often) boring task of one colour stockinette on a large back piece.

What I liked the most was the instructions. There are plenty of very detailed instructions, everything from marking and reading a chart, to colour work, to knitting a tube with two circular needles. And all patterns seem to be written very well - I can't really verify that until I've knitted through the pattern , but from what I've read they seem to be complete and succinct.

The dog sweater sizing chart is most helpful because dogs shapes vary so much and many patterns don't really recognize dogs larger than a Yorkshire Terrier. There are plenty of doggy sizes for each pattern which is a great help.

Even if you're not a man who knits, but you know a man (or dog) who'd like to receive your knitted creations, this would be a good choice to buy.

A plethora of pictures

Since it's the weekend and you have oodles of time to read blogs (hee hee) I thought I'd share a bunch of things before I walk the dog and then spend a day doing outside chores.

1. I just finished knitting this Baby Kimono. The baby is due in November so it'll be growing in the winter and I figured the kid could wear this on top of his/her onsie. This is a very easy pattern and it knit up really quick - well I was using bulky yarn, but still.

I will also knit a little hat and some booties to go with the gift, baby sex is still TBA.

2. If you saw this in a mail box what would you think? A magazine in an opaque black plastic wrapper? Must be something dirty, right?

WRONG!

It was an issue of MAKE magazine, and whoever ripped open the wrapper must have been disappointed at what they found. I bet their weekend was ruined! Bad people, bad!

I'm just glad the magazine arrived.

3. Before our summer is completely over, I thought I'd share some garden photos. An overview of one of the little gardens with Black Eyed Susans/Rudbeckia, Phlox and some Chinese Lanterns in bloom.

And these two pictures are completely unedited, sometimes I guess you just hit the lighting right. (Or am I completely off base?)

An osteospermum

A marigold

4. If you're thinking about Halloween and crafting (Carol), then you'll want to check out this link for crocheting a skull applique by Vicki Howell. The perfect thing to do while you're sitting in your lawn chair enjoying the last of our summer.

5. And finally, some pictures of my doggie. First, she decides to have a roll in the grass, oh it feels so good to wiggle back and forth.....

...and then, time for some contemplation, back to the days when there were still pears in the tree to pick herself:

And to all of my readers in the Vancouver area, enjoy our continued warmth and sunshine. And to my readers from Texas.... I hope Hurricane Ike spares you and your family!

A wonderful film I'd like to share

Here is a lovely film that I really want to share with you, it's about 6 minutes long:


Enjoy.

Let me know what you thought of it.

whoosh! another week gone!

Have you been wondering where I've been?

Well, the weather has been so incredibly awesome, and we had so few warm sunny days this spring/summer that I decided to enjoy the last of them. I've left all my outside chores until this Saturday and plan to rest and relax on Sunday (how old fashioned!)

So after work this week, I've either read or knitted listening to podcasts, sitting in the warm sun! Oh the luxury!

I did have to go to JP's nieces' birthday party Tuesday afternoon, which couldn't be avoided. You know, family obligations - that kind of stuff. But otherwise, it was pure indulgence.

I started a new novel, and I started the baby kimono sweater which I should be done today, so I'll show you photos tomorrow. I've done the laundry and the dishes and all that kind of stuff inside, but some of the big stuff I figured I can do during the 5 months of rain we usually get. Saturday, I'll weedeat, and mow the lawn and tidy up the yard, and maybe lay more cement (not concrete) and work hard all day to make up for it!

What are you doing to enjoy the last few days of sun and warmth? I hope you're able to get out there and indulge like me.

What a glorious Sunday!

To all of those in Vancouver (and area), didn't we have the best weather this weekend - Sunday in particular? It was so nice and warm - I even got a bit of a tan! I think there were many of us outdoor fans that felt ripped off by our lackluster summer, but I'm pretty sure September's great forecast will help our spirits a bit. (If you're not in the Vancouver area, I hope you had good weather too - tell me about it. )

My garden didn't do that well this year, which may be a combination of my losing interest and the poor weather we had from Spring all the way to August. Many plants didn't yield very well at all. Flowers didn't bloom or haven't yet and those plants that did produce, gave small crops, such the pears tree - which is not good for Jazz as she would eat 3 a day and yesterday she spent time staring up into the pear tree and hopping up to the lower branches, but there just isn't any left. I've told her there aren't any left and I've picked her up to show her, but she's still hoping for one more. Poor dog. Maybe I should go to the store to buy her some? (Oh JP would love that! Not!)

