I'm Back!

 I apologize for the prolonged absence.  I needed a little break.  

What with these 10 hour shifts we're on this time of year, I just don't have the time to devote to all the things I want to do in the evenings -- between piano practice, my French lessons, and blogging, not to mention housework and all the necessary things that have to be done.  Something had to give, and since writing a thoughtful, coherent blog post is the most time consuming, it's what got put on hold.  

I'd even started setting up to live stream the piano practice that I've been threatening you with, but didn't want it to feel rushed, so I put that on hold as well.  The good news is, we got this Saturday off, so maybe I can do it then.  How well it is received will determine if it continues or not.  

The sad news is, we have Saturday off for the funeral of a long time coworker who passed away unexpectedly last week.  Oh, I don't know if that's the official reason, but I do know a lot of people have said they won't be there.  Clarence was a forklift driver, and they are a tight bunch, kind of like us brazers.  All of the forklift drivers have already said they're not coming to work so they can attend the funeral, so I'm guessing the plant decided to cut their losses and let everyone off.  I mean, it's not like you can just put anyone on a forklift.  You have to have a license and everything.

Either way, I'm glad to have a break. 

BTW, if you catch a piece of paper on fire at work, take your mask off before you try to blow it out or you'll end up hyperventilating and nearly pass out.  Ummmm, happened to a friend -- who took way too long to figure out why she couldn't blow that fire out.  She blames sleep deprivation, this friend does.  

Hmmm, what else has been going on since last I blogged?  

I had a bit of unexpected fun with my bugs...and the way that happened is as follows:  

There I was at work, just a working away, when on a whim, I got one of my plastic spiders out and put him on my work table.  I was having imaginary conversations with Fred, scooting him around on the table.  Just minding my own business...playing with my spider...I'd noticed the bugs all have a little mold mark on the bottom, so in a moment of boredom, I picked Fred -- as I named my plastic spider -- up and tried to stick him to my face by creating a suction in that mold mark.  You remember sticking drinking glasses to your face like that?  It's what I was trying to do with Fred.  Just minding my own business...playing with my spider....

My coworker, who is a self admitted fraidy cat, just happened to look up at the wrong moment and saw that spider on my face. I'm telling you, the whole plant heard that scream.  I'm getting a lot of mileage out of those little bugs...

I finally splurged and bought some Irish butter. 

Eh, it's OK, but quite frankly, it's not that much better than the Great Value butter I've been buying for years.  Certainly not worth spending $8 per pound for it.  I won't be buying it ...I can't say ever again, but it won't be a regular habit. 

In knitting news, I made some progress on my lace shawl.

Then I made some more progress.

It was at this point, all progress ground to a halt.  I'd knit this pattern before, so I knew how it would go.  First, you knit the center panel, then the left side of the shawl.  You put the stitches on a holder, break the yarn, and knit the right side.  I'd deliberately used my Knit Picks interchangeable needles so when I reached this point, all I had to do was put the caps onto the cables and voila, a built in holder.  

Do you know, as many of those cables as I've bought over the years, I couldn't find a single one when I needed it.  I quickly got online and ordered some more...and now we wait. 

In the meantime, I've got piano to practice and French to learn...and laundry to ignore.

Laters.