Snow!

 We got snow!  

Even though it was really coming down there for a while, we didn't get any accumulation.  I put my bowl out just in case, but this is the most that stayed on the ground, and it melted pretty quickly after I took the photo. 

But it was snow!  Real snow, not that sleety mess we usually get.  And before any of my northern friends comments...I'm just going to leave this right here:

OK, moving right along.  My big project for today was to watch playoff football.  No, really, it was to watch playoff football and finally make all that turkey noodle soup I'd been planning on doing since Thanksgiving.  

Imma tell you one thing... when you boil down the carcass of a 17 lb bird, you get a lot of broth.  I used a gallon and a half for my soup, and still have tons of it in the freezer.  Once I'd added the meat, vegetables, and noodles, I probably ended up with three gallons of soup, most of which is now safely nestled in the freezer.  

We've got three more years of Bare Shelves Biden.  I might need every last drop of that soup before it's all over.

Anyway, the only thing I wish I'd done differently is to check how much of the celery Cody'd used for the gumbo he made.  I'd bought an entire bunch, and cut it all up, thinking it would be enough for both batches of soup, but he used a bit more than I thought he would.  If I'd checked, I'd have bought more.  But it's still good soup, even though most of you would think it needs more salt.  I'd be inclined to agree with you, but I don't like salt, so I don't add a lot of it to my food.  

In other news, I'm still knitting away at the same old scarf.  I'd show you picture of it, but it looks exactly like it did in the last picture I showed you, just a few inches longer. I've been working a bit on my needle felting.  I made a cute little cowboy hat:

And a horse: 

I'm going to make a boot, too.  And what is all this going to be, you may ask?  I'm going to add them to my Texas (for which I made a little Orange heart to put where my home town is)

and I'm going to make a sort of shadow box thing out of it all.  I probably will do a star, too...you know for the Lone Star State.  

The best part is, I got to play with some of the fiber in the kit my sister gave me for Christmas.  They may be tiny bags, but they packed a lot into them.  

Finally, A Bit Of Good News

 Before we begin tonight's post, I have a bit of good news.  

That Awesome Hunk Of Pure Awesomeness Who Used To Be My Imaginary Boyfriend Before He Married Someone Who Is Not Me Bill Whittle has turned the corner and is finally on the mend.  He posted on his website today, giving us an update.  

Things got pretty dicey there, because thanks to Brandon restricting them, Bill and his lovely bride Natasha didn't have access to monoclonal antibody treatments.  His operations manager finally found a clinic that had some, and she drove them there, only to be told that since it had been longer than ten days, the treatments would have no effect, and could even make things worse.  Sigh...Let's Go Brandon.

Bill hadn't eaten in about 8 days because he couldn't keep anything down, and he hadn't had anything to drink in 4 or 5 days.  He was severely dehydrated, then his sister found someone to give him IV fluids  -- I'm guessing at a clinic.  He said they'd gone to an ER and after waiting four hours without anyone seeing them, they got up and left.    By that time, he was so dehydrated, it took the nurse about 10 minutes just to find a vein.  But she finally did, and got some fluids into him. 

Once he got rehydrated a bit, he began perking up, and after two weeks of The Least Fun Either Of Us Has Ever Had (his own words), he began feeling better.  He'll be back to filming episodes soon, but wanted to check in and give us an update.

That is the Reader's Digest condensed version of what he posted.  It doesn't sound like Natasha got quite as sick as Bill did, but then, she's quite a bit younger than he is, and is in a lower risk group.  Doesn't matter.  I'm just glad he's feeling better.  

I don't know if I could handle losing someone else to this thing. 

Oh, and by the way, another one of my friends is recovering from her second bout with the stuff.  She's not happy.  And in a strange twist of irony, the man who takes our temperatures at work has it, too.  I haven't heard how he's doing, but I hope he's OK, too.  

OK, now, on to your regularly scheduled post.  

I had to run downtown after work today to pay a bill.  As is my custom, while I was in that part of town, I checked on the Little Free Library on the Square.  It was slap empty.  It is no longer slap empty.  I was able to fit almost all of the remaining books from Mr. Clark's house into it.   There were a few old cookbooks -- the kind you make for fundraising -- that I decided were a bit too bedraggled to put into the Library, so I brought them back home. 

After I'd returned home, I said to myself, "Self, let me look through this basket and see what is left that I can put into the LFL."  And that's what I did.  Down in the bottom of the basket, I found this:

Just look at what is in it!   Just look!  

