Third Time

A couple of weeks ago, I started knitting on a hat.  It's got a provisional cast on, then when you finish the ribbing, you're supposed to undo the cast on, and knit the two ends together, to form a doubled band.  Then you go into the pattern.

Halfway through the first pattern repeat, I found I'd made a pretty serious error when joining the two sides of the band.  I tried to ignore it, but it would not be ignored.  I took the better part of valor, ripped the whole thing out, and started over.

I got the ribbing done, but when I joined the two sides together, somehow I messed up.  I ended up with three stitches left over on one of the sides.

"I give up," I said.  I ripped it out and cast on a regular hat.  I got about two rounds done, and said, "No, dadgum it.  I'm not going to let this hat beat me.  I'm determined to get this pattern done."  I ripped that out and started over a third time.  Just a couple more rounds and it will be time again to join the two edges.

You know what they say, the third time is a charm.  Or else it's three strikes you're out.  Whatever.

I'm not going to attempt it today.  I'm too tired.  Tomorrow should be better, since they cut out my 5 AM mornings again.  We'll see how long that lasts this time.

In the meantime, I knit another pair of girl preemie booties.

The good news is, I found some of my circular needles, so I can make some matching hats.

He Is Risen

 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

Luke 24: 1-6

It Is Finished

But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  -- Romans 5:8

I Lawnmowed

I lawnmowed after work today.  I didn't intend to.  It just kind of happened. 

I had a very long day at work.  I went in at my usual 5 AM, and had to stay late, until 4 PM.   An 11 hour work day.  I haven't done that in a while.  I had planned on going to the store, but I decided not to.  Instead, I went to the gas station and filled up my car and my gas can.  So I could mow Saturday afternoon. 

When I got home, I took the gas can and put it into the shed.  I said to myself, "Self, I'm going to go ahead and put this lawnmower together, so it'll be ready to go when I want to mow."  I got my owner's manual and finished putting the lawnmower together -- which mostly involved putting the handle into position (from the shipping position) and putting the grass catcher on.  That was the hardest part.  At one point, I muttered, "I'm getting my butt kicked by this piece of plastic."  But I persevered, and got the stupid thing put together and attached.

Then I said, "Self, I'm going to go ahead and put gas and the oil into this lawnmower, so it'll be ready to go when I want to mow."  I added the oil, and filled up the gas tank, then I said, "Self, I'm going to take this here lawnmower outside and crank it up, just to see if I can start it." 

It took a couple of tries to get the knack of it, but I got it started.  I pushed it a little and got so excited, I shouted, "Look!  It's lawnmowing!!"  I pushed it a little farther.  Then I pushed it a little farther...

I mowed my side yard, which had gotten pretty bad, and my front yard.  I haven't done the back yard, because I've got a lot of sticks to pick up. 

All this before I even changed out of my work clothes. 

Now, I need to buy a weedeater. 

It's HERE!!

It's here!  It's here!

I wasn't expecting it until Friday, but I got a surprise when I got home from work today.  My lawnmower is here -- two days early!  I'm really glad I didn't spring for the expedited shipping, because I got it delivered the same day for free. 

I was so excited that I was going to mow this afternoon.  Then I remembered, I don't have any gas.  I started to siphon some out of my car, but it's got that anti-siphon mess on it.  I didn't really want to go back out to get gas, so I'll get some on the way home tomorrow, and mow on the weekend, like I'd originally planned.

For now, I rolled it into my shed, and contented myself with reading the owner's manual.  

Isn't it beautiful? 

Where else can you get a lawnmower mailed to your house, for free, and it gets there early?  I love this country!!!

Not quite as exciting, but I finally got my cabinet hung in my bathroom. 

I was going to hang it last weekend, but when I got it out of the box, I discovered that you had to buy the mounting hardware separately.  Sigh...

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get it exactly centered over the sink, but at least Cody can see to shave when he comes home.   Now, I just need to get some crown molding and have the new door hung and that bathroom will be mostly done.  I need to put some decoration stuff up, but I haven't decided what.  I'm thinking lighthouses, to go with the nautical theme I've got going in there.

Last but not least, I gave the little girl preemies equal time, and knit a pair of pink booties.

I never heard back from the original lady who needed some for her preemie son, so all these will go to charity. 

I'm trying to think of something to call my bootie business.  Something in memory of my nephew Nathaniel, who was born at 24 weeks and weighed 1 lb 2 oz.  These booties would have swallowed his tiny feet, so that's my next quest.  Figure out a pattern to make booties for babies whose feet are only an inch or so long. 

At least they will have something better than doll clothes to dress in.

