Bags and Books

I'd seen these bags, and liked them, but hadn't gotten one. When I saw them Friday, there were only two left. Since they were only $3, I went ahead and bought one.

Good thing. The blankie was getting a bit too big for the cardboard box I'd had it stuffed in.


Audio Book Review: Emma , by Jane Austen, read by Sibella Denton. Emma is one of Jane Austen's classics, but I had never been able to read the book. However, by listening to it, I was finally able to finish this story. All librivox readers are volunteers, and not professional actors. Mrs. Denton is one of the better readers, though she sometimes reads a bit too fast for my Southern ear, especially on the longer chapters. She starts off with a good pace, but speeds up as the chapter goes on. She also does voices for each of the characters, and her rendition of the chatterbox Miss Bates is tops. There is sometimes a bit of background noise, but this recording is over all a good one. The recording is available either by chapter or by a zip file of the entire book.

Still Sick, The Sequel

but I'm starting to feel better. I went on and stayed home from work today, and stayed up in the bed until nearly noon. I think that helped a lot. I'd woken up at 2:30 AM and could not get back to sleep. I finally dozed off right before the alarm went off, but it didn't do me much good. I tried to get up and go to work, but decided I just couldn't handle it on so little sleep, and still feeling bad to boot. So I called in sick and went back to bed. I didn't sleep, just dozed a bit, but I do feel some better.

Cody has been sick, too. He said he feels much better today, but he is still clogged up. They were out of school for a teacher work day, so he got to stay home. I probably would have let him anyway. If he felt half as bad as I did, he deserved it.

So we laid around and watched TV. Cody played on his playstation, and I knit. We had a pretty relaxing day. Well, except for when Rylea threw up on the carpet. That wasn't so relaxing. If I sleep well tonight, I should be much better tomorrow. Then I will start getting caught up on my blogging. I have several posts already written in my notebooks that I need to copy, including the one I'd written about Bob Hayes like two weeks ago. It was right after they announced the HOF class for 2009. I've had time to type them up, but when I sat down at the computer, I just didn't have it in me.

Speaking of TV, Congress voted to extend the deadline for switching to digital until June, but most of the stations around here have said that they will be shutting off their analog broadcasts tomorrow anyway. I'm getting all of my stations in pretty well, now, except I have to wait until after the sun goes down to get really good reception. Cody says that the sun interferes with digital transmission. I don't know, but it makes sense. Alls I know is that after the sun sets, my signal doesn't break up nearly as much. Still, getting an outdoor antenna ought to take care of all that anyway.

Audio Book Review: Diary Of A Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith

Charles Pooter is a city clerk who sees all these famous people having their diaries published. Feeling that a record of his life is just as important, he starts a diary of his own in hopes that one day it will be published. One would think that the ordinary, mundane details of someone's life would not be in the slightest bit interesting, but this book was. I really got a kick out of hearing this man's trials and tribulations with his son Lupin, and his neighbors Cummings and Gowain. The book was read by a man named Martin Clifton, whose accent and inflection are absolutely perfect for this book. All Librivox readers are volunteers. Sometimes you get good readers, other times you don't. This one was so well read that I thought this guy was a professional. I give it ***** Five Stars

A Quickie

I'm really sleepy tonight, so this'll be a quick one. I did want to show you the dishcloth I knit Sunday while watching the playoffs.

Once I'd finished it, I couldn't even find where the knot was, even though I made note of it when I knit it. So, into the gift drawer it went. The pattern is Pumpkin Dishcloth from Knitwits Heaven. The yarn is Peaches and Creme cotton, colorway sunburst.

And here is the progress I've made on my Longhorn Socks.


The pattern doesn't show up well in this picture, but right now I'm too tired to go take another. And just why am I so tired? Well, I stayed up until nearly 11:00 last night watching the Fiesta Bowl between University of Texas and Ohio State University. And what a game it turned out to be!

Everyone expected a high scoring offensive game, but it ended up being the defenses of both teams that dominated. The scores stayed low--and close. I don't think either team led by more than 4 points at any time during the game. When Ohio State scored their go ahead touchdown with 2:05 left in the game, it was already well after 10:30. Since 5:00 AM waits for no Longhorn, I said, "Well, that's the ball game," and turned off the TV and went to bed.

I should have known better.

A tiny part of me believed that Colt McCoy would be able to score that last minute touchdown, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Imagine my joy when I got up this morning to find that it was true! (I'll tell you what, that Romo guy had better watch out. He's just about to get knocked out of the top tier of my personal pantheon again.)

Both teams went into the game with something to prove. Ohio State wanted to prove that they really could win the big game--having lost the National Championship game two years in a row. Texas wanted to prove that they really did deserve consideration for a national championship, but they probably won't get it. They'd won over a tough team that played them a tough game, but it's unlikely to impress those who vote for the rankings, because they didn't win "prettily" enough. The way the BCS is done is turning our college athletes into unsportsmanlike, beauty pageant contestants. Ah, but that's a topic for another post--preferably written when I've had more sleep, which won't happen anytime soon if I don't get off of here.

Listening to: Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry. A perennial Christmas favorite, be sure to keep listening after the story is finished. There is an absolutely beautiful piano rendition of Deck The Halls.

One Of Those Days

It's been one of those days. You know, the days when absolutely nothing interesting has happened. Well, unless you want to hear about my semi-annual dentist appointment. No new cavities, but I do have a couple of old fillings that need reworking. Nothing interesting there.

After the dental appointments, Cody and I went by the new pet store that has opened up here in town. I wanted to find a stand to put Scarlett's new tank on. I was looking for one that would hold Blaze's tank on top, and Scarlett's on bottom. They didn't have one, but the owner is going to look online and see if she can get me one. If not, it'll be back up to Southaven. Cody wants a ferret, so he looked at ferret cages. But Cody and I talked about it. I told him that he might ought to wait until he gets his own place, because I was afraid Rylea might kill it. If you could see the way she goes after the squirrels in the yard... Anyway, the short version is Cody has decided to wait on a ferret.

Our final stop of the day was Wal-mart. I got a few Christmas things on clearance, including this


Dallas Cowboy tinsel. No bandwagon fan here. I'm in it for life.

The Trekking scarves are coming along nicely. I've gotten them both the same length and now I'm doing them two at once.


I found this pattern of hearts for my Dallas Cowboys yarn. I'll link it later. Ravelry is acting kooky right now.


The scarf is knit in two pieces and grafted together in the center so that the hearts are right side up when you wear it. The pattern calls for bulky weight on size 15s, but I'm doing it in worsted weight on size 10s. There is a garter stitch border, but the scarf was curling anyway, so I am blocking it to see if that helps. If it still curls after being blocked, I'll have to rip it and add a wider border.

Now, a new feature of my blog. I enjoy listening to audio books and so I thought every so often, when I've heard a particularly good one, I'd review it briefly here.

Listening to: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson When this story was first published in 1948, it shocked and frightened a lot of people. Despite the fact that sixty years later, we have become desensitized to death and violence, but this story is still creepy and disturbing. I first heard it in 11th grade. It had been removed from the textbooks, but my English teacher that year read it to us anyway. I read it again a couple of years later in college, but haven't read it since. However, this is a story that just stays with you. There is some discussion before and after the actual story is read, but it is brief and fairly interesting itself.