Yeah, that book didn't quite make into the LFL.  Neither did these:

They may look the same, but one is a 1952 edition, and one is a 1957 edition.  They went onto my shelf, too, right next to my 1925 Funk & Wagnalls Desk Standard Dictionary. 

However, I might not keep one of them.  Why?  Because just inside the cover, I found this handwritten note:

For those of you with eyes like mine, it says

To Wayne & Ann

From Mom & Dad

On The 25th Day

Of Dec in year of 1959

Then on the inside cover, written in pencil in a little boy's hand, it says Gary.  

Gary was Mr. & Mrs. Clark's only child.  He died a couple of years ago of a horrible disease called neuromyelitis optica.  It's one of those degenerative things that kills you in slow motion.  Towards the end, he could barely move, and was almost totally blind, but he never lost his sense of humor and his fighting spirit.  

I really feel like I should offer this book to Gary's daughter, his only child.  I wonder if she even realized what she was tossing out when she put the basket of books out by the curb.  

In knitting news, I've gotten this far on the scarf I ripped and re-did.  

I've been checking it for errors almost obsessively.  Hopefully, I'll make it through this time.  My problem is, I've knit so many hats with K2 P2 ribbing, my fingers automatically want to go there.  I have to count out loud and really think...this is a K3 P1 pattern.  

And lastly, I made a little needle felted cactus, which the cat is displaying Vanna style for you:

I didn't have any fiber dyed green, in my practice fiber, I mean, so I tried to blend yellow and blue.  Eh, it's kind of greenish if you squint...from a distance.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's past my bedtime, and I haven't even practiced my piano yet.  

Laters.  

Still Here; Still Tired

 This cat of mine...I do declare.

It was supposed to get down into the mid 20s last night, so I made her stay in the house.  She didn't like that.  And she let me know she didn't like that.  All night long.  So, today after work, I found an old cardboard box that has been hanging around the house for at least 10 years, 

and a $2.00 mylar blanket from Walmart, 

ten minutes with some tape and scissors, and voila, an insulated cat house. 

I put it out onto the car port, and showed the cat where it was.  She sniffed at it a bit, but didn't go inside.  At least now, the option is there, and I'll feel better about leaving her outside if she has a warm place to get into.  

And maybe now, I can get some sleep.  

In other news, I finally got brave and popped my felt Texas out of the cookie cutter.  

I need to tighten up the edges a bit more, but overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I've got some more detailed cookie cutters that I want to try once I've gotten a bit more practice in.  After I've settled back into the routine a bit more (read: get used to a constant state of sleep deprivation again), I want to try to do a little cow or sheep.  Those are so cute.  

You know what else is cute?  These little playdough cutters: 

I want to try that little dragon next.  I mean for needle felting.  Not Play-Doh.  Although Play-Doh can be fun.  And somewhat therapeutic.  

And I need some therapy today after dealing with all the stupidity on Facebook.  

One of these days, I'm going to step on some toes and do a whole blog post about some of the seriously stupid stuff I've seen lately...

But for now, I think I'll get off here and watch this ball game.  The only question is, which version of the Cowboys will we get tonight:  Super Bowl Contender or Train Wreck?  

The Last Gift For Real This Time

 The last Christmas gift for real arrived today, and this is it:

When I was a kid, my mother always asked for new house shoes -- for Christmas, her birthday, Mother's Day, etc.  I hated buying her house shoes, because I thought it was a boring present, but it's what she asked for, so I did.  

I totally get it now.  

These are some I ordered with the money my older brother and his family sent me.  I'd waited until after opening all my gifts, just to make sure I didn't get any, which is why they are late.  My sister sent me some new slipper socks, which I do like, but I needed something a bit heavier for those days that are a bit colder.  These also have hard soles, which I need as well, because I tend to wear them out into the yard.  

They arrived just in time, too, because we're supposed to go from a high of 75' on Saturday, to a low of 28' on Sunday. 

In the meantime, I'm still playing with my needle felting.  This is my next project:

Yes, I know Texas is backwards.  There is a reason for that.  And the reason is this:  you need to felt both sides of the project.  I just happened to be working on the wrong side when I took the photo.  The plan is, when I get the Texas felted the way I want, I'm going to felt a little pink heart where my home town is.  