The Secret

I am so not used to having Saturdays off, that I woke up this morning thinking, "Today is Palm Sunday.  I need to go to church, so I'd better start getting ready."  Then I remembered.  Oh, yeah, it's Saturday, and I have all this stuff I want to do today.  I've found the secret to actually getting stuff done on your day off.  Want to know what it is?  I'll tell you.

Don't get on Facebook.

Seriously, don't get on Facebook.  I had a big, long list of things to get done today, so instead of my usual logging in to Facebook to see what's going on in the world, I dived right in to it.  Most of what I wanted to accomplish involved getting Cody's room finished, so that's what I did first.

I washed his sheets and got them back on the bed.  I caulked around both of his windows, and hung his other set of curtains.

I tossed both sets of curtains in the dryer to de-wrinkle them while I was caulking, and they look a lot nicer now.  The last thing I did was to replace his light switch plate.

The kid who lived here before had painted and drawn on it, and it looked kind of tacky.   A nice, new one is just the ticket. 

It's the little things, the details that make a home nice.

His room is done for now.  I was going to leave the sideways paneling, because I really like the way it looks.  However, the more I looked at it, the more damage I see.

Nail holes, screw holes, pin holes, staples still in the walls -- not to mention all the tape marks.  It's not residue or anything I could remove.  The tape has taken the top layer of color off the paneling.  In this little section between the window and the other wall, I counted -- I should say, I stopped counting at 35 holes. 

There were more, I just got tired of counting.  I had originally thought I could fill them in with wood putty and stain it, but there are just too many.  I think eventually, I'm going to have to replace all that paneling, plus the framing around the windows.  I'll replace the molding and add baseboards at that time. 

I'm thinking we can do that after Cody moves to New Orleans.  I'm not sure how much of his furniture he's going to take with him.  I'm secretly hoping he takes that bed.  It's a queen size bed and is too big for that little room.  If he does take it, I'll replace it with a double bed.  As it is, he barely has room to sit at his computer desk (which I'm sure he'll take with him) without bumping into the bed. 

Well, the whole point of that is that if he takes his bed, that'll be a good time to get the walls replaced.  I'll have time to debate whether to use the sideways paneling, or just put regular drywall and paint it.  I can add insulation, if they don't already have it in there. 

After doing all that, plus 4 loads of laundry, it was time to go to the store.  On this week's paycheck, I got my bonus for getting perfect attendance last month.  I used it to buy something I've been wanting for a while.  Trying to hang curtains with only a manual screwdriver convinced me that this was the way to go.

I got both screwdrivers and drill bits to go with it.  Now, I'll be ready to hang that bathroom cabinet I've been putting off forever.

I was taking some trash out, when I saw two jonquils I'd bought a couple of weeks ago.  I needed to get them into the ground, so I got my trowel out of the shed and planted them in what is going to become my daffodil bed.  I'll go more into detail on that in a later post.   I was putting the trowel back, and thought to myself, I still need to plant all these spider lily bulbs that I'd dug up from the old house.  I was afraid if I left them too much longer, they'd all rot. 

The ground is still really soft from all the rain we've had recently, and now would be a good time to plant them.  That's what I did.  I had so many bulbs, I was able to put a double line all the way down the fence on the West side of my back yard, plus a few randomly scattered under the big tree in the back corner.  I may not be able to move tomorrow, but by golly, I got all those bulbs into the ground.  

That was enough work for one day.  It was time to sit down and knit a little bit.  I knit the other preemie bootie of the pair I started a week ago. 

Or, I should say, I finally remembered where I'd put that yarn so I could knit the other bootie of that pair I started last week.  Now I need to find some pink yarn and make some girl booties. 

Amazing!!

One thing I needed to buy since I got my new house is a lawn mower.  I'd planned on getting a little push mower as soon as the stores started getting some in.  Everybody else around here seems to have a riding mower, but my yard is too small for one.  I can't justify spending over a thousand dollars on a mower that will barely fit into my yard in the first place. 

The problem was, I wasn't sure I could fit one in my little car.  I thought, briefly, about driving my old Jimmy up there to bring it home in.  I don't have insurance on it any more, and with my luck, I'd get into my very first wreck.  While I was still debating this conundrum, I went to Walmart.com to research the different models and such.

I found this one that I really liked. 

It's a Snapper, which is a good brand.  This model is a middle of the range price-wise, and got good reviews on the site.  It's self propelled, and comes with a bag to catch the clippings.  That's good, because I can collect them and add them to my compost pile. 

I checked to see if it was available locally, I noticed this little gem:  it has free shipping.  FREE. SHIPPING!  Seriously.  I can get a lawn mower shipped to my house. FOR FREE!!  