Since the weather was so glorious and it was a weekend, I decided to enjoy my Sunday and do the things I like, so I read and finished a novel and finished knitting my Monkey Socks. I was going to give the Monkeys awaay but they are a bit tight for the recipient, so I'll just have to keep them for myself. Everybody say 'oh no' (oh no). And JP made us the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever! Yum-my.

Sun + reading + knitting + tummy full of cheesy goodness = a great weekend!

BTW, I took this photo with the awesome tripod JP gave me for my birthday and the self timer on my camera. Otherwise, how can I take a decent sock photo right?

Oh, but back to knitting - now that all my UFOs are FOs (finished objects) I can start on a new project, so I grabbed a new skein of sock yarn from my stash - this one came with a pattern, but it's for stockinette, and after the wonderful pattern in the Monkey Socks, I'm not ready to go back to plain stockinette, so I may have to be brave and try a different pattern and hope that I have enough yarn. Although so far, I believe every pair of socks I've made, I've had a small ball (about the size of a plum) left over.

I'm also planning on making a Baby Kimono sweater for a manager who's expecting a grandchild around Thanksgiving. Which isn't so scary because it's American Thanksgiving, not the Canadian one! That buys me about 6 more weeks which should be plenty of time to get a baby sweater completed.

And so, after dropping the kid off yesterday, we did a little shopping, and then went to our favourite Chinese restaurant, and then we were home just in time for Mad Men - I like that show, and it's the only show I sort-of plan my schedule around.

I hope you had a lovely weekend too. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

7 Random Things about ME!

I was tagged by Lorna to tell you 7 random things about me. And by the way, Lorna has some very fascinating things - very creative, please stop by her blog to read her 7 random things.

