Sunday Afternoon

Man, it's hard to believe how fast my three day weekend went by, but alas, it's Sunday afternoon and my days off are almost over.  

I still didn't get anything accomplished.  Well, except I finished knitting the beret I'd been working on.

The tricky part was removing the belly button cast on.  I was so worried I would drop one of the stitches, and I think I actually did.  

The pattern said to block it over a 12" plate, but I didn't have one, so I had to use a 10" inch.   Once I'd gotten it as stretched as I could, the stitches didn't seem as even as I'd like them to be.  We'll just have to see how it turns out.  In the mean time, I cast on another one.  

Same yarn.  Same pattern.  Different method.  When I was organizing my needles last weekend, I found I had a 40" circular needle of the size I needed, so I broke it out for the next hat.  I've never been that fond of the Magic Loop technique, but I thought in this case, it might be better than trying to juggle those DPNs.  I can already tell the center will be more even.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

I think I might give the second one to Cody's girlfriend for Christmas.   I'll have to ask him if she wears hats.  

The only other thing I did this weekend was to go through all my level 1 Christmas books and marked the songs I want to keep on playing. 

I probably ought to try to get you a Christmas concert worked up this year, since I didn't do one last year.  I'd intended to.  I even recorded a couple of songs, but made the mistake of putting my camera onto the end of my keyboard.  Every time I played a note, the whole thing would shake.  I was afraid you'd get seasick watching them, then I never got around to re-recording them.  I'm seriously considering getting one of those stand things with the light to record my songs on my phone.  I'm just not sure I want to invest in one if only one or two people will even be watching.  

Speaking of phones, I'm about ready to upgrade my iPhone 7.  Yesterday, I went to the AT&T website, and let me tell you, they have the most frustrating and convoluted site you ever did see.  I spent an hour just trying to find my way to my wireless account.  I was able to log into my email account, but they kept saying I didn't have a wireless account.   Um, yes I do.  I've had one for nearly 20 years.  Then the site said I could combine all of my accounts under the same log in.  Um, I thought I did that years ago.  But no, that log-in didn't work.  I tried one more log in, and it said my password was incorrect, but I'd just updated it.  

I was getting more and more frustrated, uttering more than a few unwholesome words for which I had to repent, when at long last, I finally got into my wireless account.  Wouldn't you know it.  I get an error message.

We're having trouble loading your cart right now. Please try again later.

Sigh....

You know, that's why I had to put my payment on autopay a few years ago, because I couldn't ever get into the site to pay my bill.  It's almost like they don't want to take my money.  I'm about to cut ties with AT&T, just for this reason.  I've never had any problem with the phone service, but their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. 

Now for a bit of good news, our Delta surge seems to be tapering off rather quickly.  This is a screen shot from the MS Health Department website:  

It peaked rapidly, and is falling off just as rapidly.  Even so, this week, the U.S. surpassed the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic in deaths.  And yes, I know we have three times the population, so it has affected a smaller percentage, but you also have to take into account we also have vastly more medical knowledge and technology available than we did 100 years ago, so it balances out. I mean, Alexander Fleming didn't even discover penicillin until 10 years after the Spanish Flu struck.  Can you imagine if we'd had to deal with COVID with only what they had available back then?  This is why I don't think it's all that helpful to compare COVID with pandemics from the past.  I mean, during the Black Plague, they had no concept of germ theory.  The idea that things like viruses and bacteria even existed was more than they could comprehend.  They thought you got sick from miasma, or bad air.  Even the word "malaria" literally means bad (mal) air (aire).  We know so much more today than even 50 or 60 years ago.  

On the other hand, they didn't have to deal with people getting medical advice from Facebook memes back then, either. So again, it balances out.  

By the way, Alexander Fleming saved my life when I was 11.  Someday, I'll have to tell you about that. 

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Cutie, who has claimed Cody's bed for her own. 

I just have to remember to leave the door open for her. 

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