OK, my options were free shipping, and it'll get here by next Friday, or I could pay $4.95 shipping and it will get here by Wednesday.  I started to take the Wednesday delivery, but then I figured I wouldn't mow until next weekend anyway.  So I got a lawnmower shipped to my house.

FOR FREE!!! 

Can't beat that with a stick. 

Spring

Maybe not by the calendar just yet, but there are flowers everywhere.  I got more daffs blooming than I expected, since I got them into the ground so late.  I went out yesterday to pick some more, and my neighbor was in her yard.  She got so excited to see them that I couldn't bear to pick them.

I waited until she went back inside and then picked them. 

We chatted a bit, and I mentioned that I need to buy a lawn mower soon.  When I got home from work today, she had mowed my front yard for me!  She's really nice.  She just likes to talk a lot.   She doesn't like to listen so much, but she does like to talk.

I'm starting to plan my flower beds and stuff.  I probably won't do a whole lot this year.  I want to see what the previous owner had planted, and what of that I want to keep.  I still have a bunch of spider lily bulbs I need to get into the ground.  I think I'm going to plant them along my fence line.  And of course, you will get to go through all that with me.

In the meantime, here is a pair of preemie booties, with my lens cap for scale.

I think I may have found my new knitting addiction. 

My Hometown

Oh, Christ, whose voice the waters heard

And hushed their raging at thy word

Who walkest on the foaming deep

And calm amidst its rage did sleep

Oh hear us when we cry to thee

For those in peril*

For all those affected by the terrible flooding in Texas, we lift them up in our thoughts and prayers. 

*  Navy Hymn, by William Whiting

I'm Back!

I took a little break from blogging, mostly due to a pretty severe carpal tunnel flare up.  It was the worst one I've ever had, but it seems to be settling back down now.  I'm still trying to use the mouse with my left hand, which is interesting to say the least.  Needless to say, I've got a bit of catching up to do.

But first things first:  we have daffs!

I wasn't sure they were going to bloom, since it was so late that I got them into the ground.  I'm happy to see that most of them seem to be doing well.  I'm going to move them, though, once I figure out where to put them.  I'd just stuck them into the beds behind my house so they wouldn't rot out in the storage shed.

I've still got a bucket full of spider lily bulbs I need to get into the ground.  I need to go ahead and plant them now, while the ground is still soft from all this rain.  I may do that next weekend.  Yes, they're giving us this coming Saturday off, but making us work Easter weekend.  As one of my co-workers said, "It's almost like they want us to hate working here."

Do you remember all those books I ordered?  They've finally started arriving.

I've got one more book that is on the way.

Then I ordered a move and a game. 

I'd never seen this version of The Alamo, but I must say, it's a pretty good retelling of the events of that siege.  It's a whole lot better than the John Wayne version.  The best part of that one was Richard Widmark. 

That game is one a FB friend recommended.  I'd put it into my cart, and when I went to order the movie, I saw it had been marked down to $8, so I said, "what the heck" and went on and bought it.  I got it installed on my computer, but haven't played it yet.  This going to bed at 7:30 really cuts into my free time.  But, when you get up at 3:30, you do what you gotta do. 

I know I haven't been working on my house much lately.  I just haven't felt like it.  One of my friends said I might be more into it when spring comes.  Maybe.  My biggest accomplishment since buying Cody's curtains (which I haven't finished hanging yet) is to put the doors back onto my bathroom cabinet. 

It's amazing how such a simple thing makes the room look so much neater.  Next on the agenda is to hang the mirrored cabinet over the sink. 

Finally, there has been knitting, too.  Remember the hat I cast on a week or so ago?  I got the cuff done, and halfway through the first pattern repeat when I discovered a pretty serious error.  It was the kind that would take more doing to fix than to just rip it all out and start over.  That's what I did.  I only got a few rounds done on the cuff when a lady posted in my town's FB group about needing to find some booties for her preemie son. 

Naturally, I found a pattern and whipped one out really quick. 

I asked her how big her baby's feet were, so I'd know how big to make the booties, but I haven't heard back from her. 

The good news is, I think I found my newest charity project.  Soon, you will be inundated with more baby bootie pictures than you ever wanted to see.

Don't believe me?  Remember when I got on the hat kick?  Yeah, that. 

Because I can't ever do anything halfway. 

Conversations With Cody

Mom, there's a big ol' brown recluse in the sink.  Do you have something to squish it with?

There's a flyswatter in the laundry room.

*I go get him the flyswatter and he walks back to the bathroom.