The rules are pretty simple:
1. Write 7 interesting or random facts about yourself. - see below
2. Tag 7 people you want to learn more about - everyone I would tag has already been tagged and if you're reading this and I didn't tag you - then I tag you, and leave me a comment so I can read it!
3. Post a comment on their blogs to let them know - see above

~~~~~

1. I've had my motorcycle licence for 13 years (long before the girl rider thing caught on) and just sold my bike last year. I want to get another soon.

2. I have an amazing ability to know the lyrics of so many songs, but I have a horrible voice and have even been told that I am not "allowed to sing". I still want to take singing lessons.

3. When I was 15 I entered a twin sized quilt (designed by my mum) in the PNE - back in the day when cooking and domestic skills were still judged. It was of Little Bo Peep and she and all her sheep were made seperately, stuffed and then sewn on so they'd be extra puffy. I didn't realize that they needed it a month before the PNE opened for judging, so there I was working up a sweat with a heavy quilt on my lap, hand quilting like mad in the July heat! I won a prize. Every ten years or so I come across it in my boxes of craft stuff, I don't treat it as nicely as I should.

4. I had my FAC - Firearms Acquisition Certificate in my 20's - and used to go to the range to shoot targets.

5. When I was six, I was so convinced I was reincarnated from a dog that my brother insisted I eat a piece of dog kibble to prove it. I pretended I liked it. I'm sure he just wanted to see what he could make me do. Now I find it interesting that a kid that young understood the concept of reincarnation, especially in those days.

6. I think I've got an anti-addictive body, two examples: -I never wanted to stop smoking, just one day it tasted really bad. And I was a heavy black coffee drinker from the age of 15 and then one day I wasn't, and now I don't really like the smell or taste of coffee at all.

7. I'm older than most people think I am.

So there you have it folks, 7 things I'm pretty sure you never knew about me. Tell me what you think!

Cement not concrete! Doh!

Agh! Today I bought 3 bags of concrete to fix a walkway near the house. Except after mixing it up, I realized I wanted cement and not concrete! The concrete that I bought had lots of rocks in it and is for depths of 2" or more, I just wanted to apply a skim coat and fill some holes and fix some cracked areas instead I tried to deal with the dang rocks in the mix. Also I didn't buy enough, which is a good thing - since it was the wrong stuff. (should I say it again, so I remember?)

So tomorrow, I get to do it all over again, except with the right stuff. Mixing cement is heavy work, but it feels so rewarding when it's all done and smooth and every time I look at it I say "I did that" and I feel proud...and then I go inside, shower, cook dinner and then knit. Women are amazing creatures, aren't we? Lots of ladies are as diverse or more than this... but not as many men are, don't ya think? But somehow they get the whole carport for their shop/workspace and women are happy with a little corner or a desk inside a closet for their hobbies, crafts etc. Come on girls! Time to take over the carport, we deserve the space!

However, I don't know why I'm rallying the troops... I don't even own a carport....maybe I'm just in the mood for a good old fashioned rally? Well, time to step off my soapbox, I need to go skin a buffalo ..(kidding)

Animals Don't Use Cellphones

This should be a guest post written by JP - almost every time a Telus or Fido commercial comes on, he seems to get a little agitated. It's because of all those cute fuzzy animals in their advertisements. He doesn't understand why they continue to use animals or why viewers seem to like the animals in the advertisements since "animals don't use cellphones!"

But then again we seem to fall for all sorts of commercials - look at 'Vince' from Sham-wow!, I play a game and count all his lies and laugh when the soda poured on the rug changes in volume from one screen shot to another. Or what about those Sept 11 commemorative coins and 'twenty dollar bills"? Those advertisements shouldn't be allowed.

Which ones come to mind for you?

Finished Objects coming your way (well at least the photos)

Yesterday was a leisurely Sunday involving a long dog walk, a small cup of tea (JP read my post yesterday and gave me Fat Girl tea in the smallest cup he could find, what a joker!) some reading and some knitting while watching movies (The Last Mimzy and Breach).

This weekend I also completed my tea towel for the Tea Towel Tour 4 happening over at Craftster. I drew her myself - at first I liked the drawing, but after I stitched it, I don't - I think her face is too cartoon-y. She is a drive-in waitress on roller skates. Too late, she's going in the mail tomorrow, and will be improved by other people's embroidery and maybe by the time she's back to me, you won't notice her at all.

I need to do something with the yellow lettering at the top left, which says "diner". Also, it may be hard to read, but on her shirt it says "Flo". My theme is 50's/diner/roller-girl so you may see a whole lot of food on my towel by the time it comes back to me - but we'll all have to wait and see!

I think after this I'll finish the tour with transfers only - no more drawing for me. It's very hard to translate a drawing into an embroidery, you have to watch for small lines/stitches and keep everything very simple. Sewing the lips can be difficult when the image is small.Now that I'm done I think she looks like Lucy van Pelt from the Peanuts cartoons which is not the look I was going for.

For all those embroiderers out there, I'm not exactly sure what happened but Doe-c-doe had to remove all her Vogart embroidery transfer images and it sounds like others who posted to Flickr were also asked to remove the images. Vogart is not being made anymore and hasn't for sometime but Plaid owns the copyright I guess and I believe they were asked to take them down. More details here. This is always disappointing and one reason why I have printed off as many patterns as I could - after Magknits (a knitting pattern site) went down and now this it just proves to me that if you see a pattern you like and think you'll make/use - print it now because things posted on the internet are never permanent! On the otherhand there is an abundance of free material out there so if something disappears, there is often something similar to fill the gap. Don't cha think?

Anyway, back to my knitting - I finished one of the Monkey socks (pattern from Knitty) and cast on for the second: Today will be another leisure day of tea (a bigger cup today because I begged!), computer, knitting and walking my dog - who is currently whimpering/barking in her sleep. I find it kinda funny ... but is she having a bad dream? Poor thing. When I wake her up and tell her she's okay, she just lays there and moans for a bit. That's one secret of the universe I'd be curious to learn (I know, I know I should learn something more profitable right?).

Hope you're having a good Labour Day!