Speaking of, Cody, Brennan, and I will be traveling to Texas for Beverly's funeral.  We're going to take my car, even though it is smaller and will be more cramped, because his needs an oil change and he doesn't want to get one.  I don't know why.  It's not that big a deal.  He'd suggested we rent a car, but then found out how much it was going to cost (Hint:  a whole lot more than an oil change), so we decided to take mine.  He's still going to be doing the driving, though.  But he says they're probably not going to leave Memphis until 9:00 AM, so it'll be late when we get to Texas.  

On the bright side, the vet said they can go ahead and do Jesse's teeth cleaning while he's there being boarded, so two birds one stone, kind of thing.  

In other news, I was planning on starting my piano lessons again today.  Well, doing the videos from Mr. Let's Play Piano Methods, I mean.  I'm already practicing the songs a bit, but I decided to just wait until we get back to get into watching the instructional videos.  Also, in an attempt to avoid the disaster that was my Christmas concert, I've already picked out some songs for next year.  I'm going to practice them all year in hopes that by next Christmas, they'll be all ready to record. 

And finally, That Awesome Hunk Of Pure Awesomeness Who Used To Be My Imaginary Boyfriend Until He Married Someone Who Is Not Me Bill Whittle and his wife have both come down with the COVID.  They have it pretty bad, from what he says on his website.  He's running a 104' fever, suffering from a fatigue that is almost supernatural in intensity," and is laying in bed like a carrot.  His words, not mine.  If you've a mind, offer up a prayer for a speedy recovery for both of them.  

The Last Gift

Well, the second to last, I guess.  I did order one more thing with the rest of the money my older brother's family sent me, so technically that will be the last gift.  It's supposed to get here tomorrow, and I'll tell you all about it then.

But the last one I'm going to tell you about today is this:

It's a needle felting kit from my sister's family!  I was very excited to get this one, because I'd planned on taking a needle felting class at Fiber Fun In The 'Sip last year.  That one was cancelled because of the pandemic, and the one this year ... I guess they cancelled it because of the pandemic, as well, even though what few restrictions we had (mostly capacity limitations) were completely lifted in March. 

I hope they have one next year.  I miss hanging out with Amy, and Christi, and Leann.  And other knitters and spending too much money, and staying in a hotel, and just all of it. 

But I digress...I seem to do that a lot, don't I?

What was I talking about?  Oh yes, my needle felting kit.  This was my gift from my sister's family, and it's got everything I need to get started.  It's got different colors of wool, different sizes of needles, finger protectors, felting templates...all the tools you need to do needle felting.  It's even got little eyes for when you want to make things with faces, and key ring parts and stuff.  The only thing it didn't have was instructions. 

But no matter.  There are plenty of instructional videos on YouTube to teach me all I need to know.   One of the ones I've been looking at is Felts By Philippa.  She's got all sorts of tutorials and beginner videos.  Yes, there is a learning curve, but fortunately, I've got lots and lots of fiber, some of it already dyed, from when I went through my spinning phase.  

I dug it all out of the closet to practice with, and found myself to be a little hesitant to use it.  I kept thinking, "But what if I decide I want to spin all this up later on?" Then I told myself, "You've had this fiber for at least 10 years, and have never done anything with it.  Use it to felt with.  If you want to get back into spinning, you still have all the stuff Suzie sent you." And that's exactly what I did.   I pulled off a little blob of yellow, and made a ...blob. 

The next thing I tried to make was a tree, but it didn't turn out so well.  Learning curve and all...

Even though my kit came with these little templates, 

one of the videos I watched suggested using cookie cutters as templates as well.  I got into my boxes of cookie cutters I'd had stored in my cabinet for forever, and dug these out:  

and I picked up a few more on clearance when I went into town.  

I was hoping to find some non Christmassy cookie cutters, but it looks like I'm going to have to either order some, or go to a kitchen specialty store.  There used to be one in Batesville, but I'm pretty sure they've closed.  The last time I went up there, I drove by that outlet mall, and there was nothing left in it.  I mean, nothing.  

In the meantime, I used one of my cookie cutters to make this tree.  I think it looks pretty good. 

I tidied it up a bit more, and what is a Christmas tree without a star?  

I'm wanting to figure out how to put little decorations on it, and maybe make the trunk over-laid with brown fiber.  

Since then, I've just been going to town making little felted things.

One day, I hope to work up to making the little animals I see other felters make.  I think I'm going to start collecting Jesse's fur when I brush him and make a little felted Jesse.  

That ought to be cute, eh?