It's gone now.  It must have crawled off.

*I go look and it's still there.

No, it hasn't.  It's right there.  

*He looks, shudders, backs away, and hands me the flyswatter.

You're the man.  You're supposed to kill it. 

Yeah, but I'm also the arachnophobe.

*I kill the spider and wash its body down the sink.

You know, one day you're going to want to get married and your wife will expect you to kill the spiders.  

Um, that'll be her job. 

*laughing*  Yeah, good luck with that. 

Houston, We Have A Problem

Recently, I reconnected with a long lost cousin on Facebook.  Well, he wasn't so much long lost, but we'd lost touch after I graduated high school and went on to college.  Turns out he's just as much of a history buff as I am -- if not more.

After reading yesterday's post, he recommended a couple more books.  So I bought them.

Then I bought a movie.

Clearly, I have a problem. 

The good news is, I made it out of Amazon without buying the leather bound Hobbit journal.  For now...

When I Get A Little Money

There I was at work, just a working away, when I began thinking about tomorrow.

March 6 is the 180th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo, or as my dad used to call it, "Alamo Fell Day".  I was thinking about how I would observe the day.  What I would do to commemorate it.  I've got a The Alamo movie with John Wayne and Richard Widmark.  I'll probably watch that.

I might make a Texas shaped cake in my Texas shaped cake pan.  Then I remembered that I made a Texas shaped cake for my birthday a few years ago.  I took it over next door to Beverly and James' house.  James went to cut the cake and asked me which part I wanted.  I said, "I want home."  So he cut the part of the cake where my hometown is located.  He went around the table, and instead of saying, "I want this edge or that corner" we were saying which town we wanted.  We had some Texas folks around that table, I tell ya.

Speaking of, Former Group Leader Fernando came over to borrow my tube cutter.  He had some rather...um..interesting pants on.  I said, "I like your britches."  He laughed and said, "Britches?"  I told him it's a Texas thing.  It's what us Texas folks say.

But I digress...

I was thinking about how to commemorate the Fall of the Alamo tomorrow.  I remembered my daddy had a book about the siege.  I couldn't remember what it was called.  I just remembered it was written by Walter Lord.  As soon as I got home, I looked it up on Amazon.

Then I bought it. 

Then I bought a book about the Titanic.

And one about the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

Thus proving the old adage attributed to Erasmus also applies to me.

When I get a little money, I buy books.

  If any is left, I buy food and clothes.   

Clearly, I have a problem. 

Um, I'm pleading the 5th. 

Thanks For The Heads Up

I left work after a long and tiring day.  I paid some bills, ran a couple of errands, and headed home.

Then I got a text from Cody which read, "Just a heads up.  I'll be home for spring break tomorrow."
 
I'm a fairly light eater, but I didn't think the boy would be content to live on peanut butter sandwiches and Ramen noodles all week.  Back into town I go.  I picked up some stuff for him to eat, then wandered down the clearance aisle. I'm forever losing my pocket knives,  so when I saw this one marked down to $15, it seemed like a natural choice to buy it.

I was even happier when I got to the checkout and it rang up for only $9.  Yeah, I'll live with that!

I grabbed this one out of the book bargain bin.  It was $5.  But it's leather and has scriptures in it.

A couple of days ago, some FB friends were talking about the musical Cats.  It's one I have on VHS, and I haven't been able to watch it in years.  While they were talking, I thought to myself, "Self, you ought to go to Amazon and see if they have it on DVD."  That's what I did, and that's what you see here.

I'd forgotten how good it was. 

Mammaw's House

I'd intended to blog yesterday, but I was plumb tuckered out.  I was so tired I didn't even make it through NCIS.  I went to bed at 7:30 and dreamed I was back in my Mammaw's house.  We were decorating her Christmas tree, and Cody was there, too, all grown up.  In my dream, I was sharing with my son a special time from my own childhood. 

It was all so real-- like I was really there again.  The feel of the floorboards under my feet.  The creak and slam of the screen door.  That slightly musty smell older houses have.   "So many of my childhood memories in this house..."  I told my son, as I looked around.   It was such a special place. 

That house is gone, now.  It's been torn down, but my memories remain.  I wish my son could have known that house, and the lady that lived there.  I don't even have pictures any more.  So much of my childhood was destroyed in the hurricane.  Ike.  The forgotten storm. 

I woke up this morning feeling nostalgic and slightly melancholy. 


I suppose that's something all people go through as they get older.  A longing for simpler times, for loved ones who have gone on.  For the carefree days of childhood that will never return.  But I'll have those memories, those precious memories, always with me. 

